Mysterious Qada'ath [Cha'alt campaign, session 3]

 

We're back again with another session report because our normally scheduled gaming would have put us too close to Christma'as...

Regardless, the holidays (and other unfortunate events) reduced our player pool to only three.  We had Nix the demon thief, Ha'agly Morningwood the pixie-fairy sorcerer, and TX-1138 the droid warrior.

After sounding the gong, which opened the way, we resolved downtime pursuits.  Ha'agly had fetched the spider-droid guy with his brain in the jar, Gerald, from that cave in the Vault of Tahqeez.  TX-1138 was fine-tuning his targeting computer, for which I gave him a point of Divine Favor so he could use that during combat.  And Nix had been trying to find out more about Tyrian Purple.  I didn't have a ton of news on that front, other than the hue symbolized a connection to the divine, which meant the Great Old Ones, in most peoples' eyes.

I wrote down what the pixie-fairy's crystal scepter could do.  It had one charge per day (again, we've instituted a new rule that will be forthcoming in the next Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer update - Divine Favor can also be spent to get another use out of a limited or temporary special ability that one would normally have access to under more favorable circumstances).

The Gift

I informed the adventurers that Dante's Quick Stop had become a frequent hang-out of theirs, when they weren't laying low at their base of operations / whore house.  And the manager handed them a gift that had been left there, a black box with gold ribbon, bow, and letter attached.  The letter was from Lord Ada'alo, saying how much he appreciated the PCs' effort, that they were welcome in A'agrybah as his guests anytime they wished, and Ada'alo's tailor was able to turn the trimmings of that Tyrian Purple death-shroud into sexkerchiefs embroidered with the phrase "Eenta A'agrybah veelo den Cha'alt," which means... as A'agrybah goes, Cha'alt follows suit.

What is a sexkerchief, you ask?  A sartorial article, traditional to Cha'alt, for cleaning oneself, partner, possessions, toys, clothes, sheets, etc. after sex.  And being Tyrian Purple, they look really snazzy, regal, and in fact, holy.

Pleased with the appreciation and lavished with a present, the PCs got caught up to speed on what else had been happening in the region since their last adventure.  Apparently, a 3-mile section of the Federation's border wall was blown-up by a terrorist group (Cha'alt natives would call them freedom fighters).  This meant that Federation soldiers were picking people up, stop & frisk, interrogations, detainments, etc.  Speculation pointed to the Federation having a secret military base nearby.

Back at the PCs' quarters, Keke, an aqua-skinned elf prostitute, just got back from that secret Federation base where she'd been servicing the troops.  She came back to the whore house to get more instructions from her pimp.  The PCs informed her that they were now in charge of the house and prostitutes, but decided to make Keke the madame, who's really like a hooker manager that takes care of all the details.

TX-1138 and Keke went out to that secret base to get an idea of what was in store.  2 guards, remote controlled platform lowering into the base, shift change every 6 hours or so.  

After being reunited with the group, they went back to the Quick Stop and sought information from Dante on that alternative route into Qada'ath, allowing them to avoid the orange labyrinth.  He revealed that months ago, a man staggered into his convenience store, clutching in his bloody hand a key-card.  Before dying right there on the tile floor by the chilled spider-milk, the man said that this [indicating the key-card] got him into the undercity of Dha'arma.

The Undercity

Since Nix had found that locked entrance some time ago, the PCs decided to pounce on this idea.  They took the black van they confiscated from that failed robbery / execution to the site.  Unfortunately, the door was blocked by two sandworms having a territorial dispute.  It had been going on awhile, drawing a small crowd.  

Oh yeah, while they were driving, Ha'agly stared out the window at the endless dunes and had some kind of vision where he was moving through this black space giving way to fuchsia sinew and oozing tissue, an organic realm that felt endless, but also finite... even claustrophobic.  Eventually, he opened his eyes, realizing he was floating in a bacta-tank.  Seeing inside the tank's reflective surface and then looking down, it became clear that he was in Kra'ang's little pink, tendrily body.  A doctor looked at him, wrote something down on her clipboard, called for another doctor to look at him... then he was startled into wakefulness by the ululation of sandworms.

This was a continuation of the 1st session where Ha'agly's player rolled a critical-success on his lavender moon die of infernal destiny.  Somehow, his consciousness is connected to that of Kra'ang.

Up until now, we had neglected TH-1138's little Kua'ato dude that manifested from his wound last session in the vault.  "I would like a cerveza," he said.  I don't know why that popped in my head, but we went with it.  One of the spectators had a red and white cooler filled with beer, so the droid went over to ask if he could have one.  The guy said sure, and the little guy (who I think we were calling Downgrade at this point) guzzled that beer.

There was another bystander wearing rags, barefoot, and covered with eldritch glyph tattoos.  He told the PCs that they didn't belong here, that their consciousness didn't belong in those bodies, that they were parasites, of a sort, inhabiting these flesh vessels.  This harkened back to the start of the campaign when the PCs were actually members of the Two Jacks Detective Agency in 1929 Chicago, and went down into that tunnel below the mausoleum and into the cave with that massive device where each sat as the technology launched them into another dimension.

After chatting some more, and Downgrade volunteering nuggets of wisdom such as, "I was there... a thousand years ago, when the sandworms sucked the Great Old Ones' dicks," the tattooed guy (who had been a scribe for some prophet who died years ago in a rebellion against the Federation) offered to distract the sandworms for a price.  

5 gold pieces was paid and the guy ran off some distance jumping up and down while yelling.  I wrote-up a little d4 random table right there to determine the effectiveness of his plan...

1. Gets eaten
2. Sandworms don't budge
3. Sandworms move, but they attack him
4. Sandworms move; success

I rolled a 4.  It worked, and no one was harmed.  Then, the PCs went through.  Beyond the door was a long, dimly lit corridor.  It looked like the inside of some kind of factory, warehouse, or 3rd world prison.  Wasn't long before they were shot at.  TH-1138's blaster ran out of juice (he rolled a 1 on his attack), and they weren't getting any farther without taking some hits.  Most being 2nd level, they realized they wouldn't stand a chance and so retreated.  

Ha'agly, being so small and able to fly, stayed behind to surveil the area.  A guard put a couple of steel bars across the door, so even with a key-card, intruders would have a tough time getting in.  Several corridors each led to a locked door and more guards.  Eventually, Ha'agly slipped out through a tiny ventilation hole, reuniting with his companions.  

Disheartened, the party went back to their own base and saw that it had been ransacked!  Keke hid in a closet and told them that only an hour ago, Federation soldiers came in and turned the place over.

Pissed at the violation, the PCs went back to the Quick Stop where a player stimulated the GONZO Cha'alt X-Card.  I think that same player suggested that maybe Gonzo himself (from the Muppets) could be there.  I loved the idea and ran with it.  Gonzo was talking to Dante about the logistics of shooting himself out of a cannon in order to get into Qada'ath.  Dante was reminding him of airspeed ratios and that he'd probably never make it.

Nix interjected that the Great Old One hovering over the city would probably just grab him with a tentacle and eat Gonzo.  This got them talking more about the Federation and overheard plans.  Something big was coming!  So, the PCs asked Gonzo to come along, but not before the fuzzy purple whatever was able to find Gerald a new body [cue another player stimulating the POST-APOCALYPSE Cha'alt X-Card] the large, animatronic ferret from Willy's Wonderland that had been recovered after the bombs fell.  Yes, Nic Cage!

After outfitting Gerald and loading up on weapons, they went back to the secret Federation base.

Secret Federation Base

Nix used a lavender demon-moon die after failing his surprise rolls on the two guards, eventually killing them both and electing to level-up right then and there (the extra HP would definitely come in handy).

They went in and I'll montage this to save time... 

• They released the prisoners (two of which were aquaintances of the PCs - Zara magenta skinned tentacled woman and Ninsk the elf with gold geometric patterns all over his skin).
• Morningwood accidentally ricocheted onto a urinal cake and skidded around the room like he was in a pinball machine.
• Rescued a woman who the Federation suspected was part of the terrorist / freedom fighter group Scarlet Dawn.
• TH-1138 used his own lavender moon die of infernal destiny but rolled a failure, so he "borrowed" another player's Divine Favor fuchsia stone while that player had gotten up to get a beer from the fridge, and thankfully rolled a success, killing all but one of the guards - a guard who was about to take an experimental weapon off the wall and use it on the adventurers until the party's sorcerer blew him to smithereens with missile command.  
• They took a bunch of weapons as firefights were breaking out all over the subterranean complex.  Eventually, everyone got out, but not before Nix took blaster fire to the chest, saved by his extra HP, and a few other NPCs were minorly damaged by stray lasers... but no one was killed.  
• Finally, they got back in their van which the pixie-fairy had brought up to the platform that got stuck halfway (Federation soldiers had killed the power), and took off.

They put their black van (with artifact - see below) in Gonzo's garage.  Oh yeah, so the R&D experimental weapons armory contained the following things which the PCs took... a bazookoid (4d6 damage - armor piercing shells), hand-held photon detonators, and (at this point I stimulated... in my mind... a POP-CULTURE Cha'alt X-Card) revealed they had the Arc of the Covenant.  It was heavy, but the droid and another NPC were able to lug it up to their van.

They didn't have time to investigate beyond noticing that the Arc was hermetically sealed shut.  The rest went back to their base of operations which they decided to call The Chicken Coop, and hope Federation soldiers wouldn't track them down.

At that point, we only had 5 or so minutes to spare before the session's end-time.  We talked about what the PCs would do for their next bout of between-session downtime... Nix wanted to make contact with that Scarlet Dawn group, Ha'agly wanted to find a nearby property where they could hide if The Chicken Coop got exposed, and the blank section next to TH-1138 tells me that whatever he said wasn't clear, he forgot to tell me, or the Gods of Cha'alt just don't want me to know.

Aside from the continued playtesting of the Cha'alt X-Cards, which were back to being awesome as Hell - there's another mechanic that I was really psyched to try out.  As you can watch right over here it relates to the gilded dice of Candela Obscura, but I've deconstructed it and remade it into something different and 7-fold more awesome!  I can't say too much more about it because the big reveal will be tied to my next Kickstarter happening in a week or two, but I got some extremely valuable insight that's helped me tweak my design.  I'm really happy with it and in a few months from now, it will work itself into an Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer update.

Well, thanks for reading!

VS

p.s. If you don't already own the Cha'alt hardcover trilogy, now's your chance!  Also, get your VENGER CON III: Revenge of the OSR weekend badge hither and yon (I'll be asking for GM and player gaming wishlists next month, so don't delay).