Agents of the Nexus - Planescape/Spycraft

[drunkadelic]

Greetings all.

After playing in such wonderful campaigns as of late as Rune's: Kingdoms of Kalamar in the Dream and the inspirations of reading many of the story hours posted here, I decided it was time to dust off my own DMG and get back on the other side of the table.

The setting I have concocted is a large melting pot of various influences. Most notably, the campaign is Planescape. But I also wanted for the game to have a "Mission Impossible" kind of feel to it, and when the Spycraft book came out, I knew that this idea had to become a reality. So enough about that, I'll get right to the point.

7.16.02 - Introduction
From the records of Sargen Malekith, Director of Nexus:
Three of the four potential new agents have been identified. Divinations have been used to place their times of death at roughly the same time. Our agents have infiltrated into their midst and placed the proper enchantments to teleport the bodies back to Ward 19 upon death. Our resident Medic, Corrina Graves will be on scene to administer care and revival. At which time that they are fully recovered, I will present myself unto them and make them "aware." Enclosed are brief summaries of these potential agents. More information can be found in Files X1765A: (Wilbur Smithington III), X1769C: (Drem Kalnor), and X1784N: (Tac'azn Izkrss, aka Matthew).

Wilbur Smthington III: ROG1
Human Male. Son of notorious Smithington crime family. Competence with ranged weaponry discovered at an early age. Although at times, boorish, shows promise in diplomacy as well. Death occured when he was tricked into assassinating his own father who was well guarded.
Position: Sniper

Drem Kalnor: WIZ1
Elven Male. Trained by elven archmagi. Focuses on enhancing combat abilities with magic. Competence with longsword far above average for magic-user. Keeps a cool head under pressure. Death occured when he uncovered a cult in his homeland and attempted to remove them. (Cross-Reference File Y12-14C: Nerullian Nightorcs)
Position: Magic User (combat)

Tac'azn Izkrss, aka "Matthew": PSI1
Kobold Male. Shunned member of the Garun Mountain area Kobold clan. Has uncalculated power to "see" with his powers. Reserved and quiet, a sound plan maker. Death occured when a band of heroes infiltrated his lair and forced him into one of his own traps.
Position: Seer

End of Transmission

 

[drunkadelic]

I should have our first session up shortly, and our games are on Saturdays. Thanks for stopping by.

Drunkadelic

 

[drunkadelic]

7.18.02 - Rebirth: Part One

KNOCK-KNOCK

"Enter."

A middle-aged man steps into the room, scrambling to keep from dropping a large stack of files.

"Your newest agents, sir.... they're ready," he exclaims, dropping the files onto a small table with a thud.

"Excellent."

Sargen Malekith doesn't get excited. As the administrator for the secret planar peacekeeping service known as Nexus, his position doesn't afford him the pleasure of extreme emotions. But if he *were* able to be excited, he would be at this time. Coolly, he walks down the hall in his very precise and meticulous manner. Stopping by a door marked; "Ward 19" he looks both ways down the hall, sees no one and smirks to himself.

"I love this job."

3 figures lay on gurneys inside Ward 19. Suddenly, a deep voice cuts through the absence of light and sound.

"Open your eyes, lads."

The figures groan, mumble, and at the persistance indicated in the speaker's tone of voice, eventually rouse.

"Ah. Good to see you are all awake. My name is Sargen Malekith. I am the director here, but we'll explain more about that later. I'm sure each of you are wondering to yourselves, "Why, what, where." So we'll begin there."

Suddenly, before Sargen can form his next sentence, Wilbur Smithington III (henceforth known as Mr. Smith) proclaims, "What on earth is that?" pointing in the general direction of the kobold looking nervously around the room.

Not missing a beat, Sargen replies, "A Kobold, Mr. Smithington, it's a Kobold. Our Kobold as a matter of fact."

"Oh. Jolly goo-- What? OUR Kobold???"

"In time, Smithington, In time. Now...If you'll let me continue."

Smithington thinks better of trying the large dark-skinned man's patience further.

"You all are dead. Well, I suppose that wouldn't be accurate. You all were dead. Think back to your last memories. Probably something like a movement towards a white light down a tunnel or what have you. But we here at Nexus have need of your skills. All three of your would have died what we like to call "premature deaths." Taken before your time as it were. That's where we stepped in.

Mr. Smith turns white at the thought of this, "I died?"

"Yes, you all did."

"How???"

"Well, Mr. Smithington, some *friends* of yours decided it would be nice if they switched the information in your dossier to switch the target from a "witness" to "your father". Being so concentrated on duty, you didn't notice the switch."

Mr. Smith blushes.

Sargen smiles coyly.

"But we could put your striving for perfection to good use, Mr. Smithington. All of you have abilities that we need. But enough about that. We've answered the what and how, let's get to the where and why."

Three pairs of eyes afix firmly somewhere between Sargen's neatly trimmed goatee and his shiny bald head.

"This is Nexus. We are a private organization based in the outer planes of existence. You fellows are not on the prime anymore. That means that if we had windows, and you looked out, you would not see the familiar landscape of mountains, grass, and hills."

For the first time, Matthew, the kobold speaks up in his squeaky voice, "Prove it! I don't believe you."

Sargen makes a gesture, snaps his fingers, and suddenly Matthew is hovering 3 miles off the ground staring down at the landscape of The Outlands. A few moments later, Mr. Smithington appears next to him, flailing about and screaming.

Sargen turns to the elf, Drem.

"Would you like a ride as well?"

"Um, no thanks. My tutor had informed me of the planes a long time ago."

"Very good then."

Sargen snaps his fingers once more, and both Matthew and Mr. Smith are teleported back into Ward 19.

"In any case gentlemen. Let's get to business. To put it as straightforward as I can... we need you. We needed you badly enough to bring you back from the dead. So if you're willing to help us, we can promise you a *very* lucrative deal."

"Lucrative?" Mr. Smith drools.

Sargen nods and waves his hand. 3 pieces of parchment and quills appear next to the three on their gurneys.

"What we have there is a contract for three years of service. Sign it, and we'll begin your training. If you read through and decline our offer, we shall remove any memories of this encounter, your past life, and re-implant you into the prime with a case of "amnesia." Either way, you get a second chance. My way, however, and you might get to save the universe once or twice."

"Lucrative?" Mr. Smith once again exclaims.

Sargen nods.

All three men sign their contract.

 

[drunkadelic]

7.18.02 - Rebirth: Part Two

As the contracts are signed, the immediately turn to stone before the signer's eyes.

"To set things in stone, as it were." quips Sargen.

"So what do we do now?" asks Drem, pulling at his grey bodysuit.

"Now we train, agents. Now we train. In a few minutes an associate of mine will be here to take orders for a meal. Research shows that coming back from the dead makes a man hungry."

The agents stomachs growl in unison.

"After the meal, she will escort you to the simulator."

The agents look quizzically at one another.

"And make no mistake gentlemen... Your past lives are over."

Sargen exits the room in a flash of light.

In the moments that follow the agents introduce themselves to one another and begin to become acquainted but suddenly are interrupted by a rapping on the door.

Mr. Smith opens the door, "Who's there?"

A smiling blonde girl, maybe waist-high to Smith tugs on his shirt.

Smith looks down, "Oh hello there! Do come in."

The beaming blonde halfling smiles and steps into the room.

"My name's Cheery!" she sings, "I'm one of Mr. Malekith's associates. I'm in charge of looking after new recruits."

"Nice to meet you, Cheery." Matthew says while waggling his eyebrows.

DM: Do Kobolds have eyebrows?

"Well boys, I can bet your hungry. What can I get you to eat?"

In a few minutes, each agent has a perfect plate of whatever they had requested. It is not only appealing to look at, but it is the best tasting meal that each of them had ever experienced before. Before they began to eat, Cheery gave them a small smoky globe that they were to break when they were finished eating. After dinner and an argument over who got to break the globe, Cheery returned and began to lead them through the eggshell-colored corridors of Nexus. Upon reaching a large steel door, Cheery stops and bows.

"We're here, sirs. This is the simulator. Go on in, and Sargen will get you started."

The trio walk into the black room as the door slams shut behind them. Suddenly a light illuminates the room and the agents are suprised to see that the room is entirely black, with a grid of yellow running across everything, the floor, the ceiling, the walls.

Sargen's voice booms out, "Welcome to the simulator. It is in this chamber that we train our agents for all types of conflict that they may face. The magical properties in this room enhance illusions to become almost indistinguishable from real life. So, in essence, when the mission begins, you won't really be where your mind thinks you are, but don't get too caught up in things. It's primarily a safety issue. We don't want to send our agents out into the planes with just a pat on the back and a sword."

The wide-eyed agents look around to see where the voice is coming from.

"Gentlemen, your first mission is a simple hit-and-run. The gnolls of Keztal, ardent worshippers of Erythul, god of Slaughter, have raided the nearby temple of Ehlonna, the forest-walker, and made off with an important religious idol. Although this may seem like small potatoes on the surface, in all actuality, Ehlonna is mobilizing an army here in the planes, to march on Erythul for this injustice. Your mission will be to retrieve the object and return it here, for safe delivery back to Ehlonna's care. It is often that situations like this arise, and it is our duty to keep the balance in the planes stable. All additional information you might require is in the dossier."

Smith speaks to nothing in particular, "What doss---" but cuts himself short, realizing that he's holding a dossier.

"When you have reviewed the information and are ready, just say so, and we'll get you equipped.," says Sargen.

After a quick review of the dossier, the agents learn that their primary targer is a gnoll named Akanis, the one responsible for the theft.

"We're read......."

The group appears in a workshop.

"dy......"

Over by an anvil, a hulking dwarf is furiously pounding a shortsword, sending shower after shower of sparks into the air. A gnome wearing what appears to be 2 small spyglasses over his eyes carefully carves a small piece of wood. After dropping the sword into a tub of water, the dingy looking dwarf looks up and grins.

"Here to get some kit, eh, boys? Just tell ol' Angrimm whatcher want and I'll get it sure as anything. Oh! Almost forgot, m'name's Angrimm Bristlebeard, the forge lord here in Nexus. The wiry one there is Nizbah, but he don't talk much. Always too busy concentrating on whatever fool contraption he's "inventing" next. So what'll it be boys?"

The group provides a long list of equipment, most of which were their personal standard fare back from their days on the prime. Smith puts in a special order to Nizbah for a spyglass that he can mount on his crossbow, something he had heard of being used in a distant land when he was a prime. After suiting up, the three announce once again that they're ready and before they can finish their statement, they're back in the simulator room.

Sargen once again booms, "Get ready lads, this won't hurt. I promise."

 

[drunkadelic]

7.19.02 - Rebirth: Part Three

Each of the agents feel a light-headed feeling and then all of a sudden they are standing before the mouth of a cave. Two dead gnolls lie before them, their blood staining the ground. Strangely enough, there is a red-headed man in a breastplate, clutching a wicked looking morning star standing with them. Before any of them can form the question, Sargen's voice explains to them telepathically that he is an illusion, but will compensate for the yet-undiscovered fourth agent until then. In old dried blood over the mouth of the cave, the words "Da Bashaz Live Here" are written.

The party creeps in.

Shortly after their entrance, torches are lit, thus revealing a small underground pond in a more or less circular room. Being the consumate adventurer, Smith nonchalantly tosses a rock into the pool. As soon as he does so, three skeletal forms return the favor in the form of bone javelins. Smith dives out of the way, but one of the javelins catches Matthew dead on and drops his frail kobold form instantly. Drem casts Disrupt Undead but fails to connect. Rolling into a crouch from the javelin dodge, Smith fires a salvo from his crossbow, impacting into one skeleton's ribcage and taking quite a few ribs with it. The warrior, (whom the agents have dubbed, "Meatsheild, or Meat for short") engages the skeletons. The unengaged skeleton hefts another javelin from underneath the surface of the water and throws again, this time aiming at Meat, but the throw is wide. Drem draws his Longsword and looks to close with the skeletons that Meat has engaged. He manages to penetrate its defenses, but grimaces as his blade does little to stop the skeleton. Meat's morningstar is only happy to oblige however, as he crushes the first skeleton to fragments and Cleaves through the next. Smith falls back to one knee and reloads his crossbow, while Matthew groans and bleeds. The skeleton moves between Drem and Meat and sucessfully shreds the elf with its claws. The poor elf falls, his head submerged in the murky pond. Smith drops his bow and runs to Drem's rescue, feeding him one of Angrimm's potions of Cure Light Wounds that he assigned to each party member. The now-revived elf strikes out with his sword but misses. Meat once again saves the day by breaking the legs out from under the final skeleton with his morningstar. Another of the parties rapidly decreasing potion supply is spent on the unconscious Kobold. Back on their feet, the party goes deeper into the cavern.

Reaching a T-Section, the party is faced with the option of making a left or a right. As Smith heads to the right, donning the mantle of decision-maker, the rest of the party blindly follow. After a short distance, the party encounters a sleeping black bear. Matthews keen eye spots something sparkling right behind the bear's slumbering form and by hoisting the Kobold ontop of Meat's shoulders discover it is a gemstone of sorts.

"SHINIES!" Smith exclaims in hushed tones.

"It's mine, I saw it first." Matthew squeaks.

Drem sighs, "Listen guys, we're here to get this idol, not get ourselves mauled over an illusionary gemstone."

"How do we know it's not part of the test? Say, if we can manage to retrieve it from this beast, we get a real one when the test is done or something akin to that?" muses Smith.

"Fine whatever." Drem crosses his arms over his chest.

Smith and Matthew devise a plan to sprinkle caltops over the floor in front of the bear, while all three of the agents with ranged weaponry (all but Meat) fire into the bear. Surely such a combination can off a silly bear they think. The three fire their weapons at the beast but only Smiths bolt finds its mark. The bear springs to its feat and roars angrily, looking right towards Smith.

"Oi. Bugger." Smith covers his face and goes on Full Defense.

The bear is obviously pained from the caltrops but still advances on Smith and swings a mighty paw towards him, but Drem's shortbow sings and kills the bear before that can happen. The Kobold is the first to make it across the bear carcass and the caltrops and giggles as he holds up the clear shiny gem in triumph. Smith grumbles something about flipping a coin for it.

The party turns around and starts going the other direction. Not long down the corridor Drem stops and places his hand out. His finely tuned elven senses are telling him that something in this hall is not quite right. He bends over to inspect some fishy looking stonework and recieves a spear to the face for his efforts. Another potion of Cure Light Wounds later he grumbles and tells the party not to step on the funny looking stones.

It's about that time as his head is turned telling the party just that, that he hits the tripwire and gets another spear. This time to the leg.

After feeding Drem yet *another* of the parties nearly depleted potion stock, Smith muses. "You should watch out friend, a half step more and that spear would have pierced your....."

"Berries!" Matthew interrupts with a giggle.

"Yes....berries." smirks Smith.

At the end of the corridor are two large wooden doors. Smith opens one of the two doors as Drem hides behind him, quivering over the prospect of new traps. Matthew takes his own initiative and goes to the other one. As Drem and Smith enter the door, they observe an ancient underground complex sprawling out ahead of them. A thick layer of dust covering everything except a faint trail in the dust leading to the right. After checking out a few rooms to the left, and finding little else than dust, the two head back right again. No one seems to notice the absent Matthew. On a pass by the entrance doors, Drem opens the other one and notices Matthew standing there.

"Uh, hello." remarks Matthew, twiddling his thumbs.

"Rrrrrrrright." mutters the elf, and closes the door.

The party continue up around a hallway, Matthew trailing somewhat behind to "keep an eye on the rear." Upon coming to two doors side by side with trails in the dust leading into them, the party orders Meat to kick down the door of the first one, which he complies with gladly. In the wreckage the party bursts in, weapons drawn, battle faces snarling....

Into a privy.

 

[drunkadelic]

7.19.02 - Rebirth: Part Four

After a party-wide blush the agents sidle over to the door opposite the privy and Smith puts his ear to the door, listening for sounds on the other side. He hears some incomprehensible sounds and gives the order for Meat to kick this door down as well. He does so and suprises 4 goblins. Meat takes point and rushes 2 of the goblins, bashing the head of one in and Cleaving through the next. Smiths crossbow shot is wide, but Drem finds better luck with his shortbow. The goblins close with Meat and Drem but neither have an opportunity to injure the deft warriors. Meat misses the wily goblin with his morningstar, but Drem draws his sword and drops his foe. In a quick move, Drem steps over his downed foe and flanks the last remaining goblin. Smith is busy reloading and Matthew is busy "keeping an eye on the rear." This turn, the goblin isn't so lucky and takes an obliterating blow from the Morningstar-o'-death. After a general dusting off of hands, Adventurer sense kicks in and the party loots the bodies. Disgusted, they balk at taking 4 Illusionary halfspears, even if they do get real ones in the end.

Minutes later, hot on the dust trail further into the complex, the heroes come across another door with a dust trail leading into it. The old ear to the door method occurs again, and more incomprehensible words are heard. True to their established style, Meat kicks the door in, suprises 4 more goblins, and a few rounds, a Mage Armor, and the next to last potion later. The heroes are triumphant.

Further explorations into the complex are unrewarded with anything other than stone and dust. The party returns to the trail and finds themself at the end of a narrow hallway facing a large iron door. A thorough check for traps reveals nothing and Smith creaks the door open ever so slightly and peeks in. 4 goblins and 2 gnolls all fire ranged weapons at the intruder. Terrified, Smith slams the door shut and hears 6 separate clangs hit the other side at once.

"Never fear, we shall wait them out." Smith exclaims triumphantly.

Hours pass.

Matthew wakes from a breif nap with a start. One can almost see the lantern lit above his scaled little head. "I know, we can take one of the other wooden doors off it's hinges, prop it behind the iron door, and when we open the iron door, all the arrows, javelins, and what have you will lodge in it!"

For a Kobold, Matt's as devious as they come.

So the plan goes off without a hitch. The door comes off, the iron door is opened, and sure enough each shot lodges deep into the wood of the second door and the heroes slowly advance into the room.

What they didn't count on, was tactics.

Directing the goblins, the gnolls formed a perfect bottleneck around Meat, who was dropped hastily. Despite valiant attempts by both Drem and Smith to re-organize the party, the foes get the better part of them all. As Smith drops to the floor, clutching a spear wound to the chest, the entire party, (sans Meat) wakes up in a white room. A beautiful golden-haired, golden-eyed, woman with the symbol of Heironeous around her neck smiles at them.

"Hello gentlemen. My name is Corrina Graves, I'm the resident medic here at the Nexus."

"Why are we here?" Drem questions, "I thought the simulator was illusory."

"It is, but the brain still registers some of the damage psycho-somatically. It's difficult to explain. Fortunately, the wards we have placed into the chamber lessen damage immensly to the physical self."

"Also, Miss. I see the fist of Heironeous around your neck. I thought Sargen told us that Nexus was unaffiliated with any of the dieties."

"Rightly so, but they need a cleric for times such as this. I'm actually only here for 5 years. Sargen changes the cleric every so often to make sure that none of the dieties begins to suspect any alliances."

About that time, Cheery's beaming visage walks into the room.

"Afternoon, boys." she sings.

Smith smiles largely and exclaims, "Cheery! Feed us!"

Half an hour and a large meal later, the agents relax in their own private quarters contentedly.

Cheery smiles, opens the door to leave, looks back over her shoulder and tells the men, "Don't worry about today. Everyone fails the gnoll simulator the first time."

End of Rebirth

 

[Rune]

Man, that was a fun game!

A few things, though:

1. My character, Mr. Smithington (not Mr. Smith!), was not the one listening to the doors; he doesn't have the wisdom for it. I think it was Drem.

2. We didn't expect to keep any of the stuff we looted. We were just doing it on general principle (despite the fact that we'd been warned against deviating from the assigned mission).

3. Meat is da MAN!

4. My dice need better mojo. I can't count the number of sneak attacks I missed on flat-footed foes, because of low rolling to hit with that big ol' crossbow of his. First roll of the night was a reflex save at natural 20, though. That was nice.

 

[drunkadelic]

My character, Mr. Smithington (not, Mr. Smith!), was not the one listening to the doors; he doesn't have the wisdom for it. I think it was Drem.

That's right. It must have been those big elven ears that helped him hear. <smacks head>

Thanks for the praise, Rune. I tried to tool the adventure specifically to deter the PCs from running around and checking out every nook and cranny like a normal party would. I hope the depletion of all the potions and eventual party wipeout were good enough to make you all learn the lesson.

Of course, if the creatures that did the job didn't do it, I'm sure the half-fiend gnoll with the grand daiclave would have.



But we'll never know.

 

[Rune]

Well, we played again last night. Hurry up with the update, will ya?

For anyone interested, here's a list of teasers:

• An impossible mission that 7 groups before us have actually accomplished. Jerks.
• The botching of a well-crafted plan.
• The belated death of a dirty fighter.
• A set of clever tricks that turn the tide.
• A big pile of dead (not necessarily bad) guys.

 

[Horacio]

Woooho!

A Planescape Spycraft mix, just what I wanted

Horacio has discovered a new Stoy Hour to fix his addition...