Brass Jester

Jodie's Story

2009-06-02T03:01:00.000-07:00

Jodie Kazan, ex- UIG and now freelance, sat back at the table in the street café in Rio Old City and watched the moving crowds. As she continued to watch, scanning the faces, she reflected back on the events over the last few weeks.

The investigation mission had gone well; she’d found out what her employers wanted and also gained some useful information for herself. Amazonian didn’t pay as well as the big Corps but she’d got a success bonus, that and what she hoped to broker the information for, should see her through. The shoulder wound had healed quickly. At her apartment a few sundry bills were waiting, she paid these and then went to see an Information Broker. The information concerned Western Federation black ops in the northern border region but the broker wasn’t too interested and only paid 192 c for it. Still, it all helped. She’d been looking to set up a network of contacts; some cash and a few meetings gained a street ganger and a Free State politician (at quite a low cost…hmm…was he a little too eager?) Some training time came next, she worked on her Jump ability, Lying & Acting and studied up on Corporation Knowledge. What she forgot was that her telepathics license would need upgrading. Some R&R followed at an EI – run facility up in the mountains, the rest did her good and she gained a Conviction Point. On her return to Rio she bought a Field Ion Shield (undecided over getting a lower condition but more powerful shield, she eventually decided on a brand new one).
An anonymous note arrived, offering a ‘lucrative deal’ and giving a contact number. A meeting was arranged in a run-down area, Jodie went fully armed and expecting trouble. She was offered 5 canisters of CN-CN-4 at ‘a good price’. She declined the deal, the one canister she had seen looked in incredibly poor condition. Returning home, some more bills arrived and she transferred some money to her Contacts, (the ganger of course, wanted slip). A message from the politician arrived, saying he could no longer continue with their arrangement (this was after he’d taken the money!) Jodie got suspicious, was it him who had been trying to dump the nerve gas? She did some freelance investigation on him, found that indeed it was him behind the attempt and turned the information over to the Free States Federation Council, picking up a good reward for it.
Back in Rio an old face from her past turned up; Jas Akhtar, her old UIG case officer. As she thought, Jas confirmed that the UIG were still after her, although low priority. For suitable remuneration, Jas would ensure that she stayed low priority. She agreed and a deal was struck. Immediately Jas gave her a pointer, a high-Rank Amazonian Executive was looking for a private arrangement with an Agent; the deal turned out to be an easy observation Mission. Jas also reminded her that she needed to upgrade her Telepathics licence; no need to draw unwarranted attention from the UIG. On returning to her apartment her PDA chimed with an incoming Mission Alert – Amazonian were looking for someone to investigate the WF activities in the North Border area – standard pay and bonus plus 25% of Information Points gained. She signed up; then headed down to the street café to finish the observation assignment.

Jodie finished her drink. She’d spotted the target, male, middle-aged, neat business suit, attaché case. She watched as the assassin made her move, a swift strike and the target fell, the case falling from his hand. The assassin was long gone. Jodie relaxed; mission accomplished and she hadn’t had to run interference. She rose, returned to her apartment, and began packing for the Northern Border.

Corporation: The Skin Trade Affair

2009-06-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Half-term, so another session of Corporation at Halesowen Boardgamers.

Following the conclusion of the DHC Affair, Division 90 reassembled at Moscow Spire. Present were Ben C, Daniel, Matthew, Richard and James. An urgent summons came from Colonel Rader to report to their new briefing room, currently decorated with the manikin that James brought back from Miller-Urey in the Skin Affair (GM: This got missed off the Mission Report).

A priority message had been received from Operative 9809/42 Susan Barker in Irkutsk. Agent SB21 has failed to report to either the primary or the secondary rendezvous, with the SKIN sample. His body was found in an alley at the back of the Maglev station and the sample was missing. The police are treating it as ‘unknown assault’. Operative Barker has requested backup as she has no local Agents. Use of the Expense Account was granted but use of heavy or support weapons was not authorised. Grudgingly, Daniel left the Beast behind and Ben C left a selection of his grenades. They were to meet Operative Barker by the fountain in the main Maglev station concourse at 06:00 hrs, making contact via smeaker recognition code sub-channel 24.2.

As time was pressing they flew into Irkutsk by sub-orbital shuttle, arriving just before 06:00. They waited by the fountain but Barker didn’t show up. After an hour they did a cursory search outside but found nothing. A worker showed them where the body of SB21 was found, there were still fragments of Police incident tape at the scene. A careful search found a small sliver of broken needle, which Daniel bagged for further investigation. Returning inside, they went to the information desk and put out a call for Susan Barker to report to the information desk (GM: I wonder who heard that?). Still no-one showed up, so Daniel put a call through to Colonel Rader. He was given Barker’s address and phone number.

They took a taxi to Barker’s apartment, charging it to expenses. The apartment was on the 8th floor. Matthew successfully picked the lock and they gained entrance. A quick search found a half drunk bottle of synthicol, two glasses, a business card for Gemini Biotech and a naked woman in the bath, lying face-down in 6cm of clotted blood with her throat cut. An ID chip scan showed she was Susan Barker. Daniel reported this to Division Control; Rader ordered them to recover the SKIN sample at all costs. They determined her throat had been slit with a knife of some kind.
The phone rang, Daniel answered and a man asked who he was, asked to speak to Barker, then hung up. A last number redial gave the number 60-0-04592, it rang for a time then someone answered, screeched “ I’m waiting for a train!” then hung up. Matthew, Richard and James set off back to the Maglev station whilst Ben and Daniel searched the apartment. The business card had a printed number (64-9-9813) on the front and a scribbled number (60-0-04591) on the back. The printed number gave a message “ H-G Biotech – we are not open at present but if you’d like to leave a message, alternatively you can visit us at 157-52 Main”. The number on the back just rang out, despite three separate attempts.
Meanwhile on the way out , the others saw a cleaning lady with a trolley making her way along the corridor. They spoke to her; she was a somewhat simple-minded Russian who cleaned the apartments. She saw only the lady in Apartment 88-4366. It was obvious that she was thick as two short planks so they left the building; hailed a taxi (on expenses) and headed back to the Maglev station. Looking back they noticed a car leave and head off in the opposite direction; they ordered the taxi driver to follow it; he refused; they argued, offered money and finally pulled a Cougar on him; all to no avail as the car had long gone. The taxi threw them out at the station and burnt rubber out of there. They found nothing at the station.

Finally they all rendezvoused at the street stall (152-52 Main), all taking taxis to get there. The stall was a cybernetic implant centre, currently closed. A large plate glass window led on to an operating chair; further along past the door a series of trays held demonstration eyeballs, skin tones, morphic tattoos etc. A display of lock picking by Matthew got them inside. There was an office, a storeroom of cryogenically frozen stock and a room containing several small cages; the room had a pungent animal/chemical smell. Richard was in the office when a voice behind him spoke:-
“You are open please?”
The speaker was a smiling Japanese tourist, with a companion. Dressed in loose white hoodies and sneakers.
“Am looking for Hevlock. You are him perhaps?”
“No”, replied Richard.
“Really must talk with him. You perhaps know where he is?”
“Hevlock is at his apartment at 88-4366 (GM: Barker’s address)
“You lie. Have been there. Now you die”
With this, both Japanese pulled katanas and attacked Richard. A furious melee ensued; the Shi Yukiro had ion shields and masterwork katanas. Daniel attempted to disarm one but failed, Richard took a massive hit that would have killed a lesser man (GM: he was 1 point off having something severed), only his intravenous medpack saved him. The Shi Yukiro were a blur with their weapons; Richard withdrew from combat and ran outside. A flurry of shots from Ben using his dual combat mastered Cougars hurt one of the Shi Yukiro; he activated his medpack and they both retreated; only to run into a rocket attack from Richard. One Shi Yukiro was killed, the other wall-ran up to the rooftops and safety. Richard took the dead Agent’s katana as a trophy.
Inside, the phone was ringing. Daniel answered it, it was Hevlock. He didn’t notice the faint click as he answered.
“Just listen. I know what you’re here for. I have it, I just want out of here. Bring 50k slip to the airport uplink tower at 22:00hrs. Can’t talk further. Be there at 22:00”

They spent some time arranging to get the slip credit (they could have gone to a UIF branch but rightly surmised that the UIG might take an interest), they rested for a time and had something to eat (on expenses) Richards IV medpack was discharged and he had to buy some new clothes.

At 22:00 they took yet another taxi out to the uplink tower; right out on a lonely stretch of the airport perimeter, with the lights of Irkutsk far off in the distance. 22:00 hrs: Hevlock had not shown. Ben saw the lights of a car pull off in the distance, about 1.5 km away. Daniel and Matthew set off to walk to it; they found a car in the ditch; inside was Hevlock’s body. He had been garrotted. On the body they found a key marked [56-6215] and a heavy pistol, with one shot fired. They took the key and turned to walk back. At this point the car exploded in a massive ball of flame; catching both of them in the blast.

They took another taxi back to Irkutsk and checked into a hotel for the night. Going somewhat over the top, they booked the executive rooms (No: 514 to 518) plus the most expensive meals and drinks in the restaurant and charged it all to the expense account. Whilst they were dining the management arranged for the rooms to be specially cleaned and also offered room service.

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So ended the first session. A bit of an eye-opener to the PC’s, for the first time they came up against trained Shi Yukiro Agents. Also, they still showed marked disregard for their colleagues safety (Rocket Pistol + Confined space = Not A Good Idea), (GM: However, perhaps I’m not the best person to talk about rocket pistols).

Part II scheduled for the summer holidays; a bit of a gap but it’s not possible to get all the kids together before that.

Corporation: : The DHC Affair

2009-04-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

Second week of holiday time and a game of Corporation at Halesowen Boardgamers. Present were Daniel, John, Ben C and Joe, comprising Division 90 of Eurasian Incorporated. Daniel and Joe the only original members left. John had been captured on Miller-Urey during the Skin Affair, Joe was not present on that Mission, Ben C had been called away at Irkutsk to do an urgent investigation ( from which he sadly did not return – see Obituary on the blog) and Matthew and James had also received secret orders just before they boarded the maglev. Thus, Daniel travelled back to Moscow alone.

Meanwhile, Joe, Ben C and John II ( a clone?) were carrying out a surveillance on a warehouse in the Moscow Underswell. Large quantities of Di-Hydroxy-Cryptonol (DHC), of good quality were circulating in the Underswell, The source was unknown and the EI Department of Social Affairs were concerned that cheap supplies of the drug would undermine their own programme of social care. The Division were assigned to watch the warehouse that was suspected to be the distribution point. Returning to the stake-out, they found a street gang ripping off their equipment…

The journey from Irkutsk to Moscow is a long one, even on a maglev travelling at 480 kph. Daniel had little to do other than watch the entertainment channels and wonder how he was going to explain the loss of two Agents to Colonel Rader. Suddenly his PDA bleeped with an incoming message – it was the Colonel! A priority override Mission – Daniel was to leave the train as it passed through the Underswell and join with the rest of the Division. The warehouse was to be raided and the source of the drugs determined. Information was a priority. He headed forward to speak to the driver; the train conductor stopped him and Daniel found out that not everyone likes Agents. He pulled Rank and ordered that the driver spoke to him. The driver said he could slow the train down in the Underswell but refused to stop due to the risk of hijacking or rocket attack. Daniel reckoned he could jump safely if the train was doing 50 kph, this was slower than the driver liked but Daniel pulled Rank again.

Meanwhile, in the stake-out, a vicious hand-to-hand combat was raging. The Division were not using firearms due to the risk of alerting the targets inside the warehouse, but the gang were proving to be better fighters than anticipated.

A few minutes to go and the train was slowing. Daniel chose his moment and dropped from the train. He missed his footing and fell into the track bed of the ‘up’ line, between the high-tension cables and the field coils. Mindful of the 50,000 volt cables, he carefully climbed out, taking only minor induction burns. Quickly locating a ladder down a support pylon, he smeakered the others, only to be told “ they were a little busy at the moment”. He homed in on the smeaker signal and found the others in the stake-out, surrounded by bodies of gangers. Joe had been hurt badly (?) but John was patching him up using his medical skill.
(GM: Ben ran this part of the Mission, apparently Joe just waded into the midst of them using a longsword).

Daniel took charge of the situation, opposite the stakeout was a semi-ruined warehouse part-built under the maglev line. AV surveillance revealed at least two people in street clothes going through the doors opposite. A plan was hatched; Daniel set up his M50 (aka ‘The Beast’) on it’s tripod and lent John his rocket pistol and light rockets. Joe would impersonate a junkie and go in, followed by Ben, the idea being to take a prisoner. Inside the doors was a long ‘garage’, with a set of burnt-out rooms on the left, two openings on the right covered by thick tarpaulins. At the far end was a beat-up truck (Con 4) and two men in street clothes.
“What do you want?” called one in Russian.
“J.. JU…Js wnt.. D” slurred Joe.
Ben crept in and stood in the shadows.
“You were told never to come here, go to the usual place” said the man, striding towards him.
“Need D… want D”
The man went to hit him across the face, at this point Ben grabbed him from behind. A grapple ensued; the other man ran down, pulling a machine pistol. Ben wrestled the guy outside, the other one followed only to be cut down by Daniel with the Beast. The prisoner managed to escape from Ben and was in turn shot and killed by Daniel. Joe picked up the machine pistol; it was a good quality make.

They all went back inside to investigate the truck; a third man leapt up and fired a shotgun at Daniel at point-blank range, doing mashing damage. Joe took him out in close combat; whilst John used his medical skill to patch up Daniel, Ben and Joe investigated the truck. They found it would start up and was driveable; in the back was a polycrate. John determined that it held traces of DHC. Deciding to go through the tarpaulins, beyond was a large room containing some polycrates, another truck (like the first), a raised office at the far end reached by a stairway and another room under it. To one side was a maglev support pylon going up through the ceiling. Ben took some photos on his PDA. A voice called down from the office: -
“I don’t know who you are, but this has gone far enough. I’m running this little operation to get some retirement money and I don’t appreciate you muscling in. I’m telling you to back off or you’ll get hurt.”
“No, you’ll get hurt”, replied Daniel.
“Just leave will you. What’s wrong with trying to turn a little profit? If you don’t back off, I’ve got friends who WILL hurt you. You sound like a damn Corp stooge”
“We are Agents”, said John.

At this point, the (somewhat inevitable) firefight erupted. Daniel sprayed the office with the Beast, blowing out the plate window. In return the figure in the office levelled a plasma rifle at him, which malfunctioned and exploded(!). Gangers popped up out of cover and opened fire, some using machine pistols and some using shotguns. Ben proved to be a deadly shot with his twin mastered cougars and Joe was using the machine pistol (it was WF manufacture but not chip checked). The gang were going down; even so the Division were taking damage; at least one emergency IV medpack was activated. Then the door to the lower office opened and three men came out, wearing green and black uniforms. One spoke, in a pronounced Texan drawl;
“Seems like our little thing here is over. Now me and my buddies are just going to walk out of here and you’re just going to stand aside and let us, else world o’ hurt coming your way.”
The one on the left pointed a finger at John and whispered “Pow!”. Jon staggered back, this head feeling like it was being crushed. Daniel yelled “ He’s a telepath” and opened upon them, only to find that they were ion shielded. The speaker ran at Joe with impossible speed and cut loose with a flurry of unarmed blows which Joe was barely able to defend against. Ben’s cougars again played a significant part. The telepath ‘Pow’ed’ Daniel for maximum effect and leapt over their heads and out of the door. The other two followed, using some form of freerunning. Dan went after them, but to no avail. The reason for their haste was soon made clear, a few seconds later the entire warehouse exploded in a ball of flame. Everyone but Daniel was caught in the blast; which finished off the gangers.

Some hours later, they reported back to Colonel Rader. He was not pleased that very little information had been gathered; there was a clear indication that the Western Federation were supplying weapons to the gangs and probably were behind the supply of DHC. Out of a potential twelve sources of information, not one was taken. It was apparent that there was an overuse of firepower on the mission, with a tendency to shoot first and hang the consequences. Accordingly, the use of heavy weapons on future Missions would be monitored. Daniel’s application for Mastered Weapons training for the M50 was refused.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obituary

2009-04-13T03:15:00.000-07:00

Ben C died yesterday during a raid on an Ai-Jinn facility off the coast of the UK. The Mission was an Downtime solo affair, the brief was to investigate the facility. Last images relayed from his gun- camera showed he was surrounded by guards, he was attempting to shoot his way to safety. No statement has been issued as yet by the Ai-Jinn.

Eurasian Incorporated Department of External Affairs

Mission Report: The Skin Affair

2009-04-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

Holiday time and a game of Corporation at Halesowen Boardgamers. Present were Daniel, Ben, John (making a return), Ben C, Matthew, Richard and James, comprising Division 90 of Eurasian Incorporated.

The session opened with some Downtime and a report on the outcome of the Sea Prison Affair. The rescued Agents were all making a full recovery and the mysterious girl was still in hospital. The message had been deciphered, it was in Afrikaans and read
“Further successful implants carried out: 85% full recovery of subjects. Advise move project up to Stage III.
Targets C & D identified. Target D has Special Case potential based on profile.”

The Division were questioned if they had any more information as to who Targets C & D might be.

At the request of Division Control, they took the name Division 90 and elected Daniel as Leader.

Returning to Moscow Spire they were summoned to see Colonel Rader. The Mission Brief was as follows: -
INTEL has discovered a prototype new weapon being developed by the Western Federation in a research lab on Miller-Urey, in the Tigera region. The lab is secret, under cover of an Agricultural Testing Station. The codename for the weapon is SKIN. Report indicates that the SKIN prototype is to be moved to a secure testing location within the next ninety-two hours. It is imperative that a sample is obtained before this.
A supplemental briefing was a transcript of a message received from a solo Agent operating in Tigera warning about some purple vegetation which caused acid burns.
The Division were allocated a budget of 10,000 c and given some planning time. They bought a Condition 6 off-road vehicle (budgetary constraints) and arranged for it to be shipped to M-U. They also purchased some combat fatigues; after discovering that Tigera is mainly rainforest and jungle.
They left Moscow Spire for Irkutsk shuttle station by maglev followed by a short shuttle flight, a few hours later they boarded the Ai-Jinn Orbital Transfer Vehicle “Shuddering of Forgotten Enemies”. The crew were Asian, clad in smart red and gold uniforms. The flight to M-U took two days during which they did little other than endure the daily broadcasts by the ship’s Passenger Interrelations Officer (= Political officer).

Arriving at UIG main on M-U they successfully passed UIG Customs and retrieved their equipment and vehicle. Approaching the ion barrier with the glowing sign ‘WARNING – YOU ARE NOW ENTERING WESTERN FEDERATION TERRITORY”, they were approached by a man wearing mechanic’s coveralls: -
“Service your vehicle sir?”. He spoke with a thick German accent.
(A quick debate) “No” Richard answered him in German.
“You will be wanting it if you go out in the jungle. How long are you going for?”
(Cries of “Don’t tell him/shoot him/ask him where the road goes etc”). “None of your business” said Richard.
“Ah well”. He turned and walked off behind a building.

Heading along the road/trail, with Ben C driving, after about 10 km Richard got the sensation that they were ‘being watched’. However, no-one seemed to pay much attention to this. They began to see patches of a purple fungal-like growth along the sides of the trail as the jungle began to thicken around them. A few km later they saw a cloud of dust ahead, rounding a curve they saw three WF patrol vehicles ahead of them. Each held two guards. The captain in the lead vehicle stood up and ordered them to stop and state their business. As they hadn’t thought of a cover story there was some discussion and the captain became suspicious. He asked for their authorisation to be there; suddenly Ben C yelled “We’re here to transport SKIN”.
“You are all under arrest,” replied the captain, “until such time as you tell me how you come to know classified information”. The guards un-slung their laser rifles and the driver of the lead vehicle picked up the radio mike. At this point a firefight erupted.

This was quite a drawn-out fight; it was the first time they had come up against soldiers wearing combat armour and carrying ion shields. Some of the highlights were: -
John throwing an EMP grenade that took out the radio in two of the vehicles, Ben C’s superb sniper shot that took out the captain (Ben has a new character & Profession following his success at the Mongoose Launch Event), Daniel blasting away with his M50 and finding out it isn’t so good at blowing away armoured targets, the retreat and attempted escape of Guard vehicle 3, Ben C shot the driver and caused him to lose control and crash, a shot from James’ rocket pistol blew the vehicle up and set it on fire. The Agents had taken several hits from laser fire; eventually the last surviving guard surrendered.
“Tell us about SKIN”.
“I don’t know nuthin about SKIN man”.
“You’re lying. Where is SKIN!?”
“I don’t know. Look man, I’m just a guard”
At this point Daniel shot and killed him, despite the rest of the Division having some questions. A search of the bodies turned up four discharged but usable 10pt ion shields and four laser rifles. They disposed of the bodies in a patch of the purple fungus, noting that it did indeed exude a powerful acid that dissolved the bodies in minutes

Taking the two WF vehicles (the EMP blast had not affected the engines) plus their own, they continued along the trail. After a few km they turned off left to a set of gates marked WESTERN FEDERATION AGRICULTURAL TESTING STATION WF25A. In a fenced-off compound was a squat, featureless concrete cube with a single metal door. Off to one side was a marked out helipad. By the door was a metal grille and a button. This time they did think of a cover story; Richard pressed the button; when a voice answered he announced that they were here on a surprise inspection tour. To their surprise the door opened and they went through to the reception lobby!
(GM: I gave this a penalty to the AT and also checked for the receptionists gullibility. Richard rolled 1/1- critical success!)
The receptionist told them that Dr Cyrus was not present, he was on Earth, but Dr Bream was in one of the labs. He advised them to wait in the canteen. In the canteen were a couple of mooks wearing lab coats and reading magazines; they didn’t even look up; there was an Egg-U-Lyke vending machine and a SynthiCaf dispenser. Ben C bought a chocolate EuL. Matthew went back into reception and shot the receptionist with a KO dart, they hid him in a storeroom. Heading down a passage, they came into a security station with two guards. Taken by surprise, the guards fell to a flurry of melee attacks. There were three doors, marked Labs 1, 2 and 3. They chose Lab 2, inside were three white-coated mooks who raised their hands. There was a life-size mannequin wearing a grey suit/costume of some kind; the head was a featureless ovoid with a central ‘eye’ with a band of smaller ‘eyes’ around the head. Close examination showed it to be some kind of plastic; the ‘eyes’ were just painted on. John cut off a sample of it The dummy had a ring of valves around its neck and down its back. There was also a large case with a transparent lid; inside was a slab of meat with tubes emerging out at various points and disappearing into the base of the case. There was a purple-red fluid circulating in the tubes. A power indicator on the side showed full charge. Daniel grabbed on of the mooks.
“Where is SKIN?”
“That’s it”, the terrified scientist replied, pointing at the case.. At this point James noticed a security camera in the ceiling and shot it with his rocket pistol. The explosion took out the camera, started a fire and set off the sprinklers. Alarms went off in the building.. They grabbed the case and headed out. Ben C risked a quick look in one of the other labs, it was a large processing plant converting real blood into something else. At a quick estimate; the tank of blood must have held 45-50 litres. They drove off at high speed, wondering where the other guards were. Their fears were soon realised at the sound of approaching hovercopters; at least two. They burnt rubber down the trail back towards UIG Main, however the aircraft were drawing closer. Then the rear vehicle, with John and Ben, lost control and skidded off. Despite their attempts to get going, the last the Division saw of them was they were being surrounded by scores of heavily armoured WF troops.

At UIG Main they boarded the shuttle without incident and were soon back on the OTV. En-route back to Earth, a curious incident occurred. Daniel received a discreet message to meet with the Captain of the OTV. The Captain, a smiling Chinese named Phin, told Daniel that the Ai-Jinn were aware of the ‘item’ that he possessed and were prepared to broker a deal if he would name a price. Daniel considered it, but Richard smeakered him and reminded him that it was their mission to get it back to Earth. Daniel refused the offer; Captain Phin simply wished him a safe journey and nothing more was said.

On Earth, they delivered the case to Special Agent SB12 upon receipt of the correct recognition codes, then boarded the maglev to return to Moscow Spire.

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Corporation Launch Event 28.02.09

2009-03-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

28th Feb dawned and Ben and I left at 06:30 to drive down to Mongoose Towers at Swindon to take part in the Corporation Launch event. The motorway and roads were clear and we arrived at 08:20, despite the gonzo AA route planner taking us down a dead end in Swindon. We found the Sunflower Café and met up with Last Best Hope, who was having breakfast. We had a full English breakfast and a giant mug of tea and talked about RPG’s of all kinds. We headed down to Mongoose and got in just after nine. There was a whole range of stuff on offer; I bought the reprint of the rule book and Machines of War and Eastern Bank ( so my signed copy of the core rule book can be preserved), and Ben bought himself one of the Lone Wolf books. Met a few more people and chatted to them (Arakor, Agent Baxter (Ruth) and James); then it was time for the first game. Arakor was our GM; there was Ben and I plus two other guys who were new to the game (Jason and … sorry, can’t remember, was it Craig?) plus another observer sitting in.

Characters were pre-genned; our Division (code name Mad Dog) were EI. I was Division Leader, specialising in dual weapons with pistols plus lying and acting. To back this up I had Krieg Ocular Repigmentation. Ben was an assassin/stealth expert with a sniper rifle, Jason was a nuke toting a laser cannon and our fourth member was a tech. My heart sank when I saw Bingo wings on the assigned equipment list; with an Agility of 8 and no Athletics I was not the best person to be using these.
The Mission brief given by Mr Henderson (= NCIS Gibbs). Agent Lauren Vetch, in deep cover in the Altai gene labs (Ai-Jinn territory) had missed a scheduled check call. Conclusion was she had been compromised. Our Mission – go in and get her out.
As I feared, the insertion involved exiting a stratospheric shuttle and dropping down to the landing site some 30 miles from the lab facility. The only sat photo was some years out of date and the area was now sat – blanketed. As it turned out, the drop wasn’t too bad, we landed in heavy snow, after some time we regrouped and headed for the labs. Ben took point, after some time he reported movement ahead. A Sentinel droid!. A shot with the EMP rifle had little effect, Bens rifle shot revealed that it was ion –shielded. A combination of cougar fire, followed by a laser blast took out the shield then blew the thing apart. Our tech examined the smoking remains; got some radio codes and determined that no alert had been raised. Approaching the lab, it was ringed with AV cameras. We bypassed these by using an invisibility field and a brief shut down of the camera. The labs were a squat, concrete building, two vehicle entrances, and a helipad with a chopper parked and a normal door. A guard was seen on the roof; a superb sniper headshot by Ben took them out. At the rear was an uplink comms tower. A remote detonated explosive was planted on this by Jason; realising that the chopper was our only escape route, a quick examination showed that it was locked and chip coded on a starter key. AV bugs were placed to cover the helo, and then we headed for the main door.
Boldly marching in, I used the Ocular Repigmentation to change my eye colour; wearing buttoned up Cold Weather camo to disguise my face, as did the others. I announced in fluent Mandarin that I was Major-General Chang, come to collect the prisoner. A flustered- looking officer came out and apologised, but Agent Chow was already here interrogating the prisoner. I tore a strip off him, asking why he had assumed that Vetch was the only Agent, had he searched further and that he would pay for his incompetence. Jason blew the radio tower, the guards were sent out to search for the saboteur. Ben assassinated the officer, Craig accessed the computers and shut down the security systems and the droids (apparently there were two Murder-class droids present!).
Deeper into the complex; the dead officer’s hand/ID chip was used to get us into the main lab complex.. Agent Chow challenged us but I was able to successfully pull off the role of Major-General Chang again. He agreed to bring the prisoner out. Realising that the bluff was not going to stand up to close scrutiny, as soon as they appeared, Chow and two females (Agents? – they were packing some impressive kit) along with Vetch, a fire fight erupted at close range which took them all out. Agent Chow had the key for the helicopter. Returning via the garage area, a final appearance of Major-General Chang got the helo prepped for flight whilst the rest of the Division took out the guards outside. Jason flew us back to EI territory.

The Mission was a complete success.

We broke for lunch and then started the second Mission. We swapped groups; the GM for the second Mission was James (Norbury, the person who wrote the game). LBH was leader, Eric was a psychotic Frenchman, Hugo was a computer hacker, Jon was a Nordic (Icelandic) gunbunny and Ben was the assassin again.

I’m a wheelman, I can drive or pilot anything. I also like explosions and carry a stock of explosives. Although I’ve got a cougar, my favoured weapon is a Rocket pistol (loaded with 6 small rockets). Kaboom!

The Mission was to locate and recover a top-secret experimental droid that apparently had emotive response programming. Codenamed TIMMEE (?), it had been lured out of the lab by the theft of his favourite teddy bear Solomon(!) A fun time was had interrogating the lab staff, with Jon and Eric playing ‘Bad Cop/Worse Cop’ respectively. It appeared that one of them, Yuri, knew more than he was letting on; a search of his apartment by Hugo, Ben and I revealed some real incriminating stuff, it also resulted in Huge nearly being force-fed a huge slice of chocolate cake. With this info, Jon and Eric really put the pressure on and he confessed to being part of the Droid Liberation Army (if Eric had had his way then he would also have confessed to being a member of the Order, of the Cult, to being a rogue Archon or in fact to be nothing more than a highly evolved bicycle!) He identified his contact, who Hugo was able to backtrack through the security cameras, and eventually the trail led to Tokyo Old City (Shi-Yukiro territory – stock up on Compound H!) A disused metro station was apparently a DLA meeting point and the guy we were seeking was there. Ben tried to sneak up on him but got himself trapped and repeatedly shot at PB range with a blade launcher. The rest of us piled in, a few Flash-bangs took out the mooks and a few rounds of combat took out the rest. The missing robot wasn’t there but it turned out it was being kept in a video arcade in the shopping mall above. We headed upstairs to the arcade and set off the fire alarms as a diversion. Three Shi-Yukiro Agents exited out of the rear door at impossible speed and attacked, I targeted the one carrying the twin plasma pistols with my rocket pistol and missed (critically). The rocket punched through into the storeroom, there was an explosion and bits of burning robot flew out of the door. Oops. A second shot at some security guards out in the Mall also missed and set a shop on fire.
“It is the rocket pistol M’seur” said Eric helpfully. “You are expecting recoil no? Perhaps you are overcompensating”
“No,” I replied. “I’m just shit with it”
“That’s what we meant,” said LBH. “We were just being tactful”

Eventually the SY Agents were taken down, one in a particularly graphic way by Eric with a full strength Mental Assault; but not without some bad wounds on our side. The remains of TIMMEE were recovered and we headed out and back to Magadan Spire.

By now it was 17:15 and it was time to pack up and go. We said our thanks and goodbyes and headed back up the motorway, getting home just after 19:00.

Overall, we really enjoyed the day. It was great to meet with people and put faces to names; I gather from reading on Deniable Resources that some others were there (Ook, Uber etc.) It would be good if a meet-up like that could be held on a regular basis (Corporation Day?)

First thoughts on MoW and EB – there is a LOT here to take in. The new trainings open up a whole range of possibilities and EB – only just beginning to take in the whole concept. Were they worth the wait? Very definite YES!

Happy gaming…

CORPORATION

2009-02-19T17:04:00.001-08:00

Half-term and a game of Corporation at Halesowen Boardgamers. Present were Richard, Daniel, Ben, Ben C, Joe, James and Matthew. All members of Division Tertius, Eurasian Inc. They were summoned to see Colonel Rader, their Briefing Officer who told them that another Division, in deep cover, had been captured when their cover was blown. Taken prisoner by Comoros CIA; they are imprisoned on an offshore prison platform; an old drilling rig 90km off the coast of North Africa. The Mission was relatively straightforward, go in and rescue them. A secondary Mission was to investigate what the old rig was being used for now. They spent some time planning the raid; they had the use of a 5000-ton freighter (the ‘Blue Star’) as a base ship, a Gates-Learjet GL61 hover copter and four fast attack semi-inflatables. The ‘Blue Star’ was under orders not to approach closer than 300km to the platform. Richard, Daniel and Ben purchased Stealth Suits and one-use rocket packs to boost them from the water level 30m up onto the platform deck.. The plan was that they would sneak onto the platform from the east whilst the other four landed on the boat jetty and made their way up onto the platform via the stairs next to the derrick. Dan’s team would then locate the prisoners whilst Ben C’s team stood guard and engaged any hostiles. They aimed to assault the platform at 22:00.
Ben C successfully navigated them across 200km of sea to the platform, as Boat 1 approached the jetty, Boat 2 made its way under the platform to the east side. They noted the radar scanner on the roof of a building with red-lit windows, they also noted that there was no drill string from the derrick. Co-ordinating by smeaker, Team 1 headed off the jetty to the stairs; paying scant attention to a security camera. At the top of the stairs they looked out onto the platform deck, lit with occasional lights. To their right was the derrick, 40m high with red aircraft warning lights. Straight ahead was the red-lit control room, with the radar scanner atop, to their left a row of buildings and a set of metal stairs up to the helicopter landing pad. On the east side, Richard steered the boat opposite a low area of deck and they boosted themselves up, one at a time. Richard misjudged it and hit the deck railing; he just managed to grab the rail and hastily Dan and Ben pulled him up. Unfortunately, no one remembered to secure the boat.

Team one headed out across the deck. Without warning, full floodlights snapped on and a disembodied voice ordered them to surrender…

Ben C and Joe beat a strategic retreat toward the steps down to the boat jetty. Four guards, wearing brown uniforms, with ion shields and laser rifles, opened fire. There were two on the roof by the helipad, another on the control room roof and a fourth in the corridor on the LH side of the control room. Several hits were scored; no recalibration was needed as no-one in the Division has an ion shield. Matthew fired his plasma pistol at the guard on the control room roof; not realising (or caring) that Team 2 were in the passage just beyond.. That was when they realised the guards were wearing shields. James fired his rocket pistol at the guard by the helipad; well hit! The explosion took out his shield but also ignited the fuel stored under the pad. A further exchange of shots occurred; Daniel shot the guard on the control room roof in the back; taking out his shield. He and Richard then explored the passage behind the control room; ignoring the steps down they burst into the kitchen and took the cooks prisoner. Ben crept forward to the control room door and peered in; saw two guards and two crew in orange coveralls.
Back out on the deck, Matthew fired at the guards on the helipad roof, hurting one and taking out the other. James blasted the one on the control room roof, taking him out but catching Ben in the rocket’s explosion. Daniel and Richard were confronted by another guard whilst Daniel was assembling his M50; Richard used one of the cooks as a meat shield and demanded to know where the prisoners were. The guard refused to answer and raised his rifle, shooting and killing the cook.. At this point a ball of flame came up the passage to their left and engulfed them all.

Ben rolled around to put out the fire and went back into the control room. Part of the ceiling had come down; two crew and one guard were out and he triple-tapped the last guard to put him out permanently. An attempt to hack the computer locked it down. He didn’t see the telephone. He grabbed the guards laser rifle.

Out on the main deck, despite taking fire from the guard on the Flight office roof to the left; Team One combined fire to take out the two guards who had burst out from a door under the blazing helicopter deck. James fired at the guard by the control room; a hit that took him down and sent a ball of fire screaming up the corridor beyond. Ben C tapped the guard on the Flight Office roof ( who now had no way of escaping as the helipad was well and truly burning), Matthew took him with a plasma bolt that blew him overboard into the sea.
Recovering quickly from the fireball, Daniel cut loose with the M50 at the guard who killed the cook; the close-range burst rendered his shield ineffective and took him out. The slugs punched through the partition wall and took out several people in the mess hall beyond.

Suddenly it was all over. The upper deck was a mess, with the helipad a blazing inferno, a lesser fire burning on the roof of the control building. Matthew and James had taken several hits, as had Daniel, Ben and Richard (mainly from friendly collateral damage).

The Division regrouped and headed down the stairs behind the control room, emerging into what was probably a guard room (table, several chairs and thrown-down hands of cards). A telephone on the wall linked with the control room.. Two doors led out, they split into their Teams again and investigated.

Team 1 found themselves in a Treatment room, a dentist’s chair with steel webbing restraints, a battery of overhead lamps, and a large helmet-like device with various ports and openings, linked to a large data panel. Beyond this was a laboratory; in here was a data terminal and a large incubator tank. Inside this were lots of black thread-like worms swarming over what appeared to be brain cortex tissue. A hacking attempt on the terminal produced the following on screen information:

[>Verdere succesvolle implants voerden uit: 85% volledige terugwinning van onderwerpen. Adviseer bewegingsproject tot Stadium III.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: >Doelstellingen geïdentificeerdi C & D. Het doel D heeft het Speciale potentieel van het Geval dat op profiel wordt gebaseerd]

Paper was found and a copy was made, ready for translation.
Beyond this, a set of stairs led back up to the Platform deck. They noted with some alarm that the fire had spread from the helipad. Boat 2 had drifted away, and there was not enough room on Boat 1 to accommodate everyone. They ran back to the radio room and attempted to raise the ‘Blue Star’. They used the correct recognition codes but the Master was adamant that the ship would not approach closer than 300km. The Gates-Learjet was despatched carrying the other two boats, ETA 120 mins

Team 2 found a long metal corridor, lined with ship’s bulkhead-like doors with locking wheels. From an open door came the sounds of violence; two guards were giving someone a good kicking. Daniel ordered them to stop; they turned on him but froze when they saw a wild-eyed maniac, slightly smoking, packing an M50. Richard cuffed them and herded them against the wall. The victim was African and had been badly beaten; he said he was a businessman from Damascus. In the next cell were two Asian males, they appeared to be unhurt but for some reason were unable to speak coherently and moved as if they were intoxicated. In the next cell was a young Asian girl, badly wounded from gunshots. Richard used a medipack on her, then found that she couldn’t speak properly either. Investigation revealed she had something embedded in her Process Chip socket, as did the two Asians. This couldn’t be removed; it was locked in somehow. Investigating further, they found an Interrogation Room and beyond this two cells. In one was an Arabic female who had been interrogated (judging by the marks on her). She was bleeding from the left ear. The businessman identified her as his business partner. In the other cell was a young 16 year-old African girl; her white eyes indicated she was blind. No-one knew who she was, they took her along anyway; the temperature was rising due to the fires raging overhead.

On the upper deck they regrouped and waited for pickup. It was touch and go as the rig began to disintegrate; the GL61 dropped the boats and Ben C and Joe went out to get them. As they all headed off in the boats they saw lights in the sky, approaching from the mainland.

Corporation

2009-01-22T12:27:00.000-08:00

Played a game of Corporation over the last two evenings; getting back into it in anticipation of the launch of the new rule books.

Mission Report :20.01.2509

The Solo Affair

Report from Operative Tara Chang

Background: Tara Chang is an Ai-Jinn Investigator Operative. A gennie (genetic construct), she has increased HP.

Mission: Investigate EI Facility Delta Five-Seven on the outskirts of the Catalan Spire Complex.

From the outside the Facility was a featureless concrete cube, with only a single entrance off-set to one side. There were no apparent security devices. The door was the pushbutton type and opened to a large room containing several tables and chairs, with a vending machine on the left wall. Sitting at a table was a mook wearing a techs coverall; he looked up when I entered but then ignored me. I reasoned that his coverall and ID badge could be useful so, walking past him I jabbed the tazer into his neck. I tied him with his shirt, gagged him then carried him round the side of the building.
Back inside, found what appeared to be an empty storeroom and a diamond shaped room with three exits. Went left, large room with a 1m high dias flanked by tables. Not sure what this room was used for. On floor under table, credit chip showing 1000c (!) LH door opened and mook tech came in, carrying a short sword in a case. Asked me if I was waiting for this, “No” I replied. He shrugged and went through the door I had entered from. Through RH door into corridor, through another door into a T-shaped room with desks and computer terminals. Would have liked to have examined these more, but there was a guard here (wearing black uniform, cap and flack jacket. Noted he had a tazer and a kinetic pistol). Acknowledging him (I always work on the theory “ Act like you belong here”), I crossed over to the opposite door. Ah … dead end. Room with table and two chairs, no other exits (interrogation room?). Back in the other room, the guard eyed my ID badge but made no other move as I went through the door next to him. Short corridor led to room with more desks and computer terminals, two other exits. Started to cross it; too late I saw the laser scanning system up near the ceiling.

ATTENTION! POSSIBLE INTRUDER IN BUILDING!

Short corridor led to a briefing room, 2m dias with steps up to desk and chair, projection screen on one wall. No other exits. Exit back to previous room, encounter two guards who check my ID. Yet again my Lying and Acting gets me past them; but my luck is not going to hold. I’ve established that this is probably the base for an EI Division; the lack of personnel indicating that they are out on a Mission. Time to exit. I assumed that the guards had deactivated the laser scan but I was wrong, an alarm began to sound somewhere. A door led to an octagonal room with chairs in a semicircle around a projection screen (training room?) Room beyond was an office with desks and cabinets. Two guards here, my ID was checked again; they are obviously suspicious. I thought about taking them out but my forte is stealth operations and I prefer not to initiate combat if I can help it. Right hand door led back to the diamond-shaped room I has been in before; so I knew I could get out.

ATTENTION! INTRUDER IN BUILDING! ALL SECTION HEADS CHECK ID

Risked one more look-round. Bad call! Ran into three guards, who immediately initiated combat: -
“That’s her! Take her alive”

I activated my shield and double tapped Guard 1. The other guards activated shields and returned fire. The room was a storeroom with a moderate degree of cover, but soon my shield was down and I was taking hits. The guards were well trained, always moving and firing two shots at a time. Guard 1 was down so I changed tactics, keeping a suppression fire on Guard 3, I closed with Guard 2 and took them down with the tazer. I then double-tapped Guard 3 and took out Guard 2 with a headshot. I grabbed his ion shield and two SMART clips and headed for the exit, as I was badly wounded.

INTRUDER ARMED AND DANGEROUS. SHOOT TO KILL

Exited facility, made it to exit point.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aftermath
Total information gained 6 pts. Facility Delta Five-seven appears to be a Division base. Also gained was credit chip worth 1000c, two SMART clips and a 10 pt ion shield.

Operative Chang is awarded 2 x.p and 1 Rank Point. Pay is 700c with no Performance Bonus.

The legends of Static

2008-12-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

Ben has created his own bit of Krorthar: the Islands of the Skull. Using my Solo system; this is an account of an expedition he ran today:-

15th Ator 352 S

Day one,
Static, Blood rush and Gash went into the tomb of Neb the 1st . Neb the 1st ruled on one of the islands of the Islands of the Skull and has had three sons since. Neb the 3rd currently rules and demands that they find the treasure that is hidden there in the Tomb. So they walk down the steps of the tomb to find a T shaped corridor they went down the left way to find a corridor curving to the left with a door but they left it alone. At the end of the corridor they came to a large room with a 3’ platform in the centre then suddenly Blood rush attacked a lizard folk Gash attacked the lizard folk next to Blood rush. But Blood rush missed so did Gash, Static used a shocking grasp on the lizard folk with Blood rush the creature was badly hurt but was still going it attacked Blood rush and only hit twice hurt Blood quite a bit but he was going strong, Gash got hit three times but not hurt much. Blood rush and the lizard folk fought but Blood didn’t do any damage but the lizardflok hit Blood twice didn’t do much to him then the other lizard folk struck Gash four times it wasn’t enough to k.o. Him and Gash fought back gave a mighty blow but it was not to its knees. Again the lizards attacked with speed and the 1st missed Blood the second missed Gash. Gash hit hard and brought the lizard to its knees. Blood static ZAPED the lizard and it was toast. There was no treasure on the lizards they preceded to a room with a grating floor; under the grating was an alcove nothing there so they went into a door next to them. In this room there was a “rock” which suddenly leaped at Blood. It looked like a spear with rabbit legs it stabbed Blood he was now badly hurt at which point they all ran. And rested for the night in the town.
Day two,
After a good nights sleep they went back in the tomb they opened the door with the “rock” in only to find it had moved it leaped at Blood again and stabbed Blood. little to Bloods knowledge he had been poisoned with the Grey Rot. Heroically Static leaped in the room and shocked the “rock” to death. Blood searched the room to find 900gp and a poison (he found this out by drinking it, it damaged him and he lost some Str, Dex, con and health.) they got out of this closet like room and went through the door opposite them when they entered a cloud of darkness appeared and 2 dark mantles came down and landed on Gash and Blood. Blood was getting constricted they all ran out of the room to where the grating was. Static tried to kill the dark mantles but he wasn’t strong enough to be able to kill them. So Gash and Blood rush died and Static retreated (ran away)

Horror in the North Tower

2008-12-04T14:00:00.001-08:00

10th Ator, 352AS, Kularni

It was the dark of the moon in the month of Ator when Fluff and Smily’s assigned guard duty came round. They were joined by Whistler and two unnamed guards who wore red leather armour.
The tower was part of the Kularni town wall, but obviously was much older than the rest of the town.. A request from Whistler to take his horse with him had been turned down, but it was obvious that the ground floor was a stables of some kind. Climbing up to the next floor, they found a fireplace and some sleeping mats (sacks of straw). There was no firewood. A locked door was investigated but there was no way of opening it. They surmised it led to the top of the tower. A guard rota was drawn up and they settled down for the night.

Fluff awoke to feel icy claws at his throat and a hideous face leering over him, its jaws gaping. He rolled over and stood, yelling an alarm and grabbing his sword. Over on one side he saw the body of one of the guards, torn into several pieces. Another of the creatures stood there. A third leapt out of the shadows at Whistler and raked him with a claw; Whistler felt a burning sensation from the claws passing. He pulled his sword and stood, as did Smily and the other guard. “Ghouls”, the guard screamed, “may Vardu protect us”.

Fluff was clawed badly; he felt a horrible burning sensation spread from the wounds, freezing his muscles in vicious cramp-like spasms. Smily and a ghoul faced off, the ghoul missed but Smily’s sword bit deep. Whistler and the guard leapt forward to attack; Whistler struck a mighty blow and decapitated the ghoul that was about to feast on the paralysed body of Fluff. “Do these things stay dead?”, he yelled to the guard. But there was no answer; the guard lay in two pieces on the floor.

A desperate battle then ensued to stop the ghouls getting to Fluff, who was taking damage but was helpless to prevent it. Finally, Fluff collapsed, bleeding badly; Smily took out one of the ghouls but Whistler was bitten and paralysed by the other. Now it was down to Smily, who faced off against the ghoul. A superb blow, well hit, cleaved the ghoul in two.

Aftermath
Fluff and Whistler recovered from the paralysis, but Fluff was badly injured (below 0 hp!). The picked him up and pegged it from the tower. They couldn’t get out of the town as the gates were locked; but they managed to sleep at Janis’s.

(BJ’s note: The combat was played out in full by Ben and I. It really did go down to the wire; If Smily had failed to kill the last ghoul and it had got him………

All xp awards will be made at start of next session)

Edit: 19.12.08: The changes made to the way that hit points are now calculated means that Fluff got a little bit less hurt. He was still KO'd though.

Lianne, my Journal (1)

2008-12-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

I woke, cold and confused. Why was I so cold, and rocking up and down? It slowly dawned on me; I was in the sea, clinging to a large piece of driftwood.. Ahead, against the skyline; I saw land; then the darkness took me again.
I woke on a shingle beach, with the sun rising. Some people were approaching, asking if I was alright. They spoke Manori, but with a strange dialect. They took me to the town, the man escorting me said he was the town mayor and that I was their guest. “Good”, I thought, “as I don’t have any money”. He asked who I was, I told him I was Lianne, of the Arkann tribe. He had never heard of my tribe; I told him of the lands to the north and the great ruined cities, now under a shroud of fear. He appeared never to have heard of them. He asked how I had got here; born with a wanderlust, I left the tribe and headed east. Travelling through the Pass of Noose, I wandered through the kingdom of Arcona until I ended up at Port Gethan. I took passage on a ship. I was asleep on the deck when a sound of cracking timbers jerked me awake. A tremendous shock struck the ship and I was hurled into the water. I grabbed a piece of floating wood, looking back I saw the ship breaking up. Something struck me on the head and I awoke on the beach.
The man shook his head slowly. “Dangerous things swim in these waters. The crew must not have known where they were”.
“So where am I?”
“The Islands of the Skull”, replied the mayor

I thought about this for a while, but then brightened up. “I have no coin to repay your hospitality. Tell me, are there adventures to be had round here?”
“Yes, but there is much danger. There are creatures in the lands around here, and the Kobolds demand a monthly tribute of 100 gold.”
“Tribute? You pay tribute to Kobolds!”
“These are not the Kobolds you are used to.”
He told me of a dungeon not far from the town, I asked if anyone would care to accompany me, but they all refused. “So, all of you big strong men are going to let a girl go it alone?”
“We tried to stand up to them once, but were defeated.”
“Ah, but I wasn’t with you then”.

I searched out the town store and negotiated the loan of some torches, flint and steel, a backpack and a comb (I’ve been in the water for hours, my hair’s an absolute mess). I checked my armour (studded leather) and my two-hand sword and knife; then set off into the forest. After some walking, I spied a clearing with steps leading down. Lighting a torch, I headed down. An empty hall with three doors, the left one eventually led to a room with some cells, two Kobolds and a shrieking baboon in a cage. One Kobold pulled a lever hanging from the ceiling and the cells opened to let loose four ravening jackals. I jammed the torch into a crack in the wall and, with the old ‘Scream and Leap’, waded into the jackals. Some time later, the jackals were all dead, but I had been badly bitten and a lucky blow from a Kobold knocked me out. I awoke in one of the cells; my sword was gone but I still had my knife.
…. To be continued

The Known World – Revisited

2008-12-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

I’ve done a lot more work on the background history of Krorthar, departing and expanding from what I said earlier. A rough history is essential; else how can an item be legendary?

Kularni is a walled town north of the Waste of Rocks. A jumping-off point for adventurers exploring the remnants of the Bright Empire, West are the forbidding Drakon Peaks; east is the road past the False Forest to the Dead Kingdom; north leads through the hills to Ironhold and south leads through the Waste to the Great Kingdom. The Duke of Kularni is a vassal of the Great King.

Ben has created his own part of the Known World. Off the South-east coast; the Islands of the Skull are shrouded in mystery.

Paranoia

2008-12-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

Paranoia

29.10.08

Half –term and I decided to try Paranoia again. Since the last game I’d bought the new Mongoose printing and a collection of classic adventures from the ‘80’s; upgraded to the new system. The first game had been such a blast, I thought this would go down well with the group.
Well, frankly, it didn’t.
I ran ‘Robot Imana - 655C’ from the scenario book. On paper it looked great; a ‘closed room’ mystery; locked in a room with a malfunctioning ‘bot that just “might” be a WMD ( but is actually a drinks freezer). Unfortunately, what looked good on paper didn’t translate into reality. It was more frustrating than fun; both for me and the kids. The previous game had been free-form, with a lot of improvisation, and this had led to the laughs. I’m not going to write up too much; there weren’t many high points to relate. Perhaps the kids would care to comment?
If I run Paranoia again; then I’ll revert to the 2nd Ed. Sorry, Mongoose; there’s just too much in the new version; detracts from the simplicity.

Journal of the Wayfarers – Interlude 3

2008-08-31T05:39:00.000-07:00

In Kularni
John set out to investigate making potions, in the market he ran into Pulan, the stammering servant of the reclusive mage Gennaro.
Smily and Fluff, anxious to get back into the Duke’s good books, hired on as guards. They were ordered to guard the north tower; the Sergeant told them it was a test to see how they shaped up.

=====================
Experience Awards: 31.08.08
Smily 2100 Level 2
Jack 3601 Level 2
Whistler 3150 Level 2
John 2250 Level 1
Fluff 2300 Level 2

Italics = already adjusted. All other HP, abilities etc. will be done start of next session.

Edit: 19.12.08. There has been a change in the way that Hit Points are calculated for starting characters. All characters have been updated.

Journal of the Wayfarers 5

2008-08-31T05:38:00.000-07:00

Return to the Hall of the Gargoyle
5th Tor, Year of the Wolf
Whistler, Shadow (who announced he had changed his name to Jack), Smily and Fluff received a message summoning them to meet Ortho, Duke of Kularni. John joined then at the keep, where the Duke, having heard of their adverts boasting of their prowess, charged them with hunting down and returning with Toorkman, alive if possible, for the 10,000 gp reward. They assured him that they were capable of the job (!)
Setting off along the East road, Fluff and Whistler riding their warhorses, at Axbridge they met two hot bloods looking for adventure. Called Tone and Brone, they offered to come along and help. Jack seemed to have some premonition concerning them.
At the end of the day, near to the Hall of the Gargoyle, without warning a hail of arrows came from the woods to the left – they had been ambushed by bandits! A brief fight ensued, during which they established that Tone and Brone really hadn’t got a clue about adventuring, fighting, or what even time of day it was. But they were eager to help. Brone, when told to stay and cover John, looked around for a blanket or something to keep him warm.
One bandit was captured whilst escaping, brought down and subdued right next to the Hall; subsequently died whilst being questioned without revealing anything useful. There were a few ominous rumbles of thunder at this time, which the PC’s ignored. They made camp overnight outside the Hall. During the night, Smily heard “something” large passing through the forest nearby.
Entering the Hall, some (obvious) prior knowledge by Jack and Whistler prompted questions by Fluff along the lines of “Perhaps you had better tell us everything….”
Opening the trapdoor by means of the rope still attached to the gargoyle’s arm, they descended down the stairs to the first room. Whistler immediately noticed that the human skulls over the right passage had been removed and replaced with orc skulls; also they remarked on the number of orc bodies in the room. A cursory search of the bodies revealed that they had died from stab and arrow wounds. Moving on to the drawbridge hall, they found more bodies; they didn’t bother examining these too closely. Into the pillared hall, there were more bodies, these too were ignored. They avoided the archway leading to the slope down to the slug lair and headed off towards the room where they had fought the orcs. Brone triggered the tripwire but nothing happened; obviously the trap had not been reset (or there had been no need to...?) Moving on into a larger hall that they had not been in before; they found a dead Dwarf (hacked by orc scimitars), before they could investigate further they were attacked by a large ogre. John’s Sleep spell failed to affect it, however Jack was caught in it and slept (yes, even Elves are not 100% immune to Sleep spells). The rest attacked, trying to subdue the ogre; Smily and Tone were wounded and knocked out but finally the ogre was taken down and securely tied up. A search found some potions and gems hidden away. Believing they had captured Toorkman, they headed back to the surface, dragging the bound ogre. Tone and Brone left at Axbridge, Jack paid them a 100gp gem each.
At Kularni, they presented their prisoner to the Duke. He was not amused. “Does this look like a fallen Knight of the Realm?”, he roared. “Take this…thing out and get rid of it. Then come back when you can do the job properly.” They disposed of the ogre into Blackwater lake.
John asked Janis about Toorkman. He was a member of Family Torhouse, a noble house of The Great Kingdom, betrothed to a lady Meroe of Family Andhouse. She broke off the engagement and returned his ring to him; he had sworn that her ring would never leave his finger. Therefore, he cut off the third finger of his left hand and returned it to her, with the ring still worn. Always somewhat unbalanced, this sent him over the edge and he became a bandit. Any noble ladies he captures, he cuts off the third finger of their left hand, so that they can never betray anyone the way that he was.

Journal of the Wayfarers – Interlude 2

2008-08-31T05:33:00.001-07:00

In Kularni
27th Pretor, Year of the Wolf
John the Wizard was approached by Janis the Scribe, with a view to setting up a partnership in reading and writing scrolls and books. She can read Elvish (yLvYsH), but John can read Magic. John agreed, Janis said she would work out the details and be in touch.
Fluff and Whistler each bought a warhorse, despite warnings that they lacked the skills to ride one in combat effectively. They each handed over a sum of money to Tomas the Honest to find someone to train them in mounted combat.
A rumour was heard that Orrando the Merchant’s daughter Kally was missing.

Journal of the Wayfarers 4

2008-08-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Hall of the Gargoyle

22nd Pretor, Year of the Wolf
Seven days after the Ides, Fluff, Smily and John had gone to spend some time fishing. Shadow and Whistler were joined by three new adventurers, a fighter named Asumel (Alec), a Korslander barbarian named Jim (!) and a wizardess called Bobita ( played by James and Charlotte respectively). Kularni was buzzing, a 10,000 gold reward was on offer for the notorious bandit Toorkman. His latest outrage was to raid a caravan belonging to the Red Cardinal, but he is also notorious for cutting off the third finger from the left hand of any noble lady he captures. After some asking around, they learnt that Toorkman raided along the east road. Working out that the reward was worth 2000 gold each, they decided to capture him. They bought some equipment, Bobita bought a scarf out of the market.
Setting off along the east road, passing through Axbridge they crossed the bridge and followed the road . After an hour or so they heard strange, fey music coming from out of the woods to their left. Climbing a tree, Shadow saw a ring of toadstools with several merry pixies dancing round, drunk on elderberry wine. Bobita tried talking to them, all was going well ( although the conversation was somewhat giggly and random) until Shadow tried to grab one of them. The pixies got annoyed, handed over all their treasure (3 blood rubies), then vanished. Asumel, Bobita and Jim took a ruby each. Bobita glimpsed a stone building deeper in the wood, square with a domed roof and four entrances, one in each wall. Inside was a 12’ stone pillar with a gargoyle on top, staring at a spot on the floor. Shadow shot an arrow at the gargoyle, they decided it was probably a statue. Asumel found that by pulling the right arm, a hatch slid back in the floor where the gargoyle was staring, revealing steps down.
At the foot of the stairs there was a choice of passages, The right passage had a human skull nailed over it, the left hand passage had three orc skulls nailed over it. The centre passage had nothing. They found a lever on the wall that opened and closed the sliding hatch. They chose to investigate the right hand passage. All, that is except Bobita, who chose to go it alone along the centre passage…

The right-hand passage led to a guard post with 2 orcs. These were easily taken down but not before one yelled an alarm. More orcs came from the west passage, again after a brief fight the party won through to a larger room where they found some treasure and evidence that it was a larger guardroom.

Meanwhile, Bobita found a large hall with an artificial ditch crossed by a drawbridge; the bridge was down and the winding mechanism was on the far side of the ditch. She continued through into another hall with four supporting pillars. An archway led to a sloping passage down, there was a rank, sewer-like smell. A further slippery slope dumped her into a water-filled passage. Wading along this, suddenly a huge shape reared up in front of her…

Having cleaned their weapons, Asumel, Jim, Whistler and Shadow headed through the south passage. Turning left at a crossroads they came to a large hall with an artificial ditch, crossed by a drawbridge. Over the ditch the hall stretched away, with passages to the left and right. The bridge was down and the winding mechanism was on their side. They raised the drawbridge; as they did so a party of orcs came out of the left passage, stopped in confusion and then, in guttural Common, asked to be let in. There was some argument and eventually the orc leader smelt a rat and told his men to go round the other way. Shadow then confirmed their intentions by shooting an arrow at the leader ( which missed). The Wayfarers chose to stand their ground and ambushed the orcs as they came charging down the passage. Shadow took out the leader with a superb shot though the eye, Jim and Whistler took out two and Asumel leapt forward to protect Shadow from the last orc. After a brief rest, they lowered the bridge and ran across, heading right.. They passed into the pillared hall but ran straight through the archway (unknowingly following in Bobita’s footsteps). Turning left, they found a dank-smelling room with a set of manacles and chains fastened to an iron peg in the wall. They surmised that this was a prison cell. Investigating a sloping ramp, Whistler, Jim and Asumel lost their footing and slid down it into a flooded passage. Jim landed head-first and swallowed some water; he spent some time retching and throwing up. Shadow managed to keep his balance at the top of the ramp. The water surged and suddenly a huge, slug-like creature reared up in front of Whistler, a hideous sucking maw had traces of Bobita’s scarf stuck in it. Whistler hit it, but then took a serious wound from the creature. They retreated down the passage; Asumel struck his foot on something under the water. It was a sword in a scabbard; the blade was bright and had runes of power inscribed on it. Telling the others to escape, he faced the slug-creature alone. The sword dealt it a serious injury, bits of dissolved bone spewed out of the wound and it retreated. They managed to get out and back to the pillared hall. Investigating one of the passages, they triggered a spear trap that hit Whistler in the back, nearly KO’ing him. Asumel led the way and narrowly avoided falling into a pit trap. Two orcs across the pit entered into a brief shooting match but were taken out, but there was no way of crossing the pit. As Whistler was hurt, and with no way of healing him, they headed back to the surface; meeting nothing en-route. They made it back to Axbridge by nightfall.

“So, what happened to Bobita?”
“I think we found what was left of her”

Journal of the Wayfarers – Interlude 1

2008-08-03T03:39:00.000-07:00

In Kularni, the Ides of Pretor
Having escaped the slurping grey ooze, back in Kularni, the Wayfarers amused themselves by advertising various services and items. On the Ides of Pretor the following adverts appeared on the information post at the Four Gates: -
“Are you no good at archery? Want to kill forces unknown? Come to Fluff’s archery place. We will help”

“Whistler’s Heads. I’ve got five heads, 10 gold per head. Useful balls”

“Need an adventurer or a bodyguard? Ask Shadow Blast (Shadow) TODAY!!!”

“Fish! Fish! Fish!. Learn the art of fishing. Contact John the wizard. ‘Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he will eat a lifetime’”

“Whistler’s Fighting Lessons. Only 5gp a session. Work on self-defence and help annihilate killers”

“Fighting Lessons! Destroy the dark forces of evil. Contact Smily”

“John’s writing lessons. All equipment provided. 10 gp per hour session. Look for the wizard named John”

“Need to track an animal? Lessons 5 gp a lesson. See Shadow”

"Have you found a treasure map recently, but can't go to get it? Employ us. Look for the Ranger called Fluff"

Whistler and Shadow started making plans to travel to the Far Isles, to seek out the Tomb of Karian.

Journal of the Wayfarers 3

2008-08-03T03:01:00.000-07:00

14th Pretor, Year of the Wolf
Following the Ogre Hunt, the Wayfarers spent some time in Kularni, buying stuff and waiting for Smily and Shadow to heal fully. Fluff hired a warehouse from Orrando the Merchant for 15 weeks, John bought a mule and saddlebags to transport stuff. During a talk over drinks one evening, Shadow and Whisper mentioned the goblin lair, after some discussion they decided to pay it a visit.. They set off on the 10th Pretor, reaching the ruined house by midday. There was a brief encounter with a wild-eyed fighter called Sturm who was seeking the wizard Karalyon; Sturm claimed Karalyon had ripped him off and that he was going to put such a cleft in his pointy hat when he caught him. No-one knew who or what he was referring to, so Sturm headed towards Axbridge.
Descending the steps, they ignored the old guard room (where Lorn and Dorn had died) and headed into the ‘L’ shaped room. Major lesson to be learned – do not assume the room will still be empty.. A brief battle with the goblins left the goblins all dead. Exploring south, the passage led to a large hall, lit by a central fire pit, it’s flickering light revealing a hall full of leaping, cavorting goblins. Fluff and Shadow shot arrows at the nearest two, Fluff’s shot failed to take out the goblin, who screamed for help. The rest charged in and attacked. The hobgoblin Skluff, who was sitting on a throne at the far end, recognised Shadow and Whistler, he opened a compartment in the arm of the throne, took out a pottery sphere of some kind and threw it at the party. A cloud of grey dust enveloped Fluff, John and Shadow. Skluff then ran to the corner of the room but a Sleep spell from John took him out. Eventually all of the goblins were killed. A search turned up some loose change, Skluff was carrying an iron key, a map (“to some big blokes wiv lotsa cash”) and some gold (actually what he took off Whistler and Shadow earlier). Smily experimented with the throne and found that pulling up the left arm opened a secret door in the wall. Heading through into a narrow 5’ wide passage, Shadow had to leap backwards as a pit opened under his feet. This was crossed by climbing down it and up the other side, as it was judges too dangerous to try and jump it. On the other side a lever in the wall opened a secret panel into a bedroom. Searching this they found two potions (of Healing) that Fluff took possession of. The door out led back into the ‘L’ shaped room, although at first they didn’t recognise it and decided that something else was going around the dungeon. Heading back to the Goblin Hall, at the T –Junction, a huge spider dropped from the ceiling onto Whisper. He was bitten and poisoned before the creature was killed but fortunately the poison had little effect. However, they had to use one of the healing potions to cure him. Moving through the hall of dead goblins they went down a short flight of steps to a strange temple – an altar block and a round plinth with a demon-like statue ( which John recognised as being Demon-Lord Firakh, Servitor of Gorthan, Lord of Evil). This knowledge, perhaps, should have warned them not to mess. The statue eyes were gems, looked like fire opals, Whisper and Shadow set about prising these out. Smily investigated the altar, he tried to open it, the top would not move but he did find a series of small holes just under the rim. As the last eye came out a horrible gurgling noise came from the altar and a grey gunge began to flow from out of the holes. This formed into an amoeba-like creature. Fluff hit it with his axe, only to see in horror that the axe-head dissolved. The thing spat out an impossibly long tendril and hit Shadow, causing some nasty acid burns. They ran out of the temple, looking back Shadow saw and heard the thing pursuing them, albeit somewhat slowly. Back at the corridor junction, another spider landed on and poisoned John, he nearly died but the last of the healing potions was used to cure him. The grey ooze was nearly upon them so they ran out of the dungeon, found that John’s mule was still where he’d tied it up (and hadn’t been eaten!) and returned to Kularni.

Journal of the Wayfarers 2

2008-08-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

2nd Pretor, Year of the Wolf
Stopping overnight in the village, the following morning they were joined by three other adventurers, a Ranger called Fluff (Daniel), a Fighting man called Smily (Ben) and a Wizard named John (John). The village Reeve (for such he was) promised them a reward for proof of the ogre’s death; then led them through the fields, passing a burnt-out farm, to the edge of the False Forest. Stepping-stones crossed a small stream, on the far bank, in the mud, was the imprint of a large clawed foot. Heading into the woods, after some time they found a hut with and old man sitting by an open fire. Talking to him, they found out that to find the ogre they “…must travel north. Where the path divides, use your common sense. At the Stone Pool, throw in a sprig of hazel and a coin at midnight; then follow what you see.” He also gave then a handful of Goodberries; advising that they be used before the next of the full moons (there are two moons in this world). John asked him to describe what hazel looked like.
Travelling north, they came to a fork in the path. The left-hand path was straight, smooth grass, lined with flowers, whereas the right-hand path was twisting, boggy and choked with briars and thorns. Remembering that they were in the False Forest; where all is not what it seems, they chose the right-hand path. All except Shadow, who marched off down the left-hand path?

The right-hand path was difficult going and brambles and thorns sorely scratched them. At one point, in the distance, they heard thudding hooves and the ‘thwack!’ of a bowstring, followed by a long drawn-out scream. “Oh dear”, they thought, before continuing. Eventually the path joined another coming in from the left, passed through some thick gorse bushes and emerged back at a muddy clearing they had found earlier.

Meanwhile, Shadow headed along the path, all his Elven senses alert for danger. Without any warning, he was attacked from behind by a huge wild boar. He managed to loose off a shot, but was badly gored and knocked out.

Leaving the clearing and heading north, the track climbed up into the hills, eventually ending in a hollow with a huge standing stone archway. The trail ended just beyond in a grove of trees. A suggestion was made to burn the trees, fortunately, as shall be seen, they did not pursue this course of action. The old man had told them to seek a stone pool, but finding nothing they returned through the gathering dusk to the inscrutable wise old coot to seek clarification. However, when they got there, they found the garden overgrown, the hut ruined and no signs that anyone had lived there for years. Puzzled and at a loss, they went north again; at the Straight Path they were amazed to see Shadow calling to them. It transpired that he had only been knocked out (true! – BJ). Night was falling; lighting torches they hurried up the path to join him. Suddenly, Fluff was charged from behind by a wild boar. He and Smily were unhurt and John felled it with a Sleep spell. To their amazement the boar shimmered blue and disappeared.

Back at the standing stones, it finally dawned on them to climb up and look on top. In a hollow on the upper surface was a pool of rainwater. Cutting a sprig of hazel from the grove of trees, Fluff threw it and a coin in at midnight. The image of a cave mouth appeared, followed by a constellation of seven stars, and then faded. Looking in the sky, the constellation was seen, low in the west. Heading west along the hill line, after about three miles they came to a cave; the lair of a mean one-eyed wolf that dealt Smily a grievous wound before being killed. Trying to heal Smily they found out what the Goodberries did (provide healing and nourishment).

After a short rest they continued along the hills, the forest a dark brooding mass below and to their left. After about four miles they came across another cave. There they found the outlaw Rogar and his female companion Kira. Kira was badly wounded and dying. Rogar offered to help them find the ogre, but only if they first help Kira. It used their entire supply of Goodberries to help her; she was still not cured but at least she now had a chance. When asked how it had happened, Rogar simply replied that it had happened during their escape from the prisons of the Red Cardinal. At dawn, he pointed out a ruined tower jutting up like a broken tooth about four miles to the south, the lair of the ogre.

Approaching the tower, the ogre appeared to be asleep, judging by the noise. Shadow crept forward and woke it up by shooting an arrow at it. The ogre grabbed a club and came out fighting but a concerted attack soon killed it.. A search uncovered some treasure, plus a fragment from a diary making reference to “…the Tomb of Karian, somewhere on the Far Isles.”

Returning to Axbridge, they collected the reward for the ogre’s head, then returned to Kularni.

Journal of the Wayfarers 1

2008-08-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

1st Pretor, Year of the Wolf
It was the on the calends of Pretor when Whistler, a fighting man (played by Joe Wallace) and Shadow Blast (!), an Elven Ranger (played by Ben C), set out from Kularni to investigate a ruined building just off the disused North road, in the False Forest. Approaching the ruin they met two fighters, locals out to seek adventure. They were brothers, called Lorn and Dorn, and they readily agreed to accompany them. Investigating the burnt-out ruin, they found lots of cobwebs, a spider-like carving on the wall and a flight of steps down. Investigating the steps, they were ambushed by some goblins, these were killed but Lorn (or Dorn) was badly wounded. Dorn (or Lorn) stayed with his brother whilst Whistler and Shadow Blast pressed on. A large ‘L’ shaped room held more goblins, these too were taken out. Returning to check on Lorn and Dorn, it appeared that something had snuck in and killed both of them, leaving only drained husks.
An ill-advised attempt to burn a large tapestry revealed another door, but resulted in clouds of smoke that attracted a crowd of goblins led by a hobgoblin. The situation looked hopeless but Skluff, the Hobgoblin, made a deal as he was planning something and “don’t want none of my boys killed.” They had to pay over all the gold they were carrying, but at least they escaped alive.

Returning via the village of Axbridge, they were stopped by a panic-stricken villager. An ogre has been raiding the northern farms… they must help…

Rebuilding the Known World

2008-08-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

I decided to restart the campaign world, again using a campaign system I found on the Net as a base (of course, by the time I’d finished messing with it, it has ‘evolved’ somewhat). The system is called the Microlite Campaign System. Basically, you design what you need and no more, add to it as you need and as the games are played. Using a hex map, pick a hex and this is the start ( in my case, the town of Kularni). Then, in each of the surrounding hexes, place an encounter of a suitable level to the campaign ( so mine are fairly low-level). I then ran an adventure for Ben C and Joe, to get used to the system and then did some more design work on Kularni (so there were a few NPC’s to meet and places to spend money). I then ran a further adventure (the Ogre Hunt) that Daniel, Ben and John joined in; meanwhile I went back and revised the first adventure, building on some leads they had found. I also (provisionally) located a couple of other places on the map that had been mentioned; these were further away and as of yet I have no idea what lies in between. Map travel is simple; each hex is about 4 hours travel, so two hexes is a normal days travel. Should the PC’s all get horses (or something) I may revise this, but it’ll do for now. Because Ben C and Joe and talked about the first adventure; they all decided to head back there. During that adventure they found a map to another adventure; I now located this on the main map and finalised the design work so that this is now ready to play. Meanwhile, Ben and Joe had expressed an interest to seek out the Tomb of Karian, which is on the Far Isles; so I have now started developing that area. Also, back in Kularni, more work is going on, there is now a more detailed map of the place.
So, the campaign world evolves as the games are played, reacting to meet the needs and wants of the players; rather than the more ‘traditional’ method of creating the world and history, then dumping the players in the middle of it. I do have some idea of how things came to be, but at the moment I’m keeping an open mind.

Introducing Castles & Crusades

2008-08-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

Returning to fantasy RPG’s, introducing Castles & Crusades. This almost a remake of the ‘original’ Dungeons and Dragons from back in the 70’s, but with the benefit of 30 yrs + development. Very rules light; a task resolution system that doesn’t involve lists and lists of skills and feats, shortened spell lists and some rationales behind the rules ( wizards can’t wear armour? Well, yes they can wear any they like, but cannot use any class abilities (eg: cast spells) unless they take it off). A lot is left open to the ref to customise; again something that the Great Old Ones amongst us, who grew up with the original, will appreciate. It was also endorsed by the late EGG himself (RIP Gary), who rewrote the entire Castle Greyhawk campaign for it.

Paranoia 02.04.08

2008-08-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

Following the fun we had playing Citadels and Munchkin the week before, and also following the chaos that most of the RPG’s I had run began to descend into; I decided to run a session of Paranoia. This was Second Ed. as my copy of the new Mongoose one hadn’t arrived. The players were Ben C, Charlotte H, James H and Richard ? (Matthew ? was on holiday; a pity as I think it would have been right up his street).Paranoia, for those new to it, was the game that turned the basic concept of RPG’ing (teamwork, loyalty, explore and get the treasure etc.) on it’s head. Paranoia is set in an underground complex called Alpha Complex, controlled by a well-meaning but deranged Computer [Serve the Computer. The Computer is your Friend.] The Computer wants you to be happy and so employs teams of Troubleshooters to go out, find trouble, and shoot it. The main object is to survive; usually at the expense of others. Of course, they have the same goal. Imagine a film of 1984 made by the Marx Brothers and you’ll get something of the idea. I pregenned the Troubleshooters so I could arrange a secret mission for each one, gave them a brief overview of what they knew of their world (i.e.: basically nothing) and they started in a red-painted room with a button and a blank panel on the wall.Of course, someone pressed the button and the panel lit up, counting down from 60….59….58….57… A search for doors proved futile so they cowered in the corner of the room. When the counter reached zero a slip of paper slid out of a slot beneath the screen. On it were instructions to report to the Equipment Room. A panel slid open, revealing a corridor. A conveyor belt took them through a series of chemical sprays that first dissolved all their clothing to sludge, then dissolved the sludge to another kind of sludge, then baked it hard with infrared lamps and finally sprayed them with jets of warm water., before depositing them in a room containing some red clearance jumpsuits, reflec armour and laser pistols with red barrels.Richard used an unauthorised colour (blue, way above his security clearance) to write on his PID (Personal Information Document = Character sheet) and was questioned by his Friend, the Computer. Appearing to be deaf, he was restrained whilst the Personal Hygiene Auditory Exploratory Cleaning Module cleaned out his ears. He survived with only a few bubbles down the nose. The briefing screen ordered them to report to the Equipment Room to collect mission equipment; again Richard said he couldn’t hear properly. The PHAECM came into use again but this time….ah well, his head exploded.Shortly after, his replacement clone arrived out of the corridor and, with Ben finally elected Team Leader they set off along another corridor; emerging onto a balcony part way up on the edge of a huge warehouse about five miles across by four miles deep. Some argu…. discussion ensued about what to do next; it was then they discovered they were standing on rail tracks, with a huge cargobot rumbling towards them. They ran off down the tracks; but Charlotte resolutely stood her ground; stating that she liked ‘bots (? – news to me!) The cargobot got to within a few feet, then with a “Warning! Warning! Activate anti-Vermin Removal System”, lasered her into little pieces, then carried on. (Memo: in Paranoia, if something looks like it might carry weapons; it probably does).Further on, the others had reached a platform off the tracks and the ‘bot rumbled past. Charlottes replacement clone arrived by flybot carryall and they all examined the platform. A control panel with a dial, some levers and a large button. Some fiddling around led to the platform rapidly heading downwards at terminal velocity. Pressing the button applied the emergency brakes, resulting in them slamming into the floor of the platform. James tried to climb over the edge of it; when it began to move again he tried to climb back, landed on the control panel and yet again they were heading floorwards at high speed. This time, they got it to stop at the level of the Equipment Room, to be met by Muzz-Y-HED and fined for being late.Whilst being outfitted (all carrying two backpacks each!), Ben asked if could write on the back of his PID as there wasn’t enough room on the front. Not a good idea. He was awarded some Treason Points for questioning the design of the PID which was done by CPU Service Group under Computer Directive B1123/24/678/B.2. Maybe Richard really was deaf, because shortly afterwards, he asked the same question, with the same results. They also got their Mission Briefing: - go to Room A – here and take item from it to Room B.With the jackobot leading the way, they headed off to Room A. The ‘bot tried to take a shortcut through a Blue corridor; obviously they had all learnt by now as they all refused to follow and the ‘bot had to be ordered back. Going the long way, after about 10 miles they reached some food vats ( a long hall; they were on a catwalk with bubbling vats criss-crossed by pipes – a cross between Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and a sewage plant). Realising that the ‘bot could not cross the pipes; Ben ordered it to go back and meet them on the other side. Charlotte did not want to sent the ‘bot away; accusations of being a treasonous Commie ‘bot lover flew, and first Ben, then Richard shot her; she fell into the food vat, where she quickly dissolved, (quite amusing as Charlotte had made this up; it wasn’t in her pre-generated character).Eventually getting across a slippery pipe to a balcony on the other side, they found a Cruncheetyme Algae Chip Dispenser and got some food ( the kids broke here to get some food and a drink; they ALL came back with ready salted crisps – a Red packet, cleared for their security level, and Mars bars, again red and black. Surely they didn’t think that their Friend the Computer would penalise them for eating Salt ‘n’ Vinegar (Green) or Cheese ‘n’ Onion (Blue))? Charlotte’s new clone met them and eventually they arrived at Room A, along with the jackobot.. They found that the object was a large metal thing that practically filled the room. Despairing at this, Richard appeared to express a deathwish, The Computer showed concern that Richard was unhappy and suggested he took a Happiness Pill. This put a slight smile on his face. Ben took two of them and got such a beaming grin that his head cracked in two. His new clone arrived by elevator shortly afterwards.Charlottes and Richard were sent to find Room B; they found it on the level below, directly below Room A. Charlotte had some fun trying to get the lift to work to get back; at one point she was heading upwards at escape velocity; then downwards, then sideways etc. Finally she pressed the button for Level 42 and got back to Room A. There was discussion going on about cutting through the floor when the game was called due to time.Thus ended the game. It was great fun and produced a lot of laughs. Paranoia is true free-form improvisational theatre; other that the basic mission and the starting room and corridor, everything else was improvised and extrapolated from what was being said and done at the time. Also, at one point, the game of Power Grid on the next table was disrupted by Matt laughing at what was going on.Yesterday, my copy of the new Mongoose printing arrived. Still reading it, but it has been totally revised to bring it up to date with the 21st Century. Alpha Complex is now an economy and you can even sell stuff on C-Bay! The game system has been overhauled and streamlined and looks good. I’ll be running some games in the summer. Ben loved it and said it was the best RPG session he’d played..

Long absence

2008-08-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hmm..has been quite a while since I posted anything. There hasn't been a lot of RPG'ing going on recently at the club or at home.

Around Oct 07 I ran a short 2nd Ed AD&D adventure at Halesowen Boardgamers; it was a bit of a mess and didn't play very well. I can't find the notes for it so it'll have to fade into obscurity.

My first game of Corporation as an Agent

2007-08-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

Corporation – Operation Pisces
23.08.07

Well tonight, I got to play in a game of Corporation. My character is female, named Jodi Kazan. Originally trained as a pilot for the Western Federation; currently working for a little-known Corporation called Amazon, based in the SA Freestate.
The mission briefing was thus: although much of the flora and fauna of the Earth has been destroyed, there are creatures that survived. Reports have come in of sea creatures (sharks, whales, jellyfish etc.) been sighted with cybernetic modifications. This is illegal under UIG law and Amazon itself acts to preserve what is left of Earth’s wildlife. The source of the creatures has been traced to an undersea lab complex. My job was to go in and destroy the labs.
I was supplied with scuba gear, an electric spear gun and five explosive charges with radio detonators. Transport was on a fast jetboat out to the target zone. Making sure the captain wasn’t peeking, I got changed into the scuba gear and took two of the explosives plus detonators, plus the spear gun. I left my Cougar behind (stupid!)

Swimming down into the ocean, I saw a metal cylinder with a hatch and a window leading into a cliff; over this was a huge open pipe, large enough to take a whale. Looking through the window, nothing was visible to I went in via the hatch. It was an airlock; inside the cylinder were two scuba suits. The ceiling was the underside of the pipe; a hatchway with a locking wheel paralleled the pipe. Stepping through, led to a corridor under the pipe with three doors leading off. Suddenly there was a surging sound, as if something large had passed down the pipe. Picking the left-hand door; it led onto a L-shaped corridor. At this point a guard rounded the corner. I pointed the electro spear and, putting on my best intimidating voice, said “Drop the weapon and turn and face the wall. This is a high-power electro weapon, at this range my friend, it will fry your brains.” Unfortunately, he wasn’t intimidated and pulled his gun, putting a shot into me. The histonamide and synaptic modulators were well up to handling this (but it still stings); realising that the spear gun was pretty ineffectual out of the water and cursing my stupidity in not bringing the Cougar; I launched into a close combat assault. I tried to grab the gun off him but got shot in the chest; at point blank range; I fired the electro spear and hit him for maximum damage.. He broke and ran for the door. I tried the Voice again “Hold it right there. This thing is now set to full power and I’ve got a perfect shot.” This time it worked and he surrendered. Quickly relieving him of the pistol and ammo, I marched him down to what seemed to be a rest area with some spare uniforms and helmets. I learnt there were two other guards and two laboratories. There was no way of locking the door or restraining him; but I don’t kill unnecessarily. I produced one of the explosives and armed it; then I got changed into the smaller of the two uniforms ( it fitted; maybe they do a “one size fits all”) “Now, you are going to stay here. And to make sure you do, I’m going to put this bomb outside the door. If you open the door, then the proximity detector triggers the bomb. Do you understand?”. He understood. Closing the door, I deactivated the bomb and moved back down the corridor to the main passage.

Now dressed as a guard, I entered the door at the opposite end. Still the huge pipe overhead. Following this through another door, it led to a large cavern. The pipe entered above, the cavern was filled with an array of cylinders and massive test tubes, holding sea creatures. There were also huge pools. Moving amongst these were white- coated scientists; as I watched they were modifying a shark, installing some kind of cybernetic jaw. Slipping out again, I paused for thought. At the other door off the main corridor I heard voices; laughing and joking. The other two guards?

Then a message came via SVC. The boat was under attack from a giant shark with a metal tail; the last thing I heard was “Don’t come up, help is on its way, repeat, don’t….”

Returning to the laboratory, I slipped in without being seen. The pipe was overhead, so I used my T- Jump (I’m a telepath – didn’t I say?) to jump up onto the pipe. I placed one of the explosives onto the pipe; then T-Jumped back down; again without being noticed.

Heading back to the other door, I opened it and marched in. The two guards looked up, one said something but I growled back “someone’s got to do the rounds” (Ok, they must have been blind). Through the next door was another laboratory like the first; I did the T-Jump up to the pipe and placed the second explosive.

Back with the guards; “anyone want a drink,” I said, before moving out into the main corridor. I quickly recovered the scuba gear; got suited up and then moved back to the airlock. There I was faced with a gruesome sight; pressed up against the window was the captain of the jetboat; entire left side of his body including his arm, missing. I activated the smeaker; to find that there was another boat on station.

Pulling the inner hatch to; I activated both detonators. Two muffled explosions from deep in the complex. I closed the hatch, then exited the airlock. Nearby, on the seabed, were the remaining explosives and detonators, so I collected these.

Swimming up to the surface, it appears that Histonamide is able to cope with oxygen narcosis, decompression stops were not needed. At the surface; I made it to the boat as, about 3 km away, appeared a huge shark with a metal tail …

=============================================================================
The game halted due to time constraints; but what a blast! I really enjoyed the game and it demonstrated just how versatile this system is. There are no rules for scuba diving, or specific Skills (although perhaps I could have sought out a Task Chip); so it was all made up on the spot.
We used Intimidate, Disarm and Bluffing; all of which, in other RPG’s; have complex rules. In Corp they don’t; so you’re more inclined to use them.

But, what makes this stand out for me, is that this entire Mission was conceived, written and GM’d by my 10 year old son Ben. And that, to me, is the grip that this game has.

Corporation - Redemption Spire Episode 2

2007-08-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

The second episode opened in a briefing room back in Drome Spire. A further two agents had been drafted in to Division Alphanor and despatched to assist; as intelligence reported that there were higher levels of security than originally planned for and that the original exit route had been compromised.

The new Agents were Stoopod (Daniel), a gunbunny toting an M50 and Grave (Jon), a Teccie. They were given the same entrance route and took the next scheduled sub-orbital flight. Exiting over Redemption Spire, Grave landed safely but Stoopod was caught in the thermal updraughts and had to make a second attempt. On the balcony they found the rope the first Team had left and quickly abseiled down to the 643rd level. Making contact by smeaker they joined the others outside the door to the laboratory. Stoopod and Grave went to the guardroom and looted the bodies of their handguns.

This is where things started to go wrong. Moving down to the next set of doors and seeing the two guards; Stoopod eased the doors open and threw in a frag grenade. Unfortunately he missed his aiming point and the grenade fell the wrong side of the security station. It exploded but did little damage. It did, however, set off an alarm and alert the guards. The Division burst in through the door and a firefight started; then, with a tremendous roar, Stoopod cut loose with his M50, blowing both guards to pieces in short order. Riku shot out the (previously unnoticed) security camera. Searching the remains of the security station they found an X-Ray scanner (linked to the device round the door) and a commlink.

Stoopod opened the door behind the guardpost; he was hit several times by gunfire from a door across what appeared to be an engineering lab. He slammed the door; Grave tried to throw in a grenade but was hit as soon as he opened the door.

The commlink crackled to life:- "G74, report status...... G74 please respond...." Winter was designated to respond but was unable to think of anything to say (he had been busy applying a medpack at the time). "G74, please report status.....G74, please respond....". Winter finally thought of something... "Uh... hello" , he said. A general alarm went off (klaxons, flashing strobes, steam jets(!), the lot). "General alert...security breach on Level 643... Squads 365 and 568 to investigate"

It gradually dawned on them that perhaps the mission was FUBAR, so they made plans for escape. Picking the lock on the double doors at the end of the corridor, they exited onto an L-shaped corridor; facing a bank of elevators and some stairs. The indicator on the elevator showed it was on its way up.

Now things got worse. Stoopod, Riku and Grave took positions facing the elevator doors; whilst the others ran off down the corridor. The doors opened and two guards wearing full combat armour, carrying machine pistols, exited the elevator. Stoopod let fire a full burst at the nearest guard; only to see with dismay the flickering glow of an ion field take most of the damage. The guards returned fire, injuring Stoopod and Grave. Riku moved back into the corridor leading to the laboratory and climbed out of the window.

Grave tried a dive and roll to get past the guards and ended up next to one of the huge glassteel windows.Stoopod ran off down the corridor, bullets zipping past him.

Meanwhile, Winter and the others ran up the stairs to find a helipad with a Gates-Learjet GL61 helicopter. At the opposite side of the helipad a squad of guards were exiting a stairwell. They piled into the 'copter and tried to get it started. Stoopod joined them. Grave tried to gapple a guard and take him as a hostage but he messed it up and had to run for his life up to the roof.
The helicopter took off with Grave flying. Riku called via smeaker for pickup; there was some debate over this but Grave hovered the 'copter over the balcony and Riku climbed in. It was then that Ilyana, in the co-pilot seat, noticed on the radar two blips closing fast. Her PDA identified them as X40 Pursuit helicopters, armed with RPG's. Stoopod opened fire on them with his M50 but did little damage. A few RPG's were fired; then Riku climed into the co-pilot's seat and took over. With his piloting skills they escaped and rendezvoused with an E.I flying wing carry-all out over the South Atlantic.

The debriefing session:
Colonel Kazan reviewed the Mission statements and reports. There were a lot of accusations thrown (GM: this was a fun bit to listen to; basically everyone blamed James for setting off the alarm; but he didn't. Players, please take note: NPC's are not stupid. As soon as the grenade went off, one of the guards triggered a local alarm linked to a central security station. Hence the call on the comlink.)
Riku handed over the 500c scrip and the ODESSA file.

Board of Review Findings:

1. The Mission was a failure
2. The killing of the two unconcious guards was unecessary. Missions must incur the minimum collateral damage; these people could be EI customers
3. The use of heavy weapons on Missions of this nature is to be reviewed
4. There was evidence of insubordination within the Division. Refusal to follow a Division Leader's orders is a disciplinary offence. It is the judgement of the Board of Review that this was the prime cause of the failure of the Mission.

. The Divison are insubordinate, belligerent and uncordinated. Deep cover traing is to start immediatly
===================================================================

Well, that was my second session of Corporation and it went with a blast! Having gained two extra players during the break; I had to get them there somehow. However; it was clear right from the outset that Daniel was not going to accept Ben as a Division Leader.

GM's thoughts:
There was a marked tendency and train of thought to fight to the bitter end. I think this is a legacy of computer games. One all the alarms started going off; they were all for fighting it out. When I suggested the possibilty of escape; most of them looked blank; or said they would get shot to pieces.

CORPORATION

2007-08-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

Corporation – The first game Weds 08/08/07

This was the first playing of Corporation at Halesowen Boardgamers. Corporation is a game set in the 26th Century, where Earth and its surrounds are controlled by vast mega-corporations. The players are Agents of a Corporation, undertaking various missions. The game only came out last year, the rules are excellent, well-written and work well and the rulebook itself is a work of art. Check out http://www.corpgame.com/ for further info.

The players were the junior members of Halesowen Boardgamers, all Executives of Eurasian Incorporated. Ben C played Riku, a droid engineer; James played Winter, an Observation specialist; Matthew G played Fish, a Hacker; Matthew played Gaarak, a Security Specialist (thief); and Charlotte played Ilyana Dumas, a master of unarmed combat equipped with some assassins devices.

After an introduction to the game system they were given a briefing sheet. I ran Redemption Recovery, the intro mission in the rulebook; but wrote it out again and statted the guards; plus noting some useful rolls. Told to choose a leader and given the designation Division Alphanor, they elected Ben. A few prompts from Kazan, their Briefing Officer about equipment and had they considered exit routes etc. and they were ready to go. Their mission was to travel to Redemption Spire, Cape Town and recover a stolen piece of cybertech from a Comoros reverse engineering lab. The entry point was to exit a sub-orbital shuttle above the Spire and, using drop suits, land on a ledge on the 644th floor

On the shuttle, gaining access to the cargo bay was relatively easy and they exited approx. three miles above the Spire. Gliding down, they were caught in a vicious thermal up draught; Garaak landed ok but the others had to try again. Ilyana and Winter landed the second time but both Riku and Fish had to make a third attempt. Fish nearly snagged a communications antenna on the way in.

Ilyana swung down off the ledge and through the middle window on the 643rd floor. To her surprise it was open! As the others followed she scouted the room, noting a computer terminal on a desk, a chair and a filing cabinet.. The cabinet held sheets of paper with rows of numbers; nothing of interest. Noting a line of light under the door and correctly surmising that it probably led onto a corridor; Riku slid one of his AV bugs under the door and linked into his PDA. The bug showed a corridor with a security camera and three doors, the middle one transparent. Fish set up his computer using the rooms data socket and hacked into the camera. The image showed three doors; the left hand one had a sign [G74], the middle transparent one read [DECON] and the right-hand one read [CHEMICAL STORE]. Fish looped the camera signal to show an empty corridor (nice idea Matthew G!).

Deciding it was safe to enter the corridor; Riku slid a bug under the door marked Chemical Store, but it was dark inside. Ilyana noticed the transparent door led onto a corridor lined with red-glowing lights, ending with another transparent door. Winter and Gaarak, at the door marked G74, heard a radio playing Skansa music. Summoned by smeaker (sub-vocal communicator); Riku slid an AV bug under the door. The bug showed four guards in combat armour and helmets in a guardroom.

A plan was quickly decided. Winter opened the door, threw in a KO gas grenade, then slammed the door. When they opened it again there were still three guards awake, a fifth was unconscious in a doorway at the rear. Without further ado the Agents opened fire on the guards and a vicious fire fight erupted. At its height, Fish withdrew back to the office to check on the cameral looping. Winter took heavy damage but eventually the guards were taken down. Gaarak executed the other unconscious guards (“ because they are witnesses!”. The radio was still blasting out Comoros Skansa; outraged by this, Riku threw the radio down the toilet.

They checked out the other doors; the Chemical Store held, well, chemicals; one office (identical to the one they had entered by) had 500c slip in a drawer (slip is unregistered cash, illegal under UIG rules) and the other office held an encrypted data disc labelled ‘ODESSA’. Riku took both the disk and the slip. He intends to turn them over to Eurasian.

Opening the transparent polymer doors; the Division ascertained that there was some kind of scanning device at the far end.

The game stopped at this point due to time constraints, and is to be continued in two weeks time.

This was my first running of Corporation and the game delivered in every area. The rules are simple; intuitive and yet flexible enough to cover every situation (the thermal up draughts mentioned above being a case in point). Combat is fast and effective (it must be noted here that I down-powered the guards; cash-strapped Comoros wouldn’t have guards with ion shields guarding a tin-pot facility like this). Having said that, Winter is down to 1/3rd of his HP; thus demonstrating that Agents are above-human; not super-human.

2007-07-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

Tales from the Emerald Pentacle Issue Eight

Once more, O followers, comes a tale from the Emerald Pentacle of the exploits of the junior section of Halesowen Boardgamers in the fabled land of Talislanta.

Following the debacle at the House of Tizun Thane, they decided to lie low for a while and keep out of Thane’s way. Interestingly, none of them saw fit to inform him that a Cymrilian wizard named Aquilane was after him. However, the rooms at the Emerald Pentacle were expensive and funds were running low.

Jenny and Mr. Quiz returned to Silvanus and Thermite…, well, who knows where Thermite went to. The others stayed in Cymril; awaiting the start of the Magical Fair; as they still had the lottery tickets they had bought off Cil the Euphorica seller.

A summons came one day towards the end of Laeolis. Stoopod groaned as he saw Pulan, the stammering, be-turbaned servant of the mage Gennaro, approaching them. Shortly afterwards they were in the familiar room with the glowing blue walls, behind one of which loomed a huge, deformed shadow. When Gennaro began to speak they realised what they had forgotten; Thane was a friend of Gennaro’s. Thane was still vexed over the loss of the Mirrors and was seeking redress. They were to undertake a quest for him. To the west, beyond the forests of Vardune, a pure white waterfall cascades out of a hillside into the Axis river. Their quest is to discover the secret of White Feather Falls. Also, Gennaro added, if they were to see any Crag Spiders on the way then he needed more venom collecting.

After some equipment purchases in Cymril, they set off for Vardune, home of the Aeriads. After a day or so travelling they reached a valley with a shallow river running towards a range of hills. Following the river, it plunged into a cave, with a trail alongside. K’kree elected to wait outside on watch whilst the others entered the tunnel. After a short distance it widened into a cave’ suddenly with a loud CRACK!, something struck the wall next to Stoopod’s head. A second shot hit Grave a glancing blow; a hurried lighting of torches and a search revealed a ledge at the far end of the cavern with two Darklings shooting sling stones at them. A brief exchange of missiles took place, with Throtal hitting one Darkling in the chest, then with a superb shot, shooting the other right between the eyes. K’kree then flew in and attacked the remaining Darkling with a crescent knife; the Darkling fumbled, dropped its sling and ran off down a tunnel.

Following the river, Grave and Stoopod entered another cavern where the river was crossed by a natural stone bridge. From out of another tunnel came the sound of running feet and a Darkling burst out; Stoopod swung a mighty blow and hewed the unfortunate creature in two.
Another tunnel sloped up, from this came a foul carrion stench, whilst the river continued. They decided to split up (for an unknown reason); K’kree and Throtal followed the river tunnel whilst Stoopod and Grave headed up towards the stench.

Stoopod and Grave headed upwards, the stench of rotting meat and offal growing worse by the minute. A cave, with several exits, proved to be the lair of some Stryx; flying carrion-eaters. “Look, meat has come”, croaked one, “let us prey”. They reached for their capture-hooks; vicious barbed pole-arms designed to capture targets. Stoopod chopped one hook up with his Greatsword and started on his attacker; Grave cast an Arcane Bolt, then drew his longsword. They made short work of the male Stryx; seeing this the two females went into a berserk rage and Grave was badly clawed; even Stoopod took some damage before the Stryx were beaten off. Moving on, they found an egg chamber; the stench was so bad that Stoopod finally lost control and vomited the contents of his stomach. A sloping tunnel led down…

(Meanwhile, back in Cymril, a young girl entered the Emerald Pentacle. “I seek Stoopod the Thrall. Has anyone seen him?”)

Down in the river tunnel, K’kree and Throtal found that the river was now rushing downhill and becoming rockier and noisier. A small natural rock bridge led to a crack in the wall; inside they found the dead body of a Ferran. Searching it, they found a small amount of gold and a scrap of a map: -

Firefool?
Ring
Of Fire

(Sorry readers, the map didn't copy)

Returning to the main tunnel they followed the river, still rushing downwards. They came to a place where a branch of the river flowed off through a low tunnel, they started to crawl through…

At the foot of the sloping tunnel, Stoopod and Grave found a cave with a shallow pool, fed by a sluggish stream from the far wall. Next to the pool was a sinkhole; occasionally the water would well up and flow down the hole. A crunching sound from underfoot; the floor of the cave was littered with small bones, some bitten in half. Stoopod examined the sinkhole, it was about 18” diameter and wet and slimy. Suddenly, something splashed into the pool next to them.

Throtal and K’kree crawled along the tunnel, pausing at one point to toss a sling bullet ahead of them. They emerged into a cave, to see Stoopod and Grave peering into a pool.

(“I know Stoopod the Thrall. He frequents this place But he is not here now”
“No matter. Point him out to me when he returns.”)

So ended the first part of the adventure.

2007-07-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

Tales from the Emerald Pentacle Issue Seven

Come, O reader, whilst I tell a tale of fear and dread. For it was in the month of Laeolis, when the blue moon was high, that fear and madness not only stalked the streets of the Crystal City; but also struck at the party of adventurers themselves. Once again we return to Cymril, capital of the Seven Kingdoms on fabled Talislanta, for an adventure involving the junior members of Halesowen Boardgamers.

Having had to pay for board and upkeep for the last few weeks, Stoopod decided that he could no longer keep funding the rest of the party (especially Throtal, his fellow Thrall). Thermite the insane Arimite had rejoined the party, and Jenny was still suffering the curse of ‘Malador’s Maddening Itch’, causing her to lose concentration at inappropriate moments. Seeing an advert offering a reward they decided to investigate further: -

Using the skills of true investigators, they didn’t actually follow up many clues. They did find out that there had been a series of mysterious killings around the Vardune Gate area of the city. A young Cymrilian had been found dead off Viridian’s Way, his throat ripped out; a male Gnomekin was found broken in half nearby; a male Cymrilian was found dead in bed, his chest ripped open, a female Arim was found dead with her throat slit, and finally a Thrall mercenary was found with his head ripped off, his shattered Greatsword next to him.

Something seemed familiar about the area, it took some time but Stoopod and Throtal finally realised that they were near to the house of Tizun Thane. Locals knew very little, there was a rumour that a Beastman had escaped from a sideshow; others thought it was the work of a demon summoned by a vengeful Farad wizard. One thing was plain; all of the locals were terrified.

They headed for Thane’s house, as Stoopod had told them about the Shadowcat that he and Grave had encountered last time. In the stables they found a dead Equs, apparently starved to death, entering into the house they found it pretty much as they had left it following the fight with the Jhangarans. Stoopod led the way to the room where the Shadowcat had been, only to find it deserted. A worktable held a scroll, a large bound book, a small bottle of liquid and an iron bound chest. Jenny took the scroll (Dispel Magic, a spell she can’t use); Grave looked in the book, to find it was a spell book of Enchantment spells, K’kree found the bottle contained an invisible liquid that didn’t seem to do anything; Stoopod opened the chest to find a scything blade nearly took his hand off; the chest contained 95 silver pieces.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Throtal pulled out a dagger and plunged it into Stoopod’s side, sorely wounding him. Stoopod retaliated, along with K’kree and Thermite; but at the last minute realised that Throtal may not have been acting under his own volition. However, Thermite took a lot more persuading, even though Throtal and Stoopod resolved their differences. Throtal did agree to pay over 50% of his income to Stoopod as wergild for an indefinite period of time.

Moving on, they found a tall domed chamber with an open skylight; on a plinth was a 12’ tall black ebon statue, posed as if doing a ritual dance. K’kree flew up to the skylight to find that it looked out over the city, Stoopod found that the statue’s lips were stained red. A lot of discussion centered on blocking up the skylight in case the statue came alive in the moonlight; however they wasted so much time that night fell; moonlight flooded the chamber and nothing happened. Thermite also climbed the statue, found that the red stain was, in fact, blood, then fell off and hurt himself.

Entering another room, they found three mirrors. One returned a normal reflection, and one returned a ‘true’ (i.e.: non-reversed reflection.) The third mirror was cracked diagonally from top to bottom and had a man trapped in it. He was (silently) pleading for help, holding up his left hand sporting an ornate gold ring with a green zigzag line on it, with his right had pointing up. He was silently pleading with them; fortunately Jenny had lip reading skill and was able to establish a communication with him. Stoopod, Grave and Thermite, after some effort, succeeded in breaking one of the mirrors. Thermite tried to break the other one, but was unable to. Jenny finally realised that the man was indicating up, out of the room. They headed upwards for the tower room, but found nothing. Then, Mr Quiz remembered that the last time they were here, he had picked up a Kasmiran puzzle-box., and dug it out of his pack. He couldn’t work out the code, but Jenny managed to do so, inside were two rings; a gold one with a green zigzag line and a bright blue (adamantine?) one that she sold to Stoopod.

The returned to the mirror room, Jenny put on the ring and pulled the man out of the mirror by putting her hand on it. He was very grateful and introduced himself as Tizun Thane. He was trapped in the mirror when someone broke it; he does not know whom. He does not know what the statue is; he was studying it. Thermite pulled a dagger on him; Thane activated an Amulet of Warding and advised Thermite that, although he was very grateful for his rescue, not to attempt such a thing again.

Aftermath:
Seeing that two of his mirrors were broken; Thane was disconsolate. The mirrors were Malderon’s Mirrors, worth 50, 000 gold lumens each.

2007-07-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

Tales from the Emerald Pentacle Issue Six

Again, O reader, we return to the Emerald Pentacle in the crystal city of Cymril, for another Tale concerning the exploits of the junior section of Halesowen Boardgamers.

It was Jhang and the red moon was high, a month or so has passed since they returned from the False Forest. Thermite had returned to Arim and Grave was off following up a rumour he had heard. The rest had a rude awakening when they were saddled with a bill for 250 gold lumens for board and lodging. They were discussing finding work when Pulan, the stammering servant of the mage Gennaro, approached their table and informed them that his master had need of their services. Stoopod and K’kree had worked for Gennaro before so they accepted the offer. The job was easy; they were given a sealed scroll and told to take it to the house of Tizun Thane, hard by the Vardune gate. Tizun would reward them with work. On no account were they to break the seal on the scroll. Stoopod took the scroll and off they set.
On the streets they met Cil, a young Cymrilian Euphorica seller, who appeared to clad in no more than a cloud of shimmering sparks! No one was interested in buying Euphorica (a recreational drug popular in the city), although a half-hearted attempt was made to haggle over the price. She then produced some lottery tickets for sale at 1 lumen each, to be drawn at the Magical Fair on 14th Phandir. Everyone except K’kree bought a ticket, Throtal borrowing money off Stoopod to do so.
At this point there was a massive explosion from ahead and a huge, fiery creature burst out onto the street in a cloud of green and purple flame. Mr. Quiz recognised it as being a pyro-demon, Jenny fired off a slingshot at it and Throtal and Stoopod ran in to attack. The creature breathed a huge gout of fire over both of them. K’kree flew up and over its head, as he did so he saw a man standing on a rooftop, watching. Blows from Throtal and Stoopod finished the creature off; the watcher vanished in a puff of green smoke. When they ran up to the roof, he had gone.

After enquiring as to the way they eventually found the house of Tizun Thane, near to the Vardune gate. K’kree flew up to scout the roof, finding no way in; the others, led by Stoopod, walked in the front door. The house appeared deserted; explorations found a library, with a large statue clad in red iron Kang battle armour, and also a kitchen, with steps down to a cellar.

Exploring the cellar, K’kree found a secret passage; heading down this he narrowly avoided falling into a pit (only because he had the Bracers of Levitation). Steps up led back, through a secret panel in a bookcase, to the library. Exploring back from the entrance hall they found a fountain of sweet water that restored some health; a metal door that they couldn’t open, and stairs up. Up the stairs, a corridor led off left and right with doors. They each chose a door and charged in, to find bedrooms. A search revealed nothing of interest (although some of the adventurers took the opportunity to use the chamber pots found under the beds). However, when K’kree entered his chosen room he was greeted with a piercing shriek; the room contained a four-poster bed and sitting up in it, clutching the bedclothes, was a young woman, topaz-skinned and completely hairless. “Who are you”, she shrieked, “what are you doing here?” The others came running.
“We want to speak to the manager”, replied Stoopod (as they had convinced themselves that the place was actually a hotel of some kind). “Who is the owner and where is he?”
“This is the house of Tizun Thane and I am his…(she coloured)… paramour. I do not know where he is; he often goes for some time, then returns. “
“What is your name?”
“I am Aa.., Lysa. Now, allow me to get dressed.”

They left the room and were about to investigate the door at the far end of the corridor when suddenly, from below, came a loud crash. Guttural shouts followed, then came a clear voice giving instructions: -
“Search the house. I want Thane alive, but kill anyone else. Keep anything you like.”
“! Obey, we do!

(GM: This is where it gets confusing).

Stoopod, Jenny and K’kree ran downstairs, to see several Jhangarans wearing the yellow wrappings of the mercenary, piling in through the door to the inner hall. Throtal ran back to the bedroom where they had found the woman; Mr Quiz stayed on the upper landing. Stoopod went face to face with a Jhangaran and bested him; Jenny hit a few with her sling but then closed in with her dagger; which she proved to be very proficient with. K’kree hid under the stairs (!)
Throtal received no answer from the woman when he called out, went into the room to find it empty. He ran back to the stairs, to find Mr Quiz downstairs locked in combat and K’kree trying to sneak up the stairs. He called out that the woman had gone; from somewhere outside a voice said “Thane’s whore has fled. Search and capture her.” The combat moved in the PC’s favour, however they were all getting hurt. Stoopod noticed a man (possibly a Cymrilian) who appeared to be in charge, make some gestures and suddenly vanish. Seconds later, first K’kree, then Mr Quiz, were hit with Arcane Bolts. Finally the Jhangarans retreated. Near to the door a levitating figure of a Cymrilian mage appeared: -
“Twice today you have thwarted my plans. I, Aquilane, am sorely vexed by this, and I will not forget. Don’t think I won’t try. There will be a reckoning.” He then flew out of the door.
K’kree recognised him as the man he had seen earlier on the rooftop.

Aftermath, whilst looting the bodies of the slain Jhangarans (who appeared to be carrying far more money than they ought to have been), Throtal came back downstairs in time to see the woman, now dressed, trying to sneak out through the front door. With only a split second to react, he yelled, “Come back and we’ll give you some money”; at which point she fled out into the city.

Mr Quiz and Stoopod broke through the metal door by using Mr Quiz’s Arcane Bolt to melt the lock, whilst the others headed back upstairs to the metal door at the end of the corridor.

Stoopod and Mr Quiz found a magician’s workroom; but the air went suddenly very cold. Mr Quiz felt something brush past him …

Upstairs, Throtal broke through the door, to reveal a blank wall. K’kree investigated and found a false wall, leading to a passage.

Mr Quiz cast a Spell of Radiance; revealing that their opponent was a Shadowcat, obviously here as a guardian. Stoopod attacked it (“Well, it’ll die easily”), only to find his sword passed straight through it. It then sucked out some of his life force and started to become corporeal. They both ran out, the cat didn’t pursue. They ran back upstairs to join the others.

Upstairs, the passage led to another door. Stoopod found that spy holes along the walls of the passage looked into the bedrooms they had investigated earlier. Through the door, they found themselves in the base of the tower, with three chests and a table. The chests contained substantial quantities of copper, silver and gold; on the table was a small Kasmiran puzzle-box that Mr Quiz took.

Stoopod tried to open the scroll that Gennaro had given them. Both K’kree and Throtal urged him not to; he couldn’t break the seal so he persuaded Jenny to do it. When unravelled, the scroll read

“If you are reading this, then it is because you have disobeyed instructions and done something which you were told not to do. Accordingly, whoever broke the seal is cursed with Malador’s Maddening Itch. G “

They returned to the Emerald Pentacle, bearing their loot.

Jenny noticed that her fingertips had turned red and felt warm.

2007-07-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

Tales from the Emerald Pentacle Issue Five

Once again, dear readers we meet again to hear yet another of the Tales from the Emerald Pentacle, set in the fantastic world of Talislanta, run by Brass Jester of Halesowen Boardgamers.

These feature some new characters and the story is told from the viewpoint of one of them, Tarra, a Danuvian Virago.

‘ I’m sitting in the Emerald Pentacle, waiting to meet my new employer. “An important contract” said Captain Varis; “serve the Gyne well.” Ha! I know full well why I’m here; one day there will be a reckoning between Varis and me.
Drinking aquavit, not bad but a bit pricey. Approached by a Calladian, name Aurelianus. Contract is an expedition to the Vaults of Locris on the Kasmir border. What’s the pay, I ask. 60% of all you find, but I get all scrolls and texts found, he replies. So what’s there and who was Locris? He doesn’t know. The Tomb was mentioned in some obscure reference in an obscure tome written in an obscure language. Well, that’s cleared that up then. Interested? No choice, Varis would love it if I went back to her and said it was not for me.
‘Then you shall meet your fellow adventurers’ said Aurelianus, ‘come forward’
Is this a joke? A scowling Jhangaran and a child-like Gnomekin!
‘Am very pleased to meet you’, purred the Gnomekin. I recognised the trappings of a Crystalomancer. ‘Our questing will be good. Am Aro Erobia’
‘! Hear. I am Vock!’ rasped the Jhangaran. ‘I fight well, woman’
Resist urge to split stupid elongated skull open. ‘Glad to hear it, man of the swamp’, I replied.

Aurelianus laid out a scroll on the table. Route to tomb on Kasmir border, passage arranged on land ark, but I will ride Brinni, (my Greymane equs). Stupid swamper lost his Marsh Strider in a scam. This is a joke. Hope a real job turns up soon.

Something’s wrong, my mane is prickling. Pulled a dagger, turned and threw, hitting a whisp hovering nearby. Whisp dropped a clear crystal; Aro pounced on it. ‘Is enchanted glassite. Are being spied upon’.
Everyone’s staring. What’s wrong? Ahh… it is illegal to throw or use missile weapons in the Crystal City. By the Seven Moons, I didn’t damage anything (other than the whisp). The green skins shouldn’t be so touchy.
Aro says crystal is a power gem so could be used by anyone. Ask Aurelianus, who else is interested? Does not know; probably not telling the truth. Aro very excited, thinks may be able to seed glassite crystal. Do not know what he is talking about.

Head out into city to buy equipment.
! Hear. I will lead!’ rasps Vock. Suggest arm- wrestling contest; winner is leader, no questions asked.
!! ** !!! ** !!

Well, I really messed that up. Vock is a lot stronger than he looks. Still, a soldier follows orders. Let’s hope he doesn’t get us killed. Vock suggests all monies found pooled and split three ways. Sounds all right; perhaps he is not so stupid.

23rd Drome: Kasmir border.

Ruins of Kasmiran tower on hill to west. Captain Perris states ark will return in seven days, told Brinni to return in two days (I know he understands me).
Exploring tower. ! Hear. The woman will go first!’ He is so pushing it!
‘ Come look, have found something of interest. Am very pleased to have done so’
A landslip had uncovered asset of double doors. Symbols on doors; unknown to me. Strange repeating bubble motif. Our leader forced the doors open. Steps down to hallway; whole place stinks of decay.

Exploring. Found grille blocking access to a chamber; Vock tried to rip it out and strained muscle in back. Aro pulled out green crystal; ‘ Am using Emeralite Radiance of Terra to heal injury’. It must have worked as Vock recovered.

A set of doors, Vock listened and pronounced ‘! Nothing! There is nothing.’
Stupid Jhangaran! “Nothing” turned out to be five Darklings. Aro hit one with a bolt of Terra’s Fires but then Vock and I waded in.
Took few blows and armour absorbed all of them, but couldn’t land a solid hit! What’s up with me? Captain Varis would have a field day.
Vock getting hurt from slingshots; Aro went in and did a Spell of Healing. Finally all Darklings down; searched bodies and found 10 lumens, five of which I gave to Vock (as he had seen me).

Ironbound strongbox contained a cloak of spinifax, 300 lumens in a cloth bag, a Crystalomantic crystal (an Amberite?) and, well hidden, a vial of 1 dram Fearflash.

A pause whilst Aro did another healing spell on Vock, then we continued. Found a secret door leading through a mirror into a room we had previously found; backtracked and opened another door to be assailed by an unbelievable stench! Never smelt anything like it and nearly lost my dinner; Vock drew his sword and waded in to the slime-coated room. Then I saw what was causing the stench: three Urthrax! Even the sight of them was nauseating. Aro cast an ‘Earthshield’ spell and followed me. I got bitten but my armour deflected the bite; got a bit slimed though. Vock holding his own but Aro getting bitten; turned and cleaved the thing nearly in two with a massive halberd blow. Finally killed them all (without throwing up). Found a chest, which Vock opened. Contained 100 gold lumens and a bottle of Thaecian nectar (I think, I’m not going to drink it until the bottle’s had a good wash).

‘ Am weak. Magic very exhausted’

! Explore! Run if we must!

“ And if we can” I thought.

Vock marched down a passage and into a room with four doors, containing four Darklings.

! Weak! Will take them easily!

Vock went, trying double strikes. Soon getting hit and taking damage.

“No good’” gasped Aro. “Magic exhausted. Am sorry”

Charged in with halberd: Darkie well hit and cleaved in two! Spun round, took out second one. Vock double strike, took out other two. In corner was pottery urn, containing 500 gold lumens and 2 sheets of fireproof parchment (suppose the Calladian will claim that). Small locked iron chest, unable to open so carried it outside.

All of us were hurt so retired outside to ruins and waited for land-ark. Returned to Cymril; rented a room at the Emerald Pentacle for 10 gl per week

! Hear! You fight well, woman!

“So do you, Vock”

2007-07-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Tales from the Emerald Pentacle Issue Four

Welcome, once again dear readers, to the fourth issue of Tales from the Emerald Pentacle, chronicling the adventures of the junior section of Halesowen Boardgamers in the world of Talislanta.

When we left our intrepid explorers they were settling down for the night, trapped inside the ruins of Fabian’s tower, however, before we continue with their story, our thoughts must fly far to the north-west, to the land of Silvanus, home of the Sarista.

Jenny and Mr. Quiz had taken a journey back to Silvanus; on the way they met up with a dour Arimite knife-fighter calling himself Thermite (Matthew #1). Deciding they had ‘something’ in common (what, one asks?), they were walking through the woods when without warning, a strange whirling tornado, shot through with pink and amber, scooped them up. They where whirled this way and that, finally landing on a featureless “area”. There were no doors, no walls, no ceiling and no floor. From behind, a voice spoke; “Do not turn round. I am Pandelume. Your friends are in danger and need your help. If you do not go, they will die.” They agreed to go; the voice said “hold out your hand, I must place something in it. Do not turn round; no one may gaze upon Pandelume; it is the Law. When you return to the woods, crush the object.” They were whisked back to the woods where they had left; each was holding a small golden/rose acorn like object. On the count of three they crushed them, a shimmering golden haze arose round them and they where whirled this way and that…

At the tower, dawn had broken and they began to look around the tower. Stoopod found a heavy iron ring set in the stone floor and exerted all his strength to pull it open, revealing moss-covered steps leading down. At this juncture, K’kree called that the wind was rising, whipping up into a gale. In the distance could be seen a strange whirling tornado, shot through with pink and amber. Before they could react it was upon them, dissipating to nothing to reveal Jenny, Mr Quiz and Thermite.

Following introductions, Stoopod went back to investigating the trapdoor. Looking into the well (finally!), Thermite and Mr Quiz saw, about 15’ below, a huge statue holding an upraised sword. Stoopod, Jenny, Throtal, Mr Quiz and Grave fell over themselves trying to get down the steps, whilst K’kree and Thermite stayed in the tower courtyard. At the foot of the steps they splashed into 5’ of water, somewhat unlucky for Jenny who is only 5’ 5”! Stoopod picked her up. The statue was 12’ tall, standing on a 7’ pedestal; a horned humanoid of hideous visage, made of silvery-flecked stone (it looked like an Enim, but no-one realised this). Attempts to get the sword failed, it was part of the statue. Swords just bounced off the stone and Throtal’s arrow shot ricocheted round the chamber.
Finally it dawned on them exactly what the ‘powerful spell of Dispel Magic’ that used to be on the scroll had been intended for. A plan was devised that both Grave and Mr Quiz would simultaneously cast Dispel Magic on the statue. The spells went off, the silver flecks faded and, yes; of course the statue came to life.

Jenny and Stoopod ran back up the stairs, Stoopod having first tried to fight the thing and deciding it was unkillable. Throtal bravely stood his ground and fought like a true Thrall, but took a terrible pounding and eventually slipped to the ground unconscious (in 5’ of water remember). Thermite drew two knives from his belt and, giving a harsh battle cry, leapt down the well onto the things back, stabbing deep with his knives. He continued to hang on and stab it, but was eventually swatted off and flung across the chamber. Mr Quiz blasted the thing with an Arcane Bolt that barely touched it; he too then made his escape. Thermite threw a knife at the things back, then ran and adroitly slid between its legs, getting to the stairs. During the melee the thing had dropped the sword that it was holding (GM: I think it was something Throtal did, but I can’t remember what), Stoopod ran back down to try and get it but the thing pursued him. He did manage to pick up the sword out of the water and also dragged Throtal out. Back on the surface, with a terrible rending of earth the thing burst up through the ground. Mr Quiz tried an Arcane Bolt on the gate blocking the entrance, it glowed red-hot but wasn’t destroyed. Stoopod hit the thing with the new sword, there was a flash like summer lightning and it staggered. K’kree fired his tri-bow at it and it exploded into dust, with a faint clattering as Thermite’s knives fell to the floor.

Throtal was dying, nearly dead. Jenny tried a healing spell but the effort was too much and she took a backlash that hurt her. Bravely, she tried again and succeeded. Throtal was unconscious but no longer dying. K’kree flew to the outside to see if there was any way to open the gate, finally they found a lever on the plinth down in the well and were free.

Pulling Throtal on a travois they headed off, finally reaching a rickety wooden bridge over a marshy stream. They crossed this without incident, although they did hear the distant sound of heklers off to the southwest. They reached the grove of Withergall trees and then the willowood by the stream. Stoopod pushed K’kree under the branches to see if the curse was still working, K’kree stumbled and hurt his head. Passing the lightning tree they took a wrong turn and found the pit with the chig. Pressing on to the hut of Knutt; they found him there chopping wood. He offered to sell them some wood but Stoopod just said he was going to die. When Knutt asked why, he replied, “Because you tried to kill me.” Knutt enquired as to why he would want to do that, a loud chorus of voices yelled; “because you hate butterflies!” That was enough to set Knutt off and he raised his axe. Unfortunately the axe-head fell off, undeterred he hit Stoopod with the axe handle, only to receive a return stroke from Stoopod’s Greatsword followed by a clip from K’kree’s tri-bow in the chest that took him out (Care in the Community, Talislantan-style!) Looting the hut, Stoopod found 60 gold lumens that he took, promising to share them later. An excursion down a new path (more misremembered directions!) brought them to a ruin of a stone building surrounded by mist; night was falling so they camped down in the late Knutt’s hut (all except K’kree, who spent the night in a tree.)

The following day (26th Ardan), Throtal had recovered enough to be able to walk. After some more wandering about they finally found the way out and returned to Cymril, reaching the city on 28th Ardan.

Aftermath
Various members of the party set about seeking training in various skills
The news from Sindar was that Nadir Horvanth did not win the Trivarian tournament, being narrowly beaten in the fourth septrad by Nadir Punten

(GM’s notes: Just to show how ‘X-filey’ things can get, right at the beginning I got Jenny et al into the game by saying ‘your friends are in danger’. It wasn’t set up (honest!) but if Jenny hadn’t been there then Throtal would have died.
This is the last of the Talislantan games at the club for a time as the school holidays have come to an end. I’d like to thank all the kids who took part for making Talislanta ‘come alive’; I hope they all enjoyed the experience and we’ll continue in the next holidays).

2007-07-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Tales from the Emerald Pentacle Issue Three

Greetings all peoples, to the third Tales from the Emerald Pentacle, detailing the adventures of the junior section of Halesowen Boardgamers in the fantastic world of Talislanta.

21st Ardan 620
All eyes are on the Sindaran city of Nankar, where the annual Trivarian tournament is under way. Excitement is running high as Horvanth, of the Neo-Neurian sect, is proving to be a more-than capable Nadir.

Meanwhile, in a side room in the Emerald Pentacle, thoughts were turned to more mundane matters. Stoopod (Daniel) and Grave (Jon), having returned from the Borderlands, met up with K’kree (Ben) and Throtal (Matthew) and were puzzling over the scroll that K’kree had been given by the beggar in the False Forest. K’kree had determined that it was some kind of puzzle and had gone a long way to solving it. The actual poem read: -
“ Fabian invites noble daring men. Yesterday the other warriors eagerly rode their hordes ever nearer the hideous enemy: exhausted yet exalted, men of undaunted trust, hall heroes against nameless darkness, swords wielded over rising doom”
Decoded it read: -
“Find my tower, then the eye, mouth, hand, sword

They decided to search Cymril for a tower (a city of elegant stone and crystal towers!), then after a time decided to ask around. They met up with a Pharesian peddler named Horvase, “Rumours are not for rent, although roomers often do rent”. He advised them that towers with eyes are usually to be found in Aaman; finally they mentioned Fabians name and he advised them that Fabian lived in the False Forest, that he died there and what killed him is probably still there. He is in the market for rumours; Stoopod and Grave tried making up a few but somehow Horvase didn’t believe them:
“Aaman is trying to take over these lands” Reply: “The priests of Aa have been trying to convert all non-believers for many years. If you care to take a trip across the square to the Temple of Aa the Omniscient, they will be more than willing to escort you to a House of Penance, where you will emerge a true believer. This is a fact, not a rumour”

Finally they set off for the False Forest, arriving on 24th Ardan. Entering the Forest, K’kree flew up and spied out the land, seeing what appeared to be the ruins of a tower to the south and also some Batranc circling in the air high up.

Deciding not to go towards the river at the lightning tree, they headed south; hearing the sound of chopping wood they met the woodcutter by his hut. He warned them about Muses in the forest and told them to go west, not south. In return, Stoopod warned him about some Muses about five miles away (blatant lie)! Knutt thanked them, saying he would deal with the problem. Heading west, without warning the ground opened up and all but K’kree fell down a deep pit. Knutt appeared, carrying his axe and a large bucket; he accused them all of being Muse-lovers and, despites K’kree’s efforts to stop him, hurled the bucket into the pit. It burst open and out poured a swarm of Chigs, 6” long multi-clawed insects. Stoopod and Throtal were attacked: Grave managed to use some iron spikes to climb up out of the pit; Stoopod followed him and Throtal clawed his way up with his bare hands. Meanwhile, K’kree was fighting Knutt the Mad Forester; sometime during the melee the subject of butterflies came up (possibly because of K’kree’s vestigial wings?) Anyway, this triggered ‘something’ in Knutt and he ran off screaming about the nightmare butterflies. K’kree flew into the pit to peck off the chigs from Throtal (nice idea Ben!); and everyone got out.

After a rest they followed a trail out, arriving back at the lightning-blasted tree. They went to the river, found the willowood with the skeleton of the catdrac; and then headed south to the grove of Withergall trees. K’kree and Throtal insisted that they had tried to go South-west past the trees last time (wrong! -it was South-east) they went south-west and found themselves climbing a grassy knoll. The trail ended in a cave, from which came a low droning sound coupled with a very high, almost inaudible sound like the chiming of a glass bell. From beyond the knoll came a raucous heckling sound [a cross between parrots and howler monkeys; as if any existed on Talislanta], some distance away; plus to the south, about three miles away, could be seen the ruins of a tower.
Stoopod and Grave decided to enter the cave; Grave lit a torch. Throtal stayed outside; K’kree decided to try and fly to the tower.

The cave: advancing cautiously they entered the main cave. At the far end was a low tunnel with daylight; but in the centre was a large nest crawling with Amber Wasps! Very aggressive, the sting from an Amber wasp is so painful as to produce the wildest and most unseemly gesticulations, thrashings, contortions and howling in its victims Stoopod is immune to fear but still retreated (Thrall still feel pain), but Grave remained, thinking. The wasps were ignoring him anyway.

K’kree flew steadily; the tower was only about three miles as the avir flies. He landed at the tower, rested; and then returned to the knoll.

The cave: Grave tried to think of many ways to use his magic to get rid of the wasps [GM: Using the new Tal4 rules; many of his ideas could have worked]. In the end, he cast Invisibility on himself and sneaked round to the far entrance. There, he found a curious trail of booted foot/animal claw: which he followed: the heckling sound getting louder from ahead. Following the trail he met the Hermit with the Odd Crutch (it’s got a huge animal foot on the end): who promised him all his riches if he would make them go away or stop. ‘Them’ are the dozen or so Heklers (bird-like creatures) in the branches. Grave tried to think of a way to get rid of the heklers

Meanwhile, at the other end of the cave, Throtal and Stoopod debated what to do. It had been about an hour and a half since Grave had gone into the cave. They eventually made a run for it across the cave, Throtal narrowly avoided being stung. They followed the strange trail …

The clearing: The hermit offered to take Grave to his treasure and set off into the forest; the heklers followed them. Grave used an Illusion spell to make he and the hermit blend into the background; the confused heklers stopped their noise and they managed to get away. The hermit led Grave back to the clearing, reached into the hollow tree and produced a handful of nuts, berries and stones: - his ‘treasure’! Hearing the heklers returning, a somewhat bemused Grave took the treasure and left the crazy old hermit. Striking out through the forest, he splashed through a swampy area and emerged into a clearing with the ruins of a stone tower jutting skywards like a broken tooth.

Stoopod and Throtal lost the strange trail and waded through a swampy area, finally emerging into the clearing with the tower. Grave was already there and shortly after K’kree flew in.

Deciding to press onwards, they entered the tower to see a cracked and weed-grown flagstone floor, a well, and on the far wall, a stone head gushing water into a stone basin. At this point an iron portcullis slid down over the entrance archway, blocking it. They figured that they had to put the fist-sized rock into the hollow eye socket; this stopped the water flow and K’kree was able to put his hand into the mouth and pull the lever inside, opening the secret drawer. Inside was a scroll case, with a scroll written in Archaen. a language which Grave could read. It was a powerful form of Dispel Magic. Now things went a bit wrong. Standing well back, they tossed a stone down the well; it clattered around then landed with a splash. Grave cast the Dispel Magic at the well but nothing appeared to happen. He then tried one of his own Dispel Magic at the stone head; still nothing happened.

The day was drawing to a close and Ardan was beginning to spread its purple glow over the forest. They settled down for the night.

So ended the first part of the third adventure…

{GM’s note: a large part of this adventure was run with a real-life thunderstorm going on in the background!}

2007-07-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

Tales from the Emerald Pentacle Issue 2

Welcome all, to Issue two of the Tales from the Emerald Pentacle, chronicling the adventures of the junior section of Halesowen Boardgamers in Talislanta

14th Ardan 620
Stoopod and Grave were off on the Eastern border for a time so K’kree was left to his own devices. Having had his cloak made, he joined up with a group of new adventurers; A Thrall named Throtal (Matthew, new to role-playing), a Sarista gypsy named Jenny (Charlotte) and a mysterious Zandir swordsmage calling himself Mr. Quiz (James). They were planning an expedition to the False Forest, having heard that Smokk had been sighted there (a Smokk is a valuable creature with an innate ability to locate treasure). Having bought equipment they set off for the forest, reaching it two days later on the 16th. Entering into the misty woodlands, they encountered a tattered figure with whitish skin begging for alms. Some confusion here (“arms? What’s he want our arms for?”), until Jenny suggested giving him some money. She and Ben did so and he thanked them; saying he used to serve the wizard Fabian. Fabian gave him a scroll which, when deciphered, would lead to a great treasure. He also gave K’kree a fist sized polished stone; then disappeared into the mists. They had a good look at the scroll, which contained an epic poem, but couldn’t figure it out.

Poking about inside the hollow of a lightning-blasted tree revealed nothing so they headed towards the sound of running water; across a ford they saw a willowood tree with a sleeping man and a sleeping catdrac; the catdrac had its jaws open. K’kree went forward to the man and promptly fell asleep; Throtal followed him; resisted for a moment but then too succumbed. Jenny and Mr Quiz debated for a moment; Jenny could detect a magical aura coming from the tree. Mr Quiz cast Dispel Magic on the tree and successfully removed the curse. Everyone woke up; the catdrac immediately leapt upon K’kree (he is part-bird after all!) Mr Quiz took it out with a well-placed arrow. Throtal reasoned that the catdrac must have been creeping up on the sleeping man when it too fell asleep (well done Matthew, spot on!)

After this, they spent some time panning (dredging) for gold in the stream (?) Not surprisingly, they didn’t find any. Moving onwards, they entered a grove of Withergall trees surrounded by dense thornwood. Roosting in the branches were about a dozen Morde; skull-headed avian scavengers. It was obvious that the Morde did not want them to pass to the Southeast, of course they pressed the issue and the Morde attacked. After a fierce melee the surviving creatures retreated back to the trees: K’kree threw his crescent-knife at one and started the fight again! Eventually the Morde were killed or driven off, K’kree was badly clawed and Mr. Quiz had broken his weapon (it was thought that Throtal had broken his Greatsword, but this turned out to be untrue). K’kree paid Jenny 20 silver for a Healing Spell, they then decided to return to Cymril to heal and re-equip. The journey back was uneventful and they reached Cymril on the 18th.

Shortly afterwards, Jenny and Mr. Quiz departed for a journey back to Silvanus, via Zandir, leaving K’kree and Throtal to puzzle over the scroll and wait for Stoopod and Grave to return.

So ended the second adventure.

Tales from the Emerald Pentacle Issue 1

2007-04-15T01:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome, all readers. This is the first of a series of chronicles regarding the adventures that were had in Talislanta by the junior members of Halesowen Boardgamers. Hopefully Gordon can find room on the website for it.

Some background: Talislanta was created by Stephan Michael Sechi in 1987, and went through a succession of publishers. It is a world totally different to normal fantasy games; it has two suns and seven moons, plus a range of flora and fauna unheard of anywhere else. The game system is simple; relying more on the rich culture and background of the different races you can play.

The works of Jack Vance and Lord Dunsany very heavily influences Talislanta. One reviewer said “ it is as if H.P. Lovecraft had written ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with Hans Christian Anderson and William S. Burroughs.” There are Men here, but not the ones commonly found in the pages of fantasy literature. On Talislanta there are no cows, sheep, horses, oxen or goats; instead there is a range of interesting and unique creatures. Oh yes, and there are no Elves.

The first adventure went like this: -
Daniel was playing a Thrall; a magically created warrior race; all Thralls look identical so they are covered from head to foot in unique tattoos. Jon was a green-skinned Cymrillian warrior-mage; able to use wizardry and a longsword, and Ben was a Blue Aeriad, a humanoid race devolved from birds; having lost the power of flight they use their vestigial wings coupled with Bracers of Levitation to fly.

7th Ardan 620
They started in the city of Cymril, capital of the Seven Kingdoms, on the 7th of the month of Ardan (the Purple moon) and were engaged by the wizard Gennaro to collect 6 drams of Crag Spider venom for him (a Crag Spider is a 12-legged 15' long monstrosity). Heading north towards the Durne border they approaches some rocky crags and spotted a Crag Spider. K’kree (Ben) shot it with his tri-bow and the spider retreated into the cave. After throwing a few rocks into the cave, they tried to lure it out using some Provender Plant but without any luck. Finally Grave (John) cast Invisibility on himself and scouted out the cave, spying the spider lurking round a corner. A tactical plan was discussed which involved charging in and killing it! They actually succeeded in doing so, killing two of the things eventually. They also rescued a Ferran thief named Fixx (Ferrans are small rodent-like humanoids from the Wilderlands of Zaran; not liked by many people). As a defensive tactic they can release a skunk-like offensive stench; something that the PC's found out after Stoopod (Daniel) threatened to slice his head off following an attempt by some bandits to steal the collected venom. Now they are back in Cymril, they delivered the venom and were paid 100 gold lumens for it, now K’kree is trying to get a tailor to make a cloak for him out of the Crag Spider hide that they carried back with them (no, I have no idea why he wants this, but it does kind of make him unique and people -will- point him out!)

So ended the first adventure

Welcome!

2007-04-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone
I am the Brass Jester
Although you can read my 'real' profile elsewhere; this is my normal name.
I am a founder member of Halesowen Boardgamers; we play boardgames of all kinds.
During the school holidays, some of the member's children attend; last year I decided to introduce them to Role-playing games. The original game was run using AD&D 2nd Ed rules and was an attack on a goblin lair.
This fired their imagination and more games ensued. I changed the setting to Talislanta over the course of the holidays.
The adventures were written up and posted on the Halesowen site. I have re-posted them here for consistency.

I may also post comments about RPG's in the past, I ran a 'Danger International' campaign from 1986 to 1989, off and on I play 'Golden Heroes. I also write stuff for 'Timelord', the fantastic 'free' Dr Who RPG (available on-line.)