Project Daedalus- d20 Modern

[DanMcS]

Isaac and Bronagh found themselves in the front office of whatever business this had been. Secretary's desk, dark hallway, lots of doors for rabid stinking orcs to hide behind and gnaw on our throats. Check, check, and check. Isaac started busting open doors and jumping in, waving his gun around, looking for bad guys to shoot.

"Clear!" "Clear!" "Clear!"

Bronagh smacked him. "Isaac, I'm like four feet behind you, so stop yelling 'CLEAR!'"

Mason chimed in. "Seriously, man, we're on the radio, we can hear you."

"Right, sorry."

***

Mason and Wolfgang rolled under the truck door into the side loading dock of the warehouse. They let their eyes adjust to the light and crept forward, keeping low and behind cover. "Those orcs keep it so dark, we need night vision."

A bunch of boxes and barrels were stacked haphazardly all over, either left over from when this was a business, or looted by Bubba's gang.

"Hsst. Did you hear that Mason?"

"Yeah, something in the dark over there. Radio it in."

***

Bronagh and Isaac checked out the last of the side doors on the hallway. It hadn't opened into the warehouse floor yet, so the door at the end must be it. The radio crackled, "Hey, guys, we've got some noise in the warehouse here, get out here."

The last door in the hallway opened into a little room, with doors east and west and a staircase on the north side, going up to the second floor. Mason and Wolfgang came in from the west. "Hey, I'm opening up a door, don't shoot." Isaac opened the west door and looked out, he saw Mason and Wolf hunched behind barrels, looking into the dark. Mason pointed vaguely into the dark, "They're out there somewhere, we can't spot them."

Isaac quietly closed the west door and went across the room to the east door. He should be able to creep out this door and look around the corner, and be behind the orcs. It seemed like a heck of a plan.

He opened the door and stepped outside. Low to the ground, he looked out to the left, hunting for the orcs.

BLAM. BLAM. BLAM! The orcs, actually off to the right, opened up on Isaac, hitting him twice. He staggered back and threw himself through the door, Bronagh slammed it shut. "Well, we found them."

In a quick flanking maneuver, Wolfgang cut north around the stairs and started plonking at the orcs from behind some crates. One of them rushed the door Isaac had run through, to find Mason waiting for him with a shotgun. Bronagh and Mason came out through that door as Isaac, wounded, went to cover Wolfgang's back.

We took out all the orcs on the first floor, but a couple came pounding down from upstairs, surprising Bronagh in the stairwell. The stairs were surrounded by glass, so Isaac and Wolfgang shot at them, breaking it and hitting a couple. Mason and Bronagh finished them off from below.

***

We rushed the stairs, not wanting to get caught in that confined space. Upstairs, a couple of hallways branched out. Bronagh went west and got caught by three or four orcs coming down that way. She backed up and fell, Isaac dragged her out of the way.

Mason and Wolfgang engaged the orcs while Isaac gave Bronagh one of our healing potions. Isaac went down the T hall past Mason, only to find himself in a dead end.

A door we had been ignoring opened, and a huge arm dropped out a grenade! We scattered, and no one was hit much. The orcs were dead, Mason threw his weight against the door as we tried to figure out what to do. It crashed open anyway and Bubba the ogre, armed with a table leg, thumped Mason good.

We had him surrounded, Mason and Isaac on one side, Wolfgang and Bronagh on the other. Wolfgang kicked him in the kneecap, the rest of us shot at the ogre, trying hard not to hit our friends. Bubba cracked Mason in the head again; he went down. That gave Isaac a couple of clear shots as the ogre roared after being stabbed and kicked from behind, and it went down, finally.

We bandaged up Mason and got the heck out of there. This much gunfire had to attract some police. Ivan wasn't to be seen on the building as we drove past, but we'd seen three dead orcs upstairs by the west windows, so he had hit some of them.

 

[projectdaedalus]

Great job as always, Dan! Keep up the good work!

I'm going to post some stuff that happened between the orc adventure and the next one, so you might want to hold off for a day or two so the continuity doesn't get mixed up.

 

[Horacio]

Great updates!

 

[projectdaedalus]

"It has been far too long," the lanky female figure remarked with some unusual warmth. She hugged the man in black robes, and managed to scan the large chamber at the same time. The embrace ended.

"So," she began. "I trust that all is well?"

The man seemed skeptical. She was, after all, not normally given to such displays of affection. "What has gotten into you, m'lady?"

A liquid laugh echoed through the hall, awakening those nearby. Finding humor was also not one of the lady's normal attributes. "I am allowed to revel in human behavior every once in a while, aren't I?"

She sat down, her black trenchcoat still sashed at the waist. There was a sickly smile on her face, one that might almost make one believe she was capable of human acts.

"Why are you here?" the man asked, his curiosity peaked at his lady's newfound attitude. "I know we haven't kept in contact much, but --"

"I am not here to check up on you," she interrupted. "This is a social call."

That's what I'm afraid of, he thought. "If this is a social call, m'lady," he replied, "what is the occasion?"

She cocked a smile. "You get right to the point, don't you, Agrias?" She brushed the snow still remaining on her left pantleg. "I have need of your services. Specifically, I have need of some of your agents in America. I need to find something, and I need it soon."

In the atrium and the very back of the hall, small, misshapen humanoids gathered, and an almost chirping sound could be heard emanating from their masses.

"Can I trust you to keep a secret, Agrias?" she asked.

"Of course," he responded. "I am here but to serve."

"Kangus is back," she stated. "Well, not really, of course, but he has made his presence felt. The Legion has returned, perhaps stronger than before."

Agrias blanched a bit at this news. "I had no idea," he remarked.

"Of course not," she replied. "I found out only two days ago myself, and you know that I am always on top of these things."

She stood from her chair and walked halfway across the stage toward the unused altar. This had been a cathedral at one time, though with the building of a more modern facility in nearby Mont St. Michel, it was now abandoned to other uses. Now, Agrias the Black used it as his personal abode, along with his horde of Scatterlings.

"They said nothing to me," she began, "although, to be quite honest, I had a feeling their quest in Arcadia would be a foolhardy one. Avin Dromdel be damned, but he is resilient, and resourceful for such a do-gooder."

Agrias walked closer to her, but kept a safe distance. She seemed agitated, and it was best to keep a cushion of at least a pace or two between them. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

She turned, her countenance fallen from affectionate to mournful. "Dromdel and his accursed soldiers found the Phylactery and the Codex before our allies could get to the Pyramid. Surely, you know of the object of Kangus' quest."

"I had heard only rumors," he answered, unsure of where she was going with this conversation, and what it had to do with him.

"None of this really concerns you, I suppose," she said after some consideration. "It's best that I get to the point. You heard that Naercis had lost his precious book?"

"Just as they were to go to Arcadia, and they were attacked by those Templars, right?"

She walked to the center of the stage, then turned toward Agrias. "My master wants the Black Tome," she stated. "I am too busy to travel to America and retrieve it, but I know that you have agents there who could do it for me."

He considered what his options might be. His agents were, after all, barely competent at gathering information, especially if they missed the Legion's return to Earth. It would be dangerous to send them on a mission of this importance. But it would be more dangerous to cross the Inner Circle. He might find himself chained to a rock in Tarterus.

"Do you have any clues for me to follow?" he asked. Agrias knew that he could stall indefinitely if he had nothing to go on.

"I know that the Templar who had the Black Tome in his possession was tempted to open the book, and was subsequently corrupted. This happened not long after the Legion left for Arcadia. The Templar got rid of the book, fearing its power, and it fell into the hands of an American named Algie Marcos. This person lives in the city of Chicago. You might start your search there."

"I will do this for you," Agrias replied, "but I will hold a favor in return."

"Of course," the lady replied, her face once again livened with a smile. "I must go now, and take heed -- there are forces in America who also seek this Black Tome. They are resourceful, and will stop at nothing to gain its power."

Without missing a step, the lady in the black trenchcoat descended from the stage onto the main floor of the cathedral, and sauntered past the Scatterlings, who gave her a wide berth as she exited the building.

What have I gotten myself into? Agrias wondered.

It would be quite a long time before he got an answer to that question.

 

[Horacio]

Hmmm, I love these kind of evil characters' interludes, it gives to the story the feeling of a book or a movie.

 

[projectdaedalus]

The Joy of the Hunt

Jackson Flaherty took one look at his Elven companion and wondered if this was really the wisest thing he could be doing. After all, he had just purchased that Simpsons Season 2 Boxed Set on DVD, and sitting in a nice warm living room in front of the TV seemed a much better place than crouched on a snowy rooftop with a crazy Russian elf.

Ivan released the safety on his IMI Galil Sniper Rifle as he slightly adjusted the sight. "You can never be too careful with the sight, my friend," the elf said as he meticulously tinkered with the adjustments. "It is lifeline, or perhaps I should say deathline to target."

"Yeah," Flaherty replied, "I get it. What are we doing up here again? I'm freezing my ass off."

Sitting back for a moment against the air conditioning unit behind him, Ivan looked at his human ally. "I have been knowing you for six months now, da?"

Flaherty still couldn't get over the Russian accent. "Yeah."

"You are not one to complain about weather," Ivan said. "Maybe you get too old for these things. I know the humans age quickly so I better to ask now than to find out later." The elf went back to looking down at the street corner through his scope.

"Nah man," Jackson replied. "I just -- sometimes you go off on these wild goose chases, y'know."

"I am not hunting goose," the elf responded, not getting the colloquialism. "It is dark elf I am after tonight."

Ivan saw something through the scope, and Flaherty saw the elf deftly move his right hand to the trigger. Jackson looked down to the street and saw three gang-bangers gathered near the lamppost on the corner.

"You're looking for them?" he asked.

"No," Ivan replied. "They work for dark elf Siagath. I look for him. He is in big trouble, I think. Even at night, he is afraid to go out."

Flaherty scanned the street for anything else of interest. It was pretty deserted. "So what are you going to do, shoot them? I don't think that's going to get you any closer to this Siagath."

Two more gang-bangers appeared, bringing the total at the street corner to five. After a minute, a white Chevy van pulled up, and all five men jumped inside. The van pulled away, down the street and out of view.

Ivan sat up and started to dismantle his weapon.

"So that's it?" Flaherty asked. "We came up here to watch some guys get in a van?"

"Now, he is alone," Ivan replied.

After they climbed down from the tire store, the pair went back to Ivan's truck, and the elf put his sniper rifle in the back. Ivan picked up his M4 assault rifle, and closed the tail gate.

"Do you ever use the sword?" Flaherty asked, looking at the weapon in the sheath on the elf's back.

"When mood strikes me," Ivan replied. "We go now."

"Wait," Flaherty said. "We don't have a plan. I need to have a plan." He was hesitant to follow this elf into certain danger without so much as an idea of what was going on.

"Plan is to sneak into apartment building and kill dark elf Siagath, da?"

"I don't know," Jackson replied. "Things are never that simple in my experience."

Ivan looked at Flaherty, scanning for a hint of doubt. "If you want to stay here, I understand."

The elf took off running toward the other side of the street, barely making a sound as he went. Flaherty thought about it for a moment and then followed. They ended up next to some overgrown foliage near the wall that surrounded the abandoned apartment complex.

Flaherty unholstered his .44 Magnum revolver and held it in two hands. "I've got a wife and kids to think about," Flaherty whispered.

The elf was silent as he peered into an empty parking lot beyond the wall. There were no signs of activity. Ivan worked his assault rifle's grip into one hand, and crouched at the edge of the wall. He beckoned his human friend to follow, and took off again, this time aiming for the western half of the apartment building.

Flaherty followed, and after scampering across the open parking lot, flattened himself against the wall next to Ivan. The elf peered around the corner toward the northern side of the parking lot and saw nothing.

Just as he was about to take off again, Ivan caught something out of the corner of his eye. He held up a hand to Flaherty, indicating that they should not move. The elf pointed toward the sidewalk beyond the parking lot, and Flaherty saw a group of people coming toward the apartments.

"Who the hell are they?" Jackson asked in a whisper.

"I do not know," Ivan replied in the same hushed tone. "But maybe we abandon mission for now. We need to go now before they see us."

Ivan took the lead again, rushing across the parking lot to a section of wall on the southwestern corner of the complex. The group they had seen entered the parking lot, and Flaherty could barely make out anything other than their numbers - between 8 and 12 of them.

"They've got some balls. Not even armed," Flaherty remarked.

Apparently, Ivan recognized them. "No need for weapons," the elf answered. "We must leave immediately."

The pair fled the scene, and made it all the way back to Ivan truck without being spotted.

Jackson holstered his revolver and gave Ivan a terrible look. "Are those what I think they are?"

Ivan nodded as he opened the tail gate and put away his assault rifle.

"Should we tell Daedalus?" Flaherty asked.

"Nyet," Ivan replied coldly. "Siagath is mine to hunt and destroy. I will not involve others. Not yet."

Flaherty and Ivan drove off, avoiding the apartment complex and whatever was going on there. On the way back to his house, Flaherty wondered what drove Ivan to hunt orcs and dark elves, and realized he might never understand his friend, the hunter.

 

[projectdaedalus]

I'm bumping this in the off-chance that we get an update someday

 

[DanMcS]

Jan. 17-19, 2003 (Session 6 and 7)

Spent the weekend in Freeport, Illinois, investigating reports of a haunted cemetary. Was lied to by teenagers, stymied by shop clerks, chased by the undea, tricked by warlocks, and finally put under some sort of magical paralysis and stepped on by zombies. We did get the book, so not a total loss, but not a weekend I particularly wish to remember either.

(Note: I'm summarizing because I'm rather behind, and I missed one of these sessions anyway. There was a cultist in Freeport, ostensibly the town historian, who was using the Black Tome of Naercis to raise zombies. Our characters blundered around town for a while, not accomplishing much, and decided to visit the cemetary that night. A couple dozen zombies wandered in and chased us out. Next day, interviewed the historian, didn't accomplish much.

I missed this next part: The next night, they went back to the cemetary and saw the zombies launching an attack on the historian's house. Characters went into help, he ensorcelled us, charming Mason into defending him and casting Hold Person on Isaac. The zombies were trying to catch the wizard to get the book, and Isaac happened to be in the way in a narrow hallway, so they pushed him over and stepped on him on their way to the book.

The wizard got away by tossing the book and driving off. Mason, Wolfgang, and Bronagh destroyed the zombies, and we all took the cult book back to Columbus for study. Stupid zombies.)

Eric missed the next game after this, and we kind of wondered what happened to him. Got email a couple of days later, turns out he got called back into the army as an MP, with only a couple hours notice, and sent to the Gulf. Stay safe man.

 

[DanMcS]

1/27/2003-2/2 (Sessions 8 and 9)

We successfully brought back the Black Tome to our HQ in Columbus. Daedalus brought in a friend of his to analyze it, Ebenezer Primrose, a scholar of the arcane from England. Isaac, Wolfgang, and Mason were basically relaxing and recovering from our trip to Freeport. Bronagh was, typically, nowhere to be found at the moment.

Mason got a call from his exwife, April; she'd brought their daughter into town, the kid had some kind of rare condition and was having surgery in the next couple of days. Mason hadn't bothered to give April his new address, or even tell her he'd moved, so she was standing outside his old apartment at a payphone wondering where in the heck he was.

Mason hung up, looking shakey, and said she'd dropped the phone, he'd heard gunshots in the background. As one, the three rose, grabbed the packs they had learned to keep handy, and headed towards the van parked out front.

***

The street outside Mason's old apartment looked like a mini warzone. Parked cars, windows, and building walls had been spattered by gunfire. Police were crawling over the scene like ants, taping off the street, and more were arriving every minute.

Mason spotted a cop he knew, and went to talk to him. Wolfgang went to check out the bullet hits, and Isaac took out his camera to get pics of evidence before the cops took it away. He wandered around the outskirts of the scene, and saw a guy looking at him from the sidewalk.

"Help you, buddy?" Isaac snapped a picture of some tire tracks.

"Are you a cop?"

Isaac thought quickly- this guy was probably scared of cops. "Nope."

"Oh." The fellow started to walk away. Isaac winced, wrong guess. Recover, recover...

"I work for them, though, I'm a crime scene photographer. What do you need?"

"I saw a van pulling out of here, they kidnapped a woman and a little girl. I got the license plate." Wow, this guy was a godsend!

"Oh, that could be important, let me have that and I'll get it to the, uh, chief investigator, yeah. You've done the right thing telling us this."

***

Checking the plate, it came back to be the same as the one that dark-skinned elf was driving when Wolfgang saw him. We gave the plate to the cops, figuring the more eyes looking for it, the better. Then we drove around the area, figuring he was associating with a local gang for muscle.

We heard a notice come across our police scanner that the van had been spotted. Isaac took down the address, and we were close; Wolfgang layed down the pedal and we beat the cops there.

***

We checked out the apartment complex. It appeared empty, but the van was in the back, so they had to be here somewhere. We disabled the van to prevent escape that way. Wolfgang scaled the building and provided some overwatch as Mason and Isaac checked out apartments. We weren't finding anything until Wolf walked across the wrong apartment roof, and bullets started coming up through the shingles from below.

Isaac and Mason raced upstairs to find Wolfgang kicking in the door. Rapid fire was exchanged in a crowded room, and it's amazing we weren't all killed. We thought we'd hit them all, and then the room when dark. Isaac felt his way towards the entrance. There was an abrupt edge to the darkness, and outside he could see fine, so he covered the door. Wolfgang and Mason swung their arms wildly, but couldn't hit anything except the wall.

Mason felt his way to the far side of the living room, and in the hallway he could see again. He went back the hall and found his wife and child tied up in the bedroom. The window was broken out. He cut them loose, and we all got out of the apartment.

An engine roared to life in the back, and we came down the stairs and outside just in time to see a motorcycle roar past, the elf hunched low. Isaac shot at him, but didn't think he hit him.

We ransacked the apartment for evidence, and found a couple of machine guns and several cases of ammunition. Looked like evidence to us, so we took it, and got out of there just ahead of the arrival of the cops.

***

Analysis of the confiscated materials revealed the bullets to be silver. Stranger and stranger.

Mason's ex isn't speaking to him, but their kid is going to be fine, the surgery went ok. He thinks he's lucky on both counts.

Edit: petals are on flowers, pedals are on cars.

 

[Horacio]

Good update