Game log of a ToEE adventure that somehow turned into an Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. You can find the original google doc here. Silver Mount didn’t really work for a space station, so the PCs started calling it The Sky Fortress.
Rogues Gallery – “General Puggin’s Moribund of Mercenaries”*
- The Rogue – Giselle der Gauner the Soulknife due to a mutation granting her telekinetic powers (character #2, previous character was Mirka the Rogue – Deceased)
- The Monk – Augusta “Tof” Bamberger and her henchmen Elmo the Ranger and pet pug General Puggins.
- The Druid – Lilie the Elf and her henchmen Wolfram and animal companion Fuyuko, the white wolf.
- The Knight – Lintelfaden Toshcobble, squire of Rufus the Bold.
- The Fighter – Fencil the Android (brain tape swap) (Character #2, previous character was a cleric – Deceased) and his (henchmen Zof the Jarhead Wizard – Deceased).
- The Ranger – Bustov Daman and his animal companion, The Mou-Mou Bird (bloodthirsty sparrow).
- The Cleric – Lorenz Brandt (character #2), the scribe.
The Wizard – Boris the Jaws-Dodger (Deceased Session 25, retired from the game).
*Due to a transcription error by the Verbobonc mercenary company registrar, “Merry” become “Moribund.”
Session 35 Recap
Qbert, a small robot orb, followed the party back down to level 6, incessantly beeping as if trying to call someone. Augusta immediately fell in love with the little robot, bringing it along despite everyone’s wishes to get rid of it and giving it a little cap for style points.
They couldn’t let the bot distract them from what was actually important: the Enginseer. Lintelfaden needed a hologram to complete his robot unicorn and this was the place where they could get one. According to the Surks, she was the strongest, prettiest, compassionate, wonderful Enginseer there was, but they tended to greatly exaggerate anything they said. Especially when it came to their leader. They knew the fight would be tough, but they had beaten Rethiarius before on this level when they were weaker, as long as they fought smart and together they were confident they could win.
Avoiding the bomb trap in the hallway, Lintelfaden pushed open the door to the Enginseer and, unlike when they first arrived, the room was lit with a dull blue light. It had been refurbished after they had awakened the Enginseer and the ground was now transparent, hovering above a strange planet but it wasn’t their Earth. She slid her hand across a massive silver egg and turned to face them, drawing her blade and goading them to approach her.
“Well, you guys go get her, I’m going to fight away from the frontlines,” Lorenz explained, firing a laser at her and leaving the hallway.
“Isolation protocol activated,” the Enginseer declared.
A thick steel door burst from the ground and separated Lorenz from the party. Cutting off the healer from the group, she forcefully activated the trap, bombing the entire party and filling the hall with electricity. Fensal fell to his knees, eyes blinking out as he was almost shut down from the shock, barely hanging on and struggling not to short-circuit.
“Get out of the hallway now!” Gisella ordered.
Rushing out and dragging Fensal along, being in their opponent’s lair wasn’t the best thing either. Gisella’s daggers passed right through her hologram body and the Enginseer retaliated with a laser shot out from her palm. The silver egg behind her rumbled as if charging energy and four glowing beads dropped from the ceiling. Right before they hit the ground a hologram circled around them; angelic figures with shining swords and shields, ready to protect their lady.
“They’re different,” Elmo realised. “She looks like a real person with a H icon on her forehead but the angels are glowing blue and digital…”
Lintelfaden closed the gap between him and the Enginseer but the blade passed straight through her body. “She’s a hardlight hologram while the others are softlight; I read a bit too much about them when I needed to build the unicorn.”
“She looks like she’s protecting the egg, huh,” Bustov chuckled, flicking down the ethereal visor. “Let’s see her try and stop this!”
The destructive shot hit the silver egg and imploded, shaking the wires and tubes connected to it, but all it gave it was a nice icy shine. The egg was unharmed, looking better than it did before, and started to spin. Even whatever was powering it was undamaged and a wave of energy pulsed from it, flooding the room. The psionic wave bypassed their defense and attacked their mind, pulling those who couldn’t resist its gravitational power towards the Enginseer. Elmo was dragged across the room and roundhouse kicked into the ground.
“N- No effect?!” Bustov stuttered. “You’re joking!”
“Tch, we can’t do anything against her!” Elmo cursed as his axe passed through her body. She didn’t even try dodging his attacks and countered with her blade.
As she raised her hand to attack him, the egg pulsed again and she split in two. Surrounding Lintelfaden, they unsheathed a blade that vibrated at an incredible rate, honing its cutting edge and piercing through his shield. No matter who tried to attack her, it all phased through without any effect.
Lilie fired a lightning bolt at one of the holograms and even that passed through harmlessly. Everything they knew machines were weak to was completely countered by the Enginseer. Their weapons were of light focused into a hammer or a blade, concentrated enough to burn through armour and weapons; a prolonged fight was extremely dangerous.
“I’ve got to shut down that egg!” Gisella realised, weaving past the angelic holograms. “It’s giving her power with every pulse!”
It was still there, the same control panel Bustov used to set the Enginseer free from the silver egg. If it could be turned on, there had to be a way to shut it down. Lintelfaden and Lorenz were the most experienced with technology but she had shadowed them before, now was the time to put that theory into practice.
As soon as she touched the controls with her telekinesis, one of the Enginseers ignored Lintelfaden entirely. Slamming the floor, it glowed with a pale blue light, shooting straight for Gisella… If Elmo didn’t push her out of the way.
“Shut down the silver egg,” he ordered. “Leave the frontline to us.”
He was consumed by the light for an instant and teleported next to the Enginseer and took a direct hit to the head. Something was different from her attacks compared to the angels, their weapons were made of light while her attacks were of pure energy. Sensing the danger, he dodged out of the way just in time to escape her blade, cutting straight through the skymetal floors with ease.
With no way to hurt them, Elmo didn’t attack back, focusing on evasion while he analysed her movements. He was a ranger through and through, finding weak points in his enemies was his specialty, and he had to find one fast.
She’s a hologram, he cursed. What can hit a hologram? Or even affect it? He noticed there was a thin layer of ice on one of the Enginseers, the one who was closer to the Lenz bomb. Ice? No, something cold?!
“Bustov!” Elmo called.
“Huh?” the ranger stuttered, pulling another arrow back and aiming for the egg. “What is it?!”
“Shoot the hologram!”
“It doesn’t do anything!”
“Shut up and listen!”
Shaking his head, Bustov aimed for the Enginseer and released a powerful shot. Elmo’s guess hit the nail on the head and, for the first time, she dodged the shot. Phasing away swiftly, the temperature affected the hologram and her ‘physical’ body shimmered for a second.
Elmo wasn’t in his prime but he hadn’t forgotten his skills. “I thought so, Kwalish was always muttering about the temperature of his projections. The cold will definitely harm you and so will the heat.”
The Enginseer charged a ray of light from her palms but before she could release a barrage, the silver egg shook violently. With one final input, Gisella shut down the power source and one final wave of energy was released. It washed harmlessly over the party but the holograms were stunned for a moment, holding their heads as their bodies phased in and out of existence. A glowing bead shone within the centre of them all, the origin of the hologram and their one vulnerable point.
Fensal created the string for Augusta and her pinion blades cut the angel, warping the image as her blade passed through it. The bead shook and darted around the body, trying to avoid a direct hit but their magical weapons could now harm the enemy. Nothing was more effective than affecting the bead itself; Bustov’s single arrow struck one of the angels directly in the chest and destroyed it completely, leaving nothing but a dull powerless bead behind.
“We’re getting somewhere now!” Lintelfaden cheered. The Enginseer sensed the danger of his katana and didn’t dare take a hit, glitching out of the way and between strikes.
She zipped past him and to the centre of the room, charging electricity within the bead in her chest. Static coursed throughout the room like an electric web, passing through her allies and shocking the party. It was one step forward, two steps back, and Lorenz was locked off from the start, severely reducing their healing. Lilie and Aki struggled to mend wounds but there was only so much they could do.
“Come on, come on,” Lorenz muttered, trying to melt a hole through the skymetal door. “Tch, why is it so thick? The fusion torch is barely cutting through!”
He cut a hole just enough for him to see the battle but it wasn’t a pretty sight. From his linear sightline, all he could see was Fensal pull back his bow and then string snapped. Multiple voices whispered in the room, ghostlike and conniving, cursing the trap they were placed in and laughing as they were freed. The bow burst into black smoke and typhon mimics started pouring out, at least half a dozen searching for their first meal after imprisonment.
To make matters even worse, the sudden surge of typhon mimics awakened another. Disguised as a medkit, it revealed its true form, but it was bigger than the others of its kind. Riddled with spikes, it rolled straight for Elmo, growing faster and larger in seconds.
“Tch, now of all times?!” Fensal cursed, throwing one of the mimics off of him. They rushed for his throat but soon realised he was just an android, no life there to siphon.
Lilie ran towards the door, ready to run if the situation got any worse. “I really hate this space station! Wolfram, get ready to run!”
If there was one good thing about this, Lintelfaden was able to strike down one of the Enginseers with Gisella and Elmo’s help, fighting to her weakness and shutting down the hardlight bead that powered her. He caught it as it fell and got ready to retreat, flying above the mimics and towards the door.
Lorenz was able to carve a hole through the thick metal but as soon as the Enginseer saw him, she waved her hand and a prismatic wall blocked the exit from the room to the hallway, isolating the cleric again.
“We’re getting out of here!” Fensal cried, pushing the last of the mimics away.
Changing the magic within the rifle, Lorenz fired a bullet at the door frame, discharging the energy and shutting down the wall. One by one the party ran towards the exit, avoiding the angels or the mimics as best they could… but Augusta was swarmed by the beasts. She was able to avoid the holograms but the typhons adhered to her legs, climbing up her body and towards her throat.
She tumbled to the ground and struggled to pull herself up as the other mimics jumped onto her. “Wha-? Get off me!” They climbed along her shoulders and arms, restricting her movement before siphoning as much life as they could. Panicking, she tried to channel her ki but it was impossible to focus it. “Ouch, h- hey! Get off! E- Elmo! Help me!”
Her guardian cursed as he was struck to the ground by the Enginseer, weakened enough for the spiked mimic to roll onto his body and tendrils began to burst from its body. “Tch, I need a drink…” he sighed right before everything went dark.
◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️
Augusta gasped as she was brought back to life, Lorenz shaking as immense amounts of magic was drained from his body.
“You all right?” he asked, scratching the back of head.
“All right…?” she mumbled, recalling faint memories of the mimics as they… She’d rather not remember it. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I guess. T- Thanks.”
Elmo helped her back onto her feet, steadying her so she didn’t collapse. “We all got out of there alive at least, Lintelfaden’s run off to give Kwalish the hologram bead.”
Her jaw dropped when she saw her bodyguard. His skin was rough like bark and his hair was like leaves almost identical to the veggiepygmys. “Huh?” she stuttered. “Why are you… a veggiepygmy?!”
“Lintelfaden had some seed that brought me back to life,” he explained. “Though I’m a tree now. That halfling has everything in that suit of his.” He glanced at her legs. “You’ve changed a little too after the revivify.”
In her calves, there were small engines that could be powered on and off at will. A blessing of UNITY, becoming less organic and more metal is a generous gift that came with Lorenz’s magic. Though it did freak her out, it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be; she did trip whenever they turned on but she would get used to it.
“Where to next?” Fensal asked. “We can head back up with Lintelfaden unless we need to stop at the Autoforge?”
“Or we can head back to the Enginseer,” Lorenz suggested.
“No way!” Lilie snapped. “There are laser angels, creepy black mimics, the Enginseer who’s all zoomy and teleporty; I’m not going back!”
“I won’t get shut out this time. And it’ll be easier since we know what we’re up against and the silver egg has been shut down.”
“I don’t mind,” Gisella sighed. “We can go back in for the loot and gold or call it a day.”
Elmo shook his head and shrugged. “If you want to go back in, we can.”
Take out the angels then focus on the Enginseer, their weapons of light were more dangerous than her blade. With the silver egg shut down, they didn’t have to play defensively and figure out how to bypass her holographic body.
As soon as they opened the door to her room, beads shot up from the floor and created the angels and the Enginseer, readying their weapons for combat. The ground was stained a black with the blood of the mimics, enemies of UNITY utterly crushed; one less worry out of the way already. The trap above the hallway failed, discharged from Lorenz’s spell and its power was temporarily cut.
”Get out of the hallway!” Gisella ordered. “The trap has been shut down but only for now!”
The Enginseer raised her hand as they funneled into her room. “Isolation protocol.”
Only half of them could get through before the prismatic wall cut them off. Gisella, Lorenz, and Bustov were stopped as the angels swooped in to fight the rest of the party. Luckily, Elmo and Wolfram were there to stop their advance and protect the rest but there would be no support from the cleric again.
Gisella glared at the Enginseer, focusing on the bead in her chest. Her telekinetic power began to crush it in an attempt to force the hologram to break.
“Focus on the rest,” she told the party. “I’ll keep her-“
The Enginseer was the first to resist the powerful hold, glitching as she moved and slamming Augusta against the wall. As if she was teleporting, her speed was almost untraceable if she wasn’t being slowed by Gisella.
Aki tried to heal those in the frontline knowing full well her bow couldn’t harm the holograms. One such managed to weave past Elmo and Wolfram and manifested its radiant hammer, realising she was a healer of the team.
It was instant, too quick for Elmo to protect her and the hammer seared straight through her armour and flesh.
“Aki?” Bustov muttered. There was no response.
“One down,” the hologram reported.
Lorenz slammed the wall and channeled his magic into the circuits. “I’m shutting down the wall for as long as I can! Give them hell, Bustov!”
“How dare you hit Aki?!” the ranger snapped, a visor appeared over his eyes. “I’ll light you up!”
The cold arrow instantly destroyed the hologram and pierced straight through the bead. It crashed into the wall and detonated, shaking the room and freezing the entire wall. The blast knocked down another softlight hologram, damaging the form of the light and cracking the bead.
Lilie scrambled to figure out a good spell. “Snakes? No; Sharks? No; Wolves? No…”
“A little healing would be nice!” Elmo snapped, blocking another hit from the holograms. The Enginseer had also turned to fight him once she discovered Augusta could hardly harm her.
“Yeah, but that’s boring! I like a big flashy lightning bolt or-“
“Do you mind?!”
“Fine. I guess I’ll heal you.”
Despite being very reluctant, her healing was powerful and synergised with his now tree body. It gave him the strength to force back the hologram and for Wolfram to close in and deal the finishing blow. His strength shattered the bead with ease, finally able to get a solid hit on the swift enemies.
“Get the woman in the back,” the Enginseer ordered the last remaining angel. “Her hold is insufferable.”
Augusta forced the angel back with a fist of wind and the oh, so gallant Moi Moi bird swooped in and grabbed the bead. He was unable to damage it but it showed Bustov exactly where to aim. With one shot, the arrow pierced through and shattered the hologram leaving only the Enginseer left. The ice had climbed up his arm and around his shoulder but it didn’t stop him from charging another arrow.
The Enginseer charged static energy in her core. “Then I will do it myself.”
Much like the silver egg, electricity pulsed out like a web, coursing through everything in the room and chaining from target to target. It broke Gisella’s concentration on the hold and, though the frontline could take the hit, the danger was the area of effect. It was massive, impossible to block and even more so to dodge.
She caught Elmo’s axe and prepared to slice through him, charging the katana with pure energy. It cut straight through his shield and began to tear through his bark.
But Q-bert created a forcefield to stop the blade. The small, beeping robot happily rolled onto Elmo and protected him from a sure death.
“I knew it was a good idea to bring him along!” Augusta cheered.
Q-bert’s shield didn’t last long and was thrown aside but enough time was bought for Elmo to evade the incoming slash. Together with Wolfram they surrounded and attacked in unison along with Bustov’s destructive arrows, the only attack that could effectively harm her. She glitched out of the crossfire but was caught as Lilie released a bolt of lightning, guided by Moi Moi to strike the bead directly.
She started to malfunction and glitch but the battle wasn’t over yet. Releasing another pulse of electricity even stronger than the last, it forced back the melee attackers and fried Moi Moi into nothing but feathers. The death of Bustov’s familiar stunned him and a sharp pain shot throughout his body.
“Great, of course the stupid bird got killed by that pulse,” he cursed, clutching his heart.
“T- T- Two down,” the Enginseer stated.
“Gisella!” Lorenz cried.
The rouge fell to her knees, mind damaged after her telekinetic connection was brutally severed from the electricity. She couldn’t dodge and restrain the Enginseer at the same time; she needed healing as soon as possible.
Lorenz rushed over but his spell was interrupted as a laser whizzed past his head. He tried to heal again but was stopped as another hit him in the shoulder.
“Tch, give me a break!” Lorenz cursed. “Keep her attention!”
Elmo and Wolfram tried to keep her under control but she could freely dance around the room, free from the confines of telekinesis. One moment she was next to Lilie, blink and she almost took Wolfram’s head, and all the while interrupting Lorenz’s healing.
Bustov tracked her movement through the visor, holding his arrow until the moment she attacked. Only then did her hologram turn back into hardlight and her bead could be effectively targeted. Fensal created a sightline for him, dashing around the place to keep track of the enemy’s location. But it did follow her and, right before she attacked Augusta, he let loose the arrow and struck true.
The ice messed with the hologram and slowed her movements just enough for the rest of the team to focus their efforts towards the bead. And finally it shattered, breaking the hologram of the Enginseer and ending the battle.
The adrenaline still flowed through them even after the final blow and the situation was still dire. Lorenz realised that his healing magic wouldn’t be sufficient , both Gisella and Aki but he only had enough magic left to revivify one of them.
“We’ll get you a cleric on earth,” he promised Aki. “I’ll do what I can now.”
The golden gear formed around Gisella as the magic flowed within her. It turned like clockwork and gradually brought its target back to life… but a sudden halt in the turn made his heart sink into his chest.
“UNITY, bring back what I’ve lost,” he muttered, afraid of the spell failing. “Please come to us in our time of need…”
And she answered. The gear turned once again and the spell was completed as it vanished leaving behind golden specks lingering in the air. Gisella coughed and clutched her head, given medicine and care until she could at least lean on someone to get to safety.
“Geez, didn’t think it would be this bad,” Fensal chuckled in relief. “But it’s all done and we won!”
Bustov picked up Aki, brushing her hair out of the way from the severe burn on her neck. “Yeah, we’ll get her a cleric in Verbabonc, we should be able to get there in a week.” He glanced at the loot in the room. “We can get the money for it from this place.”
“Can we sleep before that?!” Lilie complained, riding on Wolfram’s back. “My whole body hurts and I’ve got no magic left!”
“Let’s head over to the Zhev’s,” Elmo suggested. “We can take time to recover and figure out where to go from here.”