Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Chapter 12, Part 1: "The Hooded Petitioner"

This Episode's Cast of Characters:

Buzz Brazelhach - Rowdy, Hearty and Lusty Australian Adventurer
Dickie Dee - Bone Man Intoxicant Addict and Sorcerer
Jedediah - 1850s' Nevada Alien Abductee, Cousin of Thibodeaux
Nigel Nightbringer - British Man-at-Arms
Thibodeaux - 1850s' Nevada Alien Abductee, Cousin of Jedediah
Thragg the Skyman - Zermish Man Ornithopter Passenger and Fighting-Man

and introducing:
Dank Darkstar - Earth Man (Texan) Fighting-Man, Former Crewman of the Scout Rocket Alpha
&
Mookla of the Slime Lands - Fighting-Mutant possessing a Sulfurous Stench and twisted limbs

Part II Here, Part III Here.

The party rests in Agog city for a considerable span of days, enjoying the opportunity to exchange gold for soft beds, gin and companionship while Xarnagan Vrokk retires to the Sage Hive in order to further research Radiation Crystals.

Dickie Dee, Jedediah and Thragg make their way from Jakay and rejoin the party, who are now bored, restless and seeking adventure. They come across Dank Darkstar, a Texan and former crewmate of their erstwhile companions Radar O'Reiley and Moon Martin of the Scout Rocket Alpha. As Dank has several firearms on his person he is invited to join the party.

Seeing that Dank has both a Colt 1911 Automatic and a long-barreled revolver holstered on his hips, Jedediah makes an offer for the six-gun and soon has the hogleg thrust through the waistband of his pants.

As they always do in populated areas, the party seeks out any merchants selling guns or ammunition but only find a pair of rifle cartridges and a half-empty box of pistol ammunition which they snap up. Next they start pounding the plasticrete seeking appropriate employment for a band of gold-hungry sword-slingers.

A hooded, cloaked form lurking in an alley hisses and motions to the party's Australian leader, Buzz Brazelhatch. Buzz investigates and sees the violet features and iridescent eyes of a Vaasht Man within the cowl of the hood. Buzz also notices the rich fabrics of the Vaasht Man's garb and presumes him to be either wealthy or a noble.

The figure explains that he is a Jhooghavahr who is seeking an escort for a mission to the Vaults of Eternity. The mission is in order to destroy a dangerous artifact before he is slain by a sorcerous assassin that follows him and has the ability to extract the knowledge of how to use the artifact from his brain.

Buzz asks for some time to consult with his companions and consider the commission and Johooghavahr agrees to meet again at the same alley when the last sun has set in the evening. Buzz returns to the party, who begin bickering and scheming.

Thragg suggests that they should acquire more warriors for such a journey, as it would involve traversing the perilous Bornite Mountains and through the confusing white fog of the Forbidden Mist Valley, where they would be traveling to the labyrinth of an Elder Race of Lich. The party agrees and Thragg leaves in order to procure the services of a destitute mutant he saw begging in the bazaar.

He returns with "Mookla of the Slime Lands," who's mutations have gifted him with a horrendous, sulfurous stench and twisted limbs with tiny, stubby fingers that render him unable to wield any but the simplest of weapons. However there seems to be the glint of a considerable intellect in his asymmetrical, mud-brown eyes and the party takes him on despite their misgivings. He tells tales of his life in the Slime Lands, where he survived due to his fierce cunning. Others surmise that his survival was probably due to the predators of that primeval swamp being repelled by his stench, and also that his malformed limbs would have been deemed unworthy of being harvested by the Phasic Machete wielding Limb Pirates of the Slime Lands.

The party decides to retire to their inn, The Flagrant Whore, and further plan out their next move, but when they arrive the staff discretely informs them that Mookla is unwelcome on the premises due to issues with his odor. The party offers to pay for him to sleep in the stable, but the inn's management explains that it would be unkind to expose the beasts to Mookla's offensive aroma and the mutant is sent away to find a place to retire for the evening.

Once the party is seated with provender, brandy, and green cigars at hand, the scheming begins in earnest. Some suggest ambushing Jhooghavahr and taking the artifact, others suggest taking payment before abandoning him in the Bornite Mountains, and a fierce debate rages before they come to a plan that involves taking the Vaasht Man to the mountains near the Vaults of Eternity, taking their payment, and leaving him to his fate.

As the Fire Demon sinks below the horizon, casting fiery gases up into the darkening skies, Buzz and Dickie return to the alleyway where the hooded Jhooghavahr lurks. The two adventurers begin fiercely interrogating the Vaasht Man who reveals that he is the last in the line of a noble family who are stewards to a secret terraforming device of the Elder Races. Secretive villains, who serve the Lords of Change, seek to master the mysteries of this device and have slain all in his family but Jhooghavahr, who is now seeking to travel to the Vaults of Eternity in order to destroy it. If this artifact and it's secrets fell into the wrong hands, the results could be catastrophic as portions of the planet's surface could be completely remade. Even with the best of intentions, one could unwittingly bring down a holocaust with the godlike powers of the terraforming device.

The two inform Jhooghavahr that the party will take the mission, and will be setting forth in a week. The Vassht Nobleman begins sputtering, explaining that with the assassin seeking him that they must leave for the Vaults of Eternity immediately!

Buzz calmly explains that if they are to return to the howling wilderness of the Bornite Mountains and Forbidden Mist Valley that he needs time in Agog City to satisfy his masculine needs, and that the party is also in need of carousing before they set out on a perilous venture.

Jhooghavahr reacts with strangled outrage before offering the party a sorcerous scroll containing four incantations from his deceased uncle's collection as an incentive to leave immediately. The two agree to leave immediately in the morning and take Jhooghavahr back to their lodgings where the party can guard him in their suite.

When they arrive at the inn, Buzz gives one of the employees fifty gold credits in order to procure some companionship. While the party enjoys their evening meal in their chamber there is a knock at the door. Buzz answers to be greeted by a voluptuous brown Angallan maid clad in translucent silks. The two retire to the large bath in the suite's sole bathroom for several hours.

The next morning the party sets out after several hours of delay as they obtain the orniths (for both riding and baggage purposes), ornith seed, preserved rations, and waterskins that they need for a long expedition into the mountains; not wishing to repeat the mistakes of their miserable previous venture. The reeking mutant Mookla finds them as they are at their preparations and rejoins the party.

The adventurers set forth on their quest with a train of pack orniths, striking northwest to skirt the mountains through the Prismatic Wastes. A couple of hours later the party is passing by the mining town of Pit when Buzz decides that they will rest for the night at the luxurious Titanium Vault. Jhooghavahr voices his objections, as speed is of the essence, but he is roundly ignored. The doorman of the Titanium Vault doesn't even let Mookla approach the hotel before informing the party that he will not be allowed near the premise or the stable, as they operate a respectable, high-class establishment.

Dejected, Mookla makes his way to one of the industrial slums of Pit, finding himself in a part of town mostly abandoned aside from furtive shifty-eyed intoxicant addicts, he drags himself under the porch of an abandoned building to rest for the night.

Meanwhile, as the party enjoys the excellent food and beverages of the Titanium Vault, Buzz is prowling the carpeted halls like a blood-crazed shark. He spots the soft, curving, ample rump of a certain orange-skinned chambermaid who throws herself into Buzz's arms when she sees him before unlocking an unoccupied suite for their dalliance.

Unlike their previous rendezvous, the Zhaghri Maiden offers up her charms without any mention of recompense, but while relaxing afterward she brings up the topic of marriage and bursts into tears, "If you're going to risk your life adventuring, I want to be your wife before you die!" Buzz frantically consoles the distraught maiden before making a rapid exit.

That night, while the party sleeps in their luxurious suite, Mookla the Mutant, who is scrunched up in the dirt beneath a porch, is awakened by snuffling and growling sounds. Cautiously peering through the cracks in his shelter he sees a dark, hunched form consisting of a vague conglomeration of the features of a man and a hyena sniffing and approaching his nest.

As Mookla's malformed hand grasps for his crude club the dark form makes several retching sounds before exclaiming in a disgusted tone that "Whatever is hiding beneath that porch smells far to bad to be worth eating," and whatever it is leaves the mutant to continue his repast.

2 comments:

  1. the Phasic Machetes wielding Limb Pirates of the Slime Lands
    Is this kind of thing something which is marked on a map or mentioned in your campaign materials? Or is it flavour you've added to the session summary? Or did the players come up with it? I'm intrigued to know how many of these crazy ideas you already have prepared before the players get to the table.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Limb Pirates are one of the encounters in the slime lands, they use energy swords to harvest limbs. They're based of of the encounter critical Limb Traders, and the slime lands are based on Scott Driver's slime lands which had slime pirates. limb traders + slime pirates = limb pirates! I've known for a long time that Algol had to have "Limb Pirates of the Slime Lands!"

    ReplyDelete