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!

 

[Golden Bee]

"The High Priest was killed by a thunderbolt." Literally epic.

 

[Golden Bee]

Island of the Blood Brothers!
“You’re asking a guy named Typhoon if we should head through the dangerous storm. You know that right?”

On November 15, the Philippines became a Commonwealth of the United States. They hadn’t been independent since the middle of the 16th century, and were the first non-white colony to gain independence from a Western colonial power.

And someone had to do the paperwork.

Bureaucrat Kabir Rupert, detective Zelda Saeki and detective JP Diamond spent weeks in a sweaty British embassy (only taking breaks for a round of municipal golf on Thursdays). But on the eve of independence, they had updated all the documentation and were free to party. They did.

The next morning, battling a hangover, JP got a call from his old war buddy, Herbert “Red” Mason. Red needed bailing out, and since JP had been avoiding him during his entire time in Manila, a favor was owed. But there was a strange scene at the prison. The morning after a legendary night of debauchery, Herbert was the only one in the holding cell. Everyone else had been bailed out by two large, burly twins, but they refused to pay his fine when he said his buddy JP’d cover it.

Josiah knew exactly who the twins were: His nemesi, Mr. Black and Mr. Blue. And if they were recruiting thugs in Manila, then the Sinister Skull was up to something.

He clued in Zelda and Kabir, then the investigators split up. Zelda found out that the twins had commandeered a steamer and headed east towards Micronesia. JP learned about a mercenary crew also headed in that direction, run by an enormously strong Greek. (He also spent a fate point to declare a story detail: Captain Mike McGinty was in Manila between jobs and was ready for an adventure!)

“Typhoon” Mike was happy to do it, but since last night was the biggest celebration in Philippine history, he needed someone to search

“every flophouse, cat house and outhouse for my staff. Get their hung-over hides to the boat and tell them they're gonna be earning paychecks again.” JP told him not to speak so loud.

While Zelda and JP handled that, Rupert hit the library. Dockside rumors speculated everyone was after the mirror of Yata-no-Kagami, the heavenly object crafted by the mirror god Ishikoridome for the Sun Goddess. As one of the sacred treasures of Japan, it would give tremendous cachet to whoever held it. And it could only be damaged by another godly artifact, perhaps one by the Sun goddess’s brother Susanoo. With the help of a dodgy treasure map, they could hopefully cover their bases and get both.

Zelda managed to find her sailor easily. Winifred (disguised as merely Fred) needed extrication from a highfalutin’ opium den. The Japanese Hipster, who always wears suits, confused the sailor, but soon lured her back to work with the promise of more spending money.

JP Diamond had a harder case. It turned out the “donkey-man” (head of the coal stokers) was being extorted by a one-eared pimp. JP battled both his hangover and the panderer, knocking the man out with an objectively awful punch that the guy stepped into. The lady-of-the-mid-afternoon gathered her clothes, then her pimp’s wallet, and headed out. That’s Manila for you.

There was one more wrinkle: Kabir Rupert, OBE, was to be honored for all his bureaucratic work. His only job was to sit near a parade and be photographed by fawning stringers. Not willing to delay the ship, he begged off, telling the technical truth that he was needed for a voyage. A great way to dodge a promotion.

***
The ship had an unexpected passenger: millionaire orphan Devika Velyapur. JP had casually promised Typhoon Mike money from the ZSS account, which led to a phone call to her bank, which led to her personally inspecting the expedition. Red Mason, feeling left out, was happy to come too.

McGinty had a suspicion about where to head, but the group was hours behind both of the opposing ships. The solution? Take a shorter route, through a possible squall, and outrace their foes by being bolder. But as Kabir argued, you know what you’re getting when you hire a guy named Typhoon.

The storm was fierce; a yard arm came loose, nearly knocking Red unconscious before he was rescued by JP. Zelda, pelted with rain, used a bullhorn to keep the crew focused. Kabir pointedly insisted that the captain take a break after seven hours at the wheel, instead of relying on dulled determination. The trio even mechanically repaired the anchor rig, allowing them to hold position and let the rest of the storm pass by.

After a calm dawn, the three-oh-trio examined their map and triangulated the likely position of a treasure-bearing shipwreck. There was an argument between JP and Zelda over who should go down in the diving suit and investigate, with Zelda “winning”. The old galleon was rotten, and nearly disintegrated under the weight of the suit. Which drew the focus of the shark…

Above the water, Kabir spotted a problem. An incoming speedboat named, embarrassingly, "Daddy's Favorite.”

“Ugh.” Said the Brit.

He told the crew to open the weapons locker.

Below, Zelda took aim at the mast, hitting it with a spear gun. It started to creak, and drew the shark’s attention, allowing her to slowly slip down to the captain’s quarters. In a small bag in a rotten foot locker: 10 smooth stones from an ancient necklace.

Above, the pirates threatened to cut the oxygen line. Kabir, master of intimidation, responded by aiming the flare gun at their ship. Detente, until JP jumped on board The Favorite and started throwing hands!

Zelda tugged the line, and the sailors began winching her out of the ocean.

On the waves, bottles, blades and boat hooks came out, with one poor sod getting gouged and sent into the water… Attracting the shark!

In the gore bath that followed, the pirates fled, leaving behind some clues.

One of them had a telephoto shot of the Greek… Who was JP's old rival, Elodie Grigorios! She had humiliated the detective years ago in a bar, beating him and his squadmates in arm wrestling. But he knew one thing about her: she was utterly mercenary. So it was time to let gold solve a problem.

The heroic trio headed to the radio room where with a combination of willpower, panache and bribery, they convinced the misthios to tell them the location of the treasure island, and go home paid. The Rupert fortune was further expended. But if it meant not having to deal with a 6’5 Greek powerhouse and her handpicked sailors, the transfer was money well sent.

The investigators had made good, not great, time getting to the island, so there were signs of archaeology when they arrived. More shocking: the beginnings of a solar eclipse. They, along with Devika, snuck onto shore via rowboat. Zelda (in jeans and a black turtleneck) kept the group concealed, even as they passed the radio room and got a shock.

“We've almost got the artifact. Everything is as planned, General Saeki.”

The Sinister Skull wasn't behind it at all! The group kept skulking, but the vast magic ritual made Devi sicker and sicker. The ZSSers snuck up to the hidden chamber, where two Louisiana voices were chanting together in Japanese. As Zelda, JP and Kabir planned their ambush…Devi threw up!
(The players were dithering so I gave them all fate points and started combat.)

The battle was swift. All five adults played keep away with the mystic mirror. Kabir confused the brothers by calling out to one of them with "Hey ugly!” Mr Black, seeing the squeamish Indian girl, asked JP why his boss was all sick. Devi smashed the mirror, giving the group a victory.

Zelda was about to put a bullet through Mr. Blue, when she blocked a shovel attack with her hair. The scuffling had alerted the remaining pirates, who sent our heroes to the blissful land of unconsciousness.
***
When they awoke, they were tied up on the beach. Based on the snippets of conversation they could understand, Black and Blue were making up for their failure by releasing Zelda to her father as a hostage. JP chewed a hole in his gag and tried a desperate lie: the twins had destroyed the artifact because they were using its power for themselves! The general thought about this for a second, and then without a word, decapitated Blue. Mr. Black grabbed the general's wakizashi…and unwilling to be without his brother, killed himself! The general dismissed the confused pirates, freed only Zelda, and told her that the two of them would discuss this “at home”.

Everyone was shocked. Devi began bawling. The twins were Mafia jerks, but they were hardly much worse than some of the people the group had teamed up with. Zelda had never seen such violence from her father… and now she was bidden to be in his castle, alone with him.

With the crisis averted and the artifacts inert, it was time to leave. Kabir, who had known the girl all thirteen years of her life, helped Devi clean up and cry it out. JP wanted to reach out, but he was a war vet and her employee. Not to mention that his lie had caused the mess.

Back in New Orleans, Devi contemplated firing Zelda, keeping her family trauma away from the detective agency. Miss Saeki looked up Lorna Geary, her friendly local Kempeitai agent. Turns out Lorna had been the go-between, with the twins unaware of their true boss until too late. She flirted with Zelda and disappeared into a crowd.

JP headed home, where there were unfamiliar sedans on his block. He met his wife, who wanted the full story, and explained that “he only wants to talk”.

JP opened the door. Dropped his suitcase. Sitting on his couch, hands folded neatly in his lap, was THE SINISTER SKULL!

 

[John Dallman]

GURPS 4e Cold War Pulp:

Parked aircraft destroyed with bazookas.

After something of a real-time gap, our heroes recapped.

They're on an Antarctic expedition, in May 1951, looking for Nazis who fled in spring 1945. They've found two cargo U-Boats, which had been mothballed, and a tunnel leading from the cove where they are to a rail tunnel. That seems to be the service tunnel for two much larger rail tunnels, which are flooded and unserviceable. Their PC with psychometry and precognition had a vision of some very strange alien things which shook her badly. They've found out how to use the service tunnel vehicles and discovered a map of the tunnel system, which goes all the way round the edge of Antarctica.

Then they captured three low-ranking Nazis, one of whom they'd met before in Argentina, where he was crew on a very advanced helicopter. They disabled that helicopter, but left the Nazis to recover it because it seemed the only way to keep it out of the news, and the PCs were busy fleeing the country. That fellow, a Luftwaffe sergeant, was willing to talk if it got him out of Antarctica. He and his two men had been delivering tribute to the alien things via the service tunnel.

He told them that there was a large and advanced bomber aircraft at the Nazi base, which was an obvious serious threat to their expedition's ship. There are about 250 Nazis there (100 from each of the submarines, 50 who got there in the bomber), plus two helicopters. There were two ways to the base, one through a side-tunnel from the service tunnel that the Nazis bored, and one through a natural fault that the Nazis used to find the tunnel system. The base is at Schirmacher Oasis, which was discovered by the Neuschwabenland expedition of 1938-39, and named after himself by its discoverer, Richard Schirmacher. He is one of the leaders of the Nazi group, along with Hans Kammler.

The party's expedition had come expecting submarines, and had brought a supply of the M20 "Super_Bazooka" so that infantry could punch holes in submarine hulls. They were expected to be effective on aircraft, so they were taken along. The party went in two of the service tunnel vehicles with the four main PCs, two of the supporting-cast additional PCs, and two NCOs from their supporting company of the US 87th Mountain Infantry. Getting past the Nazi-bored tunnel was done simply by zooming past at high speed and hoping the sentries weren't feeling keen. It seemed to work.

They climbed the fault, and managed to spot the base without being spotted. As they'd been told, the hangar doors were open during the afternoon, but were closed as they watched. They waited for dusk, approached, blew a hold in the doors with gizmo explosives, and successfully put a bazooka round into each of the three aircraft, doing lots of damage, and revealing a large glowing metal object in the wreckage of the bomber. Then they ran away, and we ended the session.

"Better than we deserved" remarked one of the players, given that they were trying to rol under 11 or 12 for each of the bazooka shots and all of them hit.

 

[Golden Bee]

El Fantasmo rides again.​

His mind was trying to trick him. It wasn’t really a security alarm: it was an asp viper. But as long as he didn’t look at it, it wouldn’t strike…

August 1936. Spain is at war, and Republican forces battle the Nationalists of Francisco Franco. The ZSS are convinced by Ivo that although this may be dangerous, it could be one of their most profitable missions yet.

Friendly partisans are imprisoned at a local fortress, in a territory run by Don Miguel Ontiveros de Rios. The group (mystic Devika, stunt actress Lala, and detective Josiah Patrick Diamond) snoop around the town. They can’t find a good tour guide, so instead they recruit the 10-year-old busboy from their inn. Dominic is hyper enthusiastic to help, even if his translation (Spanish to French) needs to be put into English for Lala.

One of their contacts tells them that a local priest is sympathetic. When they visit the church at midday, the priest is taking confession, and all three characters (including former cult-goddess Devika!) partake. Each of them alluded to their criminal behavior in previous adventures, but Devi, not being Catholic, uses her private time with the pastor to ask why there was a name removed from the mural up front. It turns out the Nationalists had forced out Father Aldana, driving him into the mountains. Interesting.

It's night-time when the players visit a local festival and start to work the Don. The group’s cover story is quickly rendered irrelevant, as Don Miguel recognizes Lala as a famous actress! She plays coy, but he invites her to tour his vast estates the next day. Meanwhile, JP finds out that most of the prisoners have been put to work at a local gold mine, which the Don also owns. Their infiltration and exfiltration plan just got more complicated.

The next day, while Lala tours the vineyards, the detective and the mystic millionaire head to the hills. After some bumpy riding, they reach the monastery of Father Aldana. At least they thought they did. Sitting at the entrance is a shirtless old man named Jorge.

Maybe they got bad directions?
***
Charmed by the starlet, the Don shows off his private wine-pressing room and endless set of keys. Anywhere important in the region ran through his key ring. But he intended something more sensual.

“Wait,” said Lala. “This whole town looks just like Mexico… If I hurry, I can make some calls and have dozens of buxom ladies here in a week. You’ll be a movie producer!”

The hacendado began thinking with his wallet instead of other things, and despite some disappointment, agreed.
***
JP argued that it was highly unlikely that a bunch of foreigners would travel to rural Spain to mess with a retired priest for fun. Jorge agreed, and took them to meet the father. Aldana had a test for them: if they could help a "simple delivery of wood and nails" get into the town, he would call upon the aid of Spain's mythic protector, El Fantasmo! A ghost that punished wickedness, he (it?) would have the power to help them.

Back in town, they found the delivery wagon… And guessed from the oxen's pace, the woodpile was filled with explosives. (Why else move so slowly?) It would take too long to move the contraband to Devi’s rental. Instead, the goddess hid in the cart! Lying on her stomach, she waited for one of the checkpoint’s soldiers to check under the flap… And gave him a migraine with a mystic whammy. Squinting, he waved the vehicle through.

Unfortunately, as they took the explosives to its destination, there was screaming and a rev of engines. Their contact was being kidnapped!

Ivo got behind the wheel, with JP on the running board and Devika in the passenger seat. As the chase continued, they drove right past a returning Lala, who joined the fun on her motorcycle-with-side-car. Our heroes caught up with the fleeing transport on the narrow streets. They were trading paint, so close that JP and Devi didn't even need to jump to board the kidnapper’s troop transport!

During the chaos, a masked figure landed in Lala’s sidecar… El Fantasmo! He hustled over Devi’s car and onto the troop truck. The three heroes routed the opposition, ending the car chase without a bullet fired: perhaps the first stealthy car chase in world history. It helped that most possible onlookers were taking a siesta.

El Fantasmo revealed that their contact… Was also El Fantasmo! Instead of a legend, he was a collection of heroes, passed down through generations to protect Spain during its darkest days. Which was good, because the ZSS needed more people to help with the prison raid. Lala had stolen a key, but it was to a sewer grate. There was a vote (3-2 with Ivo abstaining) that had Lala, JP and Devi assigned to the gold mine.

This turned out to be an excellent decision. Devi was on her game for infiltration, and when she teamed with JP, no guard could stand against them. (The general technique: she grabs a leg, then JP wallops the guy with a bag of nickels). Unfortunately, during their infiltration, the trio had to deal with two guards simultaneously… So after Josiah clobbered one, Lala landed a huge Bugs Bunny kiss on the other, before hitting a rising tiger strike to his acorns.

After that, they left the prisoners to handle the guards, and used the smuggled explosives to close the mine down. (Not before Devi, ever the opportunist, took photos of all the mine’s contracts. Once translated, they’d be extremely useful on the commodities market…)

Mission accomplished, the three-oh-trio fled the country without a bruise on them. Ivo, meanwhile, made money escaping prison. Turns out the fortress was once an Umayyad stronghold. Sneaking in and looting its dungeon was the whole reason he proposed the quest. The group quietly wondered if El Fantasmo could be sent against smugglers...

Devi's sneaking outfit:

 

[Golden Bee]

Rafe’s Revenge!
A Lamb, caught by a Nazi Wolf!

During the nuptials of Semya Ivanova and JP Diamond, the perfect heist was perpetrated right underneath the noses of the ZSS!
The experimental aircraft Grandel’s Mother, its mysterious power source “borrowed” from Devika’s Alan Irani, and the lovely Lillian Lamb have all been whisked away to Germany by the mysterious Abwehr agent known as Krystal Wolf. This has set Rafe Lancaster’s blood to boiling and his mind fixed to one and only one course of action: Get them all back. Through a lot of digging and calling in favors, Rafe has made contact with someone he believes to be an Abwehr double agent calling themselves “Nightjar”. If they can make contact in Berlin, they could provide all the information needed to mount a rescue.

However, moving a team of ZSS operatives through Germany in September 1935 will be no easy task. Acquiring false papers that would fool the Zollgrenzshutz (customs border guards) or even the Gestapo would be expensive, but fairly straight-forward. But fooling anyone within the Abwehr itself would be nigh impossible, as the daughter of a famous general, an internationally wanted smuggler, a Soviet captain with a trail of Nazi blood, and especially their American industrialist mark, are all known quantities. (That’s Zelda, Ivo, Semya Ivanova filling out the team.) However, Rafe has an idea for how to get around that. A way to get in, get out, and liberate who and what was stolen from him. But it’s out there…
***
In a frosty Norwegian taiga, the party seems to be traveling in circles, swearing that they have been re-treading the same ground, looking for a centuries-old looking barn, built at the epicenter of several runestones forming a spiraling triquetra. Upon entering, they find dozens of life-sized unpainted wooden humanoid figures, leering at them motionless with blank faces. Suddenly, they find whom they are looking for:
Stig Brynhildjarson (from Cold Vengeance and Haute Cuisine). He’s accompanied by a blonde woman with striking amber eyes named Gyllen Gnitaheath, bedecked with stylish gemstone-laden jewelry. And as a semi-mystical creature, his contract is extraordinary. And extortionary.

As a student of folklore, Ivan “Ivo” Kochev takes a run at the contract. Unfortunately, Stieg is also a master deceiver, putting in intricate clauses the smuggler can’t crack.
The captain tries another method. She makes fun of Gyllen, chiding and teasing her. Nothing out of bounds, but thoroughly annoying. Rafe, who is scared of the woman himself, tells Gyllen that the captain will leave once there’s a fair deal.
As a business magnate, Lancaster marshals his money indirectly. Annuities instead of cash, payments in kind, investments… He pays, but at a fair rate. Stig hands over four of his “Loki” coins. The mystic guarantees that they will mask their appearance to all who view them (and let them speak unaccented German), but warns that the powers of Loki are fickle. Breaking the coins will be a signal for their extraction, which the mystic pair will ‘assist’ with.
Getting into the country is still a problem though. Kochev’s pals charge exorbitantly to get him to Berlin, even more than it cost to get into wartime Spain. Due to mandatory conscription and the Nuremberg laws, the entire country is on alert.

When they arrive, the Captain goes to work, reaching out to the Soviet spy network. The group score is a dead drop from Nightjar:

The information you seek will be in a case file within Admiral Willhelm Canaris’s office, which is located within Abwehr headquarters at 76/78 Tirpitzufer.

Easy enough. Kochev alters a duty roster to get Zelda hired as a janitor. Despite some unwanted flirting and paranoid guards, she swept up the office and photographed the necessary files. She also found correspondence from an informant in Czechoslovakia named Oskar Schindler. The rest of the files would take some time to dig into…
The Nazis weren’t sitting on their hands. Their counterintelligence was seeking out mysterious groups of two women and two men, as well as trying to get the continental location of Rafe Lancaster. He had his Roman office send off phony correspondence, begging Berlin to take a meeting. Oddly, the captain gave the help of her network to protect the mega capitalist. He asked why.

“You are a rich man from a rich family. You use your money to make and sell weapons and it took a millionaire girl to even make you think twice. And then you tried to kill her two more times. I can’t blame you for your actions any more than you could blame a sleepwalker. You’re asleep in the American Dream.”

The industrialist had no reply.
***
Back in the party offices, Zelda Saeki discovered the existence of Projekt Edelstein aka “Project Gemstone,” which apparently was started in 1920 at the founding of the Abwehr. Canaris ordered it disbanded when he assumed command in 1935, but Hitler personally overruled him.
More files revealed a Project Gemstone agent, “Black Diamond,” had recently completed a mission in the US that was delivered to some kind of black site. They get coordinates that seem to correspond to somewhere in the middle of the Pfälzerwald, a forest seven hours away.

Zelda received undue questioning when leaving the office. Despite leaving it spotless, the suspicious soldiers pointed and yelled. A man identified as Hauptmann Cristoph Unger backed up her story, whisking her away… and identifying himself as Nightjar! The group is happy to leave Berlin for the hinterlands.

On the road, Unger provided the party with any info that he can, namely that the black site is a skunkworks called “Der Becher” or “The Tumbler” (a play on both rock polishing and locks). It is officially run by Der Wehrmacht, but Abwehr projects, mainly Project Gemstone, operate out of it. He doesn’t know to what extent, or what awaits them there. The group apologized to him for the incident involving his older brothers: the first was killed while trying to steal Excalibur, and the latter was electrocuted, humiliated, and jailed after an incident on the Orient Express. (They left out the part where they also hit him with a tampon.) Unger forgave them, saying that he also didn’t like his Nazi older brothers.
Suddenly, a black Volkswagen Beetle began tailgating the group, flashing its headlights and honking its horn. The driver was… Hauptmann Cristoph Unger?!
The false Unger, Agent Emerald, fought for the wheel. The ZSS played the numbers game, with driver Ivo stopping the lorry and letting the real Unger join the fight!

Agent Emerald was tough, but the group was a hardened fighting machine. Except for Rafe (who conceded early on to get an extra Fate Point). Still, the captain’s insults and Zelda’s gunplay left the impostor reeling and shot-to-death. While the group theorized that he had a Loki coin of his own, it was actually an advanced scientific mask. The agent wasn’t a true believer… but a brainwashed super soldier!

Unger agreed to take care of the body and the bloody lorry. He gave them his car, and directed them to a Red Orchestra safe house. The car was stolen however, and at two in the morning, SS officers decided to come knocking.
Now, the secret police were experts at ferreting out lies. What they weren’t good at was standing up to a screaming ‘German’ woman with hair curlers. Instead of taking any conspirators in for questioning, they left the house ashamed (and ended up confiscating the Volkswagen). The organizers of the safe house were astounded, and were excited to hear about what gave the Captain such strength: the unity of communism. She had pamphlets.

The next day, the group made their way to the secret facility. It was mostly overland travel, which the captain excelled at. With her expertise and Kochev’s smuggling skill, they breached the perimeter ahead of schedule. One thing they didn’t expect: an archer in full ghillie suit disguise! Knowing he was brainwashed, the group first tried a non-lethal solution: shooting his bow. Zelda succeeded, but he pulled out a crossbow. Then, the captain appealed to his humanity, running through emotional appeals and code phrases she learned from the Soviet network. The soldier, agent Ruby, fled into the underbrush.
Unfortunately, the gunfire alerted the guards. Patrols swept the forest. The base was a major one, with tanks and an airfield. The structure itself was built into the side of a mountain. It took all of Ivo’s expertise to sneak the group to an access tunnel, where he and Lancaster pried open a grate and got the group into the Tumbler.

Once inside, they witnessed a scene between SS Brigadeführer Lutz Stroman and his entourage, and an Abwehr agent Kurtzman, who reported that the “Agarthan Sphere” was missing from the base. Stroman asked if Kurtzman was on duty when it was stolen. He was. Stroman replied that he was responsible for its security, and promptly shot him in the head.
This was a shocking development amongst the enlisted men, but the Brigadeführer simply shrugged and commanded the soldiers to clean up the mess.
The group grabbed janitorial disguises and began searching.

One of the downsides of a well-staffed facility is that you need signs. The quartet had a few false starts (the facility was designed in the shape of a swastika, which meant getting from one end to the other was unnecessarily difficult,) but soon they were at the holding cells, where they convinced the guards that a Nazi civil war was brewing and they had better get to the armory.
The first room they checked had a dead redheaded woman and two Nazis. Zelda reported this, and Rafe was… unmoved. (We checked his character sheet, and the former villain had no aspects that actually implied he cared about other people, meaning the GM couldn’t compel him!)
The group dealt with the guards, and went on to the next room… Which didn’t just contain Lillian, but an entire Romani family! Rafe, still disguised by the Loki coin, got slapped when embracing his beau. The captain chided Lillian for leaving her wedding without saying goodbye.

The group’s luck ran out when they got to the hallway.

There was a wall of Nazi soldiers, led by the archer from before. He had a strange new arrow nocked…
The Captain grabbed the Romani child. Everyone was shocked at her use of a human shield… Until she explained that the archer was brainwashed, and that this was clearly his son. No one moved… until the archer leaped behind a crate, firing his arrow at the Reichsmen! Turns out it was an explosive one, and brownshirt blood rained from the ceiling. Zelda and Rafe used their weapons to clean up the rest, although clean is probably the exact wrong word.
Lillian, after regaining her composure, filled the group in. Brigadeführer Lutz Stroman had stolen the Agarthan Sphere and framed Kurtzman. She, it, and Rafe’s plane Grendel’s Mother, were most likely in Cairo!

Being a devout Communist, Ivanova had only one plan for the building. First, she evacuated the non-Nazi scientists and remaining prisoners. Then, with the help of scientific genius Rafe, she set off a series of timed explosions.
The group broke their coins, ending the charade. But between them and the exit was a gauntlet of German army soldiers.
Now, Captain Ivanova solves most of her problems verbally. She’s reduced men to tears with only the promise of violence.

But also exemplifies the New Soviet Woman. So when the bullets started flying… She sprinted through, and dove through a second-story window, landing in a three-point pose. No explanation, no apologies. And it would’ve been the most impressive thing of the day…
Except for the Norwegian extraction plan. Now, it might’ve been an experimental gas leak, a bomber plane, and fertile imaginations. Or Stig, wowed by the group's hard-nosed negotiating style, had sent in a dragon the size of Notre Dame Cathedral.
The Germans manned the tanks, got in their planes… It didn’t matter. Once the base started exploding, there was nothing that could stop the ZSS.

Back in New York, Rafe and the Captain clinked glasses. The “welcome back, Lillian” party was a hit, a truly decadent affair; Zelda and Ivo were guests of honor. The inspirational Russian might have disdained Rafe, still, but he had earned her respect. No one else had filled nearly as many graveyards of the Third Reich.