Describe your last RPG session in more than 5 words.

[Whisper-Kitten]

Angry cat gets even with a wizard and gets a paladin hamster as a pet.

 

[Golden Bee]

Swisseroo!
“I’m not afraid of your wife,” lied the inspector, “ I’m just asking if she’s here.”

Zürich has some strange traditions. Ever since 1892, they've celebrated Sechseläuten by blowing up the Böögg, a snowman representing winter. Our intrepid trio (detective JP Diamond, brawler Steel Eagle, and puppetess Lonnie Umbaro) felt something was off. As they pushed their way through the crowd, an odd woman, Malou, grabbed Eagle’s arm, pulling him tight and whispered strange gibberish in his ear, rattling him. Lonnie distracted the crowd, moving them away from a potential detonation. JP tried to examine the flammable materials under the snowman, but couldn't defuse them, distracted by his coworker’s struggle with the extremely strong woman. A Southern gentleman wouldn't a woman in the face. Then again, he wouldn't allow a block to explode…

While the party pugilists were dithering, Lonnie cut the detonation cord with a shovel. She told the two to stop going easy on an escaped mental patient. Released from their noble codes, they were able to lift Malou off the ground and hurl her through the front window of a pillow store. It was a thing of beauty, the most beautiful suplex the city of Zürich had ever seen. As police and orderlies restrained the woman, Eagle was hounded for autographs.
***
After their "vacation", the group took the train to Geneva. There, they were assigned to protect the Åland representative to the League of Nations, Neela Teucher, from skulduggery and potential assassination. JP spent his downtime scouring newspapers and guidebooks, trying to figure out the situation.

Before the League of Nations decided on Geneva as its headquarters, the city was a mid-sized European city, little different from Hamburg or Constanta... Before the League, Geneva was modest in character, modest in pretensions, and modest in wealth. But the arrival of all the world’s diplomats and their staffs, the concomitant demands for facilities and food, and the resulting influx of wealth turned it into a world-class city mentioned in the same breath as London and Paris. However, in one important respect Geneva is no different than Horse Cave, Kentucky, or Lyngseidet, Norway: all three are almost entirely dependent on outsiders for their income. While the residents of Geneva are resolutely Swiss, so much of their livelihoods and daily lives are affected by the League that, for the residents of Geneva, the two are inseparably intertwined. Which means that 1935 is a miserable year for the residents of Geneva.

They were to find out why shortly.

The group got off on the wrong foot, with Lonnie and her puppet Itcho adding far too much levity to introductions. Teucher was offended, but not too offended to have the players accompany her shopping. And snacking. Then more shopping. As the first female ambassador (probably), the inexperienced Teucher spent her budget on fabulous hats and diplomatic gifts. That meant the group was busy holding boxes when they should have been protecting her, and she needed plenty of protection.

For example, from the local children. Waif Pierro and his sister Ludmilla immediately scammed the out-of-towner, but a canny JP chased them down.

Pierro agreed to give back the gift if JP agreed to keep this under his hat. He does. [It helps that Lonnie placates Neela with a Legendary Deceive, an eight when she needed a two.]

"Oh, I'm sorry, Senator!" apologized the Ambassador, enamored with the woman who a month ago was a hobo.

***
The group is relaxing in the hotel lobby, Neela Teucher holding up the line at the mail kiosk. JP tries to decide on which Swiss chocolate to buy when the chandelier above him sways. A hush falls over the room as mechanized Nazi officer Klaus Adler enters. Hugo Boss strolls in behind him, glad-handing.

JP, remembering the events of Only a Scheme in Rio, can only squeeze his fists. Lonnie exits with the ambassador. Tough guy Diamond decides to mouth off to the eight foot tall ubermann, but Hugo intervenes.

"We are here to prove," says the fashionista, "that we are in control.

Steel Eagle pulls JP away. Not the time, certainly not the place.
***
The next night is a reception for Poland's great painter, Teoslav Małgorzo. Geneva’s Garden of Sight and Touch is a botanical marvel, featuring the most Argentine plants in the world, barring the country itself. There's much hobnobbing to be done, but Diamond is shocked to see the head of the Russian delegation… is his brother-in-law, Fabyan Ivanov! It's strange, because Fabyan spends his days running a shoe factory. Perhaps the Soviets are more egalitarian than previously reported.

Teo is joined by his sister Maja, one of the top detectives of the League of Nations police force. Eagle is glad that Ivo Kochev is absent. There's no way that Maja would allow Ivo to escape her in Geneva... But it also means whatever chicanery the ZSS gets up to will be opposed.

Well, not all of it. Devika runs into her favorite foreigner, some-time boy-toy Prince Arthur of Borgovia. JP, worried about an assassination, allows this because the prince will be safer with the mystic millionaire. But it's not death he needs to fear... But darkness. A shadow goes over the moon, and when light is restored, Teo's greatest painting is missing!

JP takes a moment to scan the crowd and memorize everyone's position. This costs him, as he's able to see the thief escaping but not catch them. Wait, could that be...Pierro?

Eagle, a few cabernets to the wind, tries to investigate why Maja and Teo are reacting so badly. Turns out the painting (a blonde street sweeper in Warsaw) had prototype pistol designs hidden in the frame. Maja cross-examines JP about what he knows, but the veteran investigator keeps his cards hidden.
***
The next day, Lonnie decides to handle ambassador Teucher while the other two crack the case. The pair return to the tourist district. Ludmilla is quick to volunteer that her brother gave the painting to the blonde woman at the fencing academy. Pierro denies his crush but did, technically, give it to her an hour ago.

"The blonde woman", after a bit of investigating, turns out to be 1928 Olympic fencing champion (and German Jew) Helene Mayer.



The American duo is ready to audit a class, when they notice NKVD agent Volkov spying on them.

So they decide to tell the truth! Helene doesn't want to be in possession of stolen property, or indebted to a silly local boy. But instead of buying the painting and fleeing, Diamond has a better idea. He & Steel hide in the privvy. When Volkov comes in with a bunch of armed thugs, the no-goodniks are surrounded by angry fencers. Soon, the studio floor is covered in bleeding thugs.

Eagle wiped some blood off his cowboy boots. “And they said good fencers make good neighbors!”

JP is in a bind. Selling weapons plans to the Russians would put him in even more jeopardy with the U.S. government (and strengthen the case Naval conspiracy T*R*U*S*T* has on him). But selling to America, well... he'd be sleeping on the couch for years.

So after returning the painting (but not the schematics) to Maja, he and Steel Eagle start making calls. Turns out the Swiss have secret bank accounts for a reason. It takes flimflam, dirty pool, and plenty of double talk, but the group is able to sell the plans to the Swiss. At least it didn't go to the Germans or Italians. And they could give some of the money to Teoslav... Theoretically. If any of this blew back at them and he found out.

 

[Golden Bee]

Pearl Beyond Price
“Not even death can keep me from my prize. Your death, of course.”

Fez, city of 9000 alleys. One of them contains Pearl Fairweather, medium, kidnapped for refusing to reveal the location of a dead thief’s artifact. Luckily, her sister Ruby escapes the same fate, making it to the telegram office to contact the Ziegler Security Service!

At this point, the team is an oiled machine. Trudy Truman reaches out to French authorities, Tácito Uriel Velasco and Ivan “Ivo” Kochev take things from the criminal side.

Soon, the group is in the head honcho’s illegal casino in the old city. The group makes it to the big boss, and attempts to purchase Pearl… until the big banana starts insulting Devika.

That’s when she looks him in the eyes, and his brain starts ringing with the temple bells of Neben! His 7-foot-tall bodyguard grabs the young mystic, and even the Jade Jaguar seems unable to leave a bruise on the bruiser…

Until they decide to switch partners! Tacito jumps off a card table and kicks the boss man straight into surrender. Devi defeats her would-be captor by catching his eyes in a brass railing, sending him into a heavy swoon.

While Trudy gets the story and Tácito protects the man from the restless spirits of the dead, Ivo and Devika expertly burgle the casino. After all, who’s going to report stolen money?

 

[Golden Bee]

Double Diamond
“No English, no English,” lied Zelda, rushing from the kitchen and hoping to hide in the party…

New readers may ask: Who are you people?! Or Where did this start?

George Metaxas’s Gilded Lantern was the hottest supper club in New Orleans. But hotter than that were the bullets a gunman tried to put into JP Diamond. Zelda Saeki (there on the case of some samurai armor) stopped the fellow with a salt shaker to the skull, saving Diamond’s date night with his wife (Captain Semya Ivanova). Once the Russian interrogated the gunner, she discovered something interesting: the man was hired to hire JP Diamond, but the physical description was completely wrong! And a little legwork revealed that someone else had been trying to get reservations at the Lantern… someone named JP Diamond.

After a few sidetracks (like finding out which PO Box the mob was using for anonymity, and “suggesting” retirement on the crooked clerk who ran it,

“it’s your break. I wonder what I’ll break.”

…the trio found themselves at the ramshackle home of the fake JP. Turns out it was a man named Alexander, who had been using Diamond‘s nombre for cachet around town. After an apology, he hired JP to protect a family heirloom… One that was sought after by underworld hood George Metaxas. Ever heard of him?
***
Zelda, on guard duty outside, points out some thugs coming by. Ivanova goes out the back door and sneaks up behind the men, introducing herself (accurately) as a captain of the Red Army. Hearing this, they decide that Alex probably isn’t even home!

After the group secures Alex’s artifact, a fist-sized ruby called the Heart of Dimitrios, he suggests they find Metaxas at a Historical Society fundraiser. The captain puts on her other nice dress, and the group heads over to play nice with high society.

Things are going fine, until Zelda sneaks off on her own, heading to the kitchen and hearing two thugs discussing a recent kidnapping at a bowling alley. When they see her, she pretends to not speak English, and sprints back into the soirée.

Meanwhile, Metaxas is playing nice with the mayor. When Josiah and Semya start asking too-thoughtful questions, he offers ten times what Alex is paying…

Trying to bribe a devout Communist is a bad move. Most ZSS members would at least pretend to take the payment, but instead, Semya starts telling a story about the indignity she saw in the Central Park homeless encampment. Every time Georgie tries to change the subject, her lecture gets more personal. His thugs try to drag him to another room, but JP pulls the dessert cart into their path. By the time the Captain is through, Metaxas is screaming and ranting, his face hotter than a gilded lantern. JP tricks him into divulging the name of the bowling alley, before the hero trio makes a graceful social exit. Off to the rescue!

The group reluctantly allows Zelda to drive, and one white-knuckle trip later, they sneak into the lanes and rescue…Ivo? Turns out the sneak thief was after rare coins, as always, and gets hired by Alex to reunite his gem with its setting, currently held by Metaxas. The owner of the Gilded Lantern also owns Odysseus Shipping, a criminal hotspot. Zelda finds the armor there, and after changing some details on an order form, mails it back to Japan.

The group decides to have supper at the Gilded Lantern, because it might not be around much longer. The owner might be crooked, but where else can you get good souvlaki in New Orleans?

 

[aramis erak]

Sunday L5R
TWO air kansen... unbound, dispersed.

Last session, they had unleashed a Kansen
They thought they were going to deal with one manifest air kansen... but it was two.
They thought the building it retreated into was just defiled terrain, but it was also imbalanced severely.

They eventually gave up on killing them... and had shosuro entrance them with song while Kakita, Togashi, and the gokenin did the hardest Cleansing Rite they could... and this unbound them - the amount of stress and damage caused one to discoporate involuntarily, while the other left voluntarily....

 

[John Dallman]

GURPS 4e, King Alfred's England:

Dilemma: serve King, help children?

August 875 CE, in a fairly historical setting. At the end of the last session, we'd found a burned village with a lot of corpses. It's on the border between the kingdoms of East Anglia and Mercia, but all of East Anglia and eastern Mercia have been conquered by the Danes. The most likely culprits would be Danes, but there are other possibilities. We're on a mission for King Alfred, to find out where the Danish army ("Great Heathen Army") is and if it's going to attack Wessex this year. We're travelling from London to York to see if we can get word of it. We have not got very far yet, and this mission is important.

We can't fight a party of Danes big enough to have done this, and none of us are trackers. We could enumerate the dead and the damage: 15 men and one woman killed with axes; 10 old people with their throats cut, four dead children. The village buildings have all burned, as have parts of the stockade. The fields are not burned, although various small huts in them are. This implies that the Danes took the women and children as captives; the women is normal for them, but not the children.

We continued on our journey, and the next habitation we found was an isolated sheep farm, where the farmer knew what had happened. There's a local Danish leader, Kakkr, who has a warband of about 25 men, based 8 miles north of this farm. They've taken occasional sheep from the farm, which the farmer has accepted in the hope that they'll see that leaving him to raise more sheep is better for them than killing him and his family. About a week ago, Kakkr and his band went south, then came back with a bunch of women prisoners and a few children.

At this point, it became likely that there were unaccounted-for children. Hilda, the servant we bought from the Danes in London (and freed as soon as we were clear of the place) has told us that it's common for parents to send children into the woods when a raid happens, and the village was on the edge of woodlands (much of England is forest at this date). The mission vs children in immediate danger wasn't a huge dilema; we went back.

Since our warriors would likely scare the children if they went on the search, they set up camp while Hilda and William (our not-a-monk doctor, and general intellectual) went looking for the children. The warriors were worried about them going off on their own, but it seemed unavoidable. The children were found, seven of them, ages 3 to 11, with a crude camp, but not much food. We supplied food, told them what had happened, and stayed with them overnight.

Next morning, we introduced the children to the warriors, and took them to the village to the south. They were willing to take them in, and we headed north again, getting back to the sheep farm having only lost a day.

 

[Golden Bee]

…And The Beast Goes On!

You’ll never guess the methods of their fiendish foes!

June is a gorgeous time in France, and while others enjoyed their vacation, Devi was busy modeling for designer Bea Bingen. But life can’t be all catwalks when you have an international security firm; soon the call soon came in from old pal, Eugénie Brazier. The head of La Mère Brazier demanded Miss Velyapur assemble a team and get to Lyon immediately!

At the bar, JP Diamond and former Prime Minister and current mayor Édouard Herriot scanned the newspaper. Apparently Professor Paradox had repeated his odd skylights and integration routine at the University of California at Berkeley.
But there were more pressing issues, like dinner.
Turns out American werewolf in Lyon, Clara Parsons, had gone missing after visiting her boyfriend in Sainte-Enimie. The group was ready to ask more questions, when they heard yelling from the hallway:

“Open up the kitchen, in the name of the League of Nations!”

Turns out Maja Malgorzo and her sidekick Drew Bloom were after team member Ivo Kochev! He vanished out the back door, with the help of Devi, while a confused Detective JP Diamond held the other door closed. Kochev circled the building, and expertly removed the boot from the group’s Bentley 8 Litre GK 706, heading up to the rendezvous point.

Devi, though, was curious. She invited Maja to a corner table and found out why her employee was so wanted.

Turns out Ivo had sold Great War weaponry to Macedonian separatists, aka terrorists, and when the deal turned out to be a sting, his fellow smugglers decided to shoot their way out. Devi, a major fan of larceny but not of people getting hurt, agreed to get Ivo to Geneva… Eventually. Once she talked to her lawyer.

After some delicious seafood soup, the ZSS trio investigated Clara’s apartment and found both love letters and Deist literature, both coming from the Sainte-Enimie Valley. The group stopped by the train station, picking up a frazzled "Cousin" Clara Tate, who with very limited English literacy and no ability to speak French, had missed her connecting train.
***
The valley’s gorgeous. At a bar in a literal castle, Diamond and Velyapur make the acquaintance of French monster hunter Célestine Belmont and her dog Guillaume. The dog, a Doberman, has glowing gold eyes that can detect magic. After some cognac, the hunter explains that she’s in town to deal with a werewolf… And doesn’t expect the ZSS to be able to stop her.

At this point, it’s only two days until the full moon…

The next morning, the group finds Parson’s boyfriend… strewn about an area of five m². Some investigating reveals that there have been multiple kidnappings over the last few weeks; young people missing at random, with their families clueless.

The group follows up on the Deist author; he’s been dead five years and is survived by a daughter. An investigation at the farm of the dead boyfriend reveals that the couple was well liked… except by a local veterinarian, who Cousin Tate finds suspicious. While returning to the castle, the group runs into a six-year-old, who talks about seeing laughing wolves and a pale man with a fixed expression. Huh.

Turns out the veterinarian is married to the daughter of the author, so two visits become one. The vet is extremely cagey, not trusting Devi enough to even let her use the bathroom. She responds with the Whammy, and JP slips into the house. As one of the best sleuths in the world, he discovers that the odd-couple used to run a circus, one with hyenas and pale makeup.

Clara and Ivo check out the yard, but aren’t paying enough attention to the tall grass… so Clara is pounced by a hyena!

Things look grim, until Célestine arrives with Guillaume! JP and Devi help turn the tide against the pack, but the daughter flees in a van! Ivo tries to give chase, but gets the car caught on a turnaround. Devi grabs the wheel, buckles her safety harness, and manages the best PIT maneuver in history. Her bumper gets a tiny scratch; the opposing vehicle flips three times. The escaping villain stutters out a few mad syllables about the nearby flooded mine, before expiring.
[This was maybe the best success ratio of our three-year campaign. Devi got to a 10, two higher than epic. The driver defending got a -1.]

Interrogating the veterinarian revealed that he and his wife had been kidnapping people and sacrificing them in a cult. Devi, who very rarely kills, was relieved.

Ivo looked thoughtful. “You gave a love tap to a fleeing convict, who drove so poorly as to total her car. I think the French people will give you a pass.”

Still, there was a mineful of hostages to save!

The group swam past the flooded entrance, surprised to see a freshwater shark! But since the creature didn’t want to fight four people and didn’t prefer the taste of humans, it eventually backed off.

The next problem was tougher: a cage full of hostages, one of whom was rapidly turning into a werewolf! And not only that, a Belmont eager to blow her head off with silver bullets!

Ivo, using his prevarication for good, claimed that the chemicals JP had stolen from the vet were actually a powerful lycanthropy cure. Belmont believed the smuggler.

Unluckily, the kidnappers were part of a cult, and the most dangerous creature was still to come. One of the hostages was facing the Test of the Beast of God: being trapped in a concrete pit with a furious 800 pound hippopotamus! The group, already wounded by the hyenas, mounted a desperate rescue, with Devi lowering a length of cable down into the pit and helping the girl escape moments before certain doom!

Back topside, Devi was confronted by Belmont. One sizeable donation to the French monster-fighting force later, she agreed to leave Parsons alone. Everything was fine, until Guillaume looked at Cousin Tate, his eyes glowing as he noticed her survival instinct HER…

 

[corwyn77]

Deadlands

Cheating a little, as this was the last two sessions but included the finale of the campaign.

Winding River, an Indian Brave, gets killed by a Black Magician bounty hunter and then gets knocked off the train they are fighting on. Remarkably, he returns to life( he has become a Harrowed, where an evil spirit possesses the body of a freshly killed notable individual).

A couple of days later, the posse confronts the big bad, the most powerful NPC in the setting, Stone, also a Harrowed. They've dealt with his minions and River has dynamite that he's been carrying for ages and he wants to use it. He runs up to Stone, holds the bundle up, and calls for the group's Huckster (mage) to "light him up" which he hopes will ignite the bundle. It does so and he throws it and hits Stone.

There's good news and bad news; nope, bad news and worst news. See, Stone can only be wounded by bullets that originally killed him or weapons that he has used. Other party members have weapons that apply. So though the dynamite does tremendous damage, it just staggers him. Worst news: he forgot he had a second bundle which is now on fire. It ignites, blowing up and vaporizing River's body.

the next round, one of the party's gunslingers shoots Stone dead in one shot.

 

[Golden Bee]

Red Sky at Noon (based on the Innsmouth Conspiracy by MJ Neumann)
When the truth hurts, amnesia is anaesthetic.

Your eyes flutter open with the languor of one who has slept for days on end. Your senses are in no hurry to return; every inch of you aches with dull pain. You have no idea where you are or how you got here... You lie on a jagged stone floor in a shallow pool of dark, icy water...

JP Diamond, Gia CM, Penny An'Te and Ivo Kochev are in darkness, with one flashlight and one gun for the four of them. With no recent memories, all they see is a sea cave, soon to reach high tide, and an oubliette above them. They venture forth, towards a pale, crimson light, their attempts at stealth foiled by their need to ask what the others remember.

Gia remembers. Unfortunately, that memory is triggered by the face of Corporal Ebenezer White, one of many floating in a horrific eldritch amalgam!

She flashes back to his execution, hours ago, days?, in a cell in a cellar. As he spat in the face of an unseen, croaking-voiced captor, he slid her a car key. She reaches, back in the present now, where the amalgam is trying to kill the party and nearly doing it.

Penny takes out her purse pistol and fires off a crack shot, barely cutting the beast's raw hide. JP takes a moment to protect the catatonic Gia, while Ivo throws seawater into the creature's many eyes.

Gia, a quick judge of character, speculates that the creature is in pain and filled with many minds. If JP can scare some of them, it'll retreat in the confusion. The war veteran breaks off a stalagmite and charges, and the whole group starts yelling, sending it into retreat.

The tide is up to their knees by the time the group finds an exit. With both stagecraft and raw might, the group smashes a storm grate and escapes... To a hideous sight.

There, above the stony beach of Manuxet, is a syzygy.

The Moon, Earth and Sun are aligned, giving a violent red sheen to the entire sky.

Caressing the car key, Gia vaguely remembers a 1926 Packard, parked at the railroad station.... On the other side of town. JP and the group stumble up to the city's harbor, and climbing a rotting tall ship, see two routes: a fast, crowded one and a long, ostensibly safer one. Penny notes that the river is overflowing the town, so if they're taking the safe route, stealth won't be an option; they'll need a boat.

Ivo, expert smuggler, finds a rowboat and begins a journey down Water Street. Disgusting half-human fish hybrids crowd a square...Penny leans her gun over her forearm and aims at a far-away bell tower. She launches a trio of shots, the first two ringing the bell and the third one causing the tower to collapse backwards.
***
As a former lifeguard, the group would have drowned without her. Not only does she dive into a basement bookstore and recover a heavy stone tome, she manages to deactivate a whirlpool on Main Street by swimming through the disgusting muck and re-placing the manhole covers.

At the end, it's an all-out sprint from the villagers, fishmen and the amalgam, one the quartet barely survives as they reach the Packard and roar down the muddy roads back to Boston.
***

Back in Our Fair City, the group switches their license plate, gets new clothes, and invites themselves to dinner at Aaron Wilkes Senior’s. Having protected his fortune (and gotten his unfaithful wife arrested), he's happy to host them and is shocked to tell them that their mission must have taken them at least a week. JP is frazzled; he's one day away from an important meeting to divide up the New Orleans underworld. Ivo and the butler take the tablets into a side room and translate them. Apparently the town of Manuxet worships a horrific sea god known as Yoltus.

And not only that, the cult plans to conquer territories that, based on longitude and latitude, are currently Boston and New Orleans!

Gia, social butterfly, calls the Century Club… and despite the large number of crank calls they get, they agree to send forces to Boston, on the strength of Ivo's translation. Col. Reginald Dashington has some background: As a scholar of naval history, there are unsubstantiated reports that the Merrimack battled such a creature during the Civil War. Penny guesses this is why the cult made sure to kill the Navy spy first. JP suggests that they'll need bigger weapons.

Over in New Orleans, Diamond has too much to do. After a dark, heavy slumber, he wakes up late and has only an hour to prepare for the kingpin sitdown. (Just his luck, it's held at the House of the Rising Sun. Last time he was there (in Beignet, Done That) he was hit by a dart and turned into a voodoo zombie.)

Gia, "affiliated" with the Mickey Cohen outfit, demands to attend the meet, leaving gambler Penny and wanted smuggler Ivan to convince the police to prepare for an aquatic invasion.
***
There are three gangs ready to split up the Crescent City: The O'Rourkes, Ireland's greatest importer/exporters, and the group that's worked most sympathetically with the ZSS; The Italian mob, led by Joey “Five Angels” Pentangelo (who hate the O'Rourkes for killing Bugsy Siegel with a spear in downtown LA); and the mysterious third group, late. The dons are getting antsy when one of the waitresses reveals herself to be... The Ubiquitous Dragon!

Pentangelo, who refused to give up his weapons, puts a spiked baseball bat on the table and starts negotiations.

”What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine. Save yourself some time and acquiesce.”

Things deteriorate from there. Gia finds Joey repulsive but knows who runs Atlantic City; Owen O'Rourke just sits back and tries not to offend.
***
Elsewhere, Ivo wheels and deals to get army surplus weaponry to the docks. Knowing that JP works closely with police sergeant Bart Kroeger, they set up an appointment... Only to find him looking over photos of Penny gambling all over Louisiana.
***
JP refuses to get bossed around. First, he relies on his investigative skills to explain the local rackets and notes that a one-outfit takeover would never work with the unions; then, he snaps Joey's bat in half and says if he takes the docks, it's all he'll get. Joey respects JP’s testicular fortitude. Gia adds that this meeting should be an ongoing conversation, which satisfies nervous Owen and the standoffish Chinese boss.
***
Ivo, master liar, blows tremendous amounts of smoke until Bart's convinced that there is an impending Nazi invasion via U-boat. (It's not impossible: Last Christmas, Nazis flew a zeppelin into the heart of NYC and threatened it with the Z-bomb!) After they leave, Penny comes up with an easier lie; she's a detective and she was infiltrating the gambling rings. "Meh", replies Ivo.
***
Diamond's plan is to have Joey examine the docks and get killed by the creatures. Unfortunately, after reuniting with Penny and Ivo, he goes to apologize to Sergeant Bart... And get seen by Joey talking to the cops. Joey bails.

There's not much time to dwell on this unforced error, because the tide is bringing in hundreds of scaly nightmare creatures, hungry for flesh. The cops grab the weapons and start firing.

Ivo reveals his greatest triumph: a miniature version of the Canon de 105 modèle 1930 Schneider. With a muzzle speed of nearly 2,000mph, it was--
His bragging is interrupted by a 9-ft tall crab man. He flees, jumping into his car and honking to keep its attention away from the group.

Gia and Diamond struggle to unload the artillery, but finally get it properly mounted seconds before the water begins to recede. YOLTUS emerges from the waves, and keeps emerging; it looks like the monster could pat the top of the Chrysler Building. The veteran and the magician load up the gun, and as the ancient monster begins to breathe electricity, Penny shoots a shell right through its left eyeball! As the horror tried to redirect its breath, another 35 lb shell splits the back of its throat! As the Godless God stumbles backwards, the creatures' morale breaks. The humans keep firing; when all the ammo’s gone, Gia invites the group to dinner.

"Although personally, I'm going to stick to turf."

 

[Thierry-Advent]

T'chaakha's Story. Fantasy AGE 2e. Solo Session #1​

​

Draak kin, Fantasy AGE 2e, page 14​

THE HERO
T'chaakha is a level 1 Draak warrior, with a soldier background. He is of modest origin, wears heavy leather and holds a military fork. He also sports a throwing axe on his belt. Talents: Armor training, throwing weapon style, pole arms style. Specialization: Guardian. Skills: Axes, Brawling, Pole arms, Self-Discipline, Stamina. Draak Features: Dark vision 20 yards, +1 Constitution, Armor training +2. Weapons groups: brawling, axes, poles, bows and spears.

T'chaakha is the leader of a small three member Draak unit of scouts that patrol the underground tunnels surrounding Vornesh, the Draak underground settlement. NPCs: Grovnoch and Nheria are the two Soldiers (Allies page 205) who scout with T'chaakha. It takes 6 days to complete the scout patrol circuit. They have enough food and are equipped for the trek.

DAY 1​

Morning: (Event? 1d6 = 4) No event. The scout rarely encounter foes near Vornesh.

Afternoon: (Event? 1d6 = 1) Event (1d6: 1-2 negative, 3-4 neutral, 5-6 positive. Roll 2). Perception Check: 14+0. With his dark vision T'Chaakha detects two giant lizards charging. Initiative! Draak 16+2, Grovnoch and Nheria 10+2, Lizards 6+0.

Combat Round 1: The lizard are almost on the Draaks. T'Chaakha throws his hand axe (3d6: 12+5) and it cuts the hide of the left-most lizard, inflicting (1d6+3) 7 damage -2 due to the lizards thick hide (Lizard health 26-5 = 21).

Next, Grovnoch throws his spear and it narrowly hits, inflicting (1d6+3) 9 damage -2 AR = 7 (lizard health 21-7 = 14). Nheria throws her spear at the same lizard but it goes wide.

The injured lizard attacks (1d6) T'chaakha but it misjudges the distance and its jaws bite air. The second lizard also attack (1d6) T'chaakha! It hits (5 stunt points) inflicting 1d6+3, plus (lethal blow stunt) 2d6 extra damage for a total of 16 damage, reduced by the heavy leather of the warrior (-4 and Draak armor training -2) = 10. 37-10 =27. T'chaakha winces in pain.

Combat Round 2: T'chaakha plunges his military fork (5 stunt points) deep into the injured lizard, inflicting 2d6+4 plus 2d6 Lethal blow damage = 17 damage - 2 AR = 15. The lizard dies.

Grovnoch swings his longsword but misses. Nheria slices the second lizard with her longsword, inflicting (2d6+2) 11+2 - 2AR = 11 damage. (Lizard health 26-11 = 15).

Enraged the lizard attacks (1d6) Nheria! It bites her right leg (5 stunt points) inflicting 1d6+3, plus (lethal blow stunt) 2d6 extra damage for a total of 14 damage - 5 = 9 damage. Nheria health 32 - 9 =23. She yells at the top of her lungs: KILL IT!

Combat Round 3: T'chaakha pivots and strike the second lizard (4 stunt points. Mighty Blow +1d6, Crushing Blow armor efficacy reduced by 2) with is military fork. 2d6+4 damage = 11+4 - 0 AR = 15 damage. (Lizard health 15-15 = 0). The creature dies! Combat Ends.

Breather: The scouts take a five minute rest and recover 5 + Constitution + 1 level. T'chaakha + 9 health (27+9 = 36 on a maxim of 37), Nheria + 8 health (23+8=31 on a maximum of 32). Everything is back to normal.

As the three scouts recover their range weapons they discuss briefly:

T'chaakha: Something is up, I've never seen lizards so close to Vornesh.

Grovnoch: Could be. We should take the hind legs of the lizards. They are excellent roasted over a fire.

Nheria: I agree, on both counts.

T'chaakha: Good idea Grovnoch. Best save our dry rations. Maximum alertness from now on. Stay focused.

The trio of Draaks, weapons ready, resume their scouting trek in the lightless underground tunnels. The first scout camp is only (1d6) an hour away.

Reward: Easy, 100 experience points.

Session #1 END