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Old 12-03-2022, 08:17 PM   #641
tshiggins
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

The Christmas season is hard upon us, and we’d like to get another session in, before family time expands to consume every available moment. So, it’s time for the write-up of the last one, which included a brief synopsis of what happened, the previous session, for those who missed it.

Characters Present

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. -- Played by Anten S.

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P. (Not available, this time.)

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. A cynic about men, she is accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign “foo” spirit) -- played by Bernetta W.

Stephen Mack, another member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, a former U.S. Marine Corps test pilot, and outdoors enthusiast. – Played by Ragan S.

Millicent “Millie” Brown – A member of the Columbine Lodge of Denver, and descendant of the Unsinkable Margaret “Molly” Brown. Currently an apprentice of the Invisible College of Thoth-Hermes, seconded out to the members of the Red Rocks Lodge. Owner of a large, well-trained Savannah Cat, named Apophis. – Played by Kaitlynn S.

Guest NPCs

Amon Kosey – Another native of Aegyptus and a fellow member of the Children of Khemet, he appears as an unremarkable man, but has a hidden talent for deception who can, nonetheless, turn on the charm when needed. With an average face, an average height, and a lack of distinguishing features, he blends in with any crowd and has wandered into just about anywhere, uninvited and frequently unnoticed. -- Played by Pete T.

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

Hops About: An enthusiastically lethal nunnupi, a 6-inch tall fairy girl with black wings, pale skin and American Indian features. Currently dressed in the colors of the Unseelie Court, with a bow and knife, she frequently takes the form of a magpie four times the size of a normal bird and can go invisible.

Twirls Thrice: A laconically lethal nunnupi with a dry sense of humor, also dressed in the cool colors of the Unseelie Court. The sister of Hops About, she bears similar weapons that can inflict elf-stroke, also appears as a large magpie, and can go invisible.

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet.

Claudia Abigail “Cat” Tavulari – A former member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and an old friend of Arthur Jamison’s. The team has been helping Arthur research the portal physics, on the sly.

Meserankh “Messie” Paphnutius – A native of the legendary Aegyptus of the Pearl Bright Ocean, still ruled by the branch of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty descended from Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Mezzie is a mage, and a member of the Children of Khemet, who seek to overthrow the Hellenes and restore the ancient line of pharaohs. A lean, rangy, fairly attractive woman in her early 30s, who clearly missed a few meals as a child. Her face shows early signs of lines drawn by tremendous frustration at injustices she perceives. She seldom smiles.

##
The session started with the cleanup of the detritus of battle from the last session, as well as a bit of looting. To the relief of the Sriwijayans, neither the Lady McShane nor her crew had sustained much damage, and recovery commenced.

In the days following the attack on the Lady McShane by the meghdoot and the rakshasa, Lord Candra Sastrowardoyo made security of the airship and the Red Rocks Lodge crew the top priority of his military, and Capt. Hartaka Saputra became the group’s permanent security liaison.

Capt. Khoo had died badly, alongside his men, when the meghdoot summoned the rakshasa on top of them, so Saputra pulled in a new company to secure the pier used by the airship.
High Priest Rupaka Sudiro also assigned four monks to serve with each watch, reasoning there couldn’t be that many meghdoot left in the area.

Saputra told the group that the attack had been the most significant one staged by Lankan infiltrators in many years, and that – plus the fact that the group had fought them off without a single loss – had removed any doubt about their status from anyone in the city of Bengkulu.
As such, Lord Candra, with the approval of his overlord, Jamaludin, had promised the funds needed to build the airship offered by the lodge, and wished its maiden flight include a trip to Mauritius, to establish permanent contact with the isolated Hindu, there.

A.J. set himself up as lead engineer, with Steve and Beatrice to help establish the assembly lines, which they set up to specialize in the creation of single components each. They reasoned that if the ancient Romans could use such a technique to figure out how to build triremes, they could use it to teach the Sriwijayans how to build airships -- especially since the Pearl Bright Ocean’s version of the Javanese already had expertise in the construction of magically-enhanced “lightning” warships, anyway.

The group realized, in a hurry, that the Sriwijayan’s Hindu faith would pose an unexpected problem.

The best substance available with which to create gasbags to hold the helium was “goldbeater skin” – created from the intestines of slaughtered cattle.
Given that the priests would never permit such sacrilege, and the lords wouldn’t gainsay them on that one, A.J. had to come up with a different solution.

He and Claudia settled on envelopes made from thin sheets of rubberized, tightly-woven silk as a (barely) adequate (and terribly leaky) substitute, but reasoned the trips made by the Sriwijayans would be fairly short, by comparison to the epic voyages regularly undertaken by the crew of the Lady McShane.

Besides, what choice did they have, really? Offending the gods of the Sriwijayans was not at all an acceptable risk, under the circumstances, and the area didn’t have enough pigs and goats to supply the needed goldbeater skin (especially since they were so much smaller than cattle). On the other hand, local species of rubber trees grew just about everywhere, on the island.

(With that, the group focused on establishing the supply-chain and logistical base needed to build airships in Bengkulu, and fast-forwarded the clock by three months. Lord Candra piled security around them, so I had the group make job rolls to help Lord Candra’s advisor, Lord Horjasa, set up the logistics of airship construction. A critical failure by any of them would’ve meant a meghdoot had successfully infiltrated, and that character would’ve faced a fight with the assassin and her rakshasa entourage, initially alone except for their security team, with the rest of the group arriving as they could. However, everyone succeeded. Just a little look under the GM’s hood.)

By the end of the three months, the group had set up enough supply logistics that the Sriwijayans could build out the rest, on their own, and had created an airship, dubbed the Lakshmi. They’d also cross-trained in some additional spell colleges, to create some redundancy in the group’s magical arsenal.

Capt. Saputra had worked with the group to knock together of not-completely-clueless marines for combat duty aboard the vessel, and one of Lord Horjasa’s protégés in the local navy squadron, Harimurti Sumarsono, worked with A.J., Steven and Beatrice as they oversaw construction of the Lakshmi.

Sumarsono also took command of the first Sriwijayan airship, once they’d finished construction.

A.J. had settled on a design that resembled that of his world’s LZ 3, as it was fairly similar to their first airship, but included a closed gondola. It was powered by magically-enhanced steam engines that kept the boiler hot with less fuel, and the smaller coal bunkers made up for a lot of the extra mass of the vulcanized rubber gasbags.

Unfortunately, the monsoon season was well under way by the time they finished construction of the Lakshmi, and the group had to think hard about whether or not to undertake the maiden flight of the new airship as soon as possible, or delay for another month until the weather cleared.

Eventually, they chose to do some short shakedown flights when they had some clearer days and, after those went well enough, decided to risk the voyage toward Mauritius a few weeks before the rainy season ended. To that end, Lord Candra and Lord Jamaludin sent out word to the effect that skilled volunteers for the trip to Mauritius would be rewarded – and any slave that could make it to the airfield and volunteer would be freed and their masters compensated.

(continued...)
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Old 12-03-2022, 08:22 PM   #642
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(...continued)

The maiden voyage began early in the morning of an overcast day, but with little wind. The Lady McShane, with Steve at the helm, took off first, followed by the Lakshmi with Sumarsono in command – but with A.J. also on her bridge to provide advice and guidance.
The two airships rose slowly into the gray skies, and made it through the thick layer of clouds with little difficulty emerged into a bright, deep blue sky above a sea of white clouds, and the crew of the Lakshmi reacted with delight.

The two airships turned their noses a few points “west” of the ice-wall far to the “north,” as they hoped to loop around the north end of Lanka, far enough away to avoid detection as they transited to Mauritius.

Once above the clouds, the airships climbed to the Lakshmi’s operational ceiling (still much higher than it would’ve been on a dimension of the Material Realm of Assiah) and made their way through the azure sky, with the Pearl Bright Ocean cloaked with the thick layer of clouds, below.

The voyage went well enough, and A.J., Steven and Henrietta had plotted a course that took them far enough away from Lanka to remain undetected. The first real challenge came as the Lady McShane and the Lakshmi descended through the clouds above Mauritius – a few high volcanic peaks poking through, in spots, to find themselves deluged with heavy rain.

The limited visibility, occasional wind-gust and the thick canopy of the jungle where it met the cliff-face above the hidden village, made for a tricky approach. Steven brought in the Lady McShane first and, since the Mauritian’s recognized that ship, they were able to help him get it moored to thick branches in the jungle canopy.

Once the Lady McShane was down, Commander Sumarsono brought in the Lakshmi with excruciating care (he definitely wanted the “slow and careful” bonus), and managed to get that airship moored also.

The group felt that, given the lousy weather and the fact that the last meghdoot had failed, so spectacularly (as far as the Lankans probably knew), they could probably keep the large and visible airships hovering above the village, for a bit. However, they wanted that period to last as little time as possible, since the make-shifts moorings would do nothing to preserve the ships if the wind came up, in such close proximity to the mountain-side.

As such, the crews started to prep cargo and passengers for transport to the ground, but they first had to celebrate a homecoming.

The lift from the Lady McShane dropped in fits and starts, through the canopy, until it reached the ground. The door opened and Yash stepped out, in his bright orange silk robe, to the astonishment and delight of his people.

After a moment of shock, Sanjay, with tears in his eyes, embraced the prodigal young priest, and the rest of the village rushed in to share in the joy at his return.

A few minutes later, Capt. Saputra’s former second in command, Lt. Bakijan Wonopati, came down from the Lakshmi, saluted Sanjay, and introduced himself as the liaison between the Mauritians and the kingdoms of Sriwijaya.

After that, it was all hard work in the pouring rain, as the crews unloaded supplies for a bridgehead base at Mauritius, and that took the rest of the day, although Wonopati did take a few minutes to make the acquaintance of Karthick, the lead village’s lead scout.

The group spent the next several days learning the territory, and quickly decided the topography (and wild creatures in the vicinity) mad the current location of the village pretty difficult to supply by airship. So, A.J. opened up a portal back to the site of the original village, and Sanjay, Karthick and Lt. Wonopati agreed it made for a much better military outpost.

With that, work began on the outpost, with the help of the Sriwijayan volunteers and the Mauritian villagers, as Sanjay and Wonopati agreed they needed to complete the base as quickly as possible, so Karthick and his men could make contact with the surrounding hidden villages, before the Lankans got wind of the fact they’d been flanked.

After about a week, and seeing the project well under way (and wishing to depart before the rains ended), the Lakshmi and the Lady McShane cast off from their moorings and rose into the rainy skies.

The flight back proved pretty benign, as well, right up until the airships started their approaches into Bengkulu. At that point the wind kicked up and set up a rough approach.

The group decided to let the Lakshmi try to land first, so that vessel moved past the Lady McShane. Unfortunately, the much less experienced Sumarsono, in his much less sophisticated airship, got caught aslant of the wind, and the tail tipped up suddenly and he hauled back on the throttle.

Girders began to groan and crack as the Lakshmi’s envelope began to twist, and a frantic call from the engine room indicated that a fire had broken out. Also, Stephen realized he hadn’t left enough distance between the two vessels, and had to dump ballast and climb fast to make sure he didn’t perform a slow-motion ram into the back of the Sriwijayan airship.

A.J., on the command deck with Sumarsono, saw the young commander start to panic, and the crew start to do so, as well, and intervened to calm everyone down. A.J. helped Sumarsono get a grip, and the Sriwijayan officer moved to calm his men down and get them working on the disintegrating airship.

That freed A.J. to clamber up to the engine room, where he saw that the sudden pitch had apparently occurred just as the engine crew had started to re-fill the boiler with coal. That sudden change had dumped a bunch of coals out into the laps of two crewmen and set the bamboo deck alight.

The crew were fighting the fire, gamely, when A.J. arrived to help and, between them, they got the fire out. A.J. then did the first aid he could, as well as some healing magic, on the badly-burned crewmen, but said getting them to Doc Bascher would have to wait until after they’d landed.

The Sriwijayans hopped to it, and managed to keep the envelope from complete collapse, until Sumarsono and his flight crew managed to get the airship down on the deck. The ground crews quickly grabbed the mooring lines and hauled the Lakshmi into the hangar and out of the wind, before it could twist itself to pieces.

As the crews secured his crippled vessel inside its hangar, Sumarsono took a moment to nearly collapse, and then pull himself together enough to go report in. A.J. went along with him, and a lengthy de-brief followed as Steven, Claudia, Beatrice and the Sriwijayan engineers inspected the damaged Lakshmi.

During the debrief, A.J. reported that Sumarsono had landed the damaged vessel as well as anybody could have, and much better than expected. While some of his men got injured (mostly from snapping guy-wires), none died and most of his airship was salvageable.

The former NASA engineer also acknowledged he should have recommended they wait until the rainy season ended before undertaking the maiden flight, and recommended the Sriwijayans suspend flight operations during the rainy season until they’d gained considerably more experience.

(continued...)
__________________
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MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1]
"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.
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Old 12-03-2022, 08:23 PM   #643
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(...continued)

Ultimately, the Sriwijayans decided to suspend work on their second airship so as to salvage the Lakshmi, and try to learn lessons they could apply to future vessels they constructed. Since the gondola and engines had largely escaped harm, the Sriwijayans decided to use them as the core of a rebuilt Lakshmi, and had Sumarsono oversee the reconstruction of the airship, to which he would retain command.

The Red Rocks Lodge crew hung around another couple of weeks, to help with the crash analysis and to get the salvage operation under way, but then handed everything off to the Sriwijayans. They’d done what they could, and even a bit more than expected, by then, and wanted to continue their voyage toward the Sea of Fate.

The Sriwijayans accepted their decision with grace, and lavished rewards on the group, not only in the form of silks, spices, precious metals and spare parts, but also with decorations for the interior of the Lady McShane. Several members of the Sriwijayan contingent charged with construction of the Lakshmi had spent some time aboard the larger airship, to learn by example, including Lord Horjasa, and found the spare interior rather dull, if quite functional, so they decided to brighten the place up a bit with rugs, tapestries and dabs of bright paint for accents.

At that point, Messerankh stepped forward and declared she didn’t wish to continue the trip. She’d been away from Alexandria far too long, as it was, Messie explained, and should she remain on the Lady McShane as it headed toward uncharted skies, she didn’t know if she’d ever return.

Moreover, with the new skills and spells she’d learned, during her time with the Red Rocks Lodge, Messerankh said she’d prove an even more valuable asset to the resistance against the rule of the Ptolomeys.

She asked that A.J. open a portal to the airfield south of Lake Mareotis, and she went to pack up the valuables she’d earned and the copies of the tomes she’d made in the months where she’d spent every spare moment in the airship’s library, amongst Oliver McShane’s books.

When Messie was ready, A.J. opened the way and the group helped her carry her supplies through to Alexandria. The once and future resistance figher said the heat had likely died down enough for her to make it out of Alexandria, and said the group could look her up in the town of Abdju, well south of Alexandria in the Nile Valley, and one of the centers of the resistance.

They stashed Messie’s supplies in one of the outbuildings, and the Aegyptian bid them farewell. As the portal closed behind the Red Rocks Lodge crew, Messie turned her face toward the lights of the ferry docks, and made her way in that direction.

For his part, Amon decided to remain with the Red Rocks Lodge members. While still devoted to the cause of Aegyptian freedom, Amon said he felt he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to learn more and, besides, he wanted to see the trip through to the end.

The next day, the Lady McShane launched from airfield outside of Bengkulu, rose through the cloud-deck, and turned her nose to the “northeast.” During their time in Sriwijaya, Henrietta and Millie had found out what they could about the seas between Sriwijaya and the Great Vortex, and learned that the latter spun in a clockwise direction and extended well above the strange atmosphere of the Pearl Bright Ocean, as well as deep into its depths.

As such, they needed to skirt the vortex to the north – the least dangerous route, as it kept them well clear of the gray mists where the Astral Plane, with it’s myriad predatory spirits, bordered the endless sea.

Henrietta and Millie had also tracked down as many stories as they could from Sriwijayans who had traveled in the direction opposite Lanka (the months spent in the archipelago had given everyone familiarity with the language, and Henrietta had always been, a skilled linguist, anyway…).

Between them, they’d put together enough information about this world’s version of Japan that they thought they could plot a course that would bring them close enough to see that chain of northerly islands, as long as they kept their altitude high enough. With copies of that information stashed away in the slowly-growing library, they set out on the next leg of the trip.

Based on what they’d learned, the trip to the mythical version of Japan that lay in the vast expanse of the Pearl Bright Ocean would take at least a couple of weeks, even at their speed. As such, the group settled into a normal routine, and many started to research and experiment on a few ideas for spells that A.J. had put together.

The Red Rocks Lodge still had to deal with the problem posed by the meghdoot, Satvari, who remained unconscious and locked in the brig. Aurelia would not permit them to execute the conditioned assassin, so A.J. had spent some time trying to think of another way.

He’d turned to the colleges of Ruax and Naôth, and thought he’d found some possibilities in the spells of Mind Control, and Communication & Empathy.

One spell, which he’d dubbed, “Flashy Thing,” would allow them to erase short-term memory and replace what was loss with simple suggestions that would allow the target mind to generate some false memories.

A second, dubbed, “First Step to a New You,” would impose a version amnesia that would last a full year, and permit the recipient to live a different sort of life, free of the burden of his or her past. At the end of the year, all the memories would return, but the experiences of the year would remain, as well, and the target could make choices about who he or she wanted to be.

Others included a spell to reverse the effects of “Flashy Thing” (“De-Neuralyze”); completely wipe a personality with all its memories (“Erase Person”), as well as some to allow them to defend the airship better, or magically enhance their weapons.

The members of the group (except Amon) each picked a spell to research, and everyone spent at least a couple of hours, a day, poking at the projects they’d taken on.

The first few days of the trip passed peacefully enough. A.J. and Steven shared piloting duties, and both kept the airship very high above the clouds. At that altitude, they found that cold winds blew from the north, as compared to the warm southeasterly winds of the monsoon far below, and so they made less progress than they’d hoped.

That changed after about five days, as they left the last of the Sriwijayan Archipelago behind them, and moved into the vast, open ocean that lay between those warm, lush lands and the more austere climes that lay nearer to the great Icewall. At that point, the warmer, wetter air driven by the monsoon began to rise above the cooler atmosphere, below.

While that gave them following winds, the air also got a lot more choppy, with sudden wind-shears that required more careful piloting.

Two days into that part of the trip, Stephen allowed his attention to wander, and found a powerful down-draft, the hard way (bad failure on his Piloting roll) and the Lady McShane found itself in a flat spin, falling toward the ocean, far below.

The sudden drop woke A.J. and he rushed down to the flight deck to help, as the rest of the crew hung on to something so as to keep their footing, as the envelope’s framework began to creak and pop. Between the two men, they got the airship under control, but realized they had dropped to within about 5,000 feet of the ocean.

(continued...)
__________________
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MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1]
"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.
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Old 12-03-2022, 08:23 PM   #644
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(...continued)

They throttled the engines up to climb back up to altitude and had started to rise, when they started to hear wonderful singing coming from below. Looking outside, A.J. and Stephen saw winged female figures winging up toward them, singing as they approached.

A.J. and Stephen both immediately recognized them as Sirens, and together they pointed the nose of the ship and and firewalled the throttle. Fortunately, because of their experiences and with the help of their Medicine Bags, they managed to resist the alluring call, and soon outraced the magical predators.

(Under the hood, once again. I generally prep weather conditions and randome encounters for these long voyages, ahead of time, and I’d rolled the Sirens days before the session started. When Ragan critically failed Stephen’s piloting roll, on the same day as the Siren encounter, I had to laugh. It was sheer coincidence.)

The airship regained altitude within an hour, or so, and the journey continued, with no other difficulties than shifting wind and, at one point, a powerful, churning gale they watched from high above. At one point, five days later, they caught a glimpse of what looked like a high, vee-shaped wave rolling along roughly their same path, far below, but decided they didn’t wish to get any closer to the surface of the ocean than absolutely necessary.

Soon enough, they left it far behind, anyway.

By then, the weather had mellowed by quite a bit, as they crossed over much cooler waters. Except for a few choppy patches, everything seemed to flow along smoothly enough, until about four days later.

That found Stephen at the helm again, in the early evening, and once again he found a down-draft the hard way. This one proved much stronger than the last and, even though A.J. rushed down to help, once again, they passed well-below the 5,000-foot mark and found themselves still falling.

As the crew scrambled to head up to the envelope to keep an eye on things, a sudden yaw pitched Henrietta off the safety ladder, and she bounced and rattled down until she hit the lower deck with a thud. Fortunately, the former archeologist had learned, years ago, to always keep a Healing spell prepped, and it discharged as she heard (and felt) her ankles crack.

(Again, Ragan rolled a crit fail for Piloting. The only luck the poor guy had, in the second part of the session, was all bad.)

By the time he and A.J. started to get the airship under control, the surface of the ocean was rising fast. Just as they managed to get the helm under control, the bottom of the gondola slapped into the surface of the sea.

The panels weakened months past, in the attack of the mulala on Mauritius, tore free from some of their mountings, and seawater poured inside and slopped around the deck. Stephen and A.J. managed to get the airship up out of the drink before she swamped, though, and water cascaded out of the hatches opened by the crew, as the airship struggled to gain height.

Everyone except Henrietta spent the remainder of the evening mopping up seawater and evaluating the damage which, although annoying, was reparable with supplies they had aboard. For her part, Henrietta limped up to Doc Bascher’s sick-bay, and surrendered herself to the doc’s tender mercies.

With that, the session ended.

##

Funny Quotes

(The session starts with a bit of a post-mortem of last session’s fight, as they get the missing players up to speed.)
A.J.: I love the smell of napalm, in the morning!
Beatrice (Benetta had to leave early, last time): Since I started a lot of it on fire, I figured I’d better come down and help.

(The Sriwijayans finally arrive, help finish off the Rakshasa, and make worried inquiries.)
A.J.: There was very little damage to our ship. Mostly just blood-stains, really….
Stephen (carrying what was left of the meghdoot blown up by A.J.): Who needs a hand? I have a spare hand!

Beatrice: Lions and tigers and bears…
Everyone: … oh, my!

(The nunnupi show up, and the group tells them to keep clear while they clean up the mess. Surprisingly, the Magpie Girls comply.)
Stephen: It didn’t cost us anything to boss them around, for once!
Millie: We just had to kill a whole bunch of people.
Stephen (Calls after the nunnupi): Are you entertained?
Hops About: It’s why we are here!

(The group starts to load up the airships with cargo and volunteer passengers – including notionally-freed slaves.)
Stephen (On the verge of getting offended): Wait. No female slaves, right?

(The trip commences, following what was mostly a pleasant stay.)
Stephen: We don’t always just leave death and destruction. Sometimes, we plant the seeds for future civilizations!
Beatrice: I would’ve said, “planting the seeds for future…”
A.J. (joins in): “…death and destruction!”

(The two airships, one much larger than the other, commence the voyage to Mauritius.)
Stephen: It’s “me” and “mini-me”!

(Things go pear-shaped on the final approach back at Bengkulu.)
Beatrice: It’s fine! They’ll be fine! It’s fine!

(Stephen almost crashes the Lady McShane into the back of the Lakshmi.)
A.J.: What part of, “Keep a good distance between us,” did you not understand? Didn’t you see the “Student Driver” sign on the back of our airship?!

(The crew notes how the gifts of the Sriwijayans changed the feel of the interior of the Lady McShane to something much warmer and less spartan.)
Beatrice: You know what we need now? Toast! It looks like a bordello vomited in our rooms!

(The gondola splashes down on the surface of the sea, and the lower deck gets awash with ankle-deep water.)
Beatrice: There’s nothing on the whole planet worse than wet shoes, except…
A.J. (joins in, again): “…wet socks!”

##
__________________
--
MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1]
"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.
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Old 01-06-2023, 11:53 PM   #645
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Well, the holidays have come and gone, and I spent the two weeks before Christmas with COVID-19, which is why this write-up didn’t get done, then.
(I’m fully vaccinated so it was a mild case, and I’ve recovered, but it was the first time I’ve had it and I must say, I can’t recommend the experience.)

Anyway, now that the holidays have ended, we’ll get back to a session every three or four weeks.

The group spent the last one mostly traveling and doing reconnaissance, and then decided they wanted more of the players before they decided how to proceed.

Characters Present

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. -- Played by Anten S.

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P. (Not available, this time.)

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. A cynic about men, she is accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign “foo” spirit) -- played by Bernetta W. (Not available, this time.)

Stephen Mack, another member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, a former U.S. Marine Corps test pilot, and outdoors enthusiast. – Played by Ragan S.

Millicent “Millie” Brown – A member of the Columbine Lodge of Denver, and descendant of the Unsinkable Margaret “Molly” Brown. Currently an apprentice of the Invisible College of Thoth-Hermes, seconded out to the members of the Red Rocks Lodge. Owner of a large, well-trained Savannah Cat, named Apophis. – Played by Kaitlynn S.

Guest NPCs

Amon Kosey – Another native of Aegyptus and a fellow member of the Children of Khemet, he appears as an unremarkable man, but has a hidden talent for deception who can, nonetheless, turn on the charm when needed. With an average face, an average height, and a lack of distinguishing features, he blends in with any crowd and has wandered into just about anywhere, uninvited and frequently unnoticed. -- Played by Pete T. (Not available, this time.)

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

Hops About: An enthusiastically lethal nunnupi, a 6-inch tall fairy girl with black wings, pale skin and American Indian features. Currently dressed in the colors of the Unseelie Court, with a bow and knife, she frequently takes the form of a magpie four times the size of a normal bird and can go invisible.

Twirls Thrice: A laconically lethal nunnupi with a dry sense of humor, also dressed in the cool colors of the Unseelie Court. The sister of Hops About, she bears similar weapons that can inflict elf-stroke, also appears as a large magpie, and can go invisible.

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet.

Claudia Abigail “Cat” Tavulari – A former member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and an old friend of Arthur Jamison’s. The team has been helping Arthur research the portal physics, on the sly.

##

After the accidental almost-dunking the Lady McShane got, Arthur and Stephen decided to keep the airship at high altitude, to conduct repairs before they proceeded northward toward the version of Mount Fuji they saw rising far to the north.

Given that they had the needed supplies in the hold, had managed to recover some parts that hadn’t completely broken free of the gondola, and could cast as many “flight” spells as they needed, the repairs went pretty quickly. A.J., Stephen, Beatrice, Amon and Claudia worked together and had the patch done after a long day’s work.

The next morning, A.J. decided to spend a day circumnavigating the vast archipelago that resembled a slightly larger version of the islands of Japan from their own world. In their travels through the Pearl Bright Ocean, they’d noticed that many of the lands resembled versions of places out of myth, instead of history, so nobody quite knew what to expect from this proto-Japan.

So, A.J. took the Lady McShane up high enough that the airship was hard to notice, from the ground, but not so high that binoculars wouldn’t work, and they started the flight.

They soon saw that this version of Japan started with the Nanpo Islands and the Ryuku chain, as well as the main islands the Kurils, up north Okinawa, Shikoku and Kyushu showed an early version of the sort of architecture featured through Japanese history. Strong defensive castles on high hills overlooked walled towns of wooden houses set up on posts that had curved roofs supported by external posts and lintels, and thin wooden walls set inside the posts and lintels, to allow the roof to create covered porches.

However, they noted no large cities in the southern half of the archipelago, which featured dense forests on terrain even more rugged than that found on the Japan of their world. Most of the towns hugged the coasts, and many of the long, narrow boats traditionally favored by Japanese sailors and fisherman floated offshore, or worked their way up and down the coasts.

Once again, though, the crew noticed nothing that resembled a Chinese junk, and most of the vessels they did see were pretty small.

However, about halfway up the large island of Honshu, the architecture and pattern of settlement drastically changed. A wide band of particularly thick forest separated the nearest southern town from its closest northern settlement, which featured a few structures made of thick logs and thatched roofs, but with many more thatched huts made of straw bundles on sturdy log frameworks.

Unlike the towns to the south, the northern villages had few rice fields – or any fields of any sort – but a lot more boats of various designs floated offshore and along the rivers. The villages were much more widely dispersed, although clustered along the waterways, and they caught a few glimpses of small settlements in the midst of remote valleys.

As with the southern section, they did see some smoke plume arising from otherwise invisible inland settlements in remote valleys, but the northern part of Honshu, and all of Hokkaido, indicated a greater number of such settlements amidst the rugged terrain.

Rather confused by what they’d seen (especially since none of the group had specialized in Eastern cultures or myths), they decided to keep the airship at altitude for the evening, and in the morning try to spot a clearing into which they could lower the lift.
They decided to try to walk to a small southern town, since those seemed a little more familiar, and see what they could discover.

As the portal opened the next morning, they spiraled downward and began to look for a likely spot to lower an “away team,” no more than about 40 miles from one of the southern coastal towns.

They found one, soon enough, and Stephen and A.J. lowered the Lady McShane until it hovered about 50 feet above a sizeable clearing in the lush forest, and then turned the helm over to Claudia. They then joined Henrietta and Millie (with Apophis) in the lift room, and lowered themselves down.

Once they’d debarked, and stood looking around to get their bearings, they heard a shout from the treeline and saw an odd being with a red face and a long, red nose, standing on a wide tree branch, up above them about 10 yards away. It wore what appeared to be cotton clothes that blended well with the foliage, and A.J. noted it bore a slightly curved sword.

Henrietta quickly triggered a language spell so everybody could understand what was being said, and they heard the creature shout that the group had trespassed. It then asked why it shouldn’t just kill them all.

On a hunch, A.J. stepped forward, told the creature to “come and try,” and drew his machete to activate all of his defensive spells. The creature shouted with rage, leapt effortlessly down to A.J, drawing its own sword in mid-jump.

A surprised Henrietta moved to cover A.J.’s flank, while Steve quickly looked around to make sure they weren’t about to get mobbed, as A.J. quickly entered an intricate duel and immediately realized the creature had considerable skill.

(continued...)
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Old 01-06-2023, 11:53 PM   #646
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(...continued)

Millie watched for a couple of seconds and then, alarmed that A.J. hadn’t just cut the creature down, effortlessly, stepped forward and drew her rapier as the former NASA scientist finally spilled blood with a quick cut.

That drew another shout from the treeline and a second red-faced creatures bounded down at her, and Millie soon found herself in terrible danger. The second creature’s curved sword flashed at her, she parried the first thrust, got parried herself, and then felt the opposing blade smash through her chain-mail and cut deep.

Millie triggered a healing spell, which the creature seemed to immediately notice, and it came at her more cautiously. At the same time, A.J. tried a sophisticated feint at his skilled foe, only to have the red-faced swordsmen see through it (barely) and step back to cautiously evaluate the human’s style.

Perceiving an opening, A.J. asked if his opponent felt it necessary to continue and, hearing that, Millie went into a defensive stance.
A.J.’s opponent paused a moment, and then declared that it didn’t seem necessary to continue the duel, as it seemed honor had been satisfied, on both sides.

With that, A.J. immediately sheathed his machete and bowed respectfully, his opponent did the same, and then Millie and her foe followed suit.

A.J.’s foe introduced himself as Ekashiba Yayomanekuh, the chief of the forest tengu into whose territory the Red Rocks Lodge away team had lowered themselves.

Millie’s foe introduced himself, as well, as Sahpo Sisiratoka. The red-nosed creature seemed terribly shocked when he heard Millie’s voice as she introduced herself, in return.

However, Chief Ekashiba seemed to make no note of it, and he invited the four to join him as guests at his village, and the group agreed, readily enough. He did address most of his remarks to A.J., and Henrietta the anthropologist soon recognized them as yet another patriarchal society, non-human characteristics notwithstanding.

After about an hour’s walk, during which the group saw a fair number of red-faced creatures flitting through the tree canopy above and around them, they arrived in a dell. The small valley held a number of vast trees that held wooden platforms upon which their hosts had woven domiciles from living branches.

Their hosts had also built a number of raised wooden platforms with thatched roofs on the forest floor, and those had inset stone basins for fireplaces, upon which roasted a number of haunches of game of various sorts. Ekashiba called up to his people, who had gathered to stare down at the odd guests, and bade them prepare a feast.

With a cheer, the red-faced creatures hopped to it, and soon rice and vegetables simmered in clay pots, meat roasted on spits, and the chief called for drinks.

At about that time, the insatiably curious Hops About and Twirls Thrice flew into the camp in magpie form, but the eyes of one of the tengu immediately widened in shock, and he hurriedly whispered something in the ear of Chief Ekashiba. The chief's eyes immediately darted to the fluttering forms the fae sisters, and he carefully asked A.J. if the two "kami" had accompanied the group to the tengu territory.

A.J. acknowledged that the two fae had accompanied the group as passengers aboard the airship, with whom the group had a distant -- albeit peaceful -- relationship. The two "kami" had chosen to travel with them to the seas past the Great Maelstrom. He recommended the tengu treat them respectfully if addressed, but otherwise politely treat Hops About and Twirls Thrice as if they weren't present, as the two fae mostly just seemed interested in observing.

The tengu chief eyed his distressed-looking xiūxíng zhě (shaman), who reluctantly agreed that sounded like good advice. Ekashiba announced out loud that he welcomed all the guests and promised that none of his people would harass any of them.

At that point, one of the women bustled out with a beautifully-decorated clay bottle, and Ekashiba shared around what turned out to be excellent sake. In response to A.J.’s inquiry, he said his people, a tribe of forest tengu, had traded for it with merchants from the “bear people,” to the north.

That prompted A.J. to note that the islands seemed divided into two groups of people, and the tengu chieftain agreed that was partly true, but more complicated and applied mostly to the humans on the islands.

The southern group of humans, Ekashiba explained, was held by the Yamato people, who worshipped a sun-goddess, Amaterasu, and had appeared in the ocean to the south of Okinawa, in several storm-damaged ships, hundreds of years in the past.

A disciplined, honorable (after their own fashion) and warlike people with skilled swordsmen, spearmen and archers, they had carved out settlements on Okinawa, and then slowly expanded northwards as the centuries passed.

As they’d done so, they’d gradually displaced the “bear people” who had lived on the islands since time immemorable. These “Ainu” who hadn’t assimilated had been slowly driven north, until they’d made a stand halfway up the largest island.

The shaman’s of the Ainu had appealed to the forest spirits and allies amongst the yokai (non-human beings such as the tengu), to help them create the broad band of forest, which they and their allies defended against Yamato encroachments.

The situation had remained stable, for the past few centuries, Ekashiba explained. The Yamato had built their fortified towns and cleared the forests for their fields of rice, wheat and vegetables, supplemented by fish and whatever game they could get.,

The tengu chief said the Yamato fought fiercely and with great skill, but they lacked woodcraft, so they didn’t make the best hunters. With a bit of delicate digging, Henrietta and A.J. also learned the Yamato seemed to lack domesticated livestock, as well, and seemd more interested in self-sufficiency than widespread trade.

However, the Yamato had larger families and their numbers expanded fairly quickly, so “sun-people” towns tended to have more people than the ‘bear-people” settlements.

In contrast, the Ainu “bear-people,” focused more on hunting and fishing, as well as gleaning whatever foods the forests naturally produced. They depended much more on fish than the Yamato, and traded widely and enthusiastically with one another and the various yokai, with whom they’d always shared the island.

The Ainu even traded with the few Yamato willing to do so, and merchants were held in high regard, in the northern settlements, as opposed to the southern towns, whose lords (“daimyo”) seemed to allow trade only grudgingly, if at all.

As for the tengu and other yokai, Ekashiba said, they’d lived on the islands, forever, and tended to specialize in things they did well. The few types of yoikai who grasped the notion of “trade” did so willingly with the Ainu merchants (and always had), and generally the widely-varied non-human people tended to get along reasonably well with the bear-people humans (unless they didn’t).

By contrast, the Yamato tended to behave prickly towards outsiders of any sort, and the presence of yokai apparently made them profoundly uncomfortable. As such, the yokai tended to favor the Ainu in most conflicts with the Yamato (assuming the non-humans got involved, at all, which they mostly didn’t), and that had probably helped establish the current stalemate, Ekashiba acknowledged.

All of that gave the group a fair amount to think about. For her part, Henrietta had little interest in interaction with yet another primitive society that treated women as second-class citizens (at best), or even chattel, and advised they just continue on toward the Great Maelstrom.

However, A.J. thought it might be a good idea to learn more about the island, and perhaps trade with at least the Ainu, as well as possibly discover if any of the yokai produced unusual (or even magical) goods. The group had also learned that the tengu knew of masters of esoteric martial arts, so "trained by master" might be available, on the islands.

With that, I advised the players to hold off until more members of the group could attend, and that ended the session.

##

Funny Quotes

(The group reviews some of the remarkably well-timed failed rolls, during the last session.)
G.M.: The fact that Ragan rolls a critical failure on does not necessarily mean a monster is waiting for you. It’s just that I had random encounters prepped, and he just happened to hit two of them!

(The group reviews the damage to the airship.)
A.J.: I thought you had, “Making and Breaking”?
Steve: I don’t.
A.J. (points to Millie, who just arrived at the back of the gondola): Ask her.
Millie (sees the damage): Not again!

Steve: Let’s go be ronin!

Steve (notes the absence if any sign of firearms, during the aerial recon): We need to be careful with our rifles, unless we want to be gods.
A.J.: I say yes!

##
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Last edited by tshiggins; 01-21-2023 at 12:08 AM.
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Old 01-10-2023, 10:11 PM   #647
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

I'm mildly surprised no one immediately recognized the tengu, but then maybe I've just a rather deeper love of Japanese mythology in comparison to your players...

(And a much deeper library of Usagi Yojimbo comics...)
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Old 01-20-2023, 11:54 PM   #648
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mburr0003 View Post
I'm mildly surprised no one immediately recognized the tengu, but then maybe I've just a rather deeper love of Japanese mythology in comparison to your players...

(And a much deeper library of Usagi Yojimbo comics...)
Anten recognized them pretty quickly.
He's third generation (IIRC) Japanese-American. :)

Edited the session log because I forgot what could've been a significant event, if the group had handled it differently.
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Old 01-22-2023, 12:44 AM   #649
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Everybody’s schedule worked out so we get two sessions in rapid succession. Last time, the ladies took a poll and the group took the show on the road.

Characters Present

Dr. Henrietta "Indiana" Johnson -- A personable, age 29-and-holding Anthropologist who specializes in the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the American Desert Southwest. A Native of Apache Junction, AZ, "Indiana" is good with people and has been fascinated by American Indian religion and folklore since she was a child. Henrietta speaks Apache fluently, and not-so-secretly wishes archaeology could be more like Raiders of the Lost Ark and less like digging in a trench with a trowel and a toothbrush -- Played by Debbie S.

Dr. Arthur "A.J." Jamison -- a retired NASA scientist with a home in one of Moab's nicer canyon sub-developments, who volunteers for 4CSAR because he needs to do something to get out of the house. -- Played by Anten S.

Aurelia R. Lockrin -- A young woman with a shady past who teaches History at Grand County High School (Home of the Red Devils!), and volunteers for 4CSAR because she's a bit of an adrenalin junkie, and likes the companionship. -- played by Bennie Rae P.

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. A cynic about men, she is accompanied by "Grunt," the biggest, best-trained pit-bull anybody has ever seen (purchased as an ally, and a totally badass dog, even before it was possessed by what appears to be a benign “foo” spirit) -- played by Bernetta W. (Not available, this time.)

Stephen Mack, another member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, a former U.S. Marine Corps test pilot, and outdoors enthusiast. – Played by Ragan S.

Millicent “Millie” Brown – A member of the Columbine Lodge of Denver, and descendant of the Unsinkable Margaret “Molly” Brown. Currently an apprentice of the Invisible College of Thoth-Hermes, seconded out to the members of the Red Rocks Lodge. Owner of a large, well-trained Savannah Cat, named Apophis. – Played by Kaitlynn S.

Guest NPCs

Amon Kosey – Another native of Aegyptus and a fellow member of the Children of Khemet, he appears as an unremarkable man, but has a hidden talent for deception who can, nonetheless, turn on the charm when needed. With an average face, an average height, and a lack of distinguishing features, he blends in with any crowd and has wandered into just about anywhere, uninvited and frequently unnoticed. -- Played by Pete T.

NPCs Present

Grunt: Beatrice's ally, a large pit-bull possessed by a protective "foo" spirit.

Hops About: An enthusiastically lethal nunnupi, a 6-inch tall fairy girl with black wings, pale skin and American Indian features. Currently dressed in the colors of the Unseelie Court, with a bow and knife, she frequently takes the form of a magpie four times the size of a normal bird and can go invisible.

Twirls Thrice: A laconically lethal nunnupi with a dry sense of humor, also dressed in the cool colors of the Unseelie Court. The sister of Hops About, she bears similar weapons that can inflict elf-stroke, also appears as a large magpie, and can go invisible.

Dr. Belody "Doc" Bascher -- a local veterinarian for both large and small animals, who frequently fixates on her job and uses 4CSAR as her primary social outlet.

Claudia Abigail “Cat” Tavulari – A former member of the NASA Quantum Physics Research Team, and an old friend of Arthur Jamison’s. The team has been helping Arthur research the portal physics, on the sly.

Satvari Karuna – A once (and perhaps future) skilled Lankan assassin whose memory has been wiped of her brainwashed upbrining, ostensibly so she has the chance to make an ethical, informed choice about who she wishes to be.

##

Upon completion of the feast at the tengu village, the group returned to the Lady McShane, flew up to a high altitude, set watches and turned in for the night.

The next morning, the group met in the Ten-Forward Lounge over breakfast, and discussed what to do next. A.J. noted the presence of a weapon master meant they had the chance to learn some uniquely effective fighting skills, but acknowledged that the year of training required is not something Hops About and Twirls Thrice would likely appreciate.

That comment received a, “Yup,” from Twirls Thrice, who had flown in unnoticed with Hops About. The two nunnupi perched in the sill of the huge forward window, unnoticed, until they decided to make their presence known.

With that nixed, talk turned to the possibility of visiting the Yamato or the Ainu.

The group decided, quickly, that a visit to the reportedly xenophobic Yamato would likely prove more trouble than worthwhile, since the daimyos seemed to have little patience for (or understanding of) the desirability of trade.

As for the Ainu, they’d probably receive a much warmer welcome, but as hunter-gatherers they likely had very little surplus to trade, anyway, and were even less likely to have anything the Red Rocks Lodge members actually needed.

That was especially true, since the grateful (and much more affluent) Sriwijayans had loaded up the Lady McShane with supplies of all sorts, including a fair quantity of comforts and even some sumptuous luxuries.

Upon that note, talk turned to the other bit of “cargo” they’d picked up during their time in the sultry jungles of the south – to wit, one Satvari Karuna, the comatose meghdoot assassin with a knack for lethal violence matched only by her fanatical devotion to horrific Lankan government, a product of lifelong socialization that Aurelia convincingly argued amounted to brainwashing.

A.J. told the group he’d given considerable thought to the problem and, based on some research he’d done in the copies of the books on magickal theory he’d acquired from the Great Library of Alexandria, he might have discovered a potential solution.

It should be possible, A.J. explained, to combine the power of the entire lodge into a spell so powerful it could wipe Satvari’s memory for about a year, similar to what was experienced by Jason Bourne in those stories. Her skills would remain intact, but the enchantment would prevent her from remembering how she acquired them – or how she used them.

It would also block her socialization/brainwashing, A.J. continued, teach her English, and give her a sense of companionship with the rest of the group. After a year, the spell (which he called, “The First Step to a New You”), would dissipate and her memories would return – but she would retain the year of experience she’d had, without them.

At that point, A.J. said, the meghdoot would’ve had a year of completely different life, against which Satvari could compare her prior experiences and, quite possibly, make something that actually resembled an informed choice about who she wanted to be, thereafter.

Aurelia said that sounded eminently fair, and that she could live with whatever happened when Satvari’s memory returned and the once-and-future (possibly) meghdoot mader her choice. The rest of the group agreed, and A.J. shared his initial research.

Someone who had learned the College of Ruax (Mind Control) would have to actually research the spell, A.J. explained, and that could take awhile. However, they needed to take the time to do some additional spell research anyway, since he had absolutely no interesting in flying an airship – no matter how magically advanced – into the Great Maelstrom, without the ability to shield it in some way.

Fortunately, he’d already come up with some ideas around that, and Steven had started the research during what little spare time he had when working on the airship, Lakshmi, for the Sriwijayans, the past few months. Unfortunately, things hadn’t gone well, and at one point Steve’s lab had slightly… exploded.

Although, all it had done was break some glass and burn off Steven’s eyebrows and eyelashes (fixed right up with a Restoration spell), but he and A.J. had decided to hold off on further investigation until they had time to give it more focus. Since they needed to research the Ruax spell, anyway, they may as well work on the Roêlêd ship protection, at the same time.

Since the tengu has proven hospitable enough (at least, once they got past the initial introduction…), the group decided to take the airship up to high altitude, every night, when it should be invisible to the Yamato town 40 miles away. The could bring it down in the wee hours of the morning if they needed something, or just wanted to take a break from the books and socialize with the red-nosed, bird-like locals.

With that, A.J. headed off for a brief visit with the yokai chief, Ekashiba, to make sure they wouldn’t prove an imposition (he agreed to permit them to land, as needed, somewhat to the dismay of his nervous xiūxíng zhě), after A.J. presented him with some “hospitality gifts.”

At that point, they were ready to go, but decided to take care of one last order of business they hadn’t yet dealt with. Amon Khosey had spent his time under the tutelage of Millie and Henrietta, and had achieved sufficient mastery of Meditation that they judged him ready for initiation as a mage.

So, the group raised the airship to sufficient height so as to prevent interruption (and, hopefully, take them out of the range of any spirits or other astral entities that might have clustered around the magically and tectonically active island of proto-Honshu), and dug stasis boxes out from storage trunks where they’d stashed the devices, nearly 18 months, prior.

The group explained how to use the devices, and dropped in some of the magical or special items they’d acquired, which (unlike iron or steel) would actually make the transition to Yetzirah.

(continued...)
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Old 01-22-2023, 12:45 AM   #650
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(...continued)

A.J. provided the machete he’d had made from the nose of one of the gladius-fish, as a “loaner” weapon for Amon, and then put in his newer, orichalchum blade, for himself. Millie, Steven and Aurelia dropped in their gladius-fish blades, also, and Henrietta added in the much-enhanced staff she’d originally “acquired” from the djinnaya who no longer needed it, at the time.

The group then loaded up on defensive and healing spells, and Henrietta prepped everyone with Planar Visit spells.

Somewhat perturbed by all the preparation, Amon asked how long this trip would last, and exactly how dangerous it might be. The group then regaled him with stories from their past trips to Yetzirah, and declared it best to be prepared. Millie noted that her teachers in Denver’s Columbine Lodge had a warded section of Yetzirah to use with their initiates, but they had nothing similar to that available for this trip.
With that, the group settled down near the stasis boxes, Claudia took command of the airship, Beatrice and Grunt (whose possessing “foo” spirit could see into Yetzirah) took posts to protect the room; and Doc Bascher stood ready to protect the uninhabited bodies. At a signal, everybody triggered their spells and leapt into the mists.

Once he’d leaped, Amon looked around at the fog and immediately noticed bright blue-white lines of force in a pattern that reminded him of something, although he couldn’t think what, right away. However, it clicked into focus when A.J. and Steve noted the lines of force matched the layout of the magickal conduits Claudia had laced throughout the Lady McShane to bring power from the elemental matrices to the airship’s systems.
With that, they started to orient Amon. They noted that while he seemed to still possess it body, it consisted of the-image he had of himself, projected into the astral plane of Yetzirah, and as such, it appeared as rather idealized to everyone else.

Once that was pointed out, Amon noted that everyone looked younger, stronger and more fit than they usually appeared, as well. The group also noted that the lack of anything other than their own spirits, plus the magickal lines of the airship, meant the next 10 minutes might actually pass, uneventfully.

At that point, two blindingly-bright, greenish-white spheres of energy manifested, reminding Steven of some artillery “star shell” flares he’d seen during his time as a Marine stationed in the Indian Ocean. They heard the chipper voice of Hops About in their heads as she said hello and declared Yetzirah as dull as ever, a sentiment with which Twirls Thrice agreed.

The two flare-bright faeries darted around, for a bit, as the rest of the group tried to ignore them and explained to Amon that his astral body didn’t have the same constraints as his physical self. For instance, he could move as fast as he could will himself to do so, and in any direction – a fine advantage, given the dangers of Yetzirah.

Suddenly, the two faerie-flares darted down into the mists, their attention clearly drawn by something. Within a few minutes, the group saw eight figures that, oddly enough, appeared to be swimming up through the mists toward them.

As the eight shapes got closer, the group noted they did, in fact, resemble the spirit-versions of large predator fish – six to eight feet long, with mouths full of teeth and blank, shining eyes fixated on the fae.

Hops About and Twirls Thrice zipped up past the group and they saw the spirit-fish shift their attention to the closer targets. With weary curses, the group drew their astral weapons and triggered defensive spells.

The fight didn’t last that long. The strong-willed mages all moved faster than the “fish,” and had swords to match the teeth of the predators.

However, at one point, several of them surrounded Millie and one got in a solid hit, which threw her mind into confusion, briefly, and then filled the young woman with fear. She managed to hang tough long enough to kill the attackers, though, and the rest of the group dispatched their targets without incident.

At that point, Hops About said something about, “sushi,” and the flares that marked the presence of the two nunnupi blinked out – presumably, as the returned to the Pearl Bright Ocean and went to find out if the destruction of astral forms of the fish meant eight mindless bodies floated on the surface of the sea, below.

After the 10 minute limit of the visit expired, the group woke up in their bodies, once again. Amon gasped and clutched his head at the sudden spike of blinding pain, as Doc Bascher quickly checked his aura to make sure nothing unexpected had occurred during his faceting.

Seeing none, and hearing of the attack on Millie, she then checked the young woman’s aura and discovered a deep astral wound. Millie got up and said she needed to get clean “right now,” despite having had a hot shower just before the venture.

With the help of Henrietta and Millie’s own spell-assisted self-analysis, they quickly discovered that the fish had damaged Millie’s sanity to an extent she now suffered a severe phobia of dirt, slime, blood and “nastiness.” Fortunately, they had spells to restore damaged minds and Millie soon had one cast on her.

Doc Bascher also gave the young woman a sedative and sent her off to get that shower, after ordering her to spend a full day of bedrest, and report to sick bay in the morning.

Millie did so and said she felt much better, the next morning. Doc Bascher confirmed that Millie’s aura showed saw no trace of the spiritual wound, and declared her healed.

After that, everybody hit the books to either research the new spells or (in the case of Amon) to learn thaumatological theory, so he could eventually learn the Healing College of Phthenoth – the first one the rest of the group required Amon to study.

After about six weeks of intensive work led by Millie and Henrietta (the formally-trained Lodge mage, and the skilled academic reserarcher) – and a no explosions, this time – both the spell to wipe Satvari’s memories, and the one to put a vast magical shield around the ship, were ready to try.

They started with the meghdoot, as that experiment seemed the least likely to wipe out the entire airship. A.J. noted that his initial inquiries indicated a sufficiently strong-willed individual might resist the enchantment, which Henrietta and Millie confirmed.

With that in mind, they cut through the welds Beatrice had put on the door of the brig, and took Satvari’s comatose form up to sick bay. Doc Basher had used some restoration spells to keep the meghdoot’s body in good shape (and free of bed-sores), and said she shouldn’t have difficult moving around, once she woke up. Given that, Doc Bascher prepped a couple of Sleep spells she could use to knock Satvari out, should the enchantment fail and the meghdoot wake up as her homicidal self.

The caution proved well-founded, as exactly that occurred. Satvari had a scalpel in her hand and was moving toward Doc Bascher when the Sleep spell put her back out, again, and the group decided to do a little more preparation.

Recalling their approach when they went hunting air elementals, they had Henrietta hit Satvari’s restlessly sleeping mind with a spell to weaken her will, and then they tried the new spell, again.

That time it took, and the petite, fairly attractive Lankan woman woke up and blinked in confusion at her surroundings. Doc Bascher and Henrietta immediately went into "proper bedside manner” mode, and made solicitous inquiries about how she felt.

Satvari replied she felt well, asked where she was and how she got there. Doc Bascher and Henrietta stuck with the carefully prepared story – they’d found Satvari unconscious, by herself in the jungle, and had brought her back to the airship for treatment. However, the wounded woman had been comatose for quite some time, and had only recently shown signs of recovery.

Doc Bascher then asked her name, and how she’d gotten there. As expected, Satvari knew her name, but then grew rather distressed that she couldn’t recall anything about how she’d gotten to the jungle – or anything else about her life, for that matter.

Breathing quiet sighs of relief, Doc Bascher “checked her over” for any other problems, declared her fit enough, and the two women escorted their “guest” down to some quarters they’d prepared for her, while assuring her that her memory could come back, “at any time.”

After that, Satvari proved a somewhat restlessly energetic guest, saying that she’d slept so long that she didn’t feel like sleeping, now.

Aurelia, as she’d agreed, took responsibility for Satvari. The two women worked together on the same watch, during which Aurelia treated Satvari as apprentice and began to teach her the basic skills of a member of an airship crew.

Shortly after that, the Lady McShane showed proto-Honshu it’s rear-elevators for the last time, and the trip proceeded in the direction of the Ice Wall that marked the boundary between the Pearl Bright Ocean and the Iconic Realm of Briah. They hoped the Malestrom winds might not blow quite so strongly at the edge, where they came close to the Ice Wall.

A.J. and Steven wanted to squeak through what they hoped would be the narrowest, and thus least dangerous, passage past the vast storm.

For her part, Satvari proved quite quick to learn, and moved around inside the vast envelope of the airship with agile ease, to her obvious satisfaction.

Then, about a month into the trip, Aurelia threw a mat down in a large space atop the gondola, inside the envelope, and started to work out, only to find Satvari watching with interest. Aurelia invited the young Lankan woman to join her on the mat and, after stretching out and warming up, they started to spar.

(continued...)
__________________
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MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1]
"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.
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