We're back! (but not from outer space sadly)
The winter holiday played merry hob with scheduling our next sessions, but we've managed to squeeze in two more sessions this February. This post will cover both sessions which consisted of the climax encounter of "Digging for Lies" and the initial skill challenge of "Always on Time"; this will probably be a long post (and i'm too lazy to do a TLDR section).
Once they had Xambria securely locked in one of the anti-mage cells in the RHC basement, she spilled her guts on everything that has happened since the ziggurat disaster. The constables were pretty angry when they found out that Saxby was complicit in the Macbannin incident which was part of a conspiracy by a shadowy organization called the Obscurati. Xambria also gave them the name of their alien opponent, Sijhen, and its plans to escape back to its home of Gidim and return with "friends".
Things suddenly spiraled out of control when Sijhen sprang its trap. With the RHC under attack, the constables split up to try and contain the threats while racing after Xambria/Sijhen. Shrouded Ob assassins had broken into the RHC through the back door in the morgue and alien monsters were assaulting the disoriented RHC staff.
GM: | The party had found and destroyed the iron ring in the basement after Kaja was murdered which allowed the players to bottleneck the assassins at the morgue entrance (not much consolation to the coroner who died immediately). To make combat easier to track I only used alien minions (aside from the maw attacking Delft). I had more of them phase in each "transparent" round. | |
Doran and Irony went up the eastern staircase to cut off the Ob assassins, and Rai, Kirk, and Bellicose went up the western staircase to try and reach Saxby's office. Bellicose ended up taking a detour; he freed Krantos and helped him break into the evidence locker to retrieve his trident before they both joined Doran and Irony in fending off the Ob assassins. Rai and Kirk raced upstairs and ended up tangling with the alien maw. Kirk tried to break off and get to Saxby's office, but Sijhen used its telekinesis to barricade the door long enough to grab the ancient astrolabe and flee. Kirk dashed back to help Rai with the maw, and Saxby took the opportunity to rally a group of RHC agents and started down the eastern stairwell to escape. Saxby's plan worked poorly as the eastern staircase emptied into the middle of the Ob assassin battle. Most of the second RHC team stayed to help fight off the assassins while Saxby tried to escape. Irony managed to convince the other RHC constables of Saxby's guilt and turned them against her. After vanquishing the alien maw, Kirk raced down the western staircase in time to cut off Saxby's flight to the front door. Saxby lashed out at the constables in an attempt to break through but was defeated. The two constable teams mopped up the Ob assassins and locked Saxby in a cell. The other RHC squad stayed to fend off more monsters while the party chased after Sijhen through the cellar walls.
GM: | Irony actually spent a round doing a mini skill challenge against Saxby to convince the other constables. It was a best two out of three diplomacy vs bluff. I was a little concerned when they split up, but they handled it pretty well | |
When the constables arrived in the subway tunnel they found Xambria/Sijhen working on a gate ritual. It tried to play for time claiming it just wanted to go home, but the constables weren't having any of it. The party quickly went on the offensive while Irony and Rai began seizing control of the ritual. The infuriated alien released a horrific abomination from behind the golden seal. Irony urged the party to take down Sijhen so she could retrieve the ritual's magic focus, the astrolabe. Rai distracted the creature while the rest of the party took down Xambria/Sijhen. Irony quickly went back to hijacking the ritual, but she was assaulted by Sijhen once again after he had abandoned Xambria's body. Kirk quickly came to Irony's defense, dispatching the weakened Gidim wayfarer. The party then fought desperately to fend off the monster while Irony seized control of the gate. Doran and Kirk had to work together to move the golden plate back into position from where the monster had flung it. After sealing the gate, Sijhen's spirit merged with the beast, and he made one last futile attempt to destroy the hated fleshlings. The constables managed to finish off Sijhen for good as he ranted at them:
"Your victory means nothing; all the worthless fleshlings on this miserable spec will die SCREAMING!"
GM: | The fight was challenging with the party's resources strained from the RHC siege. Things got suspenseful in phase 2 when the monster unleashed a double prismatic scream hitting the whole party (action point). I think the encounter as a whole was very well balanced; it challenged the party nicely. The only real sticking point was a discussion on how they could possibly move a two ton slab of gold. To keep momentum I simply ruled the two strongest party members could simply drag it across the floor instead of lifting it. | |
With Sijhen defeated, Xambria's consciousness fled to Irony, the only female constable; Irony accepted the wayward spirit but passed out from the strain (she recovered pretty fast though). The constables decided to obliterate the ritual circle not wanting anyone to try and copy Sijhen's portal. On their way back up the subway tunnel they ran into Calaphax (in his disguise as Lord Caliphrey) and Eberardo. Cal had sensed the disturbance created by Sijhen's portal but hadn't been able to pinpoint it before the constables had shut it down. Cal had to sweep the central district until he found the RHC being attacked by Gidim warbeasts. Cal and Eberardo had gone searching for the constables while Volando stayed behind to help mop up the aliens. Cal offered to take the astrolabe off their hands "for safekeeping"; they turned down the offer.
The aftermath of the attack on the RHC was a whirlwind of activity. Saxby was stripped of office, and Stover Delft was chosen as her successor in a public ceremony where Delft assured the public that the threat to the city had been stopped; there was absolutely no mention of malevolent conspiracies or the near alien invasion. A few days (and lots of paperwork) later, Delft met the constables on their boat to brief them in secret on their next assignment; they have a train, and bad guys, to catch.
GM: | I've taken to making documents of important NPCs for the players at the end of each adventure (sometimes more often as the plot demands). I think it helps them remember the NPCs and some of the recent events involving them. I'll attach the Drammatis Personae I gave them at the end of "Digging for Lies" | |