Under The Eclipse: Updated May 19th!
- Thread starter Zubkavich
- Start date
Lela
First Post
Horacio said:
While we wait, we can always create mahem with a nice firefight in Doc Midnight's story hour
Aw yes. Why wait for Tsunami anyway? If you'll make the start tonight, I'll pick it up tomarrow. That kung fu master with an ego problem and nicotine addiction is going down.
Zubkavich
First Post
Session Eight: Hunt the Hunter
After the group rests for a while to regain their strength, Sedrick lets Karen know that Conroy is finally awake. Taking a deep breath, she heads in to try and explain what’s happened to him and what he’s now wrapped up in. At first he assumes that they’re at a mob safe house, but Karen assures him that they aren’t and that things are far more complicated than he might have thought. This isn’t just a gang war, it’s something far worse. Dodging around anything blatantly supernatural, she tries to warm him up to the idea that there are strange things in the world that people don’t understand. When she asks him if he’s ever encountered something he couldn’t explain, Conroy tells her that his sister had psychic visions that drove her to suicide when he was a teenager. Not wanting to delve deeply into it, Karen’s explanation trails off. She can’t bring herself to tell him the full truth, afraid that he’ll just think that she’s crazy.
Running out of ideas, she asks Onan to approach Conroy. The young shaman tells her that he’ll do his best but offers no guarantees. He tries to lay things out in as straight forward a manner as he can: There’s an assassin after Karen, the mob thinks that Karen has screwed up and isn’t going to help her. Onan offers to pay off any debts Conroy has wracked up if he’ll help them kill the man that’s been chasing her. It may not be completely truthful, but it keeps Conroy focused on the task at hand; the rest will have to wait.
Conroy assumes that this “hit man” has some kind of body armor in order to have survived the fights he’s been in. He makes a call to Paggio, the mob bomb specialist, to get some explosives to take care of their “stalker problem”. When Paggio arranges a meeting with them at his warehouse out of town, Karen and Conroy go to check out his wares.
Paggio, as slimy as ever, shows them a variety of explosive devices that could fit their needs. When Paggio makes an off comment about having a few thermite grenades, Karen jumps at the idea. She figures that the incredible heat generated by it could blow a hole in the creature, maybe even blast the silver stone right out of its chest. Conroy thinks the grenade is complete overkill to use against “some drugged up nutball”, but Karen insists on a demonstration of the thermite from Paggio. When the thermite blasts the door off a personal-size safe and leaves the inside of it a scorched and bubbling metal mess, Karen smiles and buys three of them from the scummy bomb builder. While Conroy cautions her on how to use grenades during the drive back to the bookstore, Karen starts to formulate a plan to take the stitched-face monster down.
After discussing the plan with Setakawa and Onan, they all decide to get some extra sleep before they ready the ambush. Having trouble falling asleep, Karen slowly entices several of the faerie folk living in the bookstore to come out and eat some candy. Playing with the tiny sprites, she enjoys a calm moment before the battle to come.
Late that night, Karen hotwires a vehicle and all four of them drive a few hours upstate while Onan remarks on their illegal behavior.
“I can’t believe you just ripped off a car.”
“Would you rather we took your BMW when we’re headed out to blow somebody up?” she quips.
Finding a campsite that seems empty, they park and get prepared for their ambush. While Onan performs a long ritual asking his totems for guidance and blessing, Setakawa sends his birds forth to look for any sign of the hooded figure. Karen hopes that the magical ceremony brings the creature to them like a bloodhound. Conroy is confused at how Karen thinks that going camping will bring out their assailant, but shrugs his shoulders and says that he’ll go along with it for now.
After two hours, Onan is still chanting and dancing while Karen wonders if this plan is a good idea after all. When storm clouds start forming, Conroy jokes that the weather seems to be co-operating with Onan’s “crazy Indian ritual”. Karen decides it’s too much trouble to explain to him that Onan is an Inuit. Trying to keep her wits sharp, she watches the woods warily, looking for any sign of the hooded figure.
Another couple hours pass and Karen and Conroy are surprised that Onan is still in the throes of his ceremony. Just as she’s about to comment on Onan’s stamina, Setakawa screams out that the birds have spotted something. Pulling her gun, she scans the trees for trouble. The clouds break and rain begins pouring down from the sky in a torrential storm. Then, the birds swarm at a spot in the woods and all hell breaks loose.
The hooded creature tears through the brush into the campsite, swatting at Setakawa’s birds while looking for the source of magical energies it’s sensing. Karen dives for cover behind one of the trees while Conroy takes a few shots at it. With her heart pounding in her ears, Karen tries to move silently behind the creature. She’s amazed as her legs and feet seem to tingle with magical energy, carrying her swiftly and silently around the monster. Just as she thinks she may be able to get in close to strap a grenade to its back, it whirls around, drawn to the magic she’s just used. Stumbling to stay out of its reach, she slips on the mud and is battered by the thing’s steel-like fists.
Conroy moves in to try and stop the creature from killing her while Setakawa directs his birds to distract it and Onan continues the ritual like a man possessed. The rain continues, coming down in roaring waves of water that seem to deafen everything except Onan’s chanting and singing. Even after Conroy shoots the monster directly in the kneecap, it ignores him and continues its assault on Karen. Finally, Conroy steps in the way of one of the blows, taking it to the top of his head. Crawling out of the creature’s reach, Karen pulls out one of the thermite grenades. She struggles to slap it to the thing’s back with a duct tape strap she made up beforehand, but the water and rain throws her off balance, just missing her target. When Conroy pulls back the creature’s hood to punch it in the face, he’s shocked to see its misshapen face and stitched skin:
“You are the ugliest bastard I have ever seen!”
Karen slams the grenade into the pulled back hood and pulls the pin. She stumbles on the mud and yells for Conroy to clear out as Setawaka grabs him from behind. As she narrowly dives behind a log for cover, the grenade explodes, sending chunks of flesh spraying all over the campsite. Glancing out, she’s horrified to see that the thing is still alive. It’s head and neck are blasted apart, but the body and legs are still thrashing around. Tossing a second grenade, the thing unbelievably survives another blast, losing one of its feet and part of the leg. Knowing that she won’t have another chance, she runs up to the monster to jam the last grenade into the thing’s back. As she pulls the final pin, it grabs at her with its charred arms dropping her to the ground as the grenade detonates. The explosion rips the silver stone from the thing’s chest, finally killing the monstrosity. Rolling and covering her face, Karen’s arms are badly burnt by the blast, torching her jacket to scraps and leaving her almost dead. As she blacks out from the pain, she is able smirk in the knowledge that the hooded thing is finally destroyed.
Oblivious to the events around him while in his ritualistic trance, Onan finishes his ceremony and asks for help from the spirits. At that instant, the clouds split as lightning from the sky strikes Conroy, sending him flying off his feet. Onan doesn’t understand why the spirits would have lashed out at Conroy, but tries not to worry about it as Setakawa and him gather their injured friends and drive away from the campsite. Setakawa admires the silver rock that was once the heart of the creature, its surface still hot from the thermite blast.
Several hours later, Karen awakens in the back room at the bookstore. She winces at the intense pain from the blisters and scars along her arms. Onan is preparing a healing solution for her, but tells her to rest until it’s ready. When she asks him about whether Conroy was hurt in the fight, Onan looks at her nervously. Just as he’s about to explain what happened, Conroy enters the room completely unharmed. He walks with an uncommon grace and an intense look in his eyes that she’s never seen before. Even before he opens his mouth, she can tell that he’s somehow not the same person she knew.
“Miss Karen, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Tupilak, an avatar in service to Sila, the Inuit guardian spirit. I have come to aid you in your time of need.”
After the group rests for a while to regain their strength, Sedrick lets Karen know that Conroy is finally awake. Taking a deep breath, she heads in to try and explain what’s happened to him and what he’s now wrapped up in. At first he assumes that they’re at a mob safe house, but Karen assures him that they aren’t and that things are far more complicated than he might have thought. This isn’t just a gang war, it’s something far worse. Dodging around anything blatantly supernatural, she tries to warm him up to the idea that there are strange things in the world that people don’t understand. When she asks him if he’s ever encountered something he couldn’t explain, Conroy tells her that his sister had psychic visions that drove her to suicide when he was a teenager. Not wanting to delve deeply into it, Karen’s explanation trails off. She can’t bring herself to tell him the full truth, afraid that he’ll just think that she’s crazy.
Running out of ideas, she asks Onan to approach Conroy. The young shaman tells her that he’ll do his best but offers no guarantees. He tries to lay things out in as straight forward a manner as he can: There’s an assassin after Karen, the mob thinks that Karen has screwed up and isn’t going to help her. Onan offers to pay off any debts Conroy has wracked up if he’ll help them kill the man that’s been chasing her. It may not be completely truthful, but it keeps Conroy focused on the task at hand; the rest will have to wait.
Conroy assumes that this “hit man” has some kind of body armor in order to have survived the fights he’s been in. He makes a call to Paggio, the mob bomb specialist, to get some explosives to take care of their “stalker problem”. When Paggio arranges a meeting with them at his warehouse out of town, Karen and Conroy go to check out his wares.
Paggio, as slimy as ever, shows them a variety of explosive devices that could fit their needs. When Paggio makes an off comment about having a few thermite grenades, Karen jumps at the idea. She figures that the incredible heat generated by it could blow a hole in the creature, maybe even blast the silver stone right out of its chest. Conroy thinks the grenade is complete overkill to use against “some drugged up nutball”, but Karen insists on a demonstration of the thermite from Paggio. When the thermite blasts the door off a personal-size safe and leaves the inside of it a scorched and bubbling metal mess, Karen smiles and buys three of them from the scummy bomb builder. While Conroy cautions her on how to use grenades during the drive back to the bookstore, Karen starts to formulate a plan to take the stitched-face monster down.
After discussing the plan with Setakawa and Onan, they all decide to get some extra sleep before they ready the ambush. Having trouble falling asleep, Karen slowly entices several of the faerie folk living in the bookstore to come out and eat some candy. Playing with the tiny sprites, she enjoys a calm moment before the battle to come.
Late that night, Karen hotwires a vehicle and all four of them drive a few hours upstate while Onan remarks on their illegal behavior.
“I can’t believe you just ripped off a car.”
“Would you rather we took your BMW when we’re headed out to blow somebody up?” she quips.
Finding a campsite that seems empty, they park and get prepared for their ambush. While Onan performs a long ritual asking his totems for guidance and blessing, Setakawa sends his birds forth to look for any sign of the hooded figure. Karen hopes that the magical ceremony brings the creature to them like a bloodhound. Conroy is confused at how Karen thinks that going camping will bring out their assailant, but shrugs his shoulders and says that he’ll go along with it for now.
After two hours, Onan is still chanting and dancing while Karen wonders if this plan is a good idea after all. When storm clouds start forming, Conroy jokes that the weather seems to be co-operating with Onan’s “crazy Indian ritual”. Karen decides it’s too much trouble to explain to him that Onan is an Inuit. Trying to keep her wits sharp, she watches the woods warily, looking for any sign of the hooded figure.
Another couple hours pass and Karen and Conroy are surprised that Onan is still in the throes of his ceremony. Just as she’s about to comment on Onan’s stamina, Setakawa screams out that the birds have spotted something. Pulling her gun, she scans the trees for trouble. The clouds break and rain begins pouring down from the sky in a torrential storm. Then, the birds swarm at a spot in the woods and all hell breaks loose.
The hooded creature tears through the brush into the campsite, swatting at Setakawa’s birds while looking for the source of magical energies it’s sensing. Karen dives for cover behind one of the trees while Conroy takes a few shots at it. With her heart pounding in her ears, Karen tries to move silently behind the creature. She’s amazed as her legs and feet seem to tingle with magical energy, carrying her swiftly and silently around the monster. Just as she thinks she may be able to get in close to strap a grenade to its back, it whirls around, drawn to the magic she’s just used. Stumbling to stay out of its reach, she slips on the mud and is battered by the thing’s steel-like fists.
Conroy moves in to try and stop the creature from killing her while Setakawa directs his birds to distract it and Onan continues the ritual like a man possessed. The rain continues, coming down in roaring waves of water that seem to deafen everything except Onan’s chanting and singing. Even after Conroy shoots the monster directly in the kneecap, it ignores him and continues its assault on Karen. Finally, Conroy steps in the way of one of the blows, taking it to the top of his head. Crawling out of the creature’s reach, Karen pulls out one of the thermite grenades. She struggles to slap it to the thing’s back with a duct tape strap she made up beforehand, but the water and rain throws her off balance, just missing her target. When Conroy pulls back the creature’s hood to punch it in the face, he’s shocked to see its misshapen face and stitched skin:
“You are the ugliest bastard I have ever seen!”
Karen slams the grenade into the pulled back hood and pulls the pin. She stumbles on the mud and yells for Conroy to clear out as Setawaka grabs him from behind. As she narrowly dives behind a log for cover, the grenade explodes, sending chunks of flesh spraying all over the campsite. Glancing out, she’s horrified to see that the thing is still alive. It’s head and neck are blasted apart, but the body and legs are still thrashing around. Tossing a second grenade, the thing unbelievably survives another blast, losing one of its feet and part of the leg. Knowing that she won’t have another chance, she runs up to the monster to jam the last grenade into the thing’s back. As she pulls the final pin, it grabs at her with its charred arms dropping her to the ground as the grenade detonates. The explosion rips the silver stone from the thing’s chest, finally killing the monstrosity. Rolling and covering her face, Karen’s arms are badly burnt by the blast, torching her jacket to scraps and leaving her almost dead. As she blacks out from the pain, she is able smirk in the knowledge that the hooded thing is finally destroyed.
Oblivious to the events around him while in his ritualistic trance, Onan finishes his ceremony and asks for help from the spirits. At that instant, the clouds split as lightning from the sky strikes Conroy, sending him flying off his feet. Onan doesn’t understand why the spirits would have lashed out at Conroy, but tries not to worry about it as Setakawa and him gather their injured friends and drive away from the campsite. Setakawa admires the silver rock that was once the heart of the creature, its surface still hot from the thermite blast.
Several hours later, Karen awakens in the back room at the bookstore. She winces at the intense pain from the blisters and scars along her arms. Onan is preparing a healing solution for her, but tells her to rest until it’s ready. When she asks him about whether Conroy was hurt in the fight, Onan looks at her nervously. Just as he’s about to explain what happened, Conroy enters the room completely unharmed. He walks with an uncommon grace and an intense look in his eyes that she’s never seen before. Even before he opens his mouth, she can tell that he’s somehow not the same person she knew.
“Miss Karen, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Tupilak, an avatar in service to Sila, the Inuit guardian spirit. I have come to aid you in your time of need.”
Last edited:
Zubkavich
First Post
Some interesting tidbits and trivia for those who might interested:
- Karen's magical silence in the fight is from a feat and spell combo she has. The feat, Arcane Talent, is one I wrote up based on Psychic Talent from D20 Modern. The spell she chose with that feat was a cantrip called "Footpad's Grace" which I adapated from Dragon Magazine #302. It adds +3 to Move Silently checks.
- The Flesh-driven, as people have already guessed, is a varient on a flesh golem with enhanced abilities to sense magic and also incoporating the idea for creature weaknesses from D20 Modern.
- A "Tupilak" is an Inuit spirit weapon.
- Karen's magical silence in the fight is from a feat and spell combo she has. The feat, Arcane Talent, is one I wrote up based on Psychic Talent from D20 Modern. The spell she chose with that feat was a cantrip called "Footpad's Grace" which I adapated from Dragon Magazine #302. It adds +3 to Move Silently checks.
- The Flesh-driven, as people have already guessed, is a varient on a flesh golem with enhanced abilities to sense magic and also incoporating the idea for creature weaknesses from D20 Modern.
- A "Tupilak" is an Inuit spirit weapon.
