Campaign Log: GURPS Kingdom Hearts

[Mark Skarr]

I press-ganged ChaosCoyote to write the majority of this. I just had to polish up the end to get it posted.

Three high school girls: Kaydence (or Kay) Tyler, considered a cool outcast because she had actually gotten in trouble with the law; Ruby Martinez, a bit of a diamond in the rough, a member of the hockey team and generally good person; and Karyl, a lonely girl who filled the emptiness of her friendships with theories from the internet.

On a Sunday night in mid-March, they were asleep. Dreaming. Each found herself walking through the city of Oceanside alone. Each was dressed in whatever nightclothes she had been wearing. There was no moon in the night sky. Eventually, each girl arrived at the steps of the high school. The front doors were open.

Though puzzled, or with a look of misgiving, dream logic said to enter the school, and each girl did. Through the halls they walked, out into the central courtyard. Here each paused for a look around. Each was still the only person in their separate dreams. Across the courtyard, a maintenance door swung open. None of them had ever seen it open in the real world. Again, dream logic said to investigate.

Beyond the door was a flight of concrete stairs, descending into darkness. Karyl hesitantly descended. Ruby commented to herself about the strangeness of this, but was pleased there were no clowns this time, and descended. Kay, however, announced to the darkness that she was coming down the stairs, and would appreciate it if the monsters would leave her alone.

At the base of the stairs was a door. But not a door one would expect in a school. This was a wooden door, with a stained glass window. The image appeared to be a woman in stylized armor holding a sword-like object. Ruby and Karyl opened the door and entered. Kay, ever the oddball, knocked on the door before reaching to open it. The door opened of its own volition, and a beckoned, “Come in.”

Through this door was a path. The path was perhaps four feet wide, of inlaid stone, delineated by a pair of glowing yellow ribbons of light. Karyl and Ruby began down the path, Ruby with a shrug. Kay hesitated. “Hello?” she called. After a moment, the distorted voice responded, “Welcome, Kaydence Tyler.” A little freaked out, Kay carefully started down the path.

The path appeared to travel through a star field, rather than a school corridor. Dreams can be weird. Before long, they reached a raised dais. On this dais were three pedestals. Above the first, floating and slowly rotating, was a three dimensional, cartoon-stylized sword. Above another hovered an exaggerated shield, somewhat badge-like. The last supported a cartoon-like magic wand or wizard’s staff. All three girls stood and regarded the strange objects before them.

Kay spoke up. “Are you gonna tell me it’s dangerous to go alone?”

“You won’t be alone. You and the others will choose your destiny and go together.”

Kay shrugged minutely. “So I need to pick one of these? Where are the lockpicks?” She started to look around the bases of the pedestals.

“That decision has already been made.”

Kay frowned, and looked between the strange items for a long moment. “None of these are right.” Finally, she took the sword. The light from above that had been illuminating the sword faded. Kay stood holding a rather plain broadsword.

From the surrounding darkness, the distorted voice spoke. “You have chosen The Sword. Will you accept the roll of the fighter and the soldier? Will you take upon yourself the destiny to stop the army of darkness that encroaches? Will you fight for the light that struggles until it can shine, unimpeded? Will you accept The Sword?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, I guess,” was Kay’s less than confident response. A scabbard appeared on her hip.

Before the other two girls, as the sword faded into darkness, the light above it also faded. Empty, that pedestal sank into the dais. Only the shield and the staff remained.

Ruby looked at the shield. Thinking to herself that it rather looked like a badge, she reached to pick it up.

Again the distorted voice spoke, but only to Ruby. “You have chosen The Shield. Will you accept the role of the protector and the savior? Will you take upon yourself the destiny to protect your allies from the darkness that encroaches? Will you be a beacon of hope in the unrelenting wind of chaos and uncertainty? Will you accept The Shield?”

“Yeah,” the young woman said. “I can protect them.”

The shield lost whatever quality it had gas before, making look like a three-dimensional artwork, and now seemed to be an ordinary shield. The light over the pedestal dimmed.

Before Karyl, the shield vanished and that pedestal also sank into the dais. Only the staff remained. “It appears it has been decided for you,” the distorted voice remarked to the girl. Sheepishly, Karyl took the staff. “You gave chosen The Staff,” the voice continued. “Will you accept the role of the sage and the wizard? Will you take upon yourself to guide those who will follow against the darkness that encroaches? Will you let your pure light show and shine that light into the deepest shadows? Will you accept The Staff?”

“Uh, I guess?” Karyl mumbled.

Again the voice spoke, and all three heard these words. “You gave chosen your destinies. You are now entwined. The Keyblade Wielder locked this world’s heart so you could not follow her. But follow her you must.” The three girls could suddenly see each other. The knowledge of their existences, and their names, were imparted somehow.

And their Monday morning alarms went off, waking the girls to prepare for school. Kay shouted something and fell out of bed. She had a sword in her hand, and a scabbard on her hip that had gotten tangled in her sheets. Quickly she sheathed the sword and pushed it under her bed. Ruby had her shield, and Karyl had her staff.

Discovering that putting their item down caused it to vanish, all the girls experimented with banishing and summoning their new item. Also, after the first recall and subsequent banishment, a large round pale blue gemstone, about the size of their fist, appeared. Each girl quickly gathered this up and tucked it away.

Before long, they were ready to leave for school. Ruby arrived first in her subcompact car. She waited on the steps for the other two she somehow knew would be coming. Kay pulled up on her motorized bicycle. As she was securing it, Ruby moved quietly to stand just behind her. When Kay turned, she was startled at the other girl’s closeness. Before she could recover her wits, Ruby said, “You had a weird dream last night?”

Kay spluttered and mouthed a few expletives before managing to be articulate. “I have to go check in.” And she hurried into the school.

A nice car pulled up, and Karyl exited the passenger door. Ruby started toward her. After a brief moment of panic, Karyl walked to meet her. They established that each was indeed a girl from the other’s dream, and exchanged contact information on their cell phones. As Ruby opened Karyl’s phone, she noticed an odd image as the wallpaper. A girl about their age, dressed in ceremonial armor, and wielding a giant key as a sword. She said nothing, merely finished adding her contact information. Then they separated and hurried to class.

Kay also discovered this strange image as her own phone’s lock screen. Puzzled, she changed it back, but also saw that the image was saved in her pictures. Examining it longer, she realized that the girl in the image was a girl that had recently gone missing, named Raquel. She also vaguely recalled the distorted voice from her dream mentioning something about the Keyblade Wielder. She puzzled over these ideas until lunch.

Ruby spotted Kay at lunch; the latter girl’s blue-and-pink dyed hair made her easier to find. Ruby sat down across from her. Kay looked up. “Oh, good. Look.” She turned her phone so Ruby could see, showing her the Keyblade girl. “Do you have this?”

“Yes, it’s on my phone, too.”

“I was thinking, I think this is the girl who’s missing. Raquel? The voice said something about there being a Keyblade Warrior or something. And we had to follow?”

“That sounds right.”

And then Kay lost the connecting thread. “So what do we do?”

“First, we exchange info so we can reach each other.” The two girls entered their own contact information in the other’s phone. “And I talked to Karyl. We’ll have to meet after school.”

“Ok, yeah. We have to figure out what’s going on.”

And then they went on to their separate school days.

Karyl, being a year younger, had the next lunch. When she sat down to play her favorite phone game, Cryptid Hunter, she saw the new lock screen image. And burst into tears. Raquel had been the only friend she had. Blurrily, she called Ruby.

Ruby was in class, but being a good student, she was excused when she requested it. She answered her phone to the hyperventilating, teary Karyl. Calming the younger girl, Ruby advised her to go to the nurse. The nurse, aware of Karyl’s attachment to Raquel, let her grieve.

Immediately after last bell, Kay contacted her guardians, her aunt and grandparents, and told them she was staying after school to work on a project with other students. Then she went in search of Ruby. The two girls met up and headed to the nurse’s office. The nurse was only mildly surprised to see Ruby, but gave Kay a suspicious look. Kay rolled her eyes and waited outside. Ruby went in to see Karyl.

[Mark Skarr]

(Just a bit too long to fit in one post, dagnabbit!)

Ruby spent some time consoling the distraught Karyl and convinced her that, while they needed to talk, they shouldn’t talk here, at school. They decided to go to Biggeez convenience store (half convenience store, half supermarket). Kay texted again, letting her guardians know. The workers there eyed Kay, but she ignored them. The girls talked, and gathered snacks and drinks. Then there was a scream from the next aisle over. Kay went to check it out.

The next aisle had three or four people shopping, but also six small (three foot tall or so) creatures that appeared to be solid shadow. As Kay watched, two of the shadow creatures attacked a man. “What the hell? Everyone out!” she shouted. Kay’s outburst drew the other girls.

As they came around the corner, one of the shadow’s leapt on the man’s back. There was a spray of blood and a shout of pain, and the man collapsed to the floor. And then sank into it. A moment later, another shadow rose. Kay drew her sword (causing it to appear from nowhere) and charged the nearest shadow, swinging wildly. She did not connect.

Ruby summoned her shield and also charged, at a different shadow, giving it a solid hockey body-check. It was launched across the aisle to crash into the racks, and then dissipated into nothing.

People could be heard loudly asking what was happening. Those in the same aisle with the shadows either were grappled by them, or hastened toward whatever exit they could see. Kay swung at the shadows near her. Ruby shield-rushed another. Karyl poked around the end of the aisle, and used her staff to shoot magic at the dark monsters as well.

In less than ten seconds, all the shadows were either dead or fled, and two people had been turned into shadows as well. The girls unsummoned their items and noticed two odd things on the floor. Kay scooped them up, and the girls hurriedly left Biggeez.

The girls discussed their experience with the shadows. Ruby dug in her bag and pulled out her first aid kit. Karyl was able to bandage the minor wound Kay had suffered in the battle.

As they talked, Kay reached into her back pack to find the items, and found herself pulling a pair of small vials out. She showed them to the girls. Karyl looked them over and, noting the inscription on each one, announced that the one with red liquid was labeled “potion” and the one with blue liquid was labeled “ether.”

Neither of the other girls could read the writing. Karyl tried to explain the concept from some of the JRPGs she had played, but kept tripping over her own words.

Kay reached into her backpack to find the gem that she had found, but it was gone. Almost in a panic, she opened her pack and, there it was, right where she left it, behind her Biology text. After a few minutes of experimentation, they discovered that, if left alone, the gem, as well as the potion and ether, would simply disappear from a cursory examination of their backpacks, but still be there, when they went to look again.

Kay also pulled out seven golden coins. About quarter sized. On the front was the face of a stern-looking wizard—long, flowing beard and hair, and a tall, pointy hat with a large moon, and part of a star visible from this angle. On the back was a cartoonish image of a tower.

She handed one of the coins to each of the girls. Karyl took her coin over to a vending machine, inserted it, and used it to buy a pack of trail mix. Kay rushed over and hit the coin return button to see if the machine would spit any change out.

It didn’t.

Ruby and Kay, on their phones tried to find information about the creatures they had fought. Karyl, having more experience with the . . . ehem . . . fringe elements of the internet, found a grainy picture of a group of shadows moving into a strange copse of trees.

Discovering this picture was taken near North Shore, almost one-hundred miles away, Kay advised that she could not go today. Ruby understood and took both girls home. She had dinner with Kay’s guardians to convince them that she was trying to help Kay get back on the straight and narrow.

With that, the girls separated, headed to their own beds. And went to sleep.

[Mark Skarr]

Sessions 2 and 3 happened, but owing to a night spent in the ER, nothing got posted:

Session 2

Discussing that the trip would take two hours, both ways, the girls decided that they would wait until Saturday. However, they did decided to do some research, with Karyl posing a picture of the Yen Sid-stamped coin on the Internet.

By morning, she had received some hits showing similar, collectors coins (though not the same quality as the coins the girls had in their possession). After discussion before school, the girls found themselves going to a Disney Store to learn more about the coins that afternoon.

They spotted a small box full of larger, thinner, brass "copies" of the coins near the PoS machine. However, the coins were either of a more cartoony version of Yen Sid's face, or of the cartoony version of his tower. Not both on one coin. The worker (don't ask me, man, I just work here) at the PoS could only tell them that they were this month's coin, and they're fifty-cents apiece.

Looking around they met Tiffany, a twenty-something employee and Disney fanatic. Getting her to turn down her MP3 of "It's a Small World After All" they were able get her to tell them about the Fantasia movie and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (which the party already knew about). She was also able to provide examples of the previous months' coins (January and February).

The January coin was of Mickey Mouse or of the Steamboat (from "Steamboat Willie"), and the February coin was of Donald Duck or a Hen House (from "Little Wise Hen").

Kay purchased copies of each of the coins and joined Ruby in looking at their Hockey Jerseys. Karyl bought herself a copy of Mickey's/Yen Sid's hat from Fantasia/The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and the girl's headed home.

Under the cover of an exhibition game for Ruby's Hockey Team, the three girls met early Saturday morning (far earlier than either Kay or Karyl wanted to be up) and began the drive to North Shore.

Once there, Ruby shaking the other girls awake again, and some breakfast, the girls set about looking for where the picture of the shadows might have been taken. Owing to a spectacular Perception check, Karyl located a likely copse of trees.

Heading into the stand, the trio were again attacked by a small group of shadows. When Karyl summoned her staff, the wizard's hat appeared on her head, and her clothes were replaced by purple wizardly robes. The girl's triumphed over the shadows, but were all mildly hurt. With first aid kits carried by Ruby (because she's a prepared athlete) and Karyl (because she's a "conspiracy enthusiast"), they tended their wounds and continued up a path to a house.

There the girls came under fire from, what appeared to be, another conspiracy enthusiast. However, upon seeing Karyl's robes he dropped his pellet gun and proclaimed that he had never expected to meet "Heroes of Heart" again.

He explained that, years ago, he and his friends were chosen as Heroes of Heart and went, with their Keyblade Warrior, to save The Worlds. He was the only survivor.

With a crash of thunder, the sky darkened. At a circle of stone near the house, a MASSIVE shadow--a Heartless, arose, flanked by a half-dozen more shadows. Guy holds up his hand and summons his sword, revealing that he still has the power. Wearing a stylized suit of chainmail armor he surged forward, alongside the girls, into battle.

During the battle, the Gigashadow backhanded Ruby across the field. Karyl, rushing over to her, discovered that, by pulling out the Potion, with the intent to use it on Ruby, the potion dissolved, and sparkles covered both her and Ruby (Rasising Ruby to one HP). Guy pulled out a different, brighter, potion, and, at a distance, fully healed Ruby.

Now, back on her feet, the battle ended when Ruby shield-rushed and destroyed the Gigashadow.

Guy told them that he really couldn't help them any more. He would stay behind, here, to battle the Heartless left on Earth, but they would have to find their Keyblade Warrior and assist her.

He summoned a massive, red, spaceship from the large lake next to his cabin and gave Karyl a strange, three-pronged card with a stylized, cartoon-looking town on it. He explained that this navi-gummi would take them to Traverse Town, and they would get more information there.

He tossed the girls a bag of the coins, saying he had no use for it, but they would. With that, Guy turns around to leave. The girls ask his name, and he said: "Now, I'm Guy Somebody."

Once on the gummiship, the girls took a selfie, which Ruby posted to her social media with the "#LastKnownPhoto".

Karyl gave the navi-gummi to Kay, who was sitting in the pilot's seat, and Kay found the location to insert the navi-gummi. After locating the autopilot button that allowed the ship to lift off, head into space, past the moon, then into hyperspace.

The girls had a brief talk before an island, floating in space appared. The island looked like image on the navi-gummi. The ship then landed on one of six landing pads. Kay made an off-handed statement about expecting to have more time to come to terms with this.

Out of the central building, around which the landing pads are located, a reddish, tallish, bear in coveralls began walking over to the ship. He opened the boarding ramp and met the girls inside. He introduced himself as Barni Gummi--the Gummi mechanic.

He assured the girls he'd take care of their ship. Ruby asked about gummi-ing up Kay's moped with a gummi engine. He wasn't sure it could be done, but would check on it.

He suggests that the girls go past the gates into Traverse Town, to look for more information. As they approach the gates, beyond which looks to be a Tudor-esque town, Kay mentions that she could use a Redbull. Ruby warns her to be careful what she asks for.

[Mark Skarr]

As I was battling a severe case of vertigo on Sunday (and today, still--vertigo sucks), I'm waiting for notes from Chaos Coyote to review before I write up session 3.

[Mark Skarr]

Upon reaching the gates to Traverse Town, Ruby paused the party to discuss some general safety rules. After some discussion of “fizzy drinks” it was agreed that reasonably fizzy drinks were okay, but any skull-shaped artefacts automatically dropped them into the “can’t drink” category. This was agreed upon.

The girls opened the gate and stepped into a small, Tudor-esque city. They were standing in a small square with an empty fountain surrounded by some benches. Directly ahead, an elevated promenade displayed a number of shops. To their left was a large door labeled “2nd District”, and next to it was the open-air Tavern Barni Gummi told them about. Opposite the large door was another door, this one painted white, labeled “3rd District.”

The girls went to the Tavern. Ruby and Karyl found a table near the bar, where Ruby could keep an eye on the entry gate. Kay walked directly to the bar and asked for caffeine in liquid form. After a brief discussion (with Ruby shouting into it) the bartender gave Kay a can of Dr. Pepper.

Ruby ordered some fish and chips and the party was given a large helping of food to nom their way through. Liljana, their server, was happy to give them a short lay of the land, as they didn’t have a map of the town.

The 1st District, where they were, is the commercial district. The 2nd District is the residential district with the Hotel and the Apartment complex. The 3rd District is the administrative district with the Town Hall and the Mage’s Tower. Care must be taken in the 2nd and 3rd Districts as Heartless still stalked those areas.

The girls decided to quickly visit each of the shops before, carefully, heading into the 2nd district to find a place to stay for the near future.

Upon traversing the item stores, they decided to, visit all the stores first, before making any purchases (apart from paying for lunch). After visiting each of the basic stores on the left-hand side of the street (four of six shops were open), they stopped in at the Gummi Store at the end of the avenue, where they met Bobbi Gummi.

Bobbi gave them a quick explanation that they could purchase additional Gummi parts for their ship from him. When asked, he informed them that he was out of the rarer Gummis as the ones the store owner had, were all used up in the creation of a custom ship by order of King Mickey, himself, for the Lady Raquel.

They found out that Raquel’s ship had been made for her a couple of months ago, which is from before she went missing from their world. Bobbi explained that time was funny here. The last time Lady Raquel was in town was about a month ago. They learned from him that she had an apartment in the 2nd District.

Keeping Karyl under control they decided to hit the last three shops (the Jewelers) before they headed into the 2nd District.

From Laura, the proprietor of the Ability Jeweler, they discovered that the gems they had received could be turned into items that would, permanently, increase their abilities. Kay discovered that she now had two of the Gems. The girls checked with the other stores to see what they could learn. Using their Gems, Karyl picked up a healing spell (Cure) and a cone-based ice attack (Blizzard). Kay picked up an intelligence boost (Wisdom) and a short-ranged teleportation defense (Blink). Ruby acquired a physical improvement (Vigor) and protective power (Wind Armor).

With that, they headed into the 2nd District.

Even with a bonus to her IQ and Will, Kay critically failed an Awe Check and dropped to her knees watching Jedi Master Ton Lor dispatch a group of Heartless in the central avenue. After dealing with the heartless, he approached the party. Ruby managed to shake Kay out of her stupor. Karyl explained that they were looking for Raquel’s apartment, as they were friends. Master Lor identified her as Karyl and took them to Raquel’s apartment, where he gave Karyl and Ruby letters from Raquel.

Ruby/Kay’s letter
Karyl’s Letter

Ruby and Kay let Karyl read their letter, but discovered that, when Karyl gave them the opportunity to read her letter, they couldn’t. She tried to summarize it.

Master Lor asked what their plans were, and both Ruby and Kay told Karyl the decision was hers, and hers alone. They’d do whatever she wanted. She insisted that they continue. Master Lor said he already knew her decision, as did Raquel, but agreed Raquel had to try, to protect Karyl.

When asked why she was important, Master Lor locked eyes with Karyl and asked if she really wanted to know. She did. Master Lor informed Karly that she was her world’s Princess of Heart. He also explained that there was more to it, but as a Jedi Master, and not a Keyblade Master, he didn’t understand all of it, and it would be up to Raquel to explain the rest.

He provided the girls with a small pouch of more munny that Raquel had left for Karyl, bolstering their small budget. He also gave Karyl the keys to Raquel’s apartment, indicating that Raquel wanted her to use the apartment.

Master Lor told the girls that he didn’t know where Raquel was, but knew where she had gone the last time she left Traverse Town. He said it would be a day or so, but he would get a Navi-Gummi for their ship so they could follow her.

Using their newly acquired funds, the girls purchased some new clothes and armor. Ruby made them some dinner and the girls turned in after an incredibly confusing day.

Over breakfast, they decided to head into the 3rd District to check in at Town Hall to see if there were any jobs that aspiring adventurers could undertake.

Upon entering the 3rd District they were confronted with a large, marble plaza. They could see the Town Hall on the other end, and behind it, a decrepit mage’s tower. They had expected the mage’s tower to be Yen Sid’s tower, but were surprised to find it wasn’t.

They were attacked by a large group of Heartless as they entered the plaza. With their newly acquired armor and abilities, they dispatched the Heartless and made a break for the Town Hall, where the session ended.