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Old 06-11-2019, 10:42 PM   #431
tshiggins
 
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

(...continued)

However, that assumption proved misguided as, about four hours later, the [i]Paradise emerged from the last tatters of the storm, and Steven saw a huge patch of floating vegetation dead ahead. He quickly threw the throttles into reverse, but it was too late.

The airship plowed deeply into a thick patch of floating vegetation that sent leaves and branches through the lattice barrier and blocked the helm's visibility in all directions.

Steven quickly cut the throttles and the patched-together dirigible crunched to a stop. Off in distance, the group heard the chatter and clicks of a rapidly-approaching hoard of bugs.

With that, the session came to an end.

##

Funny Quotes

(Amanda begins to sell her qualifications to A.J.)
Beatrice: She just wants money.

Bennie Rae (OOC): I love you, mommy, but my character is suspicious of everything and everyone.
Char (OOC): I love you too, Boo, but that’s probably a good thing.

Aurelia: Why is Frank in charge of the new chick?
A.J.: Because he’s Security.
Aurelia: Why is [i]he[/] Security? He likes to shoot things!
A.J.: That’s why he’s Security!

Bennie Rae (OOC): Don’t make me kill my mother, today. That would not be cool.
Bernetta (OOC): I’ll do it!

Frank: This is the quickest bad idea we’ve ever had. We’re 95 mph out of the gate!
Henrietta: Oh, we’ve had lots of those!

Steve: Hi! Who are you? What are you doing on the ship?

Amanda: Is there hazard pay?
Steve: You should’ve asked about that during the salary negotiations.

Aurelia: As long as she doesn’t screw us over, we should pay her.
A.J.: Exactly!

(Claudia rattles down the inside of the safety ladder, accumulating a nice collection of painful bumps, bruises, four broken fingers and a dislocate left shoulder.)
Beatrice: We should put one of those monkey-harnesses on her, like she was a little kid!

##
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Old 06-12-2019, 03:01 AM   #432
johndallman
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

Hopefully someone repaired Claudia?
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Old 06-12-2019, 07:05 AM   #433
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
Hopefully someone repaired Claudia?
Yeah. She got a Major Heal at the beginning of Saturday's session.

That was one long fight, which I'll get started on, here, pretty soon. Long fights make for short write-ups.

The Paradise is getting pretty battered.
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Old 06-12-2019, 10:55 AM   #434
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

That session sounds like a lot of fun. Some great roleplaying mixed in with some spectacular dice rolls (and what looked like some rather spectacular failures - poor Claudia). Eagerly awaiting the next write-up, hoards of giant bugs - ugh!
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Old 06-19-2019, 07:56 PM   #435
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

This session started immediately after the previous one left off. It turned into one long combat, although we did drop out of “combat time” at one point.


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. Considers himself responsible for Sunmi Jones, who is enough of a science-geek that the two of them can actually hold a conversation. -- 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.

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. -- played by Samantha H. (not available, this time)

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. She recently lost the lower part of her left leg in a fight with a sorcerer from an opposing lodge, and now wears a high-tech prosthetic. 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.

Claudia Abigail Tavulari, 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. – Played by Tisa T

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

Frank Moses -- A former Marine who quit his job as a trooper with the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP). Moses formerly volunteered with 4CSAR and has an interest in Doc Bascher. Frank has spent the past several months living in the Dark Canyon base camp on the 1918 side of the portal. -played by Mike H. (not available, this time).

Amanda Gagnier: A professional airship crewmember and native of the Orbital Realm of Jupiter, hired as a guide as the Paradise neared the borders of territory controlled by the Nieuw Haarlem company. -Played by guest Char W.


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

##

As the Paradise crunched to a halt in the floating vegetation, the crew saw the protective wooden lattice at the front of the gondola buckle and crack. Alarmed, Frank and Doc Bascher rushed forward, and Beatrice sent Grunt to assist them.

Aurelia slung her bow and started to climb up to help Claudia in the crows nest. A.J. headed up the ladder, soon after, and headed toward the engine room, to make sure nothing had happened.

Beatrice and Henrietta went to the weapons locker, where Henrietta grabbed her Glock and her staff, Beatrice her shotgun, and the two ladies handed Amanda her shotgun and revolver.

By then, Frank shouted out that he saw movement in the brush not far away, and soon thereafter a cluster of giant spiders mobbed the airship.

Down at the gondola, several giant arachnids began to tear at the lattice, but a cluster of “smaller” spiders – only about three feet across – swarmed through the gaps torn into the lattice and leapt at Frank, Doc Bascher and Grunt. The two humans began to blast away, while Grunt dodged and snapped.

Up top, a group of spiders converged on the cracked “hamster-ball” of plexiglass that Claudia had left to Aurelia, who calmly began to slam arrows into them through apertures in the sphere.

Down below, things hadn’t gone as well. Grunt kept getting swarmed and barely avoided getting bit by dodging crazily. Frank and Doc Bascher managed to splatter the smaller spiders, but stray shotgun pellets punched through the deck of the converted cabin cruiser the group had used for the gondola.

This caused Henrietta considerable consternation as she had gone down into the forward cabin to see if she could get a shot through the window. Claudia, meanwhile, had arrived at the bridge and decided to stay with Steve, while Beatrice moved forward, and Amanda started up the ladder to help Aurelia.

As Beatrice arrived, one of the largest spiders got a good grip on the port-side lattice with its mandibles, gave a tug, and ripped a six-foot wide hole just behind the bow. A bunch of babies began to swarm through and the big spider lunged at Frank.

The group up front went into “mad-minute” mode and began blasting away as fast as they could, counting on their body armor to save them. That worked pretty well until Frank, who had paused to reload, took a bite from a large spider on his left arm.

It didn’t do enough damage to cripple the arm, but the venom left a stain on the sleeve of his jacket. Fortunately, that was about the last of the spiders, and between him, Doc Bascher and Beatrice, they finished off the group and Doc Bascher began to tend to Frank’s wound.

Steve began to slowly back the Paradise out of the mat of floating bushes as he A.J. arrived back at the helm and said the impact hadn’t damaged to the engines. By then, Aurelia and Amanda had nearly finished off the spiders up top, and Amanda began to reload.

Suddenly, the two women in the crows nest became aware of a deep distant drone, steadily approaching. The two baby spiders that remained suddenly fled back into the brush – which Aurelia figured meant nothing good.

Amanda shouted a warning down the speaking tube, which Claudia relayed forward. A.J. grabbed his crossbow and moved aft to protect the undamaged lattice-work, there, in case the sounds portended unpleasantness.

A few moments later, a swarm of giant wasps landed on top of the Paradise. Several of them thumped down on the bodies of some of the spiders Aurelia killed, while others began to try to sting the airship to death.

One of the wasps grabbed a body of a recently-slain spider and flew away with it. Aurelia injured a second one, which began to eat one of the bodies of another spider. Amanda’s shogun blast injured a third, which flew down past the waist of the airship’s envelope.

Aurelia and Amanda began to shoot at the other wasps, some of which realized the airship wasn’t alive and began to chew at the canvas of the envelope. Alarmed, the two women targeted those wasps first. Any wasp they injured flew away down the side the airship.

Down below, the hurt wasps saw the crew defending the decks of the gondola and moved to attack. A.J.’s shots dispatched the couple that few in from the back of the airship, but the gap at the front proved more harrowing.

At one point, a wasp flew though the large gap and tried to slam Frank to the deck. However, he stood firm and blasts from his gun and Doc Bascher’s blew the bug apart. A second tried the same thing, but it came in high, got tangled in the remnants of the lattice, and Beatrice’s shot cut it in half.

Back up top, matters had taken an alarming turn. Two of the wasps, down the curve of the envelope and partially concealed behind a body of the giant spider, tore holes in the canvas envelope large enough to wriggle inside.

When the first one made it through, Amanda shouted an alarm down the speaking tube and moved toward the hatch. However, as she and Aurelia began to move inside, the second wasp (partially wounded by a couple of shotgun pellets) crawled through the hole it had torn.

Aurelia did a sailor slide down the ladder, thumped to the midway platform and jogged down the starboard walkway to the catwalk that provided access to the propeller housings along the waist of the envelope. Once there, she moved forward to reach a point she estimated to lie below the spot the first wasp had crawled through.

Aurelia put her back against the gasbag, grabbed the aluminum girders that shaped the envelope, and began to climb up toward the wasp. A few second later, Amanda reached a point below her, and began to climb after.

(continued...)
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Old 06-19-2019, 07:56 PM   #436
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(...continued)

Meanwhile, Claudia had heard the warning shouted from above and, believing only a single wasp had made it inside, grabbed a compressed CO2 fire extinguisher. She slung it across her back, and shouted the alert to A.J. and Beatrice as she climbed up into the envelope.

A.J., Beatrice and Henrietta (who had also heard the warning), climbed up after her and, within a few moments, also arrived at the waist-level platform.

By then, Claudia had moved to the port-side catwalk and, listening carefully, began to climb toward what she thought was the single wasp.

Over on the other side of the envelope, Aurelia had climbed about two-thirds of the way up the inside of the envelope when she saw movement in the gloom ahead of her. She realized the wasp had started to chew holes in tough polymer A.J. had selected to hold the airship’s helium.

Aurelia quickly shifted position so her front lay on the softening gasbag, braced her feet against a girder, clung to a second one with her left hand. She pulled out her smallsword and extended it toward the approaching wasp.

The sharp tip and the close quarters kept the wasp from swarming over Aurelia, and she slowly began to poke holes through its carapace.

Within a couple of seconds, Amanda clambered up beside Aurelia, pulled out her bowie knife and began to stab at the bug, also. The wasp suddenly switched its attention to the new arrival and, with a quick lunge, tore through the tendons on Amanda’s out-thrust right arm.

The bowie knife slid down the gasbag from Amanda’s suddenly limp fingers, as she clung to the girders and successfully fought off the shock. Aurelia dispatched the wasp with a few more thrusts, shouted to others that she’d gotten the “first wasp,” and turned her attention to her wounded companion.

Over on the other side of the airship, Claudia once again ran into problems while climbing. She’d gotten about two stories up, when her foot slipped, and she screamed in alarm as she began to slip down the still-steep side of the gasbag.

Fortunately, she caught herself before she fell too far, but turned the ankle on the foot she’d thumped into the girder to stop herself. Right about then, she heard Aurelia’s distant shout about the “first wasp,” and suddenly understood (to her horror) that more than one had slipped inside the envelope.

Realizing that her physique didn’t match her courage, and having no desire to take on a giant, venomous insect by herself, Claudia did the sensible thing and decided to return to the catwalk and await help.

The decision proved wise as, apparently attracted by her shouts, Claudia heard the second wasp above her moving closer. The physicist clambered down the girders as fast as she could, and reached the catwalk just as Henrietta arrived, staff at the ready.

A.J., who had paused to grab a climbing harness, arrived a couple of seconds later and, hearing the scuttling sound of the approaching insect, the three spread themselves out. A.J. had his knife, Henrietta had her staff, and Claudia readied her fire extinguisher.

The wasp appeared out of the gloom directly above Claudia and dropped straight down. She tried to dodge and failed, but the wasp hit her only a glancing glow, landing with its mandibles toward her and its stinger toward Henrietta.

Claudia sprayed CO2 around to little effect as A.J. moved up close behind her on the narrow catwalk, to see if they could swap places. The wasp lunged at her, and A.J. managed to reach past Claudia to fend it off as Henrietta’s staff skittered off the back of its carapace.

At that point, A.J. and Claudia realized Henrietta had the advantage and went fully defensive. A second later, Henrietta wound up and knocked the wounded bug’s guts into the cheap seats.

As A.J. and Henrietta took a look at Claudia’s ankle, Beatrice arrived on the port-side catwalk, and noted blood and bug-guts dribbling down the side of the gasbag, a bit forward.

She looked up to see Amanda, with one of Aurelia’s climbing ropes looped under her arms and across her chest, making her painful way down the side of the envelope. Beatrice moved to help, and between her and Aurelia, they got the wounded crew member safely down to the catwalk and shouted for Doc Bascher to come and help.

As the veterinarian moved up into the envelope, Steve turned the Paradise toward Batavia. Within a few hours, the battered, tattered and leaking airship moored at the Batavia platform.

With that, the session ended.

##

Funny Quotes

Bernetta (OOC): Who thought it was a good idea to let the wasps get inside the airship?!
GM: I thought it was a great idea.

Claudia: Can we smoke it out?
Beatrice: No! No fire in the envelope!

A.J.: No firing in the envelope! Some things in here don’t react well to bullets!

(Henrietta arrives, looking for trouble.)
Claudia: I hurt my leg, so I’m not climbing any more. I’ll patrol the catwalk. Do you want the fire extinguisher?

A.J. (hears the wasp moving above): Claudia! Scream again!
Claudia: I don’t want to scream.
(Henrietta kicks Claudia in her twisted ankle. Claudia screams.)

##
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Old 06-20-2019, 08:53 AM   #437
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

God I hate giant bugs. Looks like the PCs did as well as they could under the circumstances. Excellent job by all. And I still hate giant bugs. ;-)
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Old 08-21-2019, 08:45 PM   #438
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

Well, the group has had a busy summer, since the last session on June 29, seven weeks ago.

Since then, a bunch of us have had several long camping weekends in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains; Bernetta traveled around the country a bit to see Rebecca perform in some Drum & Bugle Corps shows; Bennie Rae started a new job and participated in a summer theater production; and Debbie had both church functions and business travel.

So, yeah. Sometimes summers can get a little hectic around here.

That said, school has started and that means camping will have to wait until next summer (Anten and I scouted a great spot, though…), and that means we’ll get back to the campaign Real Soon Now ™.

That means I need to go ahead and get this last write-up done. Fortunately (I suppose), the group had limited goals for the session, and only a few hours to accomplish them.

That makes for a fairly short report, which is why I didn’t worry about getting it done right away.

##

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. Considers himself responsible for Sunmi Jones, who is enough of a science-geek that the two of them can actually hold a conversation. -- 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.

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. -- played by Samantha H.

Beatrice "B" Lawrence -- U.S. Army veteran who works for a local air charter service as a helicopter mechanic. She recently lost the lower part of her left leg in a fight with a sorcerer from an opposing lodge, and now wears a high-tech prosthetic. 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.

Claudia Abigail Tavulari, 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. – Played by Tisa T. (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 Jeff T (Not available this time).

Frank Moses -- A former Marine who quit his job as a trooper with the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP). Moses formerly volunteered with 4CSAR and has an interest in Doc Bascher. Frank has spent the past several months living in the Dark Canyon base camp on the 1918 side of the portal. -played by Mike H.

NPCs Present

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

Amanda Gagnier: A professional airship crewmember and native of the Orbital Realm of Jupiter, hired as a guide as the Paradise neared the borders of territory controlled by the Nieuw Haarlem company.

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

##

Once the ground crew at the Batavia dock secured the battered airship Paradise to its mooring mast, the equally battered crew debarked and found accommodations at one of the several nearby hotels.

Once inside, Doc Bascher splinted, stitched and bandaged Claudia’s broad selection of rather minor wounds, which the physicist found both painful and unpleasant. However, the former veterinarian silenced the complaints of the bandage-swathed physicist with analgesics, muscle-relaxants and a Major Healing spell that took care of most of the lingering effects.

Beatrice and Frank proved rather more problematic. The aircraft mechanic had reported some abdominal pain that started about 10 hours ago, so Doc Bascher laid her out on a bed and proceeded to poke and prod, and quickly determined that Beatrice also had a fever.

Bascher determined that, while Beatrice’s healing spell and taken care of the trauma caused by the errant aluminum strut through the gut, an infection had set in. The team’s medic smacked Beatrice with a broad-spectrum antibiotic and commanded a week of bed-rest (and no kidding).

Beatrice (being Beatrice) grumbled and complained, and at one point tried to get up and check on the Paradise. However, after A.J. assured her the local crews seemed competent (and Doc Bascher threatened to tranquilize her), Beatrice grudgingly settled down.

Frank’s spider-bite concerned Doc Bascher even more, since she had very little knowledge of how the venom in giant arachnids might chemically differ from their more reasonably-sized cousins in the dimensions of Assiah.

To be safe, she cleaned and debrided Frank’s wounds, smacked him with a brew of antibiotics and antihistamines, and then set out to find a nearby apotheke to ask for advice and restock her supplies.

Meanwhile, A.J. had (in fact) begun to investigate the sorts of repairs offered by the rather busy shipyards of Batavia. He discovered a busy settlement well-able to handle his needs.

About half the size of Nieuw Haarlem and mounted on its own arkenstone platform, Batavia operated as a supply base and maintenance center for cloud-ray hunter airships, as well as processing center for the contents of their full holds. Amanda also noted that the local merchants and entertainment establishments acted as a money-sieve for the bonuses paid to hunter crews.

More prosaically, Amanda told A.J. that Batavia also acted as a supply and support center for farmers in the extensive floating vegetation mats in the area.

A.J. spent the better part of a day asking about repair services and techniques available. The aeronautical engineer figured that Batavia’s lack of proximity to a New York portal meant that aluminum struts would come only at an astronomical expense, if the shipyard had any, at all.

Sure enough, that proved the case, but A.J. quickly discovered that very few local airships used aluminum struts, anyway.

Instead, it turned out the bones of the cloud-rays were both incredibly strong and light in mass, and when permeated with a liquid polymer derived from some types of floating vegetation, it remained flexible and durable. While not quite as strong as aluminum for a given amount of mass, it did get used quite a bit for the construction of smaller airships.

Moreover, the cloud-ray bones, when used along with a locally-manufactured epoxy resin, made for a solid reinforcing brace for damaged aluminum struts.

A.J. asked questions about the procedure and the material used until he felt confident in the methodology, and then ordered the repair work. He also ordered a couple of gasbags shaped and cured from cloud-ray carcasses to replace the two polymer bags damaged by the spiders, and found himself pleased with how well they held helium (again, not as well as his 21st Century polymer, but still better than the goldbeater skin bags they replaced).

He and Steve shrouded the engines so as to conceal their 21st Century technology from the local workers, and did most of the work themselves, with help from the members of the crew (including Amanda) not on mandatory bed-rest.

Fortunately, by this time the crew had months of experience serving on the Paradise and, with the supervision of A.J. and Steven, they got the work done quickly and well. For her part, Henrietta found herself quite impressed with the material qualities of the bones of the cloud-rays, and stashed a number of larger fragments in the hold for use as possible spell components.

After about a week, the crew had repaired and cleaned up the airship as much as they could, and the three casualties had recovered well-enough that the Paradise could depart. They spent a day stocking up on supplies (fortunately, they had plenty of money), and then headed back toward Nieuw Haarlem and their home platform.

They needed to stock up on some more rituals to aid their navigation, and hang some more healing spells.

With only a few minor storms that Steven and A.J. handled easily enough, as well as a minor encounter with some giant bats that couldn’t keep up when A.J. put the throttle to the fire-wall, the first half of the trip back proved relatively uneventful.

(continued...)
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Old 08-21-2019, 08:45 PM   #439
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(...continued)

However, on about the fourth “day” (about the 100th hour, or so), Beatrice made her way down into the small hold to get some rest, and found one of the shutters for the shooting port in the hull had come unlatched.

Not willing to take anything for granted, at this point, she backed away and hollered up the hatch for someone to come down and help her check out cramped space.

The main “hold” primarily consisted of a space about five feet high at its center, above the keel. Formerly the space that would hold the engines for the cabin-cruiser built from the kit purchased by A.J. and assembled by him and Beatrice, the main hold held a set of pallet-racks down that center section.

In addition, other storage extended out from the sides where the hull met the upper deck. This created two cramped and narrow aisles about four feet high on either side of the center racks, with connecting aisles at the stern and up by the bulkhead that separated the former engine compartment from the forward cabin space.

The crew regularly slung hammocks down the two aisles, since the space remained pretty gloomy all the time – an important consideration when trying to sleep in the Orbital Realm of Jupiter’s eternal daylight.

Beatrice had cut the firing ports about four feet apart, at either end of the stern connecting aisle, and shutter for the one on the port side had flipped open. Once Aurelia dropped through the hatch behind her and moved to cover the other aisle with her bow, Beatrice ordered the growling Grunt to “sit” and began to work her way cautiously down the 12-foot aisle, 10 mm pistol at the ready.

Meanwhile, Henrietta opened the aft hatch to let more light into the hold and to keep an eye on things from above. While Doc Bascher, Frank and the rest of the crew (including Claudia, happy to stay in the crow’s nest eight stories above the possible intrusion….) kept their eyes on the skies around the dirigible.

As Beatrice approached the portside firing portal, she passed by what appeared to be one of the larger quilted hammocks, folded and slung up against the center pallet racks. As she started to move past it, Grunt snarled out a loud warning growl.

Curious, Beatrice poked at the hammock with her pistol to see if anything had hidden in the shelves behind it, and two knots at either end of one of the spreader-bars suddenly blinked open. Two glowing yellow eyes glared at her.

Behind her, Grunt began to bark hysterically as the “hammock” grabbed her with thick, fibrous tentacles and then enveloped her in its suddenly thicker and darker folds.

From the hatch above, Henrietta saw the attack and the severely startled archaeologist let out a shout. Below and forward, Aurelia shuffle-stepped to the right and witnessed the uncanny sight of Beatrice trying to fight her way out of what still looked like a tangled hammock.

Not wanting to hurt Beatrice should her arrow penetrate too far, Aurelia took a second to aim low as Henrietta dropped through the hatch a couple of feet to a shelf purposely kept clear so the crew could climb up out of the hold using the pallet rack. This put her about three feet above where Beatrice lay thrashing around on the deck in the folds of the hostile “hammock.”

Aurelia released her shaft, which did penetrate the attacker as she feared, but then lodged in Beatrice’s prosthetic leg. Above, Henrietta raised her staff up high, gave the bundle a solid thump, and then creeped out a bit when one of the yellow “knot” eyes swiveled around and looked at her.

Once Aurelia had released her shaft, she dropped her bow and drew her small-sword as a growling Grunt bounded forward and clamped his teeth on one of the folds.

Right about then, Beatrice decided she wanted away from this constricting, suffocating weirdness, discharged her pistol, and shot herself in the crotch.

Fortunately, the ballistic plates absorbed almost all kinetic energy (but it still hurt like hell…). Henrietta and Aurelia shouted at her to stop doing that before she killed someone other than herself, and attacked the creature again.

Between the loud sounds, sharp teeth, pointy-pokey attacks and a second solid thump, the creature decided it’d had enough. It released Beatrice and tried to skitter toward the open firing port.

However, Grunt still had a mouthful of it so it couldn’t move fast; mobility got a lot tougher when Aurelia nailed it to the hull with her sword; and then stopped completely when Henrietta beat it to death with her stick.

In death, the creature proved rather larger than they first thought, although quite light in weight. Beatrice slammed down the shutter on the firing port and latched it, and then sat on it and shook for awhile.

Meanwhile, Aurelia and Henrietta hauled the carcass up to the aft deck, and called Doc Bascher to come back and take a look. The veterinarian declared herself both baffled and fascinated, and went forward to retrieve her surgical kit from the cabin.

That prompted Henrietta to suggest they carefully skin the thing and build a tanning frame to stretch the hide. As experienced hunters and wilderness survivors, they knew how to do that much. Doc Bascher began to poke through its innards, managed to find the brain, and used that to start curing the scraped hide.

For her part, Aurelia went back down into the hold and retrieved her actual hammock, slung it on her back, and began to climb up into the envelope.

While not quite so dark as the hold, and closer to the noise of the engines, Aurelia said she’d much prefer to sleep someplace that had dozens of yards of airbags between her and the critters that inhabited the Orbital Realm of Jupiter.

Several other members of the crew agreed, and grabbed their hammocks from the hold, as well. For her part, Beatrice said she planned to put padlocks on the shutters as soon as they got back home.

Within a few days more, they docked at the mooring tower next to their floating platform, where Jimmy met them. They sought out a skilled leatherworker who agreed to finish curing the hide, although they’d made a good start.

A couple of weeks later, the group had rested, renewed their spells, and gotten back the cured hide of the creature. On a whim, Henrietta cast an Aura spell and took a look at it, to find the supple and mottled leather permeated with strong Decanic energies.

She and A.J. hit the books and soon discovered that the hide of these “Lurker” creatures readily took enchantments, especially those concerned visibility and illusions.

Once she heard that, Aurelia gleefully shouted that, as soon as the group reached the 1711 world, she would ask the lodge, there, to either make the hide into an invisibility cloak right out of the Harry Potter books, or teach Red Rocks Lodge how to do it, themselves.

With that, the group – fully stocked up with new spells – set out again and, within a week and with few difficulties, found themselves back at Batavia.

With that, the session ended.

##

Funny Quotes

Mike (OOC): You can drug my character, but I’m not gonna stop talking.

(Doc Basher returns from the apotheke with a big jug of honey, whereupon she delivers an impromptu lecture on its antibiotic qualities.)
Frank: You can also ferment it and make a great drink from it!

(Beatrice puts in another vote for a ballista, since they need to go home for repairs and refit, anyway.)
A.J.: Sure. Build whatever you want on top of the ship.
Doc Bascher: “Build whatever you want on top of our ship?!” That sounds like a regrettable statement.
Beatrice: But he said I could!

Frank: We have plenty of money – unlike common sense.
GM: That’s pretty common amongst player characters.

(On the return journey, Steve handles a storm adroitly, as Jeff makes some good rolls against his Pilot skill.)
Aurelia: Wait. You’re getting us back on track?! The universe is collapsing around me.

(Beatrice casts some new spell rituals, and asks Henrietta to use Aura to check them for flaws. Debbie doesn’t even touch her dice.)
Henrietta: I consulted with my advisors. Your spells are just fine!

Beatrice: I wanna go home. I’m done with adventuring for the day. And I wanna go all the way home, to Moab, where I have a pillow-top mattress and a really big jacuzzi tub. I’m not kidding.

##
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Old 08-22-2019, 05:37 PM   #440
evileeyore
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Default Re: Campaign: Facets

Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
Beatrice slammed down the shutter on the firing port and latched it, and then sat on it and shook for awhile.
Post-combat Fear Check, or just good rp?
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