Not a Decepticon
Hero
My lat sessoon was blades in the dark and I found out this system is not good for running a "boss fight", even by using clock for villain (demon gangster) to not die in one shot, he still went down like a chump.
Describe your last RPG session in more than 5 words.
- Thread starter jdrakeh
- Start date
Golden Bee
The cool guy of online
Rafe’s Revenge 2: Sands of Time!
Bullets ripped through the library, coming in and going out. “Sssssh!” demanded Devika.(Please note that this is a long adventure, but I’m running off our GM’s actual notes! So you’ll be able to see below just how much action, detail and drama fits into a normal session.)
Late September, 1935.
Lillian may be safe, but for Rafe Lancaster, there is still a score to settle. Her kidnapper Krystal Wolf has yet to be found, and a contingent of the SS departed Germany with the aircraft of the future, Grendel’s Mother and its power source, the mysterious Agarthan Sphere in tow. Thanks to Ms. Lamb’s intel, they knew they were heading for the city of Cairo. The ZSS may finally have caught a break, facing their foe on familiar ground…though local allegiances shift just as much as the sands.
Rafe’s connections have placed him in the orbit of two prominent scholars, a charming Egyptian expert in history and metallurgy named Zumurrud Hamza and a handsome professor visiting from America named Dr. Henry Jones. Both have agreed to meet our heroes today at the El Fishawy cafe, located in the world famous Khan el Khalili bazaar. Both have also warned of a sharp uptick in Nazi wealth being thrown around the city these last few weeks. Likely the doing of a certain SS Brigadeführer named Lutz Stroman and his cronies. Though the man himself has yet to make a public debut, his influence alone has given pause to conducting any further correspondence - their contacts would rather meet in person to discuss matters any further…
This week, the group is full and rich. Devi is India’s richest girl. Kabir Rupert and Ivo Kochev are no slouches either. Only detective Zelda Saeki doesn’t have a full wallet for the Souk.
The group is in their finest white linen to meet their contact, Dr. Jones. A waiter with a crisp white waist apron shows the group to their table, where a party of three awaits their arrival.
First: a striking woman of Middle-Eastern bearing named Zumurrud Hamza. She’s a graduate of The Egyptian University’s department of history with a second Bachelor of Science within the field of metallurgy.
She introduces a lanky local young man of 15 years by the name of Asif al-Mahmoud, who is the faithful assistant to a figure reading an English-language newspaper. He lowers it, revealing a man in his late 50’s…Dr. Henry Jones (Senior!), professor of history at Princeton University. Devi is disappointed, having met Indiana Jones at Marshall College and being a fan. Dr. Jones Senior mollifies her by giving her the comic page. Ivo, on the other hand, is delighted.
After introductions, Dr. Jones gets down to business:
Rafe’s information seems to be true - there has been chatter amongst the city of Nazis throwing around a lot of cash, probably trying to buy influence. They are after something, and Jones thinks he knows what.
Zumurrud says it is a pristine late 13th-century longsword forged in Damascus steel, bearing the insignia of the Teutonic Order. Its provenance is likely that of a war trophy, brought back to Egypt from the former Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem after the conquest of Acre by the Mamluk Sultanate in 1291.
The sword is a featured lot at an auction today sponsored by Sotheby's of London. The auction is about 10 minutes away by motorcar at the ballroom of Shepheard's Hotel, one of the finest establishments not only in Cairo, but in all the world. (It’s Devi and Rafe’s favorite place!)
Dr. Jones explains that a blade matching its description is said to reveal the location of “The Mastaba of Blood”, the supposed burial place of Gundahar Der Unsterbliche, or “Gundahar The Immortal” and his 8 Retainers, collectively known as “Orden der Aufklärung”, or “Order of Enlightenment”. It is said that he still lives within, waiting to be released to resume his march of carnage! What the Nazis would want with him remains unknown, but nothing good would be a safe bet!
What’s known for certain is that Gundahar and his retainers fought at the siege of Acre in 1291 against the Mamluk Sultanate.
After the city fell, hard facts grow scarce, but it is said that he and his men survived and vowed revenge on the Sultan. For two years they cut a bloody swath through Muslim territories, razing towns and villages, sparing not women nor babes. Hunters and heavy horsemen were sent to dispatch them, but none ever returned. Rumors spread that Gundahar and his men were either blessed or cursed by God and thus could not be killed, hence his moniker.
The auction starts in an hour, so leaving after drinks would be prudent. However, after the first turn down the road, they are stopped a few cars back in gridlock traffic! It seems that a policeman has closed off the road, saying that a “burst water main" is reported, and that work crews have had to close the road for the next hour or so.
Devi tells Rafe to pull a reverse J-Turn, tugging a barricade over with her purse. He does, although someone else tries the same trick and takes off one of the Dusenberg’s mirrors! The fellow gets out of the car, but Kabir shouts the man down in Arabic, allowing the group to escape…
About three blocks, when they hit another roadblock. Zelda turns on the charm, and the policeman, who had never seen anyone Japanese before, is enamored and flirts with her! She awkwardly accepts a dinner invitation. The group takes back roads the rest of the way to the hotel. There, they tip a valet to deal with their hangar manager and have the mirror replaced. (If only there was a more convenient place to put mirrors then on the wheel wells of cars!)
The opulence of the hotel is breathtaking. Not only is it much cooler than the surrounding city, it features stained glass, Persian carpets, gardens, terraces, and great granite pillars resembling those of the Ancient Egyptian temples.
In the main ballroom, hundreds of lots of art and antiquities pass through the stage. The auctioneer, an Egyptian man in a crisp suit, calls out opening prices and accepts bids in flawless British English. The wealthy among the party procure paddles, and Devi has the doctor put in some bids for her on Renaissance jewelry.
(Meanwhile, Rafe calls Lancaster Industries’s Africa man, throwing up chaff to curtail Nazi surveillance. Zelda discovers that the water main story was a Nazi trap. Devi and Ivo bypass the auction security to get to lot 100, assessing the sword, and finding it to be a preserved artifact! The Hungarian is confused when she suggests that buying it would be easier than stealing it, but ultimately defers to her wishes. Not his money!)
The ballroom is busy. In addition to the ZSS, there are two other parties that seem very interested in the sword:
1. A blonde British woman in her late 30s called Mrs. Alice Walker and her valet. Her husband Charles collects antique arms. Fellow upper-class Briton Kabir makes some snide comments, discovering that the marriage is strained. His rudeness gets her flustered and eventually she dips out of the bidding.
2. A well-dressed merchant named Sadek El-Menyawy. There's no time to get the dirt on him, so Zelda and Devi play to the crowd. The rest of the room implies that Sadek has won enough, allowing Rafe to win without breaking the bank.
After the auction, Devi offers to potentially sell the sword back to Mrs. Walker. Alice is rude, which makes India’s richest girl lose her cool.
Now that they have the sword, Dr. Jones has an idea. The group heads over the western bank of the Nile to the Egyptian University. (Yes, that’s what they call it!)
The university is the closest place in the city with both a research library and… a glass blowing workshop?
Asif starts a fire for Zumurrud, who plunges the blade into the glory hole (yes, that’s what they call it!) of a 2000°F glass-blowing furnace. Her father collected 5 Teutonic swords, and Zumurrud had three, none of which proved to have anything special when tested in the furnace. But Ivo Kochev has a truly great mind for antiques: this one was the real deal!
Soon, a thin layer of silver that was otherwise imperceptible begins to glow and melts off the blade and into a collection pail beneath. The blade is pulled out and doused. Once cool, it reveals two lines of text written in German, which appears to be a riddle or a poem. There are also a series of Arabic numbers above and below the text.
Dr. Jones stammers that they’ve found it, the lost sword of The Order of Enlightenment! He then races upstairs towards the library and bids the party and Zumurrud to follow. Asif says that he will fetch the party some lunch, since they’ve been running around all day.
Zumurrud explains that Al-Ashraf Khalil, the Mamluk sultan who conquered Acre, was killed by assassins in northern Egypt during a bird-hunting expedition in December of 1293. They believe it was Gundahar and his retainers who did the deed, while to save face, the Sultanate blamed several emirs and had them executed as a cover story. Months later, in 1294, Gundahar and his retainers were captured and, thought unable to be killed, were buried alive with rats carrying black plague as to suffer for all eternity in this sepulcher known as the Mastaba of Blood. (Yes, that’s what they called it!)
Dr. Jones believes that the 8th retainer escaped capture, and recorded the location of the Mastaba of Blood onto the blade of his master, so that one day he and his followers can rise again and revenge themselves upon Cairo. The only reference to its existence were funds allocated by the Sultanate for the construction of a structure matching its description in 1293, before Gundahar’s capture, about 2800 years after the production of such monuments fell out of style in Egypt. However, it is believed that the government struck all other mentions of the structure, and no one has ever found a verifiable trace of the Mastaba of Blood. Except them, right now.
Dr. Jones theorizes that the knights could have been Crusaders who found and drank from the Holy Grail, but then turned to despair once the city of Acre fell, renouncing divinity in their quest for vengeance.
The poem reads:
The eggheads (Kabir, Ivo and Dr. Jones) put their heads together and crack the code. Rafe, meanwhile, leaves the room to examine a wall of donors. Amazing how far money went in Egypt compared to Marshall College…
The poem implies the Mastaba of Blood is on the eastern bank of the Nile river (a VERY odd place to build a burial monument, as it would sink!)
The numbers refer to the celestial readings from an astrolabe that would be seen in or around 1294, giving a fairly accurate location of where it should be, halfway between Cairo and Luxor (Thebes). Dr. Jones calls Asif for a celebratory drink. Asif doesn’t answer, but a familiar voice does:
The voice of Brigadeführer Lutz Stroman echoes through the room, as he and a brigade of 30 stormtroopers burst through the doors, machine guns drawn. One of them yells “Licht!” and several turn on flashlights aimed at Devi, preventing her mesmeric stare. With Stroman is “Mrs. Alice Walker” from the auction, who is revealed to be Standartenführer Trude Dollar. In addition to her Luger P08, she also holds a long-hafted chrome hammer inlaid with gems and etched with runes.
The Nazis demand they hand over the sword and the good doctor’s notebook, and their lives shall be spared. When asked, Stroman replies that it is necessary for the success of “Projekt Dämmerung” aka “Project Dawn”, which could position Germany as first among nations without need for any future conflict.
Rafe, having been completely ignored by the Nazis, pulls the circuit breaker.
A bunch of things happen in the next 10 seconds:
- Lutz Stroman shoots Zumurrud in the head.
- His muzzle flash gives his position away, and he’s shot from a sniper across the street.
- Zelda takes out her pistol, shooting out a succession of Nazi flashlights.
- Ivo grabs the sword and uses it to bash open a window.
Kabir begins Judo tossing übermenschen into bookcases. Devi guides Rafe, and then Dr. Jones, through the chaos. Everyone else slides down a palm tree to the first story. They hear a lorry horn ah-ooogah-ing, it’s Asif! He even brought them dinner to go (koshary - the national dish of Egypt, a blend of Indian, Italian, and Middle Eastern flavors). The group heads back to base, swerving to splatter a Nazi private on the sidewalk.
A few minutes later, the party hears the roar of engines, and sees a silver craft rise above the minarets! Grendel's Mother then flies off following the Nile, heading south!
The group takes the secret entrance to their Cairo base. Up through a hidden rock formation, into the lap of luxury.
Devi, hard to ruffle, wants to show her mentor Rafe the building she's commissioned. He has no time for that, calling in favors to get the best boat in the city, loaded for travel and fueled up within 30 minutes. Without much in terms of society connections or investigating any skills, she’s relegated to packing travel outfits.
***
The party soon discovers that they are being followed by an equally fast boat, but it is only occasionally in view. Binoculars reveal that there is a lone occupant: a feminine silhouette. They slow down to signal in semaphore for parlay, but whoever it is doesn’t want to talk.
Ahead, drinking and singing, are harpoon-wielding river pirates! Ivo, expert smuggler, points out huge papyrus rushes, large enough to hide their vehicle. The pirates pass, bellyaching about their lost payday. But the river isn’t exactly safe… because when the boat stands still, it’s boarded by an 11-foot crocodile! It snapped its jaws, almost taking Kabir’s hand. He begins to shift to Shizentai, when the creature looks behind him…
Two strange purple lights. Rafe throws his lunch bag in the water, and the creature gently turns around and heads towards it. Dr. Jones offers a verbose “wow”. By the time Devi’s mesmerism is over, the group’s boat is 80 yards downriver.
The PCs soon arrive at the Nazis' makeshift camp. Grendel's Mother can be seen in moonlight. About 40 heavily-armed troops are stationed around the craft, with a pair of battery-run floodlights set up, illuminating the area. Trude Dollar is performing some kind of ritual. The Agarthan Sphere raised in one hand and her long hammer in the other, she chants and begins chiming the stony sphere with the ritual tool, causing brief but bright blue flashes to appear on its surface. She then throws it into the air and slams it with her hammer…but upon impact, the sphere remains frozen in the air, and apparently unharmed. A beat later, blue-white lightning surges from it and into the Earth below. A moment later, the Sphere falls back into her grasp and the ground rumbles! The Mastaba of Blood EMERGES from the silt-laden banks of the Nile! The exterior is constructed of limestone & granite unusually rich in hematite, giving it a dark reddish hue (hence the name).
She and a large contingent of the soldiers head into the tomb.
Ivo becomes the desert night.
[So, a little discussion on Fate. In general, people have their best skill at +4. Devi has a stunt that gives her +2 instead of plus one when she helps, and the way we play, only one person can offer aid at a time. Eight is considered the top of the scale, epic success… Until Ivo rolls to sneak and gets a perfect +4 on the dice, for a total of epic +2.]
The group clears the camp. A brief investigation reveals that Krystal Wolf is being tracked by the SS, but they have no idea where she is. Zelda, upset at being outgunned in the library, makes sure to grab a machine gun.
Devi leads the group into the risen temple. Around the first corner is a statue of a Zabaniyah, a guardian of Hell and tormenter of the dead, rendered in terrifying form with stone, metal, real animal bones, preserved fur and scaly hide. The statue was designed to mentally assault foreigners, warning them away from the dangers within.
The trained burglar also detects a fallaway floor. The burial chamber itself was down a steep shaft. Rafe takes a moment to create an additional, sturdier climbing rope. Still masters of stealth, the group sneak up on the Nazis, who have reached the final chamber.
A sarcophagus of hematite is inscribed with prayers written in Arabic. Nearby, there are eight metal cages that contain the shriveled corpses of seven men…but one of them is empty! The corpses are motionless, though strangely well preserved and intact. There are the skeletal remains of rats everywhere. Foul air hangs in the chamber, which seems damp, but there is currently no pooling water within it.
The sarcophagus is opened, and it is seemingly filled to the brim with the twisted skeletons of more rats. Nazi Trude begins to speak an incantation, but suddenly, a withered arm juts forth from the rat bones in the sarcophagus, interrupting her! Pulling himself upright is the desiccated form of Gundahar the Immortal! He has a huge mop of black hair and piercing green eyes. Trude declares that German scientists will study this prime Aryan.…er…German specimen, and soon all of Deutschland will know his secrets, and the nation shall reign forever as an un-killable empire!
Gundahar begins sniffing the air, and simply replies “Nein”. Trude scoffs, and repeats that this shall be his greatest honor in his life, serving the Fuehrer’s will.
Suddenly, an echoing pair of footfalls is heard in the hall, descending. Emerging from the darkness, holding a medieval blade in one hand and a long clattering bundle in the other, is a very much alive Zumurrud!
During all of this, Devi and Kabir are arguing in Hindi about what cool line he’s going to say when they ambush the Nazis.
The dialogue continues:
The 7 other retainers begin to stir as well, breaking free from their bonds with renewed vitality!
Kabir appears, declaring “this tomb will be a tomb for you all!”, an insult so bad it deflates the moment.
Oh well. It’s enough of a distraction for Devi to grab the mystic hammer and magic sphere!
Gundahar corners Dr. Jones and Asif, who clutch each other in fear. Dr. Jones begins reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Gundahar sniffs at them, nods, then tells his retainers. “Spare these ones, they may prove useful.” Jones tells the PCs to get the sphere & run! Don’t worry, he will keep the boy safe!
The group, especially Zelda, go wild on the SS goons, shooting a bloody swath to the exit. The ratzis, obsessed with the artifacts, concentrate their fire on Devika! The young goddess dodges multiple hails of bullets, flying back through the maze with the help of master scoundrel Ivo!
Above ground, there’s an argument about whether the group should re-sink the temple. Devi is unwilling (and secretly unable) to use that power that way, especially if Dr. Jones is in danger. Knowing that the Sphere is essential to powering their escape vehicle, she takes the moment to chide Rafe for taking it from her plane in the first place.
Kabir took Devi’s side, but reminded her that this wasn’t the time or place to have the argument. Zelda reminded the group that they should make sure to pack their boat, so the Cairo haters wouldn’t have an escape vehicle.
Having rescued their objectives but abandoned their friends, the return flight was short and awkward. Before bed, Kabir noted that they had one incomplete objective: this entire time, they hadn’t seen Krystal Wolf. He put a coded but rude ad into the local papers and everyone got some well-deserved sleep.
The next morning, the group used their contacts to get the British army to raze whatever remained of the SS camp. The Brits were happy to have someone to blame for the university attack and water issues.
The newspaper letter tells Krystal to meet the group at high tea at Shepheard’s Hotel. A messenger boy gives them a strange note: two stick figures for a cirle. They tell the boy to respond “same time tomorrow.”
Rafe immediately suspects that someone has kidnapped Lilian. Because of the time difference, he has to stay up very late to call New York and check on her when she’s done with her Broadway show. She compliments his gallantry and for the first time, calls him a hero!
Devi, seeking a midnight snack, finds him downstairs. Seeing the phone and his expression, she deduces who he was calling, and the two make up.
The next day, Zelda seeks out more spies, and the group heads to the hotel.
But the person who shows up isn’t Krystal… It’s the immortal duo and one of their knights! Apparently being killed by the British didn’t take, and they were able to hitch a ride upriver. They want to trade the professor and his assistant for the sphere, so they can destroy the Sultan’s city.
The group employs a variety of debate strategies. Kabir tries some verbal cross-examination, but his witticism does nothing against the centuries-old Teuton. Devi focuses on the unnamed knight, asking “Which power now rules this world?” and forcing him to point towards her. Having displayed her power, she reminds the group that she already had the opportunity to embody Kali and bring about Krita Yuga. Destroying a city, in her mind, was vain and pointless, and she wouldn’t allow it.
Ivo played good cop, playing up the girl’s greed and instability.
Oddly enough, it was Rafe who made the moral argument! The reforming villain talked about the innocence of all the people, the amount of Christians in the city… he talked about how much research the group had had to do to even find out about the Knights. Everyone in the city was innocent and ignorant, and the Teutons were no longer bound to a creed outworn.
The group reconsidered their destructive plans, freeing Jones and Asif. After hundreds of years beneath the river, it was time for the Teutonic Knights to explore the world.
Epilogue:
Back at ZSS headquarters, Dr. Jones is pouring some celebratory drinks! He takes his “Chinese-style” chicken dumplings out of the oven. He turns to hand a plate to Asif, but the lad has yet to come down from his bath. Dr. Jones asks Rafe to go and retrieve the boy before he turns into a prune! Lancaster bristles, but the current errand boy is bathing…
Rafe knocks, and Asif replies that he is decent and may enter. Rafe sees “Asif” is dressed in a black tactical outfit, with a womanly figure. Half of “his” face is missing, revealed to be just a mask; a spill of shoulder length black hair cascading out on one side. This is Krystal Wolf, and she’s got a Luger. The group spent days looking for Krystal…when she was with them the entire time!
The spy speaks.
She says that her mission was to kill Stroman and capture or destroy the Agarthan Sphere. If she kills Rafe, her family gets clean food for a month. If she kills them all, they get to see the sun for the rest of their lives…but remain in a cage. Project Gemstone is now under the control of the SS, which she despises. She wants to make a deal.
She knows what the party accomplished at The Tumbler, and what they did for Pavel (AKA Agent Ruby). If the ZSS agrees to help her free her family, they will never see her again. There’s just one catch - they aren’t being held in Germany…they are being held underneath it…within The Hollow Earth!
Lancaster agrees and hurries to a phone. Screw the key, now that he has the boy’s address, he’s sending his security team to bust down the door!
