Dark Paths 18

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 18
November 11, 2012

Picking up the Pieces

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

The Gold Goblin Crew continued their pursuit of Saul into the lower levels of the casino. Saul and his cronie, Bojask, the animal handler, have descended into the pit with Saul telling Bojask to take care of Pigsaw, the giant boar that is running around while he takes care of Snargash, who is suffering from Old Scratch's poisonous sting. Aragon tries to get into the arena from the outside while the rest of the group converges on the seating area above. The previously unknown mage continues to fire bolts of magical energy at Bodi while he throws knives back at her. Aethel attempts to fry the wizard, but his lightning is bounced back at him and nearly misses. Aragon nearly severs Bojask's arm and Guy gets off a great shot, nailing Saul as he scrambles around down in the sand in the center of the arena. The mysterious female mage disappears. Bodi makes a heroic leap over the edge of the railing and tries to impale Bojask on his way down. He misses, but manages to keep his feet and lands near Aragon. Bojask is knocked out and when he goes down, Pigsaw squeals and charges him, slamming into him over and over, completely ignoring everyone else. Aragon and Bodi carefully back out of the arena, leaving Pigsaw to deal wtih Bojask. Saul's unconscious body is levitated back up to the viewing area. Snargash quickly moves to bandage any wounds before utilizing his healing magics. 

Continued Story Doc

Continued Story Summary

Bodi removes Saul's key-stump-arm and he is disarmed. Several items are noted as being magical and they are set aside. Saul is also carrying a vial of non-magical liquid, thought to be poisoned. His blades seem to be coated with the stuff as well. More magical healing is done, both spell-wise and potion-wise. Discussions of what to do with the wounded and dead above is started. Saul wakes up and attempts to fast talk his way out of the situation, saying Bojask was the villian behind everything and that he was being coerced into all of it, but no one is having any of it. Snargash retorts with "Aww, bitch please!" Everyone lays into him, questioning him and threatening him in equal parts. At this, Saul clams up and refuses to speak so he is tied up, gagged and locked in one of the unused animal pens down in the kennel. 

The Gold Goblin is cleaned up a little, at least the dead and unconscious bodies are piled up. Several of the wounded men were gone by the time everyone made it back upstairs, including the turncoat Ajax. The doors and windows were locked as securely as could be and the place was searched, looking for further foes as well as Saul's ledger, hoping to find some more clues regarding his double crossing ways. The vault is opened and everyone is shocked to find it nearly empty, including all the coin that several of them had stashed in there for 'safe keeping." Saul's journal is found, hidden upstairs, and upon cursory glance, it shows that much of the money that the Gold Goblin made was being credited to DA, whatever that meant. Aragon, who had been guarding Saul downstairs, wanders up aimlessly and follows the others into the vault. Everyone suddenly comes to the conclusion that Old Scratch must have used his devilish ways to convince Aragon to leave his guard duty. 

Everyone races back downstairs, splitting up and half taking one stairway and the other half going down the other, hoping to intercept Saul if he was trying to escape. Once into the basement, the group was assaulted by the many animals normally kept caged for pit fighting, now set loose and running and fighting in the narrow underground passageways. Dogs, baboons and even chickens assaulted the party. Pigsaw was even let out and tried to kill anything in its path. Aragon, mad at himself for being tricked, takes the lead. He acrobatically evades the mass of fighting dogs and chickens and charges at Pigsaw, followed by Aethel, Snargash and Shayla. Zenith and Nadir make quick work of the boar.

That'll do pig, that'll do.

At the other end of the basement, Bodi, Guy and Kwava take on a gang of angry baboons and eventually make their way to the pit viewing area. Aragon and the others enter the pit from the kennel area.

There they find Saul, crouched on the ground in the middle of the pit, trying to open what appears to be a trap door hidden under the sand. Bodi once again leaps down into the pit as several psionically thrown rocks and arrows from Kwava's bow stagger Saul just as he opens the door. Aragon approaches just as the one armed man falls forward and through the pit. He lands some  15 feet below. Old Scratch appears momentarily and yells out for all to hear, "Fuck you all very much!" Then the Imp disappears into thin air.

Saul lay motionless on a ledge in a natural cavern below, thoughts of exploring it were quickly nixed at least until the next day. Bodi and Snargash go down and secure the body, as Saul is found dead, and confirm that the passage continues down much further, but resist the urge to explore until later. 

The rest of the evening is spent securing the Gold Goblin, going through the ledger and sorting through the loot recovered. The next day, Hulger, the Halfling cook shows up for work, not aware of the events of the previous night. He shrugs off the news of the double cross and states that he likes the new owners better anyway and gets to work butchering Pigsaw and making breakfast. Considerable time is spent continuing to sort through the financials of the Goblin as well as the loot. It appears that the Goblin was making plenty of money, but Saul was embezzling it. Hulger, in the process of butchering the boar, discovers a ring in the beasts insides that used to be worn by Larur, the previous floor manager. The remaining loot is either sold or identified by a local enchanter.

Session Notes

This round of GURPS was played on my birthday. Happy Birthday to me! 

The continuing story document went on for 17 pages, nice. I really love how the action continues between live sessions. It allows everyone to get involved and by using the Google Drive documents, it is much more fluid and editable, as opposed to a forum like some other PbP games use. I have each player date stamp their entries and encourage them to post out of order, adding in stuff their character would have done earlier if someone else had already progressed the action past  that. I also encourage my players to include other PCs in their posts. We are all comfortable and familiar enough with each other that some minor posting for another players character is ok as well. Doing this makes the posts seem more realistic and organic and less like a message board. 

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodi Jantzen - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Snargash Windblown - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Dark Paths 17

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 17
October 28, 2012

In the Thick of It

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

Calling Saul out as they approach the dark and locked Gold Goblin Casino, the Crew gets no reply. They manage to get the front door unlocked and charge in, only to be met with arrows and blades. Aragon takes a shot to his shoulder, stunning him just inside the doorway. He is then set upon by Ajax, their supposed companion and another of the Gold Goblin bouncers. He is able to parry Ajax's attack but fails to defend against the bouncer's sword. Already, things are looking grim. Bodi rushes in and managed to kick Ajax in the groin, momentarily stunning him. Guy then enters the fray and, using his telekinesis, grabs a hold of the curtains hanging on the ceiling and pulls them down, trapping several bouncers beneath it.

The fray goes on for some time, with multiple defenders on the floor supported by archers in the catwalks above. Guy uses his ranged attacks to keep the archers busy while Aragon, Bodi and Snargash engage the fighters on the ground. Shayla, meanwhile, makes her way around outside to a 2nd floor opening to try to attain the higher ground. The battle rages on for some time until, in a surprise turn of events, Ajax, who had been feverishly attacking his 'friends' badly botches a defense and has his arm nearly cleaved off by one of Aragon's flashing blades. The strangely accented spear-man goes down in a bloody heap.

The battle is then joined by Old Scratch, Saul's bound Imp. The creature delights in using its invisibility to sneak up on opponents and sting them, afflicting them with its devilish poison. A brazier is knocked over and part of the floor starts burning. Several bouncers are intimidated and flee just as Aethel joins the fray, having made his way back around from the side of the building.

Snargash and Aethel use their magic to ascend up to the level of the catwalks, to finish off the stragglers there. Bodi and Aragon make their way toward the kitchen, with Guy following, looking for Saul to end this once and for all. Bodi is surprised in the kitchen as he sees Saul, with Hans and Beyar, his two bodyguards, rushing out, they nearly collide.

Continuing Story Doc

Continuing Story Summary

Saul and his bodyguards push past Bodi quickly and make their way through the door leading to the Gold Goblin's lower level. They were joined by several new thugs, entering from the back door and engaging Bodi. Beyar, one of Saul's men, shouts out, "“Bodi, this is your fucking wake-up call, man. You all crossed the line. People trusted you and they died. You gotta' go down!” Old Scratch continued to use his invisibility to sneak up and sting unsuspecting folk, which allowed Saul, and what looks like a female mage, to get down the stairs while his cronies blocked his path.

The rest of the Goblin was cleared as the battle got going in the kitchen. Eventually someone calls out that "..they went downstairs!" and Snargash gets the bright idea to just cut them off at the pass. He summons his breath and plays the tune to teleport him directly to the open space above the fighting arena on the lower levels.

Snargash managed to get the spell right, but the strange movement of both levitating and teleporting at the same time sent him into a spin once he re-materilazed, causing him to vomit, spraying his breakfast all over himself and onto the sand in the fighting pit below. While spinning, Snargash is aware that Saul and Bojask are nearby, arguing about the fact that Pigsaw, the mean boar, champion of the fighting arena, had been set loose and is running around in the arena below, currently directly beneath Snargash, rooting through the sand for his vomit.

Aragon, Guy and Bodi finally make their way downstairs in pursuit of Saul only to find their way blocked by some iron bars that had been lowered to block the path. Guy uses his psionic powers to reach through and release the catch that is locking the portcullis in place, and the chase continues. Aragon heads down a side passage that will take him to the arean floor while Guy and Bodi chase Saul into the arena viewing stands. Meanwhile, the female Mage that was accompanying Saul shots a burst of flame at Snargash, attempting to burn him to a crisp. Saul continues to yell at Bojask, telling him to get Pigsaw under control.

Session Notes

This session was interesting because I got to use a former PC turned NPC against the party. That threw them for a bit of a loop. Ajax was much more skilled than the rest of the NPCs, though he was not as many points as the PCs. Still, a weapon master with the spear and Form Mastery allowing him to parry like a staff. Could have been trouble, but nothing a critical failure won't fix. 

Players Present: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed, Noble Elf wizard - played by +Daniel White
Aragon Whisperwind, Elven Bladedancer - played by +Arne Jamtgaard
Bodi Jantzen, Human swashbuckler and ladies man - played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone, Gnome telekinetic - played by +Gren Drake
Snargash Windblown, Half-Orc monk - played by +Amergin O'Kai  
and The Dungeon Master - played by +Jason Woollard