Our Brave Band of Adventurers the Crimson Lotus:

• Charisma, a “human” -mutant- sorceress whose power source is Gamma Radiation which she was exposed to as a child.  As a child of the Atom her hair goes green in the presence of radiation and she progressively gets greener the more powerful spells she casts (and as she gets angry).  She has no love for the Technic League.
• Heidt, a ranger who has traded an affinity for nature for an affinity for machines.  This android has mastered cybertheurgy as well as the lasgun.  Has chosen the mechromancer archetype (blog post at some later point!).  Seeking to learn more about his history he has become an archaeological expert on all things related to the Rain of Stars.
• Rikku, an elven rogue who was adopted by Khonnir Baine when he found her wandering the wasteland near Torch more than a decade ago.  She claims to be a blood elf from a far-away land.  Her history is tied up with a nearby ruin.
• Sylvanus, a dark elf monk who escaped the clutches of mind flayer slavemasters in the area of the Scar of the Spider after a daring raid by surface dwelling heroes freed her.
• Brokthor, a human fighter who was raised by dwarfs and thinks he IS a dwarf.
• Tufast, a human cleric who serves Thor –  power of thunder and lightning.  Much like his barbarian family he hates technology and has a particular spite for robots.  He sees the cleansing power of lightning as the perfect antidote to the curse of the robot infestation of Nimmeria.
• Whiskifiss, a ratman ranger with a pet rust monster.  He likes to sleep in small compartments – for example a storage locker on the rhino.

The Choking Tower

Session 15

By Rikku Yuffina Kyrus

       We hop into Thomas and Brocktha drives west. After about five minutes we are in sight of a rundown barn. A carriage is sitting to the right and a black horse is tied to a hitching post to the left. After Brocktha stops the car, we can hear and see movement in the barn. Suddenly, a giant succubus stomps out of the barn, followed by six cultists, which take their stand to the left and right. We can still see movement on the barn, but can’t hear anything above the roar of Thomas’s engine. Thomas starts inching its way towards the succubus. We rummage through the boot and find Whiskifiss and Rusty just sitting there. Whiskifiss says he doesn’t mind since he was cooped up in the medical tube for so long. We explain to him what’s happening and he jumps out of Thomas. Just then, a fiendish trio – a cockatrice, a carrion crawler, and an owl bear come out of the barn. Brocktha’s plan to charge the demons failed, so Tufast uses the backup plan and fires streaks of blue light at the succubus and the creatures. The cockatrice, carrion crawler, and the owl bear shriek in pain and die.

Then Thomas crashes into the barn triggering a mushroom patch the cultists had been growing to explode in a noxious bloom. An eerie green mist fills the rhino. Sylvanus and Charisma look drowsy, but the rest are ok. Through the mist we see a cambion jump onto the top of the rhino and point at Hiedt who took control of the guns. She attempts to hex him and says some words in infernal but nothing happens. She flies into a rage and stomps around the tank.

Brocktha reverses the rhino out of the remnants of the barn and Sylvanus and I jump out. Sylvanus focuses on the succubus and I run over to the horse and Whiskifiss. Two out of the three cultists are dead and I run over too the horse. I calm it down and it lets me ride on its back. I look back just in time to see the succubus crash to the ground. There is one cultist left and the cambion. Hiedt shoots the cultist down with a laser fire and Brocktha whams the cambion to the ground and she poofs away in swirl of smoke. It feels like the geas affects lifts.  We search the barn and cart and find some vibrant gems.

We travel back to Chesed and buy and sell. I get a vial of dust of disappearance. I get a horse cart and tie it to Thomas. I put Bandit, my black horse, into it. Tufast loans money from the Chesed bank and buys a house. We shoot a portal into the side of the house and one in Thomas. We get Gleeman to stay and run a business for Tufast of healing. We leave for Torch by land. When we are in sight of Torch, we see some land sharks swim along side the rhino (DM: bulettes acting like dolphins). We park Thomas outside of Torch and get Charisma’s wand from Joram as a thank you for returning Dinvaya. We go to Dolga and get our 8,000 gold as Dinvaya vouches for us about the death of Hellion. They also tell us they can give us some gems in exchange. They got them from a generous traveling merchant named Arley the Weaver. He headed west on a magic carpet, just a day ago. After collecting out rewards, we head for Idanveigh, the small farming town where Casandalee might have gone.

Before we get in sight of the town, there is a sign that says, “No robots.” We park Thomas and leave Death Trap to watch him. When we get there I visit my Mom and Dad’s old friend and buyer, Jimmie Butter Bakers. Sylvanus visits one of her friends. We ask them what today is and they say it is The Burning of King Robot Day. After participating in some of the games and enjoying the huge feast, we visit the High Home, as the custom of strangers in Idanveigh. The person who runs it is a red-toothed man, Redfang. The reason for this is because, the people still drink the bad water and they become mutated. Redfang asks us why we are here and we tell him our story. He seems interested. But him and the Deadeye council, the people who run the town, don’t trust strangers. But he has two problems we can fix and maybe gain their trust. First, the Deadeye council suspects Technic League spies are in town, if we can find them, we might earn their trust. Second, there was a farmer outside of town that kept complaining that there was a monster near his home. Redfang went to investigate and there seemed like there was nothing there. But the farmer kept complaining, and Redfang ignored him, thinking he was telling a fib. Now the farmer hasn’t come back for a few days and Redfang is worried something happened to him. Redfang has been meaning to check it out, but with the festival and all, he has been busy. If we go to look, he will come. We accept and he escorts us to the farm.

The stench of pigs is still in the air and the fence is splintered. We get closer and it seems like its abandoned. Blood is everywhere and there are footprints leading to a nearby orchard. We go towards the orchard, and Charisma glows green (DM’s note – reacting to the yaoguia irradiated state). We enter the orchard and there are some broken down trees. We can hear snoring. I send Stuart Little to investigate. He telepathically tells me there is a gigantic mix-animal. It has a bear’s torso and head, ram horns, an octopus hand, and gorilla legs. The thing is snoring loudly. Stuart Little comes back and I tell Redfant and the others.

Redfang says it is a yaoguia, a common mutant animal. It regenerates and we need to totally kill it. We all sneak up to twenty feet of it and it shifts positions. Sylvanus and I sneak closer and I put a grenade in its mouth while it sleeps and Sylvanus puts one in its nest. It suddenly wakes up. When it sees us it roars and we scatter.

It extends its tentacled hand and grapples Tufast. Hiedt flicks out his gun and shoots its body. Redfang looks a bit disappointed at our use of tech. We all take out our weapons and pound it to death. It release Tufast and we all sit down. Charisma stops glowing.