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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 5776654" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>A player-character departs</strong></p><p></p><p>Three issues dominated our first session after Xmas:</p><p> </p><p>1) A long-term player is leaving our group, and this was his last session. I wanted to give him a fitting send off.</p><p>2) The rest of the unit (bar one) was buried under <em>A Weight of Stone</em>. As this was the same day as the rally in <em>Dawn Square</em>, it was very unlikely that the unit would make it to the <em>Creepy Warehouse</em>, as they would be hard-pressed just to reach the square by noon.</p><p> 3) The departing player had done a substantial amount of work providing me with contacts who had never been used.</p><p></p><p>I set about trying to kill three birds with one stone:</p><p> </p><p>Rather than beginning in the dark, dusty aftermath of the explosion (as the players expected), I started with El Perro, and his reasons for not being present at RHC HQ that morning.</p><p> </p><p>During the last session, I didn't know for sure if El Perro's player would have chance to join us again. (If I'd known that for sure, I would have had him used as leverage by Leone Quital instead of Lynn Kindleton and left to die in the explosion.) So, in case he needed to be 'disappeared' I had Porter comment to Quital that 'the rest of their unit has been dealt with'. (Reasoning that the conspiracy wouldn't go after the unit peacemeal.) Now I was slightly regretting that as, needless to say, El Perro had <em>not </em>been dealt with...</p><p> </p><p> So I turned to one of his contacts - a young, widowed heiress named Rose Woodward, who lives in a lonely mansion in the Ayres, and with whom El Perro has been conducting a secret affair. He had spent the previous night with her, having responded to her unexpected invitation. Though their relationship had always been good-natured and casual, Rose was uncharacteristically needy and begged El Perro to stay with her overnight. Even when he prepared to depart the next day (the morning of the 7th and of Nevard's rally), Rose begged him to forget is duties and remain with her.</p><p> </p><p> To my surprise, the player agreed! So I had Rose blanch over the breakfast table and suddenly confess: she had been told by a stranger - a dishevelled man posing as a stable-hand following a riding event with friends - to invite El Perro to her mansion and keep him there (on pain of having their affair exposed). El Perro's unexpected aquiescance filled her with guilt and, casting caution to the wind, she told him the whole story. The man had described El Perro as 'a mutual friend'. (I'm still not sure who it was - maybe Creed, trying not to have to kill too many members of the RHC?)</p><p> </p><p> So El Perro reached Flint late and headed straight for Dawn Square. There, another of his contacts - a goblin peddlar named Dut who was once a slave on the same ship as El Perro - found him and reported the strange supernatural goings on throughout Parity Lake. </p><p> </p><p> Meanwhile, Saaladoor Saan, the only other character to avoid the <em>Weight of Stone</em>, had received a message from two burly teamsters. They had been paid to deliver it to his room in a flophouse close to <em>the Thinking Man</em>. It contained a symbol (perhaps from the Kell Guild?) which was the equivalent of the 'black spot' in <em>Treasure Island - </em> a warning that his association with the authorities had been noticed and that he should leave Flint or face fatal consequences. At that moment, Jered Lawman came looking for him too, in the company of Thames Grimsley, whose presence caused the two dockers to fumble uncomfortably and depart. Together, the threesome attended Dawn Square as planned, where Saaladoor learned of the tensions in the air, and potential conflict with the police.</p><p> </p><p> El Perro spotted Saaladoor, and with Dut and Jered Lawman in tow, they went to a local coffee house - a favourite hangout of 'mystical types', oddballs and mediums, a group of whom were sat around suffering from a hangover. The group used these individuals to 'triangulate' on the Creepy Warehouse, enlisting a squad of police officers to help. So when they reached the warehouse, the party consisted of:</p><p> </p><p> El Perro</p><p> Saaladoor</p><p> Dut</p><p> Jered Lawman</p><p> 'Captain Barnes', and his squad ('the 13s')</p><p> A second squad, rounded up by Saaladoor ('the 109ers')</p><p>The only spirit medium prepared to approach the warehouse - 'Swami Melanchol'</p><p> </p><p> The names in speech marks were attributed to these characters by the players. I particularly liked the last one. The police squads consisted of six minions, and were each controlled by a single player, while Swami had no combat role, but was played to great effect by the player who named him (having demanded to be allowed to play one of the coffee-house mystics).</p><p> </p><p> Because by this point I hadn't handed out stat blocks for these people, or drawn a battlemap, the players didn't suspect an encounter, and so proceeded with a singular lack of caution, despite the evident creepiness, fainting mystics, padlocked doors and engine noise. They barged into the warehouse, assailed the technicians and activated the golem (hidden behind crates at the rear of the warehouse but making enough noise to wake the dead).</p><p> </p><p> The encounter began, and I handed out companion character stat blocks (and minion stat blocks to the players who drew the short straw), giving each player a few minutes to peruse them - but none to confer, as this ragtag bunch would have no idea what the other was capable of.</p><p> </p><p> To make the encounter even more tough, I gave the golem 300hp (with thresholds at 200 and 100) and granted it +2 to AC and attack rolls. Also, realising that the police squad might drop quite quickly - and wanting to give the players something to do in that event - I decided that anyone killed by the golem would be raised as a 'gloom-oil zombie' - a minion that grabbed living creatures for ongoing damage. So the players got to attack each other (and even their own squads)!</p><p> </p><p> Despite all my precautions, with El Perro up on the catwalk taking rifle shots, and Saaladoor clambering over the chicken-wire, the party managed to drop the technicians (with three escaping) within 4 rounds, while the rest distracted the golem. Even in its souped-up state, and as it dropped them one-by-one, by the time it got to just Saaladoor, Dut and El Perro left standing, the golem had just 30hp left.</p><p> </p><p> The golem then took out poor Dut, and knocked Saaladoor back into a pile of crates, unconscious (and dying) - using one of by DM bennies to effect a push. Only El Perro was left. So far, he hadn't missed a single shot all combat, so it had been a great finale for him. But now the Stage 3 golem clambered up onto the catwalk and quickly dropped El Perro too...</p><p> </p><p> As you may have guessed, this was all a bit one-sided; but the party had a chance. If they won, my Plan B was that the fleeing technicians alerted Creed who would bring reinforcements through the iron ring. Whatever - unbeknownst the party, Creed arrives just as El Perro is about to be finished off by the golem and takes him to Macbannin Manor.</p><p> </p><p> There he is offered a choice - join us (the true patriots, who you have unwittingly thwarted up to now) or face the consequences. If he accepts, he returns as an assassin to take out the party in a later adventure. </p><p> </p><p> To his credit, El Perro refused, so now he will return as an <em>unwilling</em> assassin - subject to a similar operation that created the flayed jaguars.</p><p> </p><p> So the player got a great send-off, a noble end, and his character makes a guest appearance later in the campaign.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 5776654, member: 79141"] [b]A player-character departs[/b] Three issues dominated our first session after Xmas: 1) A long-term player is leaving our group, and this was his last session. I wanted to give him a fitting send off. 2) The rest of the unit (bar one) was buried under [I]A Weight of Stone[/I]. As this was the same day as the rally in [I]Dawn Square[/I], it was very unlikely that the unit would make it to the [I]Creepy Warehouse[/I], as they would be hard-pressed just to reach the square by noon. 3) The departing player had done a substantial amount of work providing me with contacts who had never been used. I set about trying to kill three birds with one stone: Rather than beginning in the dark, dusty aftermath of the explosion (as the players expected), I started with El Perro, and his reasons for not being present at RHC HQ that morning. During the last session, I didn't know for sure if El Perro's player would have chance to join us again. (If I'd known that for sure, I would have had him used as leverage by Leone Quital instead of Lynn Kindleton and left to die in the explosion.) So, in case he needed to be 'disappeared' I had Porter comment to Quital that 'the rest of their unit has been dealt with'. (Reasoning that the conspiracy wouldn't go after the unit peacemeal.) Now I was slightly regretting that as, needless to say, El Perro had [I]not [/I]been dealt with... So I turned to one of his contacts - a young, widowed heiress named Rose Woodward, who lives in a lonely mansion in the Ayres, and with whom El Perro has been conducting a secret affair. He had spent the previous night with her, having responded to her unexpected invitation. Though their relationship had always been good-natured and casual, Rose was uncharacteristically needy and begged El Perro to stay with her overnight. Even when he prepared to depart the next day (the morning of the 7th and of Nevard's rally), Rose begged him to forget is duties and remain with her. To my surprise, the player agreed! So I had Rose blanch over the breakfast table and suddenly confess: she had been told by a stranger - a dishevelled man posing as a stable-hand following a riding event with friends - to invite El Perro to her mansion and keep him there (on pain of having their affair exposed). El Perro's unexpected aquiescance filled her with guilt and, casting caution to the wind, she told him the whole story. The man had described El Perro as 'a mutual friend'. (I'm still not sure who it was - maybe Creed, trying not to have to kill too many members of the RHC?) So El Perro reached Flint late and headed straight for Dawn Square. There, another of his contacts - a goblin peddlar named Dut who was once a slave on the same ship as El Perro - found him and reported the strange supernatural goings on throughout Parity Lake. Meanwhile, Saaladoor Saan, the only other character to avoid the [I]Weight of Stone[/I], had received a message from two burly teamsters. They had been paid to deliver it to his room in a flophouse close to [I]the Thinking Man[/I]. It contained a symbol (perhaps from the Kell Guild?) which was the equivalent of the 'black spot' in [I]Treasure Island - [/I] a warning that his association with the authorities had been noticed and that he should leave Flint or face fatal consequences. At that moment, Jered Lawman came looking for him too, in the company of Thames Grimsley, whose presence caused the two dockers to fumble uncomfortably and depart. Together, the threesome attended Dawn Square as planned, where Saaladoor learned of the tensions in the air, and potential conflict with the police. El Perro spotted Saaladoor, and with Dut and Jered Lawman in tow, they went to a local coffee house - a favourite hangout of 'mystical types', oddballs and mediums, a group of whom were sat around suffering from a hangover. The group used these individuals to 'triangulate' on the Creepy Warehouse, enlisting a squad of police officers to help. So when they reached the warehouse, the party consisted of: El Perro Saaladoor Dut Jered Lawman 'Captain Barnes', and his squad ('the 13s') A second squad, rounded up by Saaladoor ('the 109ers') The only spirit medium prepared to approach the warehouse - 'Swami Melanchol' The names in speech marks were attributed to these characters by the players. I particularly liked the last one. The police squads consisted of six minions, and were each controlled by a single player, while Swami had no combat role, but was played to great effect by the player who named him (having demanded to be allowed to play one of the coffee-house mystics). Because by this point I hadn't handed out stat blocks for these people, or drawn a battlemap, the players didn't suspect an encounter, and so proceeded with a singular lack of caution, despite the evident creepiness, fainting mystics, padlocked doors and engine noise. They barged into the warehouse, assailed the technicians and activated the golem (hidden behind crates at the rear of the warehouse but making enough noise to wake the dead). The encounter began, and I handed out companion character stat blocks (and minion stat blocks to the players who drew the short straw), giving each player a few minutes to peruse them - but none to confer, as this ragtag bunch would have no idea what the other was capable of. To make the encounter even more tough, I gave the golem 300hp (with thresholds at 200 and 100) and granted it +2 to AC and attack rolls. Also, realising that the police squad might drop quite quickly - and wanting to give the players something to do in that event - I decided that anyone killed by the golem would be raised as a 'gloom-oil zombie' - a minion that grabbed living creatures for ongoing damage. So the players got to attack each other (and even their own squads)! Despite all my precautions, with El Perro up on the catwalk taking rifle shots, and Saaladoor clambering over the chicken-wire, the party managed to drop the technicians (with three escaping) within 4 rounds, while the rest distracted the golem. Even in its souped-up state, and as it dropped them one-by-one, by the time it got to just Saaladoor, Dut and El Perro left standing, the golem had just 30hp left. The golem then took out poor Dut, and knocked Saaladoor back into a pile of crates, unconscious (and dying) - using one of by DM bennies to effect a push. Only El Perro was left. So far, he hadn't missed a single shot all combat, so it had been a great finale for him. But now the Stage 3 golem clambered up onto the catwalk and quickly dropped El Perro too... As you may have guessed, this was all a bit one-sided; but the party had a chance. If they won, my Plan B was that the fleeing technicians alerted Creed who would bring reinforcements through the iron ring. Whatever - unbeknownst the party, Creed arrives just as El Perro is about to be finished off by the golem and takes him to Macbannin Manor. There he is offered a choice - join us (the true patriots, who you have unwittingly thwarted up to now) or face the consequences. If he accepts, he returns as an assassin to take out the party in a later adventure. To his credit, El Perro refused, so now he will return as an [I]unwilling[/I] assassin - subject to a similar operation that created the flayed jaguars. So the player got a great send-off, a noble end, and his character makes a guest appearance later in the campaign. [/QUOTE]
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