Describe your last RPG session in more than 5 words.

[Golden Bee]

The Hawk Is Out… (Based on Storm of the Century by Pete Woodsworth)​

A thrilling (And Chilling) Tale of Meteorological peril!
(This is a reimagining of a previous adventure, with a completely new cast and even wilder results. New readers may ask: Who are you people?! Or Where did this start?)

Sweltering June in Chicago. The group leaves Midway and piles into Rafael Lancaster's Auburn Phaeton, eager to get to their air-conditioned luncheon at the Century Club. (The group: Detective Z. Saeki, explorer Kabir Rupert OBE, and Swedish reporter Oksona Larsson.) The fun began after the blue point oysters and salad Sicilienne. Members and local notables had prepared slide shows.

Madamoiselle Suwamaru, a Nigerian witch hunter, gave an uncomfortable diatribe about signs of dark magic.
Pacifist activist Ikuo Oyama had a speech prepared on the increased militancy of the Empire of Japan. The main malefactor? General Tadashi Saeki! His forces were seen in Greece and Rarotonga, and he himself hobnobbed with the criminal mayor of Los Angeles. Unbeknownst to Oyama, Zelda Saeki is in the audience. Awkward.

Next up was Rafe, who was given the softball topic of “Intelligence as a necessity for moral clarity.” He gave a fun presentation, which was ruined by the guest Q&A. Who invited Zara Bloome, New York Times reporter? And who told her about his misdeeds and robot purchasing during the events of "The Emperor Who Never Sleeps”?!
Zelda wants quiet, Oksana wants some facts. Kabir still hates the club’s host, Greyson Goyle. (It’s mutual.) Before things can get even more acrimonious, an odd voice comes over the wireless.

Greetings. You may know me as Professor Jacqueline Frost. The press has slandered me in the past, calling me a “mad scientist” and an “arch-criminal,” when truly all I have ever wanted is to share my science with the world. But I have suffered enough at the hands of the foolish and the shortsighted… if you wish me to play the part of the villain, then so I shall! Unless the League of Nations recognizes my authority as the supreme ruler of North America, with full authority over the United States, Canada and Mexico, in mere hours the entire continent will be covered by a tremendous blizzard as a new Ice Age begins! My demands are non-negotiable. I await your answer… but for the sake of your people, answer quickly! I’ll be waiting, Centurions.

Her plan seems to already be in action … The club is chilly and getting colder. Not helping matters any are the snow troopers, trying to freeze all the exits shut!

Kabir Rupert, with the help of Goyle, tosses some of the antique furniture out the window, onto their foes. (He’ll be invoiced for it later.) Lancaster uses kitchen supplies to build a flamethrower, which Zelda uses to thaw out the garage! Snow is already inches deep by the time they escape the Century Club…

The group focuses on logistical needs. Since the women are wearing summer dresses, Rafe drives the group to the Army/Navy store and gets all the surplus they can. Amazed by the strange man tossing around $50 bills, the proprietor throws in a "probably good" grenade.

Oksana, who knows anyone who’s anyone, suggests the next person to visit: "Hail" Mary Sinclair, the Century Club’s climatologist. She lives in Lincoln Park, not far. That is, not far when roads are normal, and visibility is above 40 feet. By the time the group gets to her block, they find a group of locals haranguing some storm-troopers. Needing a distraction, Zelda grabs the probably good grenade, and hurls it towards the end of the block… where it explodes and distracts everyone. Guess it was good.

Kabir and Oksana head to the roof, sneaking in through a skylight (and landing on two unfortunate troopers.) Zelda searches the lab for blueprint and useful notes. Oksana searches the rest of the house, and after grabbing part of the formula, finds a phone ringing in the front hallway. Since her pal isn’t home, she answers it. and as someone dedicated to the truth, tells the caller truthfully that she's not Hail Mary. The jamoke across the street warns her, whoever she is, that a bunch of Inuit-looking guys are about to bash down her front door. The ZSS flees.
***
The next step was snow tires. Rafe got into a shouting match with a local mechanic about gear ratios. By the time the chains were on, the millionaire exited the garage, checked his rearview mirror… And saw a woolly mammoth!!

The prehistoric tank moved effortlessly in the snow. It was only Oksona's keen eye for shortcuts that kept the creature from stomping on the Phaeton. But things looked grim when they turn the corner and ended up face-to-face with the 8-ton beast… Until Kabir leaned over the driver’s side, honking the horn and flashing the high-beams frantically!
The creature fled.

Checking in with the Century Club, the group discovered a friend of theirs was performing a show nearby: the Mafia-adjacent magician, Gia CM! Eager for action, she turned on the radio, where the mayor was blandly requesting that everyone stay inside. It seemed suspicious… So the group headed to City Hall.

As rich snobs, Kabir and Rafe both saw themselves as group leader. When the group got to City Hall*, they both enacted their plans… Entering through the front door with no subtlety. They were escorted to meet the mayor, who was being held hostage by Kabir's rival, Der Blitzmann! The German electrical genius had put city staff in Electro-Conditioning Suits that used electrical pulses to control their bodies, effectively operating them like sophisticated marionettes through brute muscle mastery. The fight was on, with Rafe rescuing the mayor and Gia short-circuiting the armor of his assistant. Blitzmann took his time… before unleashing an electrical shock on every non-armored person in the room! Almost all of the heroes successfully dove for cover, except for Oksona, who stood there, singed with a heart palpitation! She fled the fight, but once the staff was free, so did Blitzmann!

With the mayor freed, the city’s snowplows and emergency services could respond. The players still had to turn Hail Mary’s sketches into science, so it was over to the University of Chicago! (Rafe plied an old professor buddy to enlist every able-bodied summer student.) Oksona called the Chicago Tribune, trading information and guaranteeing herself a front page spot for her story on the mayor's electrical/electoral woes. Turns out the weather was being controlled from the 45th floor of the Chicago Board of trade building!

While the students built the ‘atmosphere ray’, the group decided to sneak through the city steam tunnels. They avoided any active opposition until they ran into… a yeti?!

It turns out the yeti still exist in the Himalayas. When they sensed a tremendous, unnatural summer storm, they used their magic to open a portal. (Many extinct creatures still roam the Himalayas, which explained the mammoth…)

Yah’nu, the leader of the yeti, was snowed by Gia. She convinced the creature that Dr. Jacqueline Frost was a false queen, and he should join with the group in overthrowing her.

Needless to say, a yeti was a great aid in fighting their way to the top of the Trade Building. At the top, after failing to seduce Rafe back to a life of evil, Dr Jaq turned her wiles on the yeti.

Yah’nu apologized, but there was just something about a woman who commanded the elements…

This victory was short-lived, because Gia pulled her greatest magic act ever: Completely disappearing Dr. Frost’s weather control device! The Jersey magician turned blue, the storm split, and the villains fled.
Blitzmann called in his progress on a nearby walkie-talkie. He had snuck his way over to the college and had gained control of the atmosphere array from the Maroons! Kabir, master of the poison tongue, goaded him into destroying it. The mastermind bragged that he had smashed the puny device… swearing revenge and fleeing.

The group rushed Gia back to the Century Club, needing mystic intervention. Devi was stumped, but Mademoiselle Suwamaru took a single bead off her necklace… Which turned icy blue. Gia returned to normal, looked up at the group, and exclaimed:

“The Prestige!”

*The sixth in Chicago's history and the one that exists today!

 

[John Dallman]

The PCs, with some of the convocation and sacred creatures, will take that message to Themisia once the situation with the Temple of Zeus is clearer.

AD&D1.2e, Avalon campaign, in Artemisia:

Zeus annoyed, High Priest thunderstruck.

The session was mostly waiting for the High Priest of Zeus to show up. He was being scryed regularly, and it was clear that he wasn't making his best speed. He took a diversion to the Temple of Hermes, and arrived with a Priest of Hermes in tow.

While we were waiting, Aster and the Bow of Apollo checked the loyalty of the Empress' guards (all loyal), advisers (not all of them) and servants (more embezzling than treason). That night, the Empress visited the party for dinner, asked us to tell the priests of the conclave that she's serious about the defensive alliance; granted us all citizenship, freedom of movement within the empire, and the right of audience with her; and granted Rama permission to rebuild the Tower of Blackened Marble on both dayside and nightside. She definitely wants to be friends with the Magus of the Tower, and Rama is happy to be friendly with her. She also wished to visit the Temple of Artemis to give thanks for the goddess' intervention. Aster deferred that decision to the local High Priestess, who was very happy to for the Empress to visit. There was then several days of planning the expedition to Thermesia, deciding who will go, writing declarations, and so on

Finally, the High Priest of Zeus showed up. His Priest of Hermes was denied entry to the meeting, between him and his entourage with the Empress, supported by Aster, Hamsa and Rama. He clearly had no idea of how much was already known, and dug his own grave under questioning. He had lied to the sacred creatures of Zeus - the giant eagles - who had attacked us a few sessions ago. We had defended ourselves, killing them (they weren't very tough and Rama is a specialised missile magician) and then raised them, explained, and allowed them to leave when they had recovered. Comakos was brought in, and shown to be working for the drow by the Light of Apollo, as was one of his entourage. He himself showed as a charred corpse under that light, and since it was getting dark in mid-afternoon, the meeting moved outdoors, and the High Priest was killed by a thunderbolt.

The Empress told his entourage that when there's a new High Priest of Zeus, the church needs to serve the god, rather than itself. The Priest of Hermes, who'd tried to slip away and been caught, was told to send for his High Priest, swiftly!