Game log of a ToEE adventure that somehow turned into an Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. You can find the original google doc here.
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 38 Recap
After receiving a meeting request from Lareth, the party swiftly made their way over on KIT, sorting out the loot along the way. The haul from the Guardians was massive and a few held magic weapons which would fetch for a killing if sold to the right vendor. Nothing was as powerful as the Nine-lives Stealer and so was quickly added to the ‘to be sold’ list.
“Welcome!” Lareth greeted as KIT arrived at the designated meeting area. “I see you’re all in good health, how did the attack on the Black Earth go?”
“Not bad, nothing like the space station that’s for sure,” Gisella assured.
Augusta gave Qbert a cap and left him in KIT, now serving as a cleaner and company for their tank. “Yep, all done pretty flawlessly if I do say so myself.”
“Good, good, wonderful to hear.” Lareth glanced around him, checking for any spies his guards might have missed. “I have wonderful news for you all as well.”
“And that is?” Lorenz wondered. “I’m not converting.”
“You will, but that’s not the point. We’ve managed to discern the location of the Cult of the Eternal Flame.”
Gisella wasted no time and pulled out a map. “Where is it?”
He pointed at the forest south of Nulb, “Around here. They’ve been masquerading as a druid circle and, around that area, the druids are the ones who run the place. There are so many circles, it’s no wonder they went undetected for so long.”
“Any idea what we might be up against?” Fensal added, committing the information to his data log.
“Just as the wind cult has their archers and earth has their warriors, the fire cult is filled with powerful spellcasters. We don’t have much more information other than their location, we’ll keep in touch if we find any other information.”
The fire cult would be next on the list but they returned back to the earth cult monastery, ready to head down to the temple itself. The plan was simple: They go in, blow up Marlos on sight, take the weapon and leave. It was rather flawless if you asked Lorenz and taking back the monastery wasn’t any trouble as Renwick was stopping the cultists’ attacks.
“One thing I need to say though,” Bustov said as they hopped out of KIT. “Happy new year to the team.”
“It’s the first?” Aki wondered. Her hair was snow white with pale blue tips, indicative of the cold season. “So that’s Yuletide?”
“New year,” Gisella corrected. “Yuletide was about a week ago.”
“I didn’t get a gift!” she realised. “You said you get gifts on Yuletide, right, Bustov?”
“Uh, moving on!” he stuttered. “We’re going to be at the monastery!”
There was no sign of any life and Renwick was true to his word; no guards had reclaimed the monastery from below. Double checking any supplies they might have forgotten in KIT, they prepared to attack the temple itself, heading to the ritual room and the stairs leading down.
Gisella didn’t remember four earth elementals standing by stone pillars, guarding the stairs from intruders. Protected by heavy plate mail and wielding hammers and war picks; Elemental Myrmidons, stronger and skilled with weapons custom made to suit their build.
“So we charge them?” Lintelfaden suggested, preparing to rush in with Murphy.
“They probably aren’t as strong as the Guardians,” Fensal analysed. “We can take them easily.”
Bustov created the visor and aimed for the centre of the room. “Alright then! Light them up!”
Before the myrmidons could split up, he filled the room with a field of frost, slowing their movements and freezing their earthen bodies. Exploding violently, a cloud of white mist created a screen, blocking their vision and deterring the fighters from charging in.
“Here they come!” Elmo warned.
Although a part of them was damaged, they rushed down the party and shook off the frost. The front line pulled swords out of their body while the other two were like sandstorms, dashing past Elmo and Wolfram to target the backline.
Augusta was quick to counter and a whip of water wrapped around one of the elementals, pulling it towards her as she kicked it into the ground, enhanced by the engines. She made a clear target for the team to focus fire and eliminate. And Lintelfaden completely ignored her, going for the myrmidon that dared attack Murphy.
To his surprise, the elementals enhanced their blades with energy like a paladin, smiting the knight and shattering the force field. The combined blow of the two at the frontline almost shut down the suit altogether, releasing a wave of thunder that reverberated throughout the metal plating.
Aki fired another arrow but it pinged off harmlessly; another enemy she couldn’t harm with basic arrows. She opted to heal Bustov as he disengaged from the fray, creating enough space to prepare another shot. He was competing with Fensal to see who could get the killing blow on the elementals, both holding their fire until the other one shot.
“Do it,” Fensal goaded, preparing the Wand of Bullets +1
“You shoot first,” Bustov replied.
Lorenz barely blocked a hammer strike with the side of his rifle, countering the smite with the fusion torch. “Shoot it or I won’t heal you!”
The myrmidon was bombarded by arrows of ice and bullets of energy at point blank range, shattering its armour instantly and breaking its stone arms but it still stood strong. Preparing its weapon for another swing. Of course, the two rangers then looked to attack next, knowing their next shot would kill it.
Before they could load another shot, Gisella crushed it to dust and tossed it aside, weapon and all. “My credit,” she laughed, going back invisible.
Elmo deflected another blow and the thunderous smite was grounded, unable to flow through his tree body. Wolfram and him fought in complete unison together, defending each other when needed, protecting the party effectively, completely blocking off the two larger myrmidons. They were able to isolate the elemental within their backline and focus it down quickly, returning it to the dust it came from without any trouble.
Though their smite spells hit hard, they lacked the numbers to fight an entire mercenary team and were gradually overwhelmed. Pushed back even a little bit, it gave Augusta and Gisella enough room to get around the myrmidons and flank them, splitting their attention between multiple targets. They stopped focusing on Elmo and Wolfram, reducing the amount of healing Lorenz and Lilie needed to output and could focus on attacking. They worked together extremely well and, even if the enemy was stronger than them, they were confident in their teamwork to topple any foes.
“That’s the last one,” Wolfram stated as he crushed the myrmidon. “All done, ma’am.”
Lilie clapped her hands and healed his wounds. “Easy peasy, they could hardly scratch you!”
Lorenz was repairing Murphy and Lintelfaden’s armour, doing his best to mend the damage. “We might as well take a break here, it’s going to take me a bit to fix the damage.”
“Sure,” Gisella agreed. “Lintelfaden relies on his suit a lot so let’s take-”
An earth shaking roar from below cut off the conversation followed by some massive beast banging on steel bars. Furiously, it slammed the walls, floor, and bars as if trying to escape a cage. Thankfully, it wasn’t getting closer but there was something down there they’d rather not see.
Resting wasn’t an option, the monster was far too loud and distracting, shaking the ground every moment. It sounded like it was spewing something from its mouth and green gas started rising up through the seams of the tiles, forcing the party to evacuate the room. Something sparked down below and a chain reaction of explosions was deafening as the combustible gas was set alight, blowing everything in the ritual room to bits.
“What in the world is down there?” Lilie shivered, ready to run out the front door.
The blast must have set the beast free and it stomped around below and its footsteps grew louder and louder as it approached the stairs. It punched down doors off their hinges as it crawled up towards the monastery. A bug-like head could be seen, eight eyes glaring wildly in every direction, mandibles twitching, ready to crush even the thickest of armour. Its hulking body rippled with muscles was protected by thick carapace, some even lifting a little to emit deep green gas into the air. Claws sharper than blades tore one of the stone pillars and crushed it into dust, committing wanton destruction in a blind rage.
It suddenly froze seeing the party, twitching as it tried to figure out what strange creatures it was looking at. But it was all the same, humans that needed to be killed on sight. Roaring, it got on all fours and charged them, ramming straight into Wolfram and slamming him against the wall with its full weight.
“Wolfram!” Lilie cried, charging a lightning bolt. “Don’t hit him, you jerk!”
The streak of lightning shot right through the hulk but it didn’t even flinch, trying to crush her guardian who adamantly refused to give in. Her attack did garner his attention though and he glared at her, eyes glowing with an unsightly ochre and swirling around. Hypnotising her, she fell to her knees, unable to move or cast a spell.
Augusta flipped over Elmo’s shield and clocked the beast over the head, channelling her ki into her fist. She slammed its head into the ground and it rebounded off the concrete, stunning it and releasing Wolfram.
“I stunned it!” she cried, surprised it didn’t resist her ki. “Take advantage of it now!”
Fensal prepared the Wand of Bullets +1 but the hulk’s eyes still spun, hypnotising the android. He turned on Bustov and shoved the cannon against his chest, ready to pull the trigger.
“Watch it!” Bustov shouted, barely dodging out of the way in time. “What was that?!”
Fensal suddenly came to his senses, completely forgetting the brief moment. “Huh? I… don’t really know…”
It was difficult to capitalise on the situation when Lintelfaden fell for the trap as well, rearing the unicorn and dashing off in sudden fear. The problem was Lorenz was also on Murphy and he was taken out of the battle.
The hulk reeled back as blasts of ice struck his weak points, freezing his overheated carapace and slowing the flow of radiation gas. Energy attacks could easily break through its defense that resisted Wolfram’s Nine-lives stealer.
“…Break you!” the monster roared. “Will break you!”
He flung Elmo out of the way and slammed Augusta into the ground. Gisella’s psychic daggers didn’t bother his frenzied mind, barely putting a mark on it. Charging through the party again, it completely broke their formation as it crashed through multiple walls yet it skillfully drifted to face them again using its claws as an axle in the ground.
Lilie’s fingers sparked and she fired a lightning bolt, piercing through the hulk, ignoring the party’s cries to heal instead. Offense was the best defense and Fensal created the sightline for Bustov, guiding his arrow.
Show it real power, the Lenz said. Real destruction.
Gladly, the ranger let the ice climb up his arm and empowered the arrow, creating a ray of frost and blasting the beast off its feet. It created a frigid mist as it flew and they could feel a sudden chill as the temperature dropped around the Lenz.
They didn’t expect the mist to suddenly disperse as the hulk stomped out of the room, chest and muscles glowing with heat. Roaring, it spewed radioactive gas at the party so hot it melted the walls and scorched the earth. It controlled the blast erratically, swaying to and fro, trying to hit everything in sight. Though its aim was not all there, a single hit could disintegrate anything including magical weapons and armour, turning bows and shields into nothing but glowing dust in the wind.
Most of the party was able to get away or resist it before disintegrating but Augusta was a different story. She was already knocked to the ground after the charge and didn’t have enough time to pick herself up and throw off the rubble on her. It was instant, the breath weapons consumed her without warning and no one could stop it.
If anything good came from its destructive attack, it had to recover and it seemed to freeze up as it cooled its body down. The party wasted no time and capitalised on the situation and broke through the hulk’s brittle carapace, giving it no chance to charge again. Before it got another chance to attack, it was brutally destroyed by greatswords, lasers, and cannons.
“We’re back!” Lorenz greeted, returning after retreating through the forest. “Looks like you got it all cleaned up!”
“Right on schedule,” Lintelfaden added. “Just in time to miss the whole fight.”
Elmo completely ignored them and scanned the party. “Hold on, where’s Augusta? She escaped the radiation breath, right?”
“Uh, I… thought so,” Fensal muttered.
Nothing was left of the monk but burnt clothes and dust, disintegrated by the breath. Lorenz couldn’t revivify her, he needed an intact body or his magic wouldn’t work. It was so sudden that they weren’t too sure what to do next or if there was a way to bring her back, no one knew of a cleric powerful enough to cast resurrection magic that could restore a full body-
“I can’t breathe under this!” someone complained.
The party stared in shock as Augusta, no more than a foot tall, crawled out of her clothes, wrapping them around her body. They were massive on her… or she was tiny in them. Almost all of her weapons had been melted away including the magic items except one that she held tightly against her chest almost subconsciously.
“Augusta?” Elmo muttered. “What are you holding?”
She screamed as she threw away the beheaded doll of Chucky and it laughed as it did so. Smiling at her, it whispered in her mind, You know what they say, you just can’t keep a good guy down. And it cackled until the whole killer doll vanished.
“What in the world was that?” Lilie shivered, hiding behind Wolfram. She looked at Augusta who tripped over the clothes. “What are you?!”
Chucky did exactly what Shen said it would: bring someone back to life. Of course, there were consequences, it was a ‘lightly used’ item from Shen, but they didn’t expect the monk to now be no bigger than Chucky himself, a little shorter than a foot tall. The rings that survived became chokers and her Belt of Oni Strength became more like a girdle.
“I’m just as strong as I was before,” she explained, riding on Elmo’s shoulder. “I might be small but my belt makes me powerful.”
Lilie laughed and picked her up, holding her by the back of her shirt. “Hahaha, you’re so light, though! I can throw you at the enemy!”
“Let me down!” She flailed violently but her short arms couldn’t reach Lilie.
“Fensal, catch!”
“Unhand meeeeeeee!”
She was easily tossed through the air to the android who, shrugging, tossed her to Lintelfaden.
“Elmo, attack them!” Augusta ordered.
“You give me so much trouble…” he sighed, leaning against a wall. “I need a drink.”
“Here we go!” Lintelfaden laughed, tossing Augusta into the air. “Let’s head to the earth temple.”