If this was the last session of our Cha'alt campaign season 3, then it was a good one. Hopefully, we get one more game this year, but we'll have to see...
5 players this time. An old friend and Crimson Bastard from a year or two ago joined us, as well as, that new player I've been talking to. Both the new guys played warriors, P8T was a droid and Suede was a human with blue suede shoes that made him extra cool (it was undecided whether Bandersnatch, the blue suede elf, had bequeathed his flesh willingly upon his death in another dimension or if Bander and Suede were foes and in that particular dimension, Suede had gotten the upper hand.
I had both of them roll on the Everyone Has A Past d100 table in How To Game Master Like A Fucking Boss. P8T found a magical ring of free action (that would give him a bonus action every encounter / scene), and Suede got Advantage on his next roll after experiencing a "weird event." This being Cha'alt, we all just looked at each other, knowing that one man's weirdness in a "normal" campaign would probably just be a Tuesday in this one.
The original 3 players shared a collective dream - they were in a darkened courtroom, a giant bird their lawyer. Thurberus was accused of using his cult leader schemes to defraud the IRS, Tinker was accused of being a Communist. Bandersnatch accused of biting the head off a live bat years ago when he was playing guitar in that band, and an audience member got blood in his eye and contracted kovidian-syphilis. The PCs' attorney approached the bench... with birdseed. They were asked how they pleaded. Guilty, innocent, it didn't really matter. As a portable 3-person guillotine was wheeled into the courtroom, their lawyer muttered "If only you had something that could offset your transgressions... such as a devil-tongued banana fork or unicorn made out of folded paper."
A call for any last words was responded with Thurberus quickly asking if anyone wanted to join his dead (tentacled) cow cult and if he could be allowed to pull the cord, which, I suppose, would be the ultimate final act of a man responsible for a suicide cult. However, the reply came "No." and the blade came down as all three woke up.
Armed with laser-swords, the two noob PCs (I made them 7th level since the rest of the party was 8th - including Bandersnatch, Thurberus, and Tinker) appeared alongside Garblegax as he plucked his bass zita'ar.
Exposition followed as Garblegax got everyone up to speed on what's going on - the foul 4 (prominent infernal beings slumming it in Kha'alestine) had imprisoned the Great Old One Igg-Yig-Yatha'ak. Garblegax wanted revenge, and the PCs intended to free the Old One (again) now that they had the attunement ritual and proper invocation to activate the ultra-telluric glyphs.
So, the foul 4 will be at the gladiatorial arena in Kha'alestine this evening. The demonic imp gave the PCs a poison pellet meant to activate when dropped into chilled worm wine - revenge is a dish best served cold - but requested the adventurers rescue a v'smm priest, not unlike Thurberus, being held in a correctional facility for infidels, dissidents, and the criminally insane. This prisoner was Serethub.
Popping them into the city of Kha'alestine, the PCs saw the upper rim of the arena a mile or two away, and the correctional facility was only a 100-feet to their right. First things first (it was suggested that the prisoner Garblegax wanted the PCs to free might have actionable knowledge about the infernals).
After having a non-productive conversation with the man sitting at a desk inside the facility, Thurberus slit his throat and found Esperanto flash-cards upon looting his body. Making their way down a spiral staircase, they entered a massive cavern.
It contained a few Kha'alestinian clerics, about 10 guards, and 2 dozen prisoners, tied-up and forced to look at disturbing shadows wobbling upon the cave wall as a bonfire burned with an evil orange light. In fact, the fire looked alive to Bander's eye of true seeing.
Tinker talked to a guard, wanting to see Serethub privately. Of course, the official greeting in Kha'alestine is Admiral Ackbar (the Aloha of the Kha'alestinian people) At this point, they learned that all the prisoners forced to watch the sanity-destroying shadow-play were trapped in some kind of nightmare. The only antidote was the blue lotus root.
As is typical of situations like these, it ended in an orgy of violence... and not just violence. The guards and clerics attacked the PCs, and wounds were taken on both sides. Approximately halfway through combat, Bandersnatch cast a spell using a crystal to power it. He rolled on the weird spell effect table contained in Fuchsia Malaise and got a natural 100... witch orgy! Time stopped as the PCs stepped across a magenta mist barrier. Each of them got to lay with a woman, although Thurberus rolled lowest and had to make do with a witch who looked an awful lot like a demonic Whoopi Goldberg.
Rejuvenated and now bolstered with the sleaze factor-5 bonuses, the fighting continued. The Crimson Bastards were victorious. With a couple left alive for questioning, they secured the blue lotus root and freed the other prisoners before heading to the gladiatorial arena. P8T had the idea of pouring water from a guard's canteen upon the fire entity. I rolled that 2-in-6 chance, and sure enough, the water killed it. A bit anti-climactic like Indiana Jones shooting the sword guy, but that's the way the dice go, sometimes.
Now that Serethub was saved, he was able to reunite with his twin brother (a detail I pulled out from way back at the beginning of the season), sharing the lavender gemstone embedded in their flesh. Serethub, wearing spotted-cow velvet robes, wanted to join forces with Thurberus and create a joint cow-themed cult. But first, he would help the PCs defeat the foul four. The other v'smm priest knew that the demons carried a scroll with them where all the significant details of their comings and goings were recorded.
At the arena, the PCs made a plan to poison 2 of the foul four, Bander turned Tinker invisible, and the others had them surrounded so when things went down, they could pounce. One by one the PCs took their offensive actions. I rolled a 1 on the saving throw for one demon and a mid result on the other. So, they were off to a good start. It took several rounds, but the PCs defeated three of the foul four, and their guards. The last demon escaped into a portal as P8T shot his laser into it.
Surveying the chaos and looting the bodies, they found a scroll accounting for all their recent deeds that goes out monthly to Kort'thalis. Between that and a guard under enhanced interrogation, the adventurers discovered that Igg-Yig-Yatha'ak was being held in a hyperspace room within The Black Pyramid. Suede threw a bunch of jewels and coins to the Kha'alestinian spectators in the arena as the boysenberry-plum scorpion-worm continued to end the lives of many humanoids who hadn't filled their daily quota of saying "Admiral Ackbar."
The PCs traveled there, interrupting a last supper with a K'tulu cult, traded some banter, and followed that demon (while also using a glyph drawn upon the scroll allowing them to track the Old One). They soon came to another room where two factions were fighting.
Suede's player asked me if the two groups attacking each other were wearing red and blue. That could have been a reference to several things, I'm guessing. I said no, they were dressed in fairly traditional robes. It wasn't until after the session, thinking about it in preparation for this blog post, that I believe my mind was trying to subconsciously convey the idea that our game wasn't just improv. Sure, there's a fair amount of that and player input, but it's not pure storygaming, nor a "bullshit session," which I've heard people describe unscripted back and forth between players and the GM.
What I should have done is either roll the standard 2-in-6 chance or, better yet, encourage the player to stimulate one of the Cha'alt X-Cards and use whatever red/blue thing he was getting at as part of the set-up or execution based on whatever aesthetic-key he chose. In fact, that's a potent way of altering the scene as the player makes his will known and the GM adjudicates the results according to various factors.
In any case, the PCs saw that last demon on the other side of the battlefield, making it nearly impossible to hit him with a standard ranged weapon. As they decided on their next course of action, the demon had brought out a mega-blaster that was ridiculous in size and power. Before he could fire it, Bandersnatch created a portal to the purple labyrinth directly below him and another above where the adventurers themselves were standing, so that he'd drop down into their lap.
After some rolls, the demon did go down but then just disappeared. Bander's player decided to stimulate the humor Cha'alt X-Card. A couple minutes later, they heard a distant "Aa'ahhhh!" sound as the demon came through the second portal above the PCs and broke his fall atop P8T. Hey, people laughed.
The droid (who had been trying to keep his mechanical identity a secret) was dazed as the demon lowered his mega-blaster and fired upon the helpless warrior. I brought out the percentile dice and shook them long and hard so as to increase the suspense. Everyone knew that a d100 damage roll could go very badly. Luckily, I rolled a 44. P8T, being a 7th level warrior, was able to take the hit and remain functional.
Soon after that, the PCs finally killed him. They walked to the next room containing a doorway to the Great Old One's hyperspace purgatory. The adventures, led by Bandersnatch, performed the ritual with all the ingredients (thanks Chip and not-Kelly Bundy) and said the magic words (I've seen it spelled multiple ways over the years, so don't get pedantic, hoss) Kla'atu Vera'ada Nikto. It worked, and Igg-Yig-Yatha'ak, though at the moment in a weakened state from his powers being siphoned while in hyperspace by the foul four, was at the PCs' command.
Out of time and feeling as though this was the best conclusion for this season of our Cha'alt campaign (as of right now, I don't think we're going to get another full session in before winter), we closed it out. A big, neon, tentacled thank you to readers of Venger's old-school gaming blog, Kort'thalis Publishing supporters, and all my players, past, present, and future for contributing to the game and making Cha'alt what it is. Yes, you guys are partly to blame. Post-post-modern TTRPG culture would like to have a word with you, hoss.
Next year will be the 4th season of our Cha'alt campaign, and I'm considering interjecting some kind of long-term formula into the planning. Not just a bunch of scribbled notes, a hope, dream, and demonic prayer. But I have a couple months to research and implement such a campaign formula.
All in all, I'm pleased with how this season shook-out. Many "By His loathsome tentacles" were uttered in order to get that +1 bonus. Also, this was supposed to be partially Halloween themed, but when we finally got to The Black Pyramid, I was focused on wrapping things up. Too bad, since I have a whole page in Chartreuse Shadows about making the pyramid all spooky. That came out of a Cha'alt session I ran at Game Hole Con before that gaming convention started identifying as they/them.
Speaking of which, there have been a couple amusing videos regarding Game Hole Con and VENGER CON flyers. here's one from RPG Pundit and the awesome Diversity & Dragons livestream talking about whoever put a bunch of VENGER CON V: The Will To Power flyers on windshields at the Game Hole Con parking lot.
Enjoy,
VS
p.s. Fantastic news - weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power. Want a great new TTRPG community where you can hang out with other gamers, get ideas, advice, and training in order to improve? Look no further than the fastest-growing group on X - it's the Kult of Kort'thalis. Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy? Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!
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