Session 15 ~ Backstage
Theme Song : Cypress Hill - Insane In The Membrane
Age of Worms #5 : The Champion's Belt
April, 1993
GM's note: I originally toyed with having this either be a boxing match or some sort of mixed martial arts tournament, as gladiators really don't fit in a modern-ish setting. However, Mickey's player had invested so much of her backstory in racing that I ended up doing this at a monster truck rally. Unfortunately, Mickey's player couldn't make it for any of the sessions. Stay tuned for Truckasaurus vs a giant hellspawn.)
After several weeks of downtime, recuperating from the psychological trauma of Waco...
Using the shipping manifest to get the address for the Bandimere Racetrack in Colorado, the group piles into the Willy and heads out. On the way up they start hearing ads for Racing Days on the radio. They notice a couple billboards promoting the event and see that the date has been changed - it got moved up earlier by a few weeks than originally scheduled. Racing Days is now a week and a half away. Bandimere Racetrack is owned by one Jerry Harrison. He had a near-fatal crash nearly a decade ago, but is now the largest employer in the county and a huge donor to charitable causes. Three years ago Jerry married Catalina Suvari, thirty years his junior. Jerry is so popular in the racing circuit that he has gained quite a following of hangers-on and groupies. A water park addition to the Race Track was finished just last week. Jerry wears a terrible toupee.
Manda finds out the truck carrying the mysterious bone dust was to be received by Salvador Aguilar. They find nothing on the guy. They decide to infiltrate the Race Track organization by getting jobs at the track for Racing Days, and all fill out applications at the Bandimere Employment Office. The place is crawling with security. The applications are five pages long, three of which is a detailed personality profile. They don't have a good feeling about getting hired, so they work out another plan - Joe will enter the competition as a driver. The only problem with this is that they don't have a car, any money, or a backer. They stop by a greasy spoon diner on their way back from the track, then grab some six-packs and head to their hotel rooms. Then it is decided they will go hunt down a bar where the racers hang out to try and infiltrate that way.
They find out that a lot of racers hang out at The Dirty Duck, about 25 miles away, so they go. The parking lot is full of trucks and trailers and demo cars. The Duck itself is crazy busy. The party walks in and makes their way to the bar when a familiar voice shouts their names and motions them over to a table. It's Rico Torres from Creede, the guy that Mickey won the Willy from in a bet. Rico and the group sit and chat. He says he's a two-time champ at Racing Days, and he's interested in putting up the Willy versus his '68 Mustang 289 in a race. He also drops that he's pretty sure that Joe can get in as an alternate driver. The grand prize of the Racing Days event is $100,000 and the winner gets to drive Truckasaurus and eat some cars while Mr. Big plays their greatest hits (GM's note: I had asked the players what they wanted out of the game in an email that week. Candy's player said he wanted to have a firefight at a Mr. Big concert. I live to provide.). On his way to take a leak, Joe notices a strangely familiar woman leaving the ladies room - he remembers from a Jack-In-The-Box yesterday in New Mexico.
Candy has Rico point out some other drivers at the bar. He points to a lanky redhead across the room - Eddy is boozing it up with his entourage. Rico invites them back to his hotel room for booze, coke and groupies. They happily say yes and then head across the highway to Rico's hotel. They have to hold him up as he staggers, very drunk. They make it to the hotel room and Rico's buddies and wives of drivers start showing up. Someone cranks up Bon Jovi on a boombox and it's party time. People are drinking rum and cokes and passing around joints, but the locals pretty much ignore the newcomers. Manda listens in on the gossip traded by the nasty local groupies, Rico takes one out to the parking lot for some sloppy sex, and the party leaves in the wee hours. When they wake in the morning, Candy finds a manila envelope slid under his door. It's a file he requested on Sal Aguilar - turns out it's an alias of a Columbian cartel enforcer - probably not the guy they're looking for. There is a note and a phone number in the file - Candy calls it right away.
He gets put on hold by a receptionist named Jeannie. The hold music is Henry Mancini's Baby Elephant Walk. Presently a man's voice comes on the line and greets Candy, saying he's calling earlier than expected. He tells Candy he has a letter for him from his father, then introduces himself as Mr. Mendez, an old friend of the Family. Mendez wants to meet for breakfast and have a chat in two hours. Candy agrees, and they get ready and head to a little roadside diner. In the parking lot they see a very nice Jaguar and a white SUV with New Mexico plates. A guy sitting alone in a booth rises as they enter and introduces himself to them all. He hands over the letter and says he needs help with something. His kid sister Lana disappeared two years ago - the last place she was seen was at Jerry Harrison's palatial mansion. He offers to back Joe and his friends as a racing team - he's got tons of money, cars, and a pit crew. Manda's excited and says, "Working a mob job would be quite the anthropological coup for me!" The letter from Candy's father confirms Mendez's story and tells Candy to call his mother. They agree to head to Mendez's private track later that afternoon to meet Bob the manager.
They check out of the hotel and head to Mendez's private track. It's in a tiny town that also sports a truck stop, a Motel 6, a fast food joint and a gas station. They meet Bob and settle into their new digs. A training montage ensues in which Blaine hits on a girl and gets a pat on the back, Candy drives a tricked-out demo car, Joe eats soup and Manda avoids lifting a finger (GM's note: I was doing a lot of montage scenes. In general, I go around the table, ask each player what their 5 second shot in the montage is, and then give them a bennie. It's sometimes difficult to get the players to make the scenes cinematic and not for purposes of gaining a mechanical advantage later... nothing important ever happens during a montage.). Mendez tells them to go to his brother's car dealership and pick out an RV so they can camp at Bandimere with the rest of the drivers. If they manage to find Lana and bring her back alive, they can keep it (the RV, not Lana). They pick out a Winnebago Super-Chief, best model on the lot. They head back to Bandimere - qualifying races begin the next morning. They park the Winnebago in a huge lot with hundreds of other RVs. It's too cold to be water sliding, but the kids don't care - the water park is crammed with children and their parents. Manda wanders off to explore while Joe does laps. Blaine unloads tools with the rest of the pit crew while Candy schmoozes and gets dirt on Jerry - he may have cheated on Catalina. Manda gets a sample of the arena wall for analysis. Candy collects more gossip from various drivers and groupies and learns that even though rich people are weird, Jerry's basically a good guy.
Manda notices Jerry and Catalina making the rounds, visiting the drivers and their crews. His toupee is indeed bad. Jerry's had a ton of chemo (hence the bad toupee), and shakes with his left hand - his right hand is twitchy. Manda meets them, and Catalina says she likes Manda's eyeliner (GM's note: sometimes the most inspid details of a conversation creep into the notes). The celebrity couple wander off, but not before Candy asks Jerry where his box at the track is so he can come by and say hello. That night the Moonlight Skating Rink opens. There is a DJ and many families show up to take advantage of the cool fall evening. The party straps on skates and joins them. It's nice. Nothing out of the ordinary.
The next day Manda heads out to a local community college to meet Professor Tom, a friend of her brother. He says he can help her break down and analyze the chunk of arena wall that she nabbed, using the college's chemistry lab. He'll do it for a six-pack. Blaine joins Manda, Joe and Candy hook up with some drivers and go to a BBQ. Blaine and Manda have a chemistry montage. They discover there is lots of the mystery powder in the wall. Manda suspects ritual magic of some kind, but Tom laughs and says she's gone native. Manda bluffs and says she's on an archaeological scavenger hunt. Tom mentions three ancient codices, and that Jerry bought the fourth. Turns out he's a big collector of Meso-American artifacts. Everyone meets back at the RV and shares their information.
The first day of Racing Days dawns, and the arena is packed. The party grabs a breakfast of carnival food and Joe enters in the qualifying rounds. His first race puts him up against Eddy. Blaine boosts Joe's driving skill and lowers Eddy's, but Eddy is very good - their race ends with a photo finish. Eddy has taken second place after Rico for two years. After the race, the group heads to Jerry's box for a visit. They subtly try to get themselves invited to Jerry's mansion for dinner, but Jerry doesn't bite. Catalina likes Manda's beaded bracers and tells her so. Manda tells Cat that she's into Mezo-American jewelry and artifacts. Blaine tries his hand at talking up Jerry to get an invite back to his mansion, but fails. They say their goodbyes and check out the car show. An impromptu parade begins near four in the afternoon, and they watch it, cheering for their favorites. That evening 38 Special is scheduled to play the arena. Manda manages to get them backstage. They meet the band, who are not partying too hard, and stay a while. Rico's back there too with a gaggle of racing hos. The scene backstage is kinda boring, so Manda goes wandering. She is stopped in a certain hallway by a security guard, who escorts her to the exit, bums a smoke, and begins flirting, Manda reels him in - his name is Brad.
Blaine, curious, also goes wandering and finds himself in the same hallway that Manda found. Another security guard shows up and bars his way. Candy follows Blaine and tries persuading the guard to let them past, which doesn't work. Then he intimidates him, but he holds his ground. Blaine drops Jerry's name, but the guard still prevents them from going down the hall. So Blaine casts fear on him. Johnny pisses himself and bolts, screaming. He heads for the nearest exit and runs right past Manda and Brad, who had just worked up the nerve to try to steal a kiss, but is distracted by the screaming security guard. Brad follows him, Manda heads back inside. A couple other guards appear from down the hall and approach Blaine and Candy. Blaine grabs the walkie talkie Johnny dropped and hands it to Candy. Brad takes Johnny to the medical tent. They all head back to the RV. Rico shows up with chicks, booze and coke. Manda goes off on a date with Brad. Joe turns down an offer from one of the groupie girls, and Blaine turns down an offer of a fat line of coke. Manda returns from her date and Rico gets grabby, then he leaves.
The second day of Racing Days, Mendez sends three beat-up cars in on a trailer. Blaine, Candy and Manda each drive their own in the demolition derby that afternoon. Candy gets rammed by two cars at once early in the derby. Blaine and Manda eventually knock out the rest of the competition - then it's down to just the two of them. Manda wins the derby! The Doobie Brothers are set to play at the arena that evening, and the group has tickets.
Session 16 ~ Listen to the Music
Theme Song : Doobie Brothers ~ Listen to the Music
April, 1993
Wherein I finally get some milage out of all those Enemy cards the players kept playing.
After the demolition derby event, Candy and Manda ask around about Lana. They find out she used to sing at parties thrown by Jerry, but no one has seen her for two months. Blaine spends the afternoon working in the pit, while Joe wanders and schmoozes with the other drivers. He's at the concession stand munching on a corndog when he notices Salvador across the aisle, walking with two goon-like thug-looking guys. He follows. They quickly notice they are being followed, so Joe disappears into the crowd. Joe and the others meet back at the RV later and pull out the FBI file that Candy got. It was definitely Salvador, judging by the pic. The party all decide that picking up the trail and seeing what Salvador's up to is a good idea, so they head out to find him. Find him they do, eating ice cream and standing watching the water park, two goons in tow ([GM' note, even evil cultists sometimes indulge in simple pleasures[/i]).
As kids jet down the slides, screaming with glee, the group sneaks up behind Salvador and hides in some bushes. They discuss tactics. They could send Candy over with his stolen FBI badge and arrest Salvador. They look over at the goons and realize they are carrying guns under their jackets. They decide it might be more effective to have someone else separate the goons from Salvador, and decide to alert the Racing Day security force that they suspect Salvador and his henchmen of being pedophiles, ogling the little kids at the water park. Manda pretends to have a kid sister on the slides and alerts the guards at the nearest security shack that Salvador and his buddies give her the creeps. A guard approaches Sal, and after he says something to his walkie, several more guards start winding their way through the crowd to back him up. Manda stays with the security shift leader at the shack, and the other guards grab Salvador and his buddies and bring him there for questioning.
Salvador denies any wrongdoing and apologizes to Manda, which seems to placate the guards. He gives her free tickets for her and her "sister" Tracy to the concert that evening and Moonlight Skate afterwards. Salvador also comments on Manda's beaded bracelets/bracers ([i]GM's note: The bracers are magical, even though Salvador didn't mention that fact, it was clear that he was giving the group a "I know things" warning). Candy and Blaine start moving toward the security office, but Joe stays behind in the bushes. Unfortunately, Joe now looks even more suspicious than Salvador did and is approached by more security. Candy notices Joe getting questioned and tries to intervene, pretending to be an FBI agent, telling them Joe is his charge. Blaine decides to create a distraction by lighting a garbage can on fire. His fiery blast is enormous and draws more attention than he thought it would - a couple of locals run up and one of them throws Blaine to the ground, presumably to roll him around and put out any flames. One of the security guys points Candy to the office, telling him to talk to the head of security about Joe. A golf cart emblazoned with a Racing Days Security logo rolls up and Blaine is taken to the med tent. He now has no eyebrows or right arm hair. The guard driving offers to share a joint with Blaine. He accepts the offer.
Candy, Joe and Manda go off looking for Salvador again. Joe gets separated and lost in the crowd. Candy and Manda find Salvador, who compliments Candy's suit. Candy tries the FBI thing on Salvador, but Salvador mumbles something arcane and Candy gets puppeted and wanders away. Manda follows. Meanwhile, Joe is accosted by a pair of state troopers. He puts up no resistance and they throw him into a car. Security had called the state police about Joe, and they found out he has warrants in Kansas, Texas and Colorado. They begin driving slowly through the crowd, headed for the front gate - they chirp their siren once in a while to get the crowd's attention. Candy snaps out of it soon enough, and just then he and Manda see the state trooper car roll past with Joe in the back seat (what a coincidence!) They rush off to the RV and call Vicky on the satellite phone to help Joe.
Elsewhere, Blaine is smoking a fat joint with Trevor, who has removed his hat and sports a wild tangle of braids. They talk music. Trevor is a sort of industrial hippie, and plays an audio cassette of Crash Worship for Blaine (yes, the golf cart has a tape deck). The state troopers turn right out of the front gate and head to the freeway. Joe asks them where the heck he's being taken. They say Colorado Springs, 15 miles away. Back at the RV, Candy pulls out his black book and digs up Vicky's number. He calls and gets Vicky's receptionist, who gets Vicky on the phone. They have a brief, loud, profanity-laced phone chat, and Vicky promises to get to Colorado Springs to spring Joe. Blaine finally says a fond farewell to his new pal Trevor and returns to the RV, high as a kite. Since their hands are tied regarding helping Joe, they attend the Doobie Brothers concert. It's the best show Blaine, still high as a kite, has ever seen. During the concert they resume investigative duties and start asking around about Lana again. At the concession stands Candy finds a portly woman eating a huge watermelon wedge and sporting a blonde claw (the hairstyle) who might know something about Lana. She used to work with Lana at the Harrison mansion, and she remembers that Lana had plans to run off to Kansas with Rico and get married. A week after she told her about the plan, Lana disappeared.
Meanwhile, up in Colorado Springs, Joe is taken to the state police headquarters and put in an interrogation room. The clock is in a cage. He is not booked and they don't take his prints. Two hours later a woman in a suit enters and introduces herself as Agent Debra Cooper. She wears a severe suit and reminds Joe of a sexy librarian. She grills Joe about Waco, Creede, and Santa Fe. She throws down photos of Joe and his friends at each location and tells him that Kendra Larimore has gone missing, and it's his fault. Joe does not crack under the intense pressure, but demands a lawyer. Cooper turns up the heat and Joe panics. He uses his special overcoat to cast fear just as a trooper enters with a bottle of water that Joe had requested. The trooper freaks and bolts, but Cooper is not affected and wallops Joe across the face, knocking him out of his chair. Cooper shouts a string of invectives and serves the main course - it's a picture of what looks like a dragon flying over the cliffs that overlook Creede.
Back at the Bandimere Racetrack, the Doobies are still droning on when Candy spots Salvador in a hallway around the food carts. He sneaks up behind him and clocks him. Salvador falls to his knees, then recovers and pontificates. (Thus begins a melee where more adventure cards were thrown than any other melee, ever.) Salvador whines that what he knows about Lana is his only leverage over Harrison. More guys rush in from down the hallway with billy clubs and tazers, intent on taking the party down. Blaine tries casting a spell, but incapitates himself. Candy tries intimidating Salvador to get him to back down, but Salvador's will is too strong.
After two more hours of sitting cuffed and alone in the interrogation room, Cooper finally re-enters with a familiar figure - it's Vicky! Vicky tells Joe to shut his mouth, grabs him, and Joe grabs the dragon photo, and he drives Joe back to Racing Days.
Back in the hallway near the food carts, the battle rages on. Brad shows up, sees Manda, and switches sides. He wades into the fight intent on throttling Salvador. Turns out Salvador is some kind of sorcerer. He shoots bolts of tiny obsidian shrapnel, and it hurts a lot. Blaine takes a bolt at point blank range and goes down. One of Salvador's minions grabs Manda. The crowd at the food carts notices this, and an angry mob on the side of the party joins the fray. During a brief lull in the combat, Manda tries reasoning with Salvador. She notices his pendant - a silver skull bursting with worms. The fight goes on and Manda turns another guard to her side when she asks, yelling, what Salvador knows about Lana.
Vicky drops off Joe at the track. Joe heads to the RV and finds a Doobie Brothers ticket on the fridge, under a Garfield magnet. He grabs it and heads over the the arena to catch the second encore. He gets in with no problem and coincidentally walks down the very hallway where his friends are having a life and death struggle. He picks up a brass stanchion (with red velvet ropes attached) and jumps into the scuffle. More brutal combat ensues. Joe ends up bashing Salvador's head in, much to the consternation of his friends - it would have been a good idea to keep him alive for questioning. Blaine grabs Salvador's amulet and they amazingly manage to sneak away from the scene using the crowd for cover. They discuss their next step and figure it's high time they confronted Jerry and Catalina. They head up to the Harrisons' private box at the Arena, figuring they'd be there watching the Doobie Brothers, but the box is empty. Candy ends up angering a security guard there, who kicks him out of the arena. They head back to the RV, exhausted, and get some sleep.
Day Three of Racing Days dawns. The party grabs a greasy, deep-fried breakfast and are having a pretty decent morning until they hear screams from the direction of the Arena. They weave through the gathering crowd of sickened faces and come to a clearing in the mass of people. They finally find Lana, lurching west. Her head is hanging at an odd angle - a splinter of bones juts out of her neck. A sign hangs from her twisted neck that reads "HARRISON DID THIS". The party decides to do several things at the same time - they follow Lana, call Mendez (and tell him they have good news and bad news about Lana. The good news is that she's walking), and simultaneously wrap Lana in a handily nearby tarp and shove her under the RV for safekeeping. As Candy and Joe are stuffing the poor zombie girl under the Winnebago, Manda and Blaine head into the Arena to investigate - a couple folks who were crowded around Lana earlier point out the direction she came from.
Manda and Blaine find the certain hallway that Blaine and Candy tried to go down before unguarded. They find a storage room, a bathroom, and a meeting room with a laser disc player and screen. They also find a door that opens to stairs down to the boiler room. Why an arena has a boiler room is a mystery, but they figure that's a good place to check around for weirdness. Candy and Joe catch up to them and they all descend. Under the arena is actually a huge ovoid ring full of machinery, storage space, and equipment. As they wind their way around the underbelly of the arena, Candy and Manda notice a glint of something shiny through a grate in the wall. they remove the grate and slide it aside. They shimmy down the conduit to a passageway, then creep down the passageway until it ends at a set of big, shiny double doors. They open easily. The room beyond is dark, but a nearby light switch lights up the overhead fluorescents. The room contains seven gurneys, and atop each rests a body bag.
Blaine, curious, zips open the nearest bag while Manda checks out a stack of empty body bags in the corner. A worm-ridden hand grabs at Blaine, who staggers back. All the other bags rip open as well, and seven worm zombies gurgle, coughing worms, and lurch for the party. Blaine lights up several with magic fire, and Manda screams her lungs out in terror. Candy and Joe start shooting, but Manda gets cornered. Eventually all the zombies are splattered all over the floors and walls, and Blaine does some clean-up on the remaining worms with gouts of flame. They pop like popcorn and smell really bad. Manda gets a sample of dead worm and stuffs it into a handy film canister. Blaine, curious, wanders through a door on the other side of the room and sees a yellow-green glow at the end of a hall. The hall narrows and becomes impassible, but the end is still open and looks in on a huge chamber. At the center of the chamber squats a huge, glistening maggot-like creature. It's at least sixty feet long. Blaine motions the others forward. As they watch the thing pulse and ooze, it visibly grows, getting longer and larger.
Session 17 ~ From Bad to Lurch
Theme Song : Mr. Big - To Be With You
April, 1993
They stand shocked, in awe at the terrible vision for a few moments. The hallway is only a foot wide and ten feet long. It is pretty dark in the vast space beyond, so they never quite see the entire thing, just glistening glimpses of its rolling flesh, mere parts of the massive maggot. Candy steps forward and gives it both barrels. The echo of the explosion is very loud down here in the metal-walled silence, and the shot seems to have no effect. Blaine, meanwhile, moves past the narrow hallway to open some doors at the end of the hall. He does not hit the light switch on the way into a room that looks as if it were recently inhabited. There is a bed, a desk, and some lockers. He calls the others forward. As he swings open a locker to take a look, a wormy zombie jumps out and attacks him.
Blaine panics - he can feel a worm crawling around under his skin. He fires a volley of bolts at the creature, but notices it resists the magic attack. Joe rushes in wielding the Lopper and hits the zombie. Several other lockers pop open and more zombies enter the melee. Things go from bad to lurch. Candy turns the corner, sees an opportunity, and headshots a zombie. Manda, right behind Candy, double taps another for substantial damage. Blaine, on the ground and at the mercy of the foul beasts, becomes their main target, but Joe jumps in front of Blaine to protect him. Joe gets seriously wounded. Candy sees this and comes running, shouting "Joe!", both guns blazing. Joe manages to get to his feet, but just momentarily. As the battle rages all around him, his leg gets chewed and mangled, he bleeds out, then he dies.
Blaine, realizing magic is less effective than arms, retreats to grab his silvered axe. Candy takes a hit and a worm transfers itself to him. Manda, Candy and Blaine finish off the zombies. As Blaine tends to Joe's condition, Candy searches the room and finds some nice bracers that have 10 power points for the Puppet spell and allow him to carry eight times his maximum load. Somehow, Blaine manages to revive and heal Joe. They find a Xerox of the fourth Popul Vuh poem on the desk, as well as leatherworking tools, a flask of tequila, and bits of turquoise and silver. They retreat a bit to the room with the body bags and search the bathroom there. Blaine tries mixing napalm to blow up the giant maggot, but ends up botching the attempt and blows himself up, burning off the hair on his left arm and most of the hair on his head.
They return to the maggot room. Blaine tries shooting a battery of bolts at the thing, but they are stopped before they reach the target. Blaine shuffles sideways down the narrow passage to get a closer look. He discovers that the room is protected by a magical barrier. It resembles a soap bubble. He sees Candy's flattened silver slugs on the ground at his feet. Blaine reaches out to touch the barrier, then stops. He is suddenly 100% sure he does NOT want to touch it.
They regroup back at the RV. Blaine heals everyone and is so successful in his magic ministrations that he somehow gets all of his power points back. Manda puts on a baggy sweatshirt. They gear up for the final race of Racing Days, to be accompanied by Mr. Big and featuring Truckasaurus and a huge stunt show.
After a big lunch, Joe heads to the pit to examine the car. The rest head to choice seats in the stands overlooking the pit. While scanning the crowd with binoculars, Candy spies a sexy lady he has just GOT to know better across the track, staring back at him. It's Agent Debra Cooper, though he doesn't know this. He heads off to the concession stand and gets a beer for himself and one for her. She completely ignores his advances, then tells him she doesn't drink...with criminals. Not taking no for an answer, Candy uses his new Puppet ability on her (GM's note: And here begins Candy's slide into progressively more disturbing uses of the Puppet ability.). He gets her to drink the beer, which spills out of her mouth until Candy makes her stop drinking, then has her write down his real first name and satphone number and "I think I'm in love!" on a card, then tuck it into her bra. He even gets a kiss out of it. Candy takes off, and Cooper comes to. She wanders off to get a napkin to sop up the beer on her shirt.
The big race ensues. Engines roar, Someone gets ahead, someone falls behind. A red car not belonging to the favorites to win ends up flipping, crashing and burning. Things look pretty close and Joe never quite dominates the lead, so Candy puppets Rico to give Joe the edge he needs to win. Candy gets Rico to drive into a wall, which he does - turns out Rico's left back wheel isn't bolted on securely and comes off right before he hits the wall anyway. The wheel bounces of the wall, rolls across the track, right past Candy. Joe finally pulls ahead now that Rico's out of the race. He laps a guy and wins! Joe gets out of the car to a cheering crowd. He is presented with an oversized check and is whisked off for Truckasaurus training.
Candy goes off looking for Cooper, and finds her in a tight knot of state troopers. She is handing out "Have you seen these people?" fliers featuring the mugshots of Candy, Manda, Joe, Blaine and Mickey to the state troopers, instructing the troopers to keep an eye on the party, as they're likely to cause trouble. He approaches and offers a bottle of water, flirting shamelessly. She gets a trooper to escort Candy away. Joe learns to drive and to operate the jaws and fire jets of Truckasaurus.
Manda and Blaine (who smells of desperation and failure - no, Drakkar Noir and Cool Water) go to check on zombie-Lana. She is still struggling in the tarp under the Winnebago. Mr. Big is scheduled to begin in two hours. Blaine wanders up to the lighting booth and is at first turned away, then he talks his way into getting a small tour. He presses the lighting crew for information about the night's event, asks if there's anything under the stadium. They say there is not.
Candy uses his contacts to get a guy from Denver to come down and keep an eye on Jerry. Mario Santini is sent down for the job. He's a blond, blue-eyed Italian mobster. His mom was some kind of Swede. Candy has him paged to the corn dog stand for instructions. Meanwhile, Manda has a mind to confront the Harrisons. She spots them in a crowd of twenty or so guards and approaches. Blaine gets kicked out of a maintenance area for being too nosy. Manda shouts across the arena at Jerry, "I know what you did to Lana!" Jerry sends Catalina over to talk to Manda. Manda shows her cards. Catalina seems pissed and intimidates Manda, but Manda does not back down. Manda tells her the zombies are all dead and that she's going to stop Catalina, stop all of them. Catalina tells Manda she's in way over her head, that she has no idea what she's dealing with, and to walk away. Candy is somehow smitten with Catalina and approaches, tries to puppet her (GM's note: seriously. I have no idea what was up with Candy's player that session.). She shrugs off the attempt and slams Candy into a wall, which he enjoys a great deal. She tells Candy to walk away, slaps him, and backs off. "Mr. Rabatino, Ms. Hugnkhis, goodbye." She turns and leaves.
Elsewhere, Joe enjoys beers with the Truckasaurus crew, cracking jokes and talking cars. It's not too long before the main event of the evening, so Joe wanders off to the RV to compare notes with the others. They gear up and head back to the arena. There are no metal detectors, but there is plenty of security. Joe, as the driver of Truckasaurus, gets to skip security, and brings a duffel bag full of guns and weapons. The others are armed and ready and set up in the front row of the track. Mr. Big starts playing. Candy loudly derides the crappy music, and a guy in the row behind him tells him to shut up, Mr. Big is awesome. Candy turns and intimidates the guy.
Stunt cars slowly start circling the track. Rico waves from a motorcycle - he was not injured in his dramatic crash earlier. Eddy Rose joins the procession in a green car. Joe comes out in Truckasaurus. The procession halts, and the stunt cars pull out to various ramps and loops around the track to do their thing. Rico and another biker do the Ball of Doom. Blaine keeps his eyes on Jerry up in his deluxe box through the binocs. Jerry leans forward and takes out a piece of paper, starts reading from it, clutching something hanging around his neck. The ground rumbles. Candy looks around for a perch to do some sniping. He sees some rigging that would do nicely and makes for it. Agent Cooper is also there at the event and spots Candy, Blaine and Manda. She knows something is about to happen, but has no clue what it might be. Blaine dons his kevlar vest and Manda pulls out her special Desert Eagle. A deep rumble and a great shaking from below stuns the crowd, a hush falls. A few stunt cars also kill their engines, the drivers rattled. Joe carries a pickup in the jaws of Truckasaurus.
Just then the massive maggot from below bursts through the magical barrier and erupts from the floor of the arena. The crowd as a whole loses their collective s$&!. People are running and screaming in every direction. The worm is so tall that Candy, four stories up in the rigging, is just ten feet above its eyeless bulbous head. Mr. Big stops playing as the worm opens its huge slavering maw. Blaine, still watching Jerry, notices that the mogul is clutching a sheet of paper and chanting. He is sweating profusely and his bad toupee is slipping off. His guards panic and bolt, but Catalina turns and slowly saunters off, leaving Jerry alone in the suite, chanting and mumbling, rocking back and forth. The giant worm pukes up a writhing mass of slime-covered bodies - they are regular zombies, there are nine of them, and they seem hungry. Joe loses his s#@$ in Truckasaurus at the sight.
Candy tries for a head shot on Jerry, but barely misses, shattering the glass wall of the deluxe suite. Catalina turns at the noise, shakes her head, and continues to walk away. Jerry, however, is unfazed and continues chanting. Blaine rushes onto the racetrack to fight the worm. Manda jumps on the back of Rico's bike and shouts, "You drive! I'll shoot!", and they speed off towards the worm. Joe recovers. He holds the pickup high over the flame jets and torches the vehicle, then tosses it, flaming, into the mass of zombies headed for Blaine. He bowls a split. The worm has a mind of its own and decides to not do what Jerry is trying to command it to. It turns and wriggles its heaving bulk at Blaine, then vomits four more slime covered skeletons, who hit the ground and advance on Blaine. Rico skids past Blaine and Manda takes a shot at one of the zombies attacking him, taking it out. Blaine unleashes a fireball at the skeletons and worm. The worm gets angry and rears up to crush him. Just then, as the worm raises its undulating slab off the ground, Joe notices a yellowish patch of flesh that seems weaker and more vulnerable. Joe batters the thing with the flaming Toyota, attempting to divert its attention from his friend. Up in the rigging, Candy carefully aims, in a Zen-like state, and lowers his shotgun. He pulls the trigger (the player drew BOTH JOKERS with Level-Headed for this shot, and did something like 64 points of damage) and Jerry goes down.
The worm turns on Truckasaurus at this point, but Joe handily reverses and dodges the giant mouth. He shouts out the window of Truckasaurus for Blaine to hit the soft spot when the worm rises again. The worm returns its focus on Blaine - it rears up again and plunges at him, mouth wide open. Before he can make use of Joe's observation, Blaine is swallowed whole! Up in the luxury suite, Jerry dies of his throat wound. Candy clambers his way up to the suite using the rigging and a couple of crossbeams. Joe grapples the worm in the jaws of Truckasaurus, raising it off the arena floor. Manda and Rico scoot by and Manda unloads the Desert Eagle at the yellowish underbelly. The worm is momentarily distracted by the attack and loosens its grip on Blaine in its esophagus just enough that he has a little room to make an arcane gesture. Blaine unleashes a series of bolts from inside the worm and blows a hole big enough to walk out. He emerges near the thing's head and climbs to stand on the jaws of Truckasaurus. Manda cheers from the back of the motorcycle. Candy tries following Catalina but loses her in the crowd. Cooper is too busy helping the freaked out and wounded to chase them down.
Awesome :)
Glad you're enjoying it. The campaign has been a blast to run, and a serious workout for my GMing chops.
The lack of feedback in the campaign journals section of the boards can sometimes make it seem like I'm talking to myself.
I just found this and I'm really enjoying it so far!
Glad you're enjoying it. The campaign has been a blast to run, and a serious workout for my GMing chops.
The lack of feedback in the campaign journals section of the boards can sometimes make it seem like I'm talking to myself.
A big part of that lack of feedback is that, despite numerous flaggings, the "mods" have let a great many campaign journals slide into the AP-specific sections rather than moving them into Campaign Journals.
You've got a great CJ going here, *please* keep it going! The early ,90,s flashbacks have been quite enjoyable.
Well now I feel like I was just trolling for compliments. Ah heck, I'll take the compliments. :)
There are only 5 more sessions left to post until we catch up to the point where I put the campaign on hold. This campaign was a bit heavy from a roleplaying perspective, not as in roleplaying-heavy, but in dealing with some really heavy themes. After 22 sessions of it, we were all ready for something a little more light-hearted, and I had the then-brand new Marvel Super Heroic Roleplaying book in my hands and was sooooo enamored of the system...
But that explanation masks something. The conversions across both system and genre are really complicated. The lack of common magic makes some challenges that would be simple for a typical Pathfinder party nearly TPK-inducing, because technology has some limitations magic does not. For example, electronics don't work too well when submerged in water.
As I was looking ahead to the future adventures, they were looking harder and harder to convert. Part of this is the difference between how d20 and Savage Worlds handles scaling encounters to the characters. In d20 games, increasing character power allows, even necessitates, taking on bigger and more powerful challenges. In Savage Worlds, increasing character power tends to make enemies more numerous in encounters. Luckily, Savage Worlds supports massive combats quite well, but making the encounters challenging and/or appropriate to the party often requires significant reworking of the adventures.
Also, as the later adventures tend to rely on some well-trod D&D tropes, the genre conversion tends to get less coherent and, at least to me, the plot doesn't hold together quite as well. At this point, I have no idea how I'm going to convert some of the later adventures in AoW or how to tie any of it back in together.
But I have every intention of finishing this. My ridiculously convoluted Kingmaker game enters its 44th session tonight, but since one of the primary players can't make it to every session, I have an opportunity to pick this beast back up... if I can stop staring lustily at the new Deadlands book that showed up in the mail last week.
So, what's coming up in the campaign journal?
Joe dies and is almost reborn, becoming something not quite alive, but not quite dead either.
Manda gets a magic macuahuitl and wades into battle dual-wielding a magical aztec "sword" in one hand, and David Koresh's magic desert eagle in the other, for a whole lot of awesome.
Candy uses mind control to have Agent Cooper shoot herself, but is stopped by the rest of the group. Agent Cooper then, realizing that the Age of Worms is not only nigh, but also way above her ability to tackle, becomes an ally. Note that she also has absolutely no idea that Candy has been using his magic bracers for such awful purposes.
The party returns to Creede to rescue Kendra Larimore and fights a real dragon, twice!
The party goes to Guatemala, has a small tropical vacation, learns to scuba dive, meets a village of were-jaguars, and assaults a Guatemalan military camp funded by the Whispering Way.
Session 18 ~ Return to Creede
April, 1993
The party leaves the arena through the backstage area and make it to the Super-Chief. It's not too hard to use the chaos and confusion as cover. They give Richard, Lana's brother, a call to let him know they have her and would like to return her. He wants to meet at a Denny's halfway to Denver. Mickey gets the Willy back, and they hitch the Mustang to the back of the Winnebago. They head through the crowds to the gate. Behind them the Bandimere Arena collapses. They cruise towards Creede. On the way they discuss what the heck just happened. They figure Jerry Harrison killed Lana in a fit of jealousy - she was planning to skip town with Rico. Salvador was called in to cover up the murder.
Some hours later they pull into the Denny's parking lot. Richard is there, leaning against a nice car, smoking a clove. He asks where Lana is. They tell him she's under the Winnebago. Joe hands Richard a flask and tells him to drink. He drinks, a long slow pull. They pull out the tarp, which spasms and twitches as they set it down. A clawed grey arm pokes out one end, circling in the dirt. The tarp tries to sit up, then flops around pitifully. Richard calms down when he realizes the situation and asks the group to help bury her. They agree. They drive up to a spot that Richard likes in the mountains. While Joe and Candy dig, Richard whittles a marker for the grave. The others explain to Richard that they took care of the guys that did this. Richard tells Candy that his father will get a good word about Candy's role in finding his sister. It takes a couple hours to dig the grave deep enough for Richard's satisfaction. They lower the tarp down with a couple ropes, gently. Richard tells a long story as a eulogy. Blaine raises his arms and sends bright gouts of flame into the bottom of the pit. The others back off and watch. Blaine is a trench coat silhouette. After the flames die, Richard pours a shot from the flask into the hole, they fill it, and head back to Denny's. Richard says goodbye and gives them $200 each to help them get to Creede.
They head to another Denny's on the way and stop for breakfast. Joe eats for three people, which is unusual. He explains himself. After Blaine brought him back from death, strange things have been happening to his metabolism. After long, careful thought on the differences in the old Joe and the new, and after comparing the health and habits of the living to the quasi-existence of the hungry dead, he has an epiphany. He tells his friends that he is pretty much half-undead. He needs less sleep now, but the consumption of meat heals him. Healing magic is merely a temporary fix, and he is nearly impossible to kill. The others stare, aghast and agape. Then they finish breakfast and head out. Joe sleeps restlessly in the back of the Super-Chief. (GM's note: there was some question about whether we were going to continue the campaign when we began the previous session. Joe's character had barely failed to survive being infested with worms, and I felt it was sort of cheap to kill off a major character only 15 minutes into what could possibly be the last session of the campaign, so I let him live. At this point, it was clear the campaign would be continuing and I needed a way to deal with Joe's near-death experience. Making him pseudo-undead seemed like a good way to screw with Joe's player, who generally manages to avoid my sinister machinations.)
After another 5 or 6 hours of driving, they see their first sign for Creede. 42 miles. Not too far after the sign, another sign points to a detour - the road is out because of a landslide ahead. They pull out their Thomas Guide and check the map. The detour will take them all the way around the small spur of the Rockies where Creede is nestled - they will miss their mark entirely! They carefully drive around the sign and continue on. Eventually they reach the "landslide". There is indeed dirt and rubble all over the road, but also a few trees. Oddly, the trees are all laid out roughly parallel to one another, as if they had been placed there deliberately. Candy thinks with his new-found strength he can lift and move the huge trunks, and he is right - he unblocks the road! They examine the trunks as Candy performs his Herculean task. There are huge teeth and claw marks all over them. They shudder - something that makes marks that big is going to be one big something. They unhitch the Mustang and drive both vehicles carefully through the slender gap Candy made in the debris. He's thirsty after all that work, so they sit and have a couple beers before heading out once again.
The sun begins to set. They drive slowly, so as to not go over the side of the road or rush into any dangerous surprises. They descend the pass and wind their way down into the valley where Creede lies. They make it out of the trees and see the town below - there are no lights anywhere, but at one end of town they spy an angry red glow. Headlights are turned off and they don their night vision goggles, then coast quietly down to the town. Creede is a wreck. Buildings are destroyed and cars have been flipped and crushed. The red glow they saw from above is the church, burning in ruins. They stop downtown in front of the pawn shop. Then they do some looting. Candy gets a scope for his rifle in a gun shop. There are no bodies in sight as they comb through the collapsed building. Then, after moving some blasted doors and cabinetry out of the way they find the bottom half of a corpse. The man has been crushed by a beam. Joe and Manda find some interesting items. Joe finds a WWI-era bugle that grants Hard to Kill, Command and Nerves of Steel. Manda finds a very nice turquoise ring that grants +4 to armor. After topping off ammo and generally upgrading their gear, they hear a soft swoosh sound. The pawn shop's roof is gone, so they look up at the night sky. A huge shadow passes before the moon. A lone cricket stops chirping.
Then they see it. Candy falls to his knees, shaken. It's huge. The dragon must be forty feet long. It has landed between the party and their Winnebago. It lowers its head and sniffs around their vehicles. It has not seen them yet. It rears up and looks around - its head is sixty feet off the ground. Candy recovers his courage and steps outside. He shouts, "Step away from the Winnebago!" The dragon whips its head around and stares at Candy. It inhales and Candy's hair whips forward. The dragon murmurs, "You're not her." Blaine steps forward and brazenly asks, "Are you Ilthun?" The dragon responds, "Give me one reason not to eat you." Blaine, shaken, falls to his knees, cowering. He recovers and asks, "Are you looking for Catalina?" The dragon does not know a Catalina.
Just then an angry mob of eight Creede citizens shows up and attacks from across the street (GM's note: sometimes the adventure deck cards can make for some foolhardy NPCs). The dragon is momentarily distracted. Candy shoots at the great beast's eye. Joe sneaks out the back of the pawn shop, headed for the Mustang. Candy manages to hit the dragon, which soaks the wound and sneezes. Blaine unleashes a volley of bolts at the dragon, and it seems to shake it. The dragon backs up a bit, knocking a flipped car into the angry mob, then rears back its head and shoots a spray of black acid at Candy, Blaine and Manda. Miraculously, they all dodge the attack. The asphalt and cement rubble around them smokes and burns, pitted and charred. Manda pops up for a double tap and hits, but the bullets spark and ricochet off the monster's snout. Candy shoots again, targeting the dragon's other eye, and hits, doing a ton of damage. The dragon seems heavily wounded and roars in anger and pain. Joe makes it to the Mustang just as the dragon claws Candy and bites Blaine. Then it turns to whack Blaine with its massive spiky tail. Blaine is knocked over, but otherwise unhurt. The dragon flaps its great wings and escapes (GM's note: Joe had spotted a nice ramp and was going to launch the Mustang off it into the dragon, using a muscle car as a weapon. The dragon, having taken way too much damage from Candy's called shots to the eye, wasn't going to stick around for that, especially since I felt that the dragon hadn't been quite terrifying enough by this point.)
The angry mob, which had been virtually useless during the scuffle, is led by Jake, the guy who let Candy and Joe use the wood chipper. He catches the party up on recent events. Ilthun flew down from the mountains and completely sealed off Creede from the outside world a week ago. She ripped Creede apart looking for Kendra, but never did find her. Ilthun spends most of her time up in the Whispering Cave behind Harrowstone. No one knows where Kendra is or why Ilthun is looking for her. The group thanks Jake for the news and heads over to the Larimore house to do some searching for clues. They find receipts there - Kendra hired a few miners and rock climbers and purchased a sizable amount of dynamite. They find a hand drawing of a large disc - it resembles the partial copper ring they saw on their first foray into the Whispering Cave. They head back to the angry mob and ask Jake to lend them a truck that can get them up to Whispering Cave. Someone does. They have a brief lock and load scene then drive up into the mountains. Candy gets out at one point and clears some heavy debris from the road.
They make it to the parking lot near the trail head, stow the truck, grab their gear and head up. Blaine sees a flash of blue by the side of the trail on their way up. Curious, he investigates. It's an arm inside the sleeve of a shredded parka. The hand sports a wedding ring with an inscription, "To Jeanette, from Michael." Jeanette is the name of a climbing guide Kendra hired. They keep climbing and are slowed by a brand new rock slide. Huge claw marks in the hill above explain the rubble. They eventually make the cave, which seems bigger and deeper than before. There are some fresh cables hanging down into the darkness, so they descend. It feels somehow less safe this time around, what with less rock overhead - Kendra and her crew have done some serious excavating down here. Rope ladders and bridges assist their descent. Here and there are piles of used flares. Manda checks for tracks and notices most traffic is leading to and from a newly dug area. They pass the room where the big broken copper ring was - it still stands.
They enter the new tunnels. At the entrance they spot a pile of three parkas to one side and a pile of D batteries on the other. Manda takes point, intent on the boot tracks in front of her. It's a tight squeeze - they must leave some bulky gear behind. They emerge into a room with a full copper disc, a whole twin of the broken one. At its center is a swirling oily inkiness. Blaine instantly recognizes it as a portal of some kind. Manda says the runes etched around the ring are jumbled Mayan nonsense. Someone pokes a mag light through the inky blackness and pulls it back out. Candy throws Blaine into the inky blackness. Inky black arms writhe into being and reach out and grab Blaine, pulling him through! They tussle with the tentacles for a bit. Manda shoots one and they dissolve.
Candy calmly steps through the portal and finds himself in a hallway. He reaches through and pulls Blaine in with him. Joe and Manda follow. It is dark down here, and their headlamps illuminate a set of double doors, propped open. They go through. A three hundred foot hallway stretches on and on and ends at an archway. Carvings on the walls are too time-worn to decipher. They enter a room about a hundred by two hundred feet big. Huge stone pillars support the ceiling. Two more sets of double doors stand in two other walls. They are two noticeably areas of dangerous-looking spiky piles of rubble. Blaine leads the way, curious. A mighty wind rises up and blows him towards the closest pile of spiky stone, but he manages to catch himself. Candy enters next, gets nearly blown over by the wind, but manages to catch himself, as well. Manda throws in a rope to ease her entrance, but Candy botches his catching attempt and gets blown into the spikes. Joe, however, keeps to the wall and creeps around the trap carefully.
Blaine steps up to the near set of double doors. The floor shifts slightly under his feet. A rolling cloud of poison gas erupts from a hidden hole on the door. Blaine avoids the gas and disarms the trap. These doors open into yet another hallway. At a T-junction sits an androgynous humanoid eight foot statue. It wields a glittering sword in one hand and a balance in the other. Six orange and yellow-lit lanterns float in a circle around it.
Blaine triggers another trap and is paralyzed. A huge spider-shape descends from the shadows above. Blaine has wandered too far ahead - the party is cut off. The spider thing quickly wraps Blaine in a cocoon and disappears up into the shadows before the party can reach him to help. As they pass the statue, someone steps on a pressure plate and the statue animates -and swings its sword in a tight arc. Candy ducks. They regather and head down the T-junction. A set of doors opens easily. Beyond is a two-tiered hallway with a vague purple light. The walls are decorated with skeletal figures and sounds in here seem strangely muted and dull.
Elsewhere, Blaine wakes. He is groggy and feels nauseated. A voice near his head whispers, "You're going to help me. You're going to do what I tell you to do..."
Session 19 ~ Waterfall
April, 1993
Candy, Manda and Joe creep forward into the two-tiered room, looking for Blaine. The floor is a dull black stone, the tiers rise six feet from the bottom floor. A set of double doors to their right are quiet beyond - Candy hears nothing when he presses his ear to the paper-thin crack between them. They move forward. Meanwhile, Blaine finds himself in a five by seven cage with no door. He can't see very far beyond the walls of the cage - the room is quite foggy. Next to him lies the remains of the cocoon the spider wrapped him in, and to the other side is a pile of weakly flopping fish. He turns on his headlamp, but it barely cuts through the fog, granting him a few more inches of visibility. Between the swirls of mistiness, he can make out that he's in a big room. There are two chandeliers overhead. Hanging from the closer chandelier he sees a huge spider - its abdomen must be nine feet in diameter. The spider notices Blaine's movements and climbs over on a network of webbing. It tells him, "Eat fish, then help." Blaine asks, "Why?" Spider replies, "You're in a cage, you help. You kill the Marquis of the River." Blaine talks awhile with the spider, then says, "I am happy to help, in exchange for something." Spider says, "No deal." and returns to its hanging position on the chandelier.
Candy opens the double doors, the others follow him into a ten by twenty foot well-appointed chamber. The carvings are unweathered and clear here and depict a freshly-painted garden scene. Two of the tall androgynous figures embrace. There is a shiny red urn on a stone table, surrounded by six small wooden boxes bound with corroded metal bands. Joe pries one open. Within are ancient books wrapped in banana leaves. Manda touches one and it crumbles to dust. They manage to pry the rest open. Silk gowns turn to dust, leaving a tidy pile of about 200 pearls and turquoise bits. Manda figures the semi-precious stones are worth about a grand. In one box they find a wicker basket containing a set of matching platinum jewelry, unblemished by time, and Manda figures the set is pretty much priceless. They also find a set of three stone tablets decorated with unintelligible Mayan glyphs. Someone finds an obsidian cylinder, long and slender. If the wielder holds it and points it at an enemy, the enemy might start jabbering mindlessly for a short time. Manda opens the urn and slumps to knees, fatigued. Inside are ashes and bones. They head back to the tiered chamber and listen at the set of double doors on the other side of the room. Nothing is heard, so they enter a long hallway which makes a ninety degree turn and slopes down. They find themselves in a huge chamber, kind of foggy, with two chandeliers.
They take a few steps in and see a bunch of statues standing around and some big pillars holding the ceiling up. Blaine asks the spider if it will teach him the plane-hopping intangibility trick, and the spider says no. Then the spider disappears from Blaine's view and pops into the room with Manda, Joe and Candy. "I have your friend, you help me." it says. Blaine shoots a bolt or three through the cage bars at the chandelier the spider was hanging from, hoping to knock it down and crush the thing. The bolts pass right through the chandelier and the ceiling, too. The spider gets nowhere trying to get the party to help - they want Blaine back first before they agree to anything. The spider continues working on Blaine, and finally gives in to his demand for "something" if Blaine is able to bring back proof of the Marquis' demise. The proof is a quartz disc in the Marquis' possession, but one must say the names of the brothers of Zokias - Aka, Vita and Tutu - when first touching the quartz disc, for some reason. The spider returns to the main party and tells them their friend already swore to help, so Manda goes back with the spider to Blaine to verify this. The spider calls the tall androgynous figures Wind Dukes. The spider and Manda talk terms of the deal, and Blaine reminds the spider of what it promised in return. The quartz disc is some kind of seal. What it seals, no one knows.
Manda asks about Kendra - the whole reason the party is here in an alternate realm at the bottom of Whispering Cave in the first place. The spider waves one of its huge hairy legs vaguely in a direction the opposite the way the Marquis is supposed to be. She and Blaine learn that the Marquis has a few friends that might put up some resistance. The spider brings Manda and Blaine back to Candy and Joe, and the party is quite happy to be reunited. Blaine demands the spider give him another "something" to help. The spider gives him a stone key that will open any lock, make doors harder to open if used to lock a door, and lets the wielder of the key fly (GM's note: one of the weirder, randomly generated magic items. I have a soft spot for arbitrary magic where the abilities have nothing to do with the object itself). The spider vanishes and the group heads off to find Kendra first. They wander through the set of doors the spider vaguely waved at and wander down some hallways, then find a room. In the room stands a statue. It wields a jagged sword (like the one that gave Joe the horrible scar on his chest). It's made of gold and has gems for eyes. A bright ray of light shines down on its head, and it holds up a hand to shield its eyes from the light. On the walls are carved figures and the floor is littered with fallen mosaic tiles. A shallow trough is carved in the stone floor before the statue, and within lie bits and pieces of cachina doll parts. Manda throws her flannel shirt over the upraised hand, blocking the light, but nothing happens. A long discussion ensues - can Candy lift the statue and carry it out of the dungeon? Manda's pretty sure they could get a lot of money if they sell the thing to a private collector. Candy tries it, then stops, and says, "Back surgery costs hundreds of thousands of dollars." They leave it.
A door out of the room leads to another winding hallway, at the end of which is another door. They open it and find a room with a funnel-like floor. A giant metal spike protrudes from the ceiling, and at the bottom of the funnel is a large globe of some kind. Kendra is in the globe, frozen. The air smells of ozone. Candy's snakeskin gloves make him immune to electricity, so he boldly steps in. A huge bolt of lightning builds and strikes him, but he shrugs it off. He makes his way carefully down the sloped floor and touches the globe. He gets trapped inside with Kendra, frozen solid - he can't think or move. The party discusses ways to get them free, and it is decided Blaine will bolt the hell out of the stone holding the spike in place, maybe it will get knocked free. He fires several volleys of bolts at the stone, and eventually chips and shards fly free, enough to loosen the spike, which falls on Candy. Kendra jumps clear, finally freed from the globe, which disappears. She and Blaine hug. Candy dusts himself off and says, "Hey Kendra, good to see yah. We're gonna go kill a Marquis. Wanna come? It'll be a blast!" She agrees and they arm her with a silver knife, UZI, and Manda's bone shirt.
She explains she has no idea why Ilthun is after her. She was down here digging for the matching disc-portal when the dragon showed up, sniffing at the topside entrance. The group notices she's covered in blood, so Manda offers her a fresh shirt from her pack. The boys turn their backs so she can change, and Manda notices a huge burn mark on her side when she takes her shirt off - she must have been hit by a lightning blast. Kendra collapses. Blaine tries to bring her around with some natural healing, but she's too far one for that, so he casts some healing spells and gets her on her feet. Kendra, when she regains her composure, says, "I was looking for another way out, but couldn't find one." Joe responds, "Well, death is not the answer." They finish a brief lock and load scene and exit the chamber through a door in the opposite wall.
A staircase going down lies beyond. The stairs go on for ten feet or so, then the passage levels off. Another thirty feet on, the floor gives way and they spot a set of rungs in the wall going down a shaft. Candy goes down first, but slips and falls. He lands on a bed of glittering red stones, but he's OK. Blaine goes second. Candy moves forward and find a tunnel, which he investigates. Manda and Kendra make it to the red stone floor. As Joe begins his descent, a massive yet far-off clanging and sliding of stone can be heard, then a great rush of water. Joe backtracks and finds the door to the trapped room is sealed shut. Candy runs forward and finds a side passage and takes it, then sees a massive wall of water rushing at him from down the corridor. Blaine quaffs a potion of "breathing is not necessary" and runs headlong down the main corridor, directly at another wall of water. Manda and Kendra clamber back up the rungs, safe for now. Blaine gets slammed by the water wall and it tumbles him head over keister, but Candy wedges himself in pretty well and holds his position. When the force of the water has subsided a bit, Blaine swims forward to find the source. Candy swims back to check on the others, but the undertow grabs him and batters him around a bit. Joe tries lifting the door to the lightning chamber, but it won't budge. Blaine and Candy run into one another in the water-filled tunnels, banging each other up pretty badly, but Candy soaks the wounds.
Joe ties off a length of rope and heads down to the water level - it's about ten feet deep at the bottom. Up top, Manda finds the pressure plate that delay-triggers the water trap. Blaine gets his act together and swims against the current toward the source of the water. Joe ties off another length of rope and swims forward, looking for Candy and Blaine. The water reverses direction, and Blaine gets sucked into a hole and falls. He lands in more water and bobs to the surface in a pitch-black chamber. There is a dull roar here - the sound of a big waterfall. Joe lets go of the end of the rope and Candy manages to grab it. Joe, Manda and Kendra make it to the corridors and move ahead carefully, but Candy gets sucked under by the receding water and falls in the hole, landing in the big dark chamber with Blaine. Joe, Manda and Kendra make it to the hole that Blaine and Candy fell through. Joe shouts, but hears no answer. A trap door that shuts the hole starts closing. Joe jumps in, followed closely by Manda and Kendra.
Blaine hears a waterfall and shouts, "I hear a waterfall!" Candy can barely make out Joe, Kendra and Manda in the gloom and shouts, "Did he say wonderful?" Blaine tries repairing his doused headlamp, Candy pulls a glow stick. Joe manages to keep his headlamp dry, Blaine fixes his. The water is tangy and metallic, and has a faint red sheen. Candy goes over a big funnel-shaped waterfall. He falls for a while, then slides down a rough and bumpy slide, then he's in free-fall again. Blaine turns on a fly spell and dives after him. Manda tries catching herself on a rock, but it's too slippery - she goes over, too. Joe and Kendra manage to anchor themselves, though, and clamber up onto a narrow lip of stone that rings the funnel fall. Down below, Blaine kills the fly spell and lands next to Manda. He and Manda and Candy are all pretty close together. Up top, Joe and Kendra carefully pick their way around the narrow ledge and find a door. It opens easily. Within is a room with several Wind Duke statues. Their hands are cupped in front of them. Above the cupped hands float miniature buildings, carved of stone. Joe grabs one, then puts it back.
Down below, Candy, Manda and Blaine make it to a tiny rocky beach and take a breather. There are no doors or anything else of significance here (except a bunch of little white crabs), and they hear another mighty waterfall ahead. Up top, Joe figures a separated party is a bad thing, so he and Kendra hold hands and jump into the funnel fall. They both land badly - Kendra is wounded and Joe shaken. The others coax them over to the rocky beach, and they are finally together once again. They decide to go over the falls as a group this time, and float on down the underground river. Over they go, and then over another. They go over one more, which is a very long drop, and find themselves in a good-sized, relatively calm basin. The falls out of this big pool are gentler, and climbable. Candy loses his footing and is carried down by rushing water, but the rest manage to climb down without a problem. At the bottom, Candy spots a cavern about two hundred feet up a gently sloping but rocky stream. They regroup and head up that way. They pass right under a smaller waterfall, and beyond is a twelve foot high corridor. Candy and Blaine find a secret door. It opens easily and they all enter another chamber. This one's ceiling can't be seen with their lights. On the opposite end of the room from the secret door is a set of huge double doors - they must be fifty feet tall. They are of dull black stone and covered with glyphs and carvings and tiny and huge runes.
There are no knockers, and the doors are too heavy for Candy to drag open. As Candy strains and grunts, Manda tries deciphering the runes. She does not have much luck, but does make out the names of the brothers - Aka, Vita and Tutu. There also seems to be a spot to place a disc of some kind. Blaine boosts Candy's strength and he pulls again. The doors open a crack, and they can make out a locking mechanism. Blaine uses the stone key to fly, and touches the key to the locking mechanism thirty-five feet up. The door springs open. A long hall lies beyond with seven stone columns that gradually get higher and higher incrementally. The floor can not be seen - a swirling blue mist can be seen about eighty feet below. In the mist can be heard howling and can be seen crackling, swirling shapes of some kind. Beyond the seven columns, at the far end, lies a platform and another huge set of doors. The howling shapes fly up to fight the party. A brief combat ensues, and both air elementals are blown to bits. Bits of what, they have no idea - they were made of air.
A deadly yet comical game of leapfrog ensues. One of the columns appears to stretch all the way up to the ceiling far above, out of sight. Manda realizes it's an illusion as she jumps and tries to hug it with her climbing axes. Another spins slowly, so landing on it requires a bit of thinking, but they easily maneuver it. Another is coated with a layer of sticky tar, but they manage to make it past that one, as well. Yet another crumbles as Candy jumps from it, but eventually everyone makes it to the ledge. They try the same tactic as before. Candy pulls on the doors and Blaine flies up, key in hand, to open them. But this time there is no lock - these doors are fake. They sit and think for awhile, then decide to backtrack. On the biggest of the columns, Blaine remembers seeing a depression of sorts - just big enough to hold a disc of some kind. They all head back to that column and Blaine touches the key to the depression - the column rises like an elevator. The column rises fast at first, then slows down as it nears the ceiling far above. Just when they think they will be crushed to adventurer pancakes, the ceiling gives way - another illusion.
The columns stops and they get off. They find themselves in a twenty by forty foot chamber, the ceiling is an impressive one hundred sixty feet up. A funeral procession is carved into the walls. Elongated rainbow-colored lanterns light the space. A floating sarcophagus drifts nearby - its bottom side is ten feet off the floor. The bottom side is carved with a Wind Duke wearing a plumed helmet and wielding two swords. Joe boosts Candy so he can get a look at the top side. The carving there is another Wind Duke, but with no swords or helmet - its hands are cupped in front of it. There is no obvious seam to crack the thing open. Blaine tosses his key up to Candy, who touches the carving with it. The sarcophagus slowly lowers, then the lid fades away. The dust of a long-dead corpse lies scattered within. Also there is an ancient suit of rusty armor. Blaine finds a perfectly preserved plumed helmet - it's another relic. Manda picks up a nice-looking sword, another relic. A foot-long metal rod with a crenelated end looks like it might open a lock of some sort. Manda stands admiring her sword, as Blaine admires his helmet. The others disappear and a figure enters the chamber through a wall. The figure asks Manda, "Why are you taking my sword?" Manda answers, "Because I am trying to save the world and you're dead. I need to stop the Age of Worms." The figure nods and turns to Blaine, "Why are you taking my helmet?" Blaine blurts, "Age of Worms?" and the figure nods, then disappears.
(GM's note: The party got here partly due to a complete misreading of the adventure on my part. I was so caught up in trying to convert a dungeon crawl into a modern game, and trying to figure out what to do with the setting elements, that I neglected to notice that the seal was required to open this area. Their use of the magic key worked just fine though.)
Candy digs through his backpack and finds a metal box sealed with a bead of silver (that they got sixteen sessions ago and never opened). Within is an amulet that lets them understand the ancient Quechan spoken by the Wind Dukes. Finished in the chamber, they touch the key to the elevator and it takes them down to the room with the column trap. Standing at the great double doors they used to enter is a wan man with wispy white hair and a long, Victorian-style goatee. Candy zaps him with his wand of jabbering, but it fails. The man asks if they need help getting off the platform, then sends over a floating disc that carries the party to him. They land near him and start asking questions. He explains that yes, he is the Marquis. He was down in the White City until a week ago, and the spider is a paranoid numbskull. The party asks for food and water - they have been through a lot, and all their gear is soaked and/or ruined. Manda wants tea. Candy zaps him again with the jabber wand, and the Marquis becomes unintelligible. Realizing he can no longer speak sensibly, he glares at Candy and motions for them to follow.
The disc takes them down to a pint where the river pools and the water is calm. The noise from the waterfalls above are muted here. Crabs and fish swarm in the pool. A big desk carved of stone sits here, covered with arcane-looking devices, books and scrolls. A pile of power bar wrappers clutters a table with a tablecloth - garbage from the river, explains the Marquis. He calls this room the Star Chamber. The party is asked to turn off their mag lights and headlamps. They do so, and pleasant green stars light up above in the ceiling. They are silkworms, he explains. The party, understandably tense about green worms, relaxes when he says they aren't "those" worms. He makes some tea. He explains that he's pretty much OK with the Age of Worms, because the White City can take over after everything on the surface is dead. The dead dragon Dragotha great name for a dragon will be the consort of Kyuss. Those in the White City, he explains further, study that which falls from above. He holds up a page from a book preserved in a ziplock bag, and a quartz disc as examples. He then says if they kill the paranoid numbskull, they can have the disc. Candy draws his shotgun.
Session 20 ~ Out of the Dark
April, 1993
The Marquis is not forthcoming with spider-killing advice, so Candy blasts him with both barrels. The water in the pool nearby stir and two waves of reinforcements emerge. They resemble human zombies, but their torsos have been peeled back and emptied - human heads grin and gnash from where there stomachs used to be. Joe does some shooting at the Marquis, as well, but he soaks the wound(s),then Candy shakes him. Blaine throws some bolts around, then the Marquis gets to his feet and puppets Joe, who pistol whips Blaine with his pump shotgun. The minions advance, and their leader focuses its attention on Manda. Joe breaks free of the puppet spell and more melee ensues. Candy gets paralyzed and Blaine delivers the killing blow to the Marquis. They search around and find a really nice bronze longsword and a really nice heart-shaped locket.
They realize they have been down in the river complex for quite some time, so they decide to rest. Joe is fatigued, mumbling and stumbling around. The discussion of whether Candy can fly everyone out is had, and they think he can do it. Blaine starts a fire and they warm a bunch of stones and strip to their underwear to dry their clothes. Kendra and Manda hunt for fish and crab and clear the bodies from the pool, pushing them through a hole so they float down river. Joe eats a mighty meal and sleeps. They all try to sleep, but it is not restful. Candy and Manda wake, but are still fatigued. Blaine tries to make a move on Kendra, but she says now is not the time, but sitting on the rocks wearing underwear and hugging is just fine. They all rise and stretch and have oatmeal for breakfast. Then they clothe, gear up, and prepare for exodus.
Candy gets them to the room before the tomb on their first leg. The stone key must recharge, so they have a long, boring ten hour wait. Kendra goes hunting and finds some edible algae, some crabs, and a fish. They heat and eat then rest up. Candy and Manda rest enough to become unfatigued. Once the key has recharged, they fly again, up and up in the noisy dark, their headlamps and mag lights cutting through the misty murk. They realize they are running low on battery power. Candy carries everyone up to the rocky beach they found earlier, just below the funnel fall. They rest up again. For the final leg they pull out every scrap of rope and bungee cord and strap they have and bind themselves tighter than ever - they are about to go up the rough patch and the funnel fall, and they don't want to get separated. Candy alights on the ledge around the funnel fall. They unstrap from one another - it's like a game of wet Twister. They find a couple mag lights didn't make the flight.
They carefully pick their way around the ledge to the room with the floating miniature buildings. The door swings open, and they notice another set of doors at the far end. These open easily into a long hall with walls, floors and ceiling covered in a thick layer of slippery ice. Two tall scarlet statues sit at the far end. Blaine moves forward as Manda collects the floating buildings. As soon as Blaine is halfway down the hall, the statues there come to life. One of the five statues in the floating building room also animates. Joe had tied himself off to that statue earlier, in an attempt to anchor himself to something to make navigating the slippery ice easier. The building statue swings at Manda and whaps her good. Joe tugs on the rope in an attempt to get the building statue out on the ice, but he's not strong enough. Blaine bolts the scarlet statues and takes one out. Manda gets to her feet and attacks the building statue, but botches, losing ammo and missing with her sword. Kendra rushes the building statue and shoots her UZI, doing some damage. Candy skates into position in the ice hall and unloads his guns on the scarlet statue, and it falls.
Back in the floating building room, Joe tries and fails to tug the statue down. It advances on Manda, slapping her around the room. She throws a floating building at it, but it shatters and does no damage. Manda, Blaine, Candy and Joe all hit ineffectively. Kendra, however, does enough damage to take it out. They dust themselves off and carefully skate to the end of the hall - they spotted a door earlier. It open easily. They find a fifteen by fifteen foot room with icicles hanging down from the ceiling. The floor is a roiling mass of scarlet-colored ice. It looks like a Slurpee machine. Blaine decides he wants to jump in and explore, so the other strap him up and hold on tight in case he gets sucked under. He not only survives the cold, he feels awesome! His spirit feels elevated for the next twenty-four hours. They head back to the ledge over the funnel fall and jump in, heading the opposite direction from they originally entered the river.
They swim until they find a big stone bridge. They exit the water on a rocky beach and climb up to the bridge. They see a set of fifteen foot tall double doors on their side of the bridge, and the walls are covered in dials and levers of random sizes and positions. There is no keyhole. Candy starts pushing buttons and pushing and pulling levers, but his work has no visible effect - the doors stay shut. Blaine walks up and touches the stone key to the doors, and they swing open...to an identical set of double doors, walls covered in dials and tubes and gears and levers. Six doors later, they face an empty wall - this was a time-wasting trap, it appears. They head back to the other side of the bridge where yet another set of double doors awaits. The doors open to the chandelier room.
The spider shows up not too far after they enter. Candy blasts it with his shotgun, but botches, losing the last of his magic ammo. He hits it with his other gun, and does double damage. This kills the spider. They spelunk their way out of Whispering Cave and emerge from the entrance at around four in the afternoon. It's a nice day. The old pickup loaned by the angry mob is still there, intact. Joe scrambles down the hill to Kendra's ruined truck to get some trip planners out of the glove box. One is from Albuquerque to Creede, the other is from Creede to Viaz Bolangna in Guatemala. They pile into the pickup and head down the mountain. The road is in decidedly worse shape - Ilthun has been at work. Eventually, they are stopped by a rock slide with trees on top. As the pickup idles and they discuss what to do, they hear the sound of trees being uprooted and dropped behind them - they are trapped on the mountain. Ilthun flaps her mighty wings and settles about thirty feet away.
Kendra freaks out and starts screaming - dragons are scary. Candy, who had exited the truck to get a look at the roadblock ahead, unloads his shotgun and hits, but does no damage. Ilthun swipes with her mighty tail and totals the truck. Blaine is thrown from the vehicle, but Manda holds on. Kendra screams some more. Joe exits the truck and shoots, but does no damage. Kendra manages to stumble from the truck just before Ilthun whacks it with a huge claw, sending it sliding down the mountain. Kendra gets a hold of herself, and she and everyone else start calling shots to Ilthun's head. Eventually, Candy gets through and does an impressive amount of damage. Then Manda shakes the dragon and Candy jumps onto Ilthun's head. He fires two guns at the dragon's head and Ilthun falls, brain damaged but not dead yet. They stab, hack and shoot until she expires. Forty-five minutes and some Lopper hacking later, her head is separated from her massive torso. Blaine guts her as the others carefully pick their way down the mountainside collecting the gear that was in the truck when it went over the side. They hike down the switchbacks and make it to the freeway.
A FEMA truck rolls by and stops, and a couple FEMA personnel help them up into the back. Creede is well-lit with floods, and tents and portables line the streets in the center of town. There are around sixteen other FEMA workers walking around. The bar is still intact, but taped off. They are let off at the supervisor portable. As they stand there looking around, A familiar figure emerges from the portable. It's Agent Debra Cooper. She wants to talk to Joe, alone. Traumatized by their last exchange, Joe freaks out a little and starts backing up. Candy uses his thing that lets him use puppet to puppet Debra and commands her to kill herself. Debra pulls her revolver and holds it to her head, but Manda and Blaine rush forward and grab the gun. She shakes her head, rattled, then asks Joe for just a word. He agrees, as long as they stay in sight of his friends.
She gets coffee for them both and shows Joe photos that have made Debra question reality. She also shows him photos that sort of exonerate Joe and his buddies from causing all the mayhem she had initially thought they had been up to. Zombies in SWAT gear, etc. Joe tells her that with his friends' help they can tell her everything. So they do. When they are done explaining the end of the world, she shakes her head, exhausted. Then she asks how she can help. They need passports - their next step is Guatemala (GM's note: There was a plot hook leading them to Guatemala, but it didn't make it into the notes and I certainly can't remember what it is.). She says she can't join them on that trip,but she'll do whatever she can to provide what they need from the FBI while they are gone. They are put up in separate FEMA trailers and get cleaned up. Candy is awakened by a soft yet insistent tapping on his trailer door around midnight. He opens the door, Glock-first and there stands Debra. He lowers the gun and gently ushers her inside. A moment later he hangs a tie from the outer door handle. Fade to black.
Session 21 ~ Stairs of the Moon
CC #4 (or maybe #3) - Broken Moon
May, 1993
After a few days of rest and recovery, FEMA gives the party enough to get to the next town and they head south, headed for Guatemala. They stop in Austin. Manda has contacts there that she can trade some of the artifacts and jewelry they have gathered for cash. They end up crashing on the couch of a college buddy of Blaine's. They also have Debra set them up with some passports. They pick them up at the local FBI HQ. Blaine's buddy Jacob invites them all out to a goth club one night. Blaine gets gothed out, and Kendra and Joe do their best to look dour and dark. Candy comes along just to witness the spectacle. The club is called Raven Temple, and it's loud and smoky inside, and there's lots of eyeliner. Joe bellies up to the bar between two couples who are both (and independently) discussing how great it would be if they were vampires.
Manda gets rid of some stuff, but some other stuff needs to be auctioned to get the best price for it. She walks out with five grand for the artifacts. At the jewelry specialist she gets another five grand for the platinum set and the rest. She heads back to Jacob's pad, and the rest arrive not long after she does. Joe is discussing his loathing for Sisters of Mercy as they walk in, so Jacob throws on some Throbbing Gristle. In the morning they bid adieu to Jacob and head out to an ammo shop and hit a couple of gun shows. They load up the Super-Chief with a box of 20 grenades and a couple boxes of the silver bullets. They head to the Mexico border, stopping for food, then gas, then water and munchies for the long desert trip ahead of them.
They cross the border. The only traffic they see for many hours is army trucks and pickups full of workers. They stop at tiny hotels and haciendas to rest up overnight - the going is slow in the Winnebago, as they are still towing the Mustang and the roads are usually pretty bad. In one town they stock up on parts and supplies for the Winnebago and several bottles of tequila. They switch off their driving shifts so no one gets to worn out. Candy is driving when they are pulled over by the police the first time. They are local policia, yet they carry assault rifles. One approaches from behind on each side of their vehicle, trying to peek in through the windows. Candy keeps his cool and shows them the necessary paperwork, and claims they are in Mexico on vacation. He hands over two hundred dollars to make them go away, and they do. The officer Candy is talking to recommends a place to stay up the road a couple of hours, and the policemen drive off.
While Manda is driving two hours later, two more cop cars pull them over. Manda successfully bribes them, and they warn that at the rate they are traveling, they won't make the border tonight, it's best to find a hotel on this side and finish the trek in the morning. The cops leave. Candy is at the wheel again when they are stopped for the third time. He's pretty pissed at this point and tries intimidating the cop at the driver side window. He succeeds, and the cop backs off and pulls his gun. Candy offers another bribe, which cools down the cituation, and they are on their way once again. They finally reach the state border and shoot right through - the guards at the border station are kicking back with a giant fan and dinner and beers, and can't be bothered. They are in Chiapas. Not too far after the border crossing the freeway turns into a two-lane road with plenty of twists and turns. There is no traffic. They round a big ess curve and are forced to stop - a pair of pickups block the road. A guy with a gun and a ski mask approaches the RV.
Around ten other men with guns are gathered by the pickups. The one in front waves a black flag with a red star and welcomes them to Chiapas. Manda comes forward to communicate in Spanish. He wants to know what is in the RV. Realizing that they are going to get in one way or another, Candy kicks things off by shooting and dropping the guy, right through the door of the RV. Blaine jumps out and casts a spell, but botches and stuns himself. Candy tells Manda to duck and fires at another bandito on the passenger side of the RV, killing him. The rest of the banditos fire from the cover of the pickups, but luckily do no real damage to the RV. Joe climbs out through the roof, then dives to the ground, which swallows him up and spits him back out directly behind a bandito. Joe drew his knife mid-dive, and buries it in the baddie's neck, killing him. Blaine recovers his senses and casts fear. One baddie immediately develops a white streak in his hair and runs off screaming. Another loses it and also disappears into the jungle. Manda takes another guy out as Blaine hurls fiery molten metal bolts at the baddies using a pickup for cover. He mangles the truck, however, catching a back tire and the dashboard afire. They kill or scatter the rest and loot the bodies and trucks. They find a couple of AK-47s and pistols, but nothing special. They put out the flaming pickup and continue on, staying at a camp ground overnight.
In the morning they hit the Guatemalan border. Traffic at the border is a nightmare, and it takes them several hours to make it through. They stop at a mercado with a faded Pepsi sign gently blowing in the wind. They get a fantastic lunch of barbacoa and beer, then turn the sink in the RV into a kegerator. They continue on and spend the night in a tiny hotel in Guatemala City. The next morning they head up into the highlands. The jungle gets denser, and they see the occasional patches of farmland that have been hacked out of the green tangle. Eventually they make it to Lake Atitlan. The lake is ringed by three dead and two dormant volcanoes. They follow bright yellow hand-painted signs to a tiny lakeside resort town. They spy a dock with a jet-ski and a couple of kayaks and a sign - Welcome to Kaibil Balam, Home of Tropical Tours. A beat up pale yellow Vanagon sits in the parking lot. A series of cabanas marches down the shore of the lake. They decide to rent a couple of cabins and rest for a couple of days.
The front office is staffed by a white-haired leathery Canadian guy named Jacques Lianne. The rates are reasonable - just fifteen bucks per cabin per night, meals included. Jacque tells them about the other vacationers. Dan and Tina are Aussies on their honeymoon. A Venezuelan couple rents another cabin, and then there's the French woman. He explains the amenities. There is no pool, but there are four kayaks and six horses. Horse tours require a guide. He also can arrange hiking, bird watching, scuba diving, lake swimming, lava tube exploration, underwater cave diving, historical site tours and cultural activities. The closest town is about ten miles away. The office also sports a lending library. They pay for their cabins and Candy drops Delfina's name. Jacques has a vague recollection of the guy coming through here. The group gets set up in their cabins, which are quite clean and comfortable. They express interest to Jacques about scuba, and he advises they check out one of the local scuba shops for certification. They also ask about the Well of Dreams. Jacque thinks it's either a ruin or a bar, but he is sure the village elders in the closest town might know. Jacques tells them to avoid villages to the west - the military has set up shop out that way and are wary of strangers.
They pile into the Mustang and head to the closest town. Animal life is active - they see monkeys and hear birds during the whole drive. They make the main drag of the little town, which consists of eight shabby buildings. There is a restaurant, a mercado, a bar and a scuba joint. They ask around and discover that an historical site Jacques mentioned - Escalades de Luna - is about ten miles off, but they are warned not to go there. Bad people and the military crawl all over the site. They decide to head back to the resort for dinner, and hope to maybe meet the other guests. On the way they see more monkeys, and as Joe rounds a tight corner he's forced to stop. A pack of jaguars blocks the road. He swerves, narrowly missing the big cats, and they make it back to the resort. They exit the vehicle and make their way back to their cabins, and Kendra notices a Whispering Way sigil carved into the trunk of a tree. A flashlight bobs its way through the jungle towards them, and they meet Lise, the French woman. The mosquitoes are unbearable. They warn her about the jaguars they saw earlier. Lise seems to know nothing about the sigil, but remembers seeing it in a book that Sally was reading. Sally is in cabin six.
The party knocks at the door of number six, no answer. They easily break in. They find a suitcase full of clothes and a bunch of empty metal cases. On the nightstand is a paperback - Stephen King's The Stand. Kendra checks out the lending library and finds a Delfina translation of the Popul Vuh. The others can not figure out what was in the empty metal cases. A dog-eared page in the book talks of the Stairs of the Moon, jaguars, Dragotha and Tla-Kyuss. They find out Sally's been gone for four days. The book also mentions that the dragon's soul is in a gourd, which means it's probably a lich, and that the dragon is also the general of an army. A couple sites of interest are mentioned - a Minge temple and the Library of Last Resort. They have dinner and retire for the night.
The next few mornings are spent doing scuba lessons. One afternoon they visit the Stairs of the Moon, but see nothing special about the place, and decide to return at night. They go back to the resort and have lunch and booze, then return that evening loaded for bear, er, jaguar. They exit the RV and Blaine dons his headdress, to much muted snickering. They hear noises off in the jungle. Other than the gentle rustling, they hear nothing else - no birds, bats, monkeys, nothing. They head for the ruins and notice they are being followed by six jaguars. Growls of yet more big cats can be heard ahead. They spot a huge jaguar pacing at the top of the stairs of the ruin. Another have dozen are lounging on the steps below the big one. Yet more can be glimpsed milling about in the thick jungle all around the site. Blaine, curious, steps forward. Candy and Joe aim at the big jaguar. It's the night of May sixth, and the moon is full. Kendra is spooked, but Blaine presses forward, trying to provoke a reaction.
The big cat roars and Blaine is shaken. The jaguars all tense up as the big one charges Blaine. Manda steps forward and shoots at the big one, shaking it. Candy and Joe also fire, but seem to do no damage. Blaine recovers and fires a volley of bolts, hitting the big one in the face, but it rushes on and ravages Blaine with its claws and teeth. Some more ineffectual shooting and swinging happens, then Manda holds up her hands and tries calming the situation, which works. The jaguars retreat to the steps, and she explains that they are there to take care of the Whispering Way. The jaguars are quiet for a bit, then one pushes Joe. Joe turns and hits it with the butt of his shotgun, but no damage is done. Melee renews, but the jaguars seem to be impervious to damage. Blaine swears at one point that they must be immortal. Candy finally calls a head shot with silver ammo and hits, killing a jaguar. It turns into a naked boy of around sixteen years old. The rest of the jaguars retreat into the jungle shadows and the party shouts a communal "DOH!" Full moon plus damage only by silver equals were-jaguars.
Dot, dot, dot!
Oh yeah... I'm posting a campaign journal here.
We finished the campaign about two months ago with an epic final battle at... but wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
I'm missing two sessions of journals, including the final battle, but I'll do my best to fill in the blanks when I get to them.
More to come...
Session 22 ~ San Lucia Itzlan
May, 1993
After the scuffle with were-jaguars at the Stairs of the Moon, the party backs off, aware that the sound of gunfire could bring the nearby military. They head back to the cabins to regroup. Rest is hard to come by, but eventually they all fall asleep. They are awakened a couple hours later by scratching at the door. They carefully open their cabin doors and find linen wrapped packages and glimpse a couple of jaguars running off into the jungle. The packages contain gifts for the group, each tailored to each person's specialty. Also included are some very old hand-drawn maps.
In the morning they attend their final day of scuba training. The day is clear and beautiful, the water calm and the fish brightly colored. Blaine gathers ingredients. They then head back to the dive shop to receive their certifications and get them signed off, then head to a local taqueria for beers and tacos. They pull out the maps the jaguars gave them and search for the Minge Temple. It's not on the maps, they figure it's somewhere out at sea. They hope the People of the Forest can point them in the right direction. It is decided they should bring gifts this time to show their good faith. Manda does some research into local customs and learns they should bring animals, so they decide to buy a chicken and a pig.
They examine their map and find that there are two tiny villages equidistant from the Stairs of the Moon - Santa Cruz de Laguna and Juebulito. The People could live at either one. They rent a truck for the journey and buy the fattest pig they can find for $40. It's a damned big one. Their truck is a 70's Datsun patched together from several other 70's Datsuns. Candy rides in back with the pig. The huge animal starts loving on Candy's foot as they leave the village and Candy kicks it in the head. It stares balefully at Candy for the duration of the bumpy ride to Santa Cruz de Laguna. Joe follows power lines when the road disappears here and there. Eventually they pass a sign: SANTA CRUZ DE LAGUNA 4.1 KM. They carry on and eventually see a cluster of white-painted houses and a church.
There is a dilapidated sign on the only storefront: DRINK COKE ~ 1 BOTTLE 2 PESOS. The village had no power and no phone lines. Old people are sitting around in chairs on porches. An old guy whittles. An old woman washes clothes. Joe pulls over and Manda leans out and yells a greeting to the whittler. He responds, "We live in the forest." She explains they are looking for the people who walk as jaguars and have a gift for them. He says, "Leave it with me, I'll give it to them." Not good enough, so she offers $20 to tell them which way to go to find them. He says, "Juebulito." ed. note: get the feeling we would have had to go to the other village whichever village we went to first? hmm...
Joe pulls a seven-point turn and they head back the way they came. He waves as they leave the village. A bunch of villagers gather in the rearview mirror. They find the turn-off for Juebulito and a sign: TOWN ~ 3.2 KM. They arrive at Juebulito. It looks a lot like Santa Cruz de Laguna, but with more houses, a bigger church, and sturdier-looking roofs. No one is out and about. A big concrete slab, eighty by eighty feet, serves as they town square. Plastic lawn furniture litters the slab, covered with checkered table cloths. Beer-logo adorned umbrellas are stacked on the side. They spot a mercado and approach. The front is lit with neon beer signs. The sign says ABIERTO, and the models on the posters are homely. They enter.
It smells like cooking barbacoa. There is a pay phone with a sign: TWO PESOS/MIN - LOCAL ONLY. The place is a cross between a dingy 7/11 and a burritoria. Another sign promotes CANE SUGAR COKE. Blaine strides to the counter and rings a bell. A voice from the kitchen shouts, "Hold on, hold on!" A Chinese guy in his 40's appears from the back. His Spanish is horribly accented. Half his communication is done with sweeping hand gestures. Blaine asks where everybody is. The guy says, "Monkey burrito?" Blaine orders the world famous Brazen Monkey Burrito. They decide to take the pig for a walk. Blaine eats his burrito. Mr. Lee, the store's propieter, joins them. He swigs from a bottle of beer and chain smokes. Blaine gives Mr. Lee a clove cigarette. They hear some voices from the trees at the edge of the village. Men with guns emerge from the jungle.
There are about fifteen of them. In their midst they drag a beaten up guy in military uniform. The locals also emerge from their houses and start hooting and hollering. One of the men with guns spots Mr. Lee and shouts, "Cervesas!" Mr. Lee returns to the store. Manda mentions the People of the Forest to a local, who responds, "We live in the forest." The military guy whispers to Candy and Joe in Spanish, to no avail. Blaine wanders over to Manda, who is trying to give a local the huge pig. The local guy says, "We'll take it." Some men with guns, happy with the gift, come up and slap Candy and Joe on the back, pleased. Two guys lead the huge pig off behind a building. A squeal rings out,but it is quickly silenced with a squelch.
Blaine explains to the locals that they are looking for a man with a white stripe in his hair. The locals tell him he lives in the forest, off in a different village. They say don't go there, it is very dangerous. They also explain they took the military guy out of San Lucia Itzlan, where a firing squad killed around one hundred of the jaguar family a few days ago. The stripy guy's name is Zotz. The party sticks around for dinner. It is learned that Zotz likes to play checkers. Manda asks between bites of pig haunch where the military is now. They are holed up in a jaguar village. There are sixty to seventy of them there. Zotz and his people are just outside the village in the jungle. The military has a white van and a backhoe with them, and the locals suspect they are digging for something there.
The party decides to head out that way. They return the truck, have a nice lock and load scene, and wait until dark. Then they pile into the mustang and head to San Lucia Itzlan. Joe follows a recently cleared road, and around a sharp turn they are stopped by a pair of jeeps and eight soldiers. One soldier approaches, his hand held up. They consider turning around,stashing the car and sneaking through the jungle. Manda tries persuading the soldier to let them pass, but fails. They turn around and stash the car. Kendra leads the way, bur Blaine and Manda fail to be stealthy. They step on dry twigs and startle a monkey. The soldiers approach, and everyone hides. Manda fails to hide successfully. Six soldiers push through the thick, succulent foliage. Three have their guns on Manda, the other three whack and cut the bushes with machetes.
Candy sneaks around a huge tree and takes down one soldier. Manda draws her sword and sweeps three more. Blaine looses some magic bolts and takes out another three. Candy rushes forward and hides under a fallen tree as Joe burrows, reemerges from the earth behind a jeep, and cuts its gas line. Candy kills another soldier as Joe booby-traps the other jeep. Another soldier shoots Candy and hits him hard, but Blaine finds him and heals him up. The last soldier is taken out, they loot the jeeps for flashlights and other gear, and then move out. The six mile slog through the jungle is tough, but everyone is perky and ready when they top a low hill and get their first look at San Lucia Itzlan.
They see a cluster of roofless houses. Only the cathedral seems to have been unscathed by the military's assault. A line of tents and trucks edge the road, and they spot a couple of guard towers,as well. Manda sees some jaguar prints in the mud. They explore a bit and find a clearing some one hundred feet or so from the edge of the military camp. A low growling is heard from the branches above. They look up and spot five jaguars in the trees, including Zotz. Manda explains they are there to talk, but the jaguars appear to be unmoved. She shrugs and sits down. A jaguar jumps down and nudges Blaine. He pets it, and it slinks off. While the jaguars circle, a plan is hatched. They will grenade the tents and kill any soldier who doesn't get dead. It starts to rain.
The party sneaks down to the tents, but Kendra gets spotted by a guard in a tower. A jaguar takes out a pair of soldiers by snapping their necks. Blaine spots a mound of hay and grass, with a pig carcass hung over it by poles - an obvious jaguar trap. He also spots some soldiers in some windows of a house. Candy gets spotted as he sneaks behind one of the tents, and the battle is on. Candy kills a soldier and ducks behind another tent. Joe rolls grenades under the flaps of two tents and backs off for the fireworks. They both go at once, and screams fill the night air. Blaine spots a group of five soldiers headed his way. He tosses a grenade at the pit trap, but it bounces wrong and blows up in a ditch by the road. Manda tries being stealthy but fails, and runs forward to roll another couple grenades into two more tents. Candy lets loose his grenades, but rolls them both wrong - they do not have their intended effect, so he jump kicks a soldier in the face.
The five soldiers notice Blaine and combine their fire on him. Blaine nearly dies, but one soldier's rifle jams and explodes. Joe and a jaguar take out a couple of soldiers. Manda rolls another grenade and after it explodes in a tent the soldiers inside beg for their mommies. More melee ensues and the soldiers are all nearly dead when two waves of zombies descend on the bloody chaos (GM's note: There was a mass grave nearby, the source of all the zombies. That fact didn't appear to make it into the notes.). Many of the zombies were children. The jaguars get busy eating dead and wounded soldiers. Huge fireballs erupt into the night sky as the cathedral explodes and collapses. They hole up in a tent to heal up, then follow the jaguars off into the jungle, but lose them after a quarter of an hour. They head back to the jeeps. Joe un-booby-traps a jeep and they retrieve the Mustang, then drive to the resort, then head to Juebulito in the morning.
The town is bustling. Old men sit in the town square playing chess and women carry laundry. They get pointed to an old guy sitting by himself in a cowboy hat at one of the tables. Blaine plays a game of chess with him and wins. Manda questions him in Quiche, and says his mom's mom's mom's mom says they can find the library they are looking for in Belize, near Hopkin's Village.
Session 23 ~ Belize it or Not
May, 1993
GM's notes: This is the point where I went way off the rails of the published adventures. I accidentally "pulled the trigger" on Catalina's true identity (a certain vampiric silver dragon) and decided to roll with it. The bit about the overturned truck filled with shrimp is a true story that happened while I was in Belize about a decade ago. I wasn't involved in the crash itself, but I witnessed locals riding their bicycles to the site of the crash, where they scooped big handfuls of raw shrimp into plastic buckets while the bodies of the truck driver and passenger were still in the cab of the truck...
The group gets directions to Belize and heads out. The journey will take several days, so they fill the kegerator in the Winnebago. They stop at dusk on the first day and hit a motel. The rooms are not bad. The windows have screens and fans. Blaine rises in the wee hours to wee, and steps on a carpet of crunchy bugs. The next day is also full of driving. At dusk they stop at a ranch-style hotel. The eat yummy steaks for dinner. Manda wakes in the middle of the night - she senses something strange. The night air is silent - no sound of the constant whirring of insects or the low dull sounds of cattle can be heard. Then she hears the screaming of horses!
Everyone wakes at that, and Manda bolts to the stable to see a huge dark shape, a dragon with shiny fish-like scales that shimmer in the starlight. The great beast pulls a horse out of its mouth and the horse's head falls to the ground with a bloody splat. Blaine is the last to arrive at the scene, as he had to don his kevlar vest and fancy headdress. A stereo blasts Sinead O'Connor's Noting Compares 2 U from one of the hotel rooms. The horses and cattle are understandably nervous, and chortle and whinny a little bit.
The dragon picks up the horse head and licks and chomps on it. Manda fires a warning shot to scare off the dragon. The dragon gets mad and rushes Manda to intimidate her, but Manda holds her ground. The dragon roars and stomps and breaks a fence, and Candy is terrified. The dragon's back leg crushes half a cow, which moos feebly. Candy recovers and yells something funny at the dragon, which shakes the great beast. Blaine casts quickness on Candy, then the dragon unleashes its breath weapon, paralyzing Blaine and Manda. Candy rushes in with his Glok and longsword. Joe also steps in and starts to swing. Combat ensues.
Everyone seems able to hit the dragon, but it is too tough to damage, until Candy lands a devastating blow which pops one of its eyes out, killing it. The dragon's eye lands on Joe, shaking him. As the group dusts off their clothes and stares wide-eyed at the corpse, it stirs, rises, and gets to its feet again! It takes to the air on its massive wings and growls at Manda, "I already told you to walk away you little b*!@!. I'm giving you another chance...", then flies off. The dragon is Catalina (GM's note: she said nearly the exact same thing to Manda back in session 16). Candy finds a relic - a dragon's tooth stuck in his arm. Blaine heals Manda and Candy of their wounds. The others retire to Manda's room to drink tequila, but Joe stays up all night gorging on delicious steaks.
About two hours later Manda sees a flash outside, but there is no sound of thunder. She dons her kevlar as Blaine peeks out the window. A humanoid shape is creeping around the Winnebago. The flashes are from a camera. The dark figure notices Blaine and tries to vanish into the jungle. Manda spots the figure escaping, runs, and tackles it. The figure, a nude Catalina, backhands Manda, knocking into the air. Luckily, Manda keeps her head and manages to grab the camera. Candy and Joe hear the commotion and join the others. Manda is able to track Catalina's tracks just three hundred feet, then Catalina must have assumed dragon form and flown away. The rest of the night is uneventful.
The next day they paint the Winnebago, Manda lands in jail for something while investigating fake license plates (and they easily pay the $80 fine to get her out), and Candy steals a set of plates. Blaine paints the Winnebago black and covers it with band logos. It takes all day, so they have a painting and tune-up-the-Winnebago montage. Kendra has a modicum of artistic talent and helps Blaine with the stencils. Blaine also buys a bunch of silver and makes some slugs and then coats the dragon tooth dagger. Evening comes and they head out. They arrive at a military checkpoint. Four trucks block the road with four soldiers on point. Around twenty more soldiers mill around behind the roadblock. Manda bribes their way through, and they arrive at the Belize border checkpoint.
They spend a couple of hours on the freeway and spot the sign for Hopkin's Village. Up ahead, heading the other direction, is a big pickup hanging low followed by a Fiesta full of toughs, hanging low, too. Something big and heavy is in the bed of the pickup, covered with tarps. It's the Seafoam Stella! Joe turns around and a chase ensues. He swerves to avoid a pair of Vespas, then they group splits up. Blaine drives the Winnebago and the others pile into the Mustang to give chase. Joe floors it. The pickup serves off onto a dirt side road, followed by the Fiesta, and Chris Isaak's Wicked Game comes on the radio. Joe manages to get even with the Fiesta and Manda takes out a tire. The pickup swerves onto another hidden dirt road. A guy leans out of the passenger side window and shoots, but his gun jams and he shakes himself. The Fiesta slides into a ditch and is out of the chase.
Joe closes the distance to the pickup, Manda takes out another wheel, and Candy manages to puppet the driver. He makes the driver pull over and Joe maneuvers the Mustang so as to pin the doors shut. The passenger points at Candy and shoots, but misses. Elsewhere, four armed toughs step into the road in front of the Winnebago, but Blaine sends off a volley of bolts, shaking one and killing two. The fourth runs off into the jungle. Blaine calmly continues on his way. Elsewhere, a huge semi barrels down on the pickup and Mustang, honking its horn wildly. Candy manages to puppet again and shoots the passenger with a shotgun. A big crash goes down as the semi hits the Mustang and flips, spilling its cargo of raw shrimp all over the road and jungle. A few shrimp even hit the Winnebago's windshield as it pulls up on the scene. Blaine shakes his head.
They figure they can convert the pickup into a trailer for the Seafoam Stella and bring it with them. As they weld the pickup to their trailer and bang out dents in the Mustang, a crowd of locals starts gathering to collect the fresh shrimp. A makeshift fire pit is also set up and Blaine organizes 6 pounds of shrimp to be cooked and stored in the Winnebago's freezer. After repairs on the Mustang are complete and the trailer is built, they head down the mountain to Hopkin's Village.
The roads are unfinished dirt, but all the signage is freshly painted and clear. The Village consists of two long roads that parallel the beach. There are plenty of guest houses for rent and two restaurants. King Casava has no walls and a big screen television. Taylor's cafe is a faded blue concrete house. They pull up to King Casava and ask around about guest houses. An ex-hippy ex-pat named Dennis rents them his place for five bucks a night, and there is, conveniently, a garage to store the trailer next door.
Session 24 ~ A deadly game
Theme Song: Porno For Pyros ~ Pets
June, 1993
GM's notes: This was one of the more epic sessions of the campaign. As excited as I was to finally be running the Prince of Redhand (I will run anything written by Richard Pett... anything), the adventure didn't fit too well into a modern setting, so it became a gathering of criminals followed by a bit of "The Most Dangerous Game". Oh yeah, and Catalina is a filthy liar...
Well over half the population of Hopkins Village is under thirteen years old, so wherever the party goes they are followed by a crowd of youngsters. They are relentlessly friendly. At eight in the morning they show up at the low blue concrete shack and offer bread, butter, and guava for breakfast. The bathroom in the shack features a huge window that overlooks the beach. The bugs are awful. While Joe does his his morning calisthenics, Blaine and Kendra examine the Stella. They do not glean much. The group decides to lunch at King Casava.
They sit and eat simple fare. The proprietor serves lobster with every meal for a few cents extra. School lets out and a swarm of uniformed kids fills the street. They wear crisp white shirts and black shorts, pants or skirts. They wave at Manda, Joe and Candy and call them out by name. Blaine, Kendra and Mickey rest back at the shack. One of the kids runs up to the cafe and asks if Candy wants to buy a snake, but his cheery question is cut off by the honking of a long dark limo coming up the road. The kids make room for it as it pulls up right outside King Casava. A window rolls down and a rough voice asks the nearest kid a question. The kid points at Manda, Joe and Candy.
A guy in a tux exits the limo, approaches the party, and delivers a note from Catalina Suvari. It's an invitation to some kind of gangster party on the yacht of Antonio Zelata. They are to get some formal wear made in Dangriga, then fly to the location the following day. Johnny, the tux, drives them several miles north along the coast to Dangriga. It's as scuzzy and seedy as Hopkins Village is clean and simple. As they exit the limo, a guy on a bicycle, Bobby, rolls up and offers to sell them weed. Manda bites and gives him ten bucks. He rides off, promising to come back later. They enter the tailor's shop and get fitted. A getting fitted for tuxes and a nice dress montage ensues.
Manda exits the tailor's shop as Bobby rolls up. Joe is still getting fitted for pants. Bobby shakes Manda's hand and hands off a foil packet. She's still wearing the nice dress, and he says she looks very pretty, then rides off again. Once everyone has been measured and whatnot, the tailors tell Johnny to pick up the clothes at nine the next morning. They pile into the limo and head back to Hopkins Village. Johnny tells them he'll pick them up at two the next afternoon. A night of drinking and dancing is had by all. They hang out at King Casava. DJ Le (short for Leon) spins reggae. They drink the national brand of beer - Belkin - and drink tequila. A basketball game is on the TV, and the local folk shout out Michael Jordan's name whenever he appears on screen. They stumble home to the little blue concrete shack. The power fails in the middle of the night, killing the fan. Someone opens a window, and mosquitoes do their thing.
The kids are back at eight in the morning and sell the party breakfast. Johnny shows up, and they get gussied up and meet him at King Casava. The kids can't stop complimenting them an their natty duds. They jump in the limo and Johnny takes them to a local pier. They spot a seaplane. The pilot, Hector, opens the door and helps everyone aboard. He hands everyone a Belkin and a bottle opener and then gets the engine started. Manda pulls out a joint, but Hector asks her to wait until they are in the air to light it. When they are, she does, and passes it to Hector. He takes a mighty drag and turns on the radio, loud. Hector loves Bob Marley and sings along, loudly. They circle the reef and buzz a big new house on the shore. Candy sits up front with Hector. Hector says the flight will take about two hours and the weather is perfect. He sings along to Buffalo Soldier, messing up the lyrics. He claims his favorite song is No Woman No Cry (GM's note: I sang both Buffalo Soldier and No Woman No Cry in character.).
In about two hours they spot a gathering of yachts, about 20 big boats, up ahead. They are all tied off together, connected by bridges and a couple of small islands. A swarm of smaller boats, mostly zodiacs, mill and wheel around the bigger boats like a flock of bats. As they get closer, they notice armed guards all over the place, at least one anti-aircraft gun, and flags of several different nations flying from the tops of some of the yachts. Hector takes them down and gently lands on a calm stretch of water, then putters the seaplane into the maze and ties off at a floating dock. A zodiac promptly pulls up and the party is ushered aboard. They are taken to a HUGE yacht in the center of the maze, and are let off at a gangplank where they wait in line - other guests have been steadily arriving for the hour or so. The wait is not long, and as they are assisted onto the deck by a valet they are handed a glass of very fine champagne. A legion of waiters teem about hoisting plates of fancy and colorful hors doeuvres. Then Candy sees a familiar face.
It's his cousin Thumbs. Thumbs approaches Candy and tells him to leave, he's going to screw everything up, that he has let his father down and turned his back on the family. Candy's feathers get ruffled, and two burly bouncers intervene (GM's note: Candy's player and I have great RP chemistry. Most sessions feature at least one scene where the two of us just yell at each other in character until one of us (usually me) breaks down laughing.).
Just then Antonio Zelata walks up and introduces himself. He's a successful looking guy with a fleshy, pockmarked face. He's also quite congenial, and points the way to Catalina, who's hanging out near the bow. He leaves to get ready for his big speech. They find Catalina standing with Candy's Uncle Larry. He's full-blood Irish but married into the Rabatino family back in the day. Candy and Uncle Larry exchange greetings, warmer than those exchanged by Candy and Thumbs. Catalina give Uncle Larry a "go away" look, and he he pats Candy on the back and says they'll catch up later. Candy tells Catalina, "Looking good for someone who was just dead. You're not gonna lizard out on us, right?" Catalina rolls her eyes and leads them to a table - dinner is about to be served. They find Catalina's balcony table. Candy pulls out Catalina's chair. She asks, "Where's your little wizard?" They tell her he's doing something else today (GM's note: Blaine's player wasn't present. He missed a heck of a session.).
Waiters bring tequila and bread baskets. Catalina takes questions. They learn she wants to stop or survive the Worm Sun, just like they do. It's better to ask why she's a human rather than why she's a dragon. Antonio takes the stage and speechifies:
GM's note: The bit about the girl throwing the dog into the sea is from a book by the anthropologist Michael Taussig. I don't remember which book...
Antonio's first speech:
Greetings friends, associates, and, with God's blessing, friends soon to be.
For those of you who may not know me, my name is Antonio Zelada. I was born in a small village in Colombia. I am Cunha. My people lived in the coastal villages of what is now Colombia for many generations, nurtured by the bounty of the sea.
There is a story among my people, how the first fisherman and his wife went out into the ocean on a reed boat and was caught in a horrible storm. After weeks of floating in the ocean on a reed boat that was hardly seaworthy, this fisherman and his wife washed up on a beautiful shore full of strange creatures. They learned which of the creatures could be eaten, which could be tamed, and which must be avoided. They thrived in this new place. They were rewarded with a bounty well beyond what they needed. But of what use is a bounty with only two people to partake of it?
Even after years in this cove, the spirits had not seen fit to bless the two with a child, and they grew worried and sad that they would soon pass from this new land. Then, one day a great number of sea worms began to crawl from the waves. Now these worms were not only a source of great protein, but were very tasty as well. So the couple gathered many of the worms, steamed them, and ate them. Afterwards, they were so full that they decided to go for a swim in the surf. While they did, a worm crawled up the leg of the wife and into her vagina, quickening her with a child -- yes, you can stop snickering now. I know how it sounds. While I don't personally believe that worms can get someone pregnant, many Cunha still do. In fact, when I was last visiting my hometown, I came across a girl. She was beautiful to look at. Long hair, full breasts, and strong thighs. She was ready for love, soon to make some man very happy. So this girl was on the beach with a squirming dog in her arms. As the waves came up to the shore, she would rush into the surf and throw the dog into the waves. When the dog returned to her, tail wagging, sometimes with some piece of wood it had found in the waves, she would pick it up, rub its belly, and repeat the process. I approached her and asked what she was doing. She introduced me to her dog-- Purha, I think its name was -- and said that ever since she got this dog, she wanted puppies. So she was throwing the dog into the waves, hoping for a sea worm to crawl into the dog's vagina and bring this girl puppies... But I digress.
And this is how my people came to be, with a worm impregnating a fisherman's wife. And my people still live in that same cove, on the same coast, benefiting from the same bounty. Sure, we have dealt with the same rapacious capitalists and foreigners coming to our shores to steal what was given to us, but we are still strong, and recognize the old ways.
In this vein, I like to kick things off with a traditional meal from my people. We call it the Feast of Worms, and I hope that it is as pleasing to you as it is for me to share with you all.
A quick warning though, the red peppers in the dish are not to be trifled with. If you are not a fan of spicy food, avoid them.
He finishes his speech to a rousing applause, then Haddaway's What is Love (Baby Don't Hurt Me) subtly streams in and dinner is served. Waiters drop silver dishes and uncover them. The menu consists of giant green sea worms in a spicy pepper sauce. Catalina eats a pepper and warns that they are super-hot. Joe eats one and survives. Catalina talks while they eat. The worms are fatty and crunchy. The Stele has the location of the Library of Last Resort. She talks about Dragatha, the undead General that serves the God of Worms, Tla-Kyuss. One way to slow down the Worm Sun is to take out Dragatha. Being a lich, his soul is hidden in a phylactery, and the location of the phylactery, it is rumored, can be found in the Library. Catalina was going to trade the Seafoam Stele to the Minge to get safe transport to and from the Library, but then the party stole it. Candy gets restless with all the exposition.
He tries puppeting Catalina, who merely glares at him balefully. He asks her where her hoard is. She ignores the question. She tells them they must visit a place close by to prepare for a visit to the Minge. She claims the Mayan calendar does not end in 1998, as is commonly believed, but in 2012. Threads of reality are starting to converge, and time and space are folding and unfolding. They need to visit a well on a nearby island and drink of the water to see truly the path they need to take to stop the Worm Sun.
Antonio steps to the mic after dinner. He gives a general status update of global cartel operations. Manny, his secretary, then steps up and talks alliances, laundering profits, a federal contract for pumps, security, and mines. A representative from each family present then steps up and gives a similar report. There is a small break after the last speaker, and Morphine's Cure For Pain streams in over the speakers. Antonio finally takes the stage again and announces the evening's entertainment:
Antonio's second speech:
As is traditional at these events in my homeland, I have arranged a hunt for our guests. This hunt offers both fabulous prizes, as well as an opportunity for those who have applied their skills so ably on our behalf, to gain some personal recognition.
Each guest may choose two of their most talented staff to join the hunt on a small island not too distant from here. Competitors may not bring firearms of any sort to this hunt, but any other sort of weaponry is encouraged. My staff will provide transportation both to and from the island.
The event lasts until noon tomorrow, or until there is a clear champion.
Without further ado, let me bring out the competitors' quarry { Two men are brought out with hoods over their heads and roughly pushed to the floor at Antonio's feet. They are wearing torn and filthy DEA jackets. A grumble goes through the crowd, and several partygoers spit on the men. }.
Ah, I see I chose the prey well. We all have had our problems with the fascists in the United States who wish to corrupt our ways of life, and steal our wealth, all with the backing of the most corrupt government in the world! Their soldiers kill our women and children. They are but trained attack dogs, ready to go for the throats of simple peasants trying to eke out a living on a land the United States pretends to own.
This is war! We all know it is war. And these are two of their soldiers. { boos and hisses run through the crowd}.
But... { he holds up a hand to shush the crowd} ... Soldiers are always to be admired for their loyalty and dedication, even if they are loyal and dedicated to evil causes. For this reason, we will give these two loyal soldiers an opportunity to win their freedom.
These two will each be given a pistol with one bullet in it. Each competitor will also carry a bullet, but no pistol. The prey will be given a two-hour head start on the island.
- Don't worry, we will have boats circling the island to prevent their premature escape. -
The winner will be the first team to return with the heads of both of these soldiers. If, by noon tomorrow, no team has succeeded in doing so, competitors will be recalled, and the soldiers will be free to leave the island on their own.
In the case of a winner, we will fire five shots and a flare from the boats,
as a signal for the competitors to return.
Winners will receive $100,000 in cash each, and their sponsors will also receive a quarter million dollars in product.
Please choose your competitors now. The boat will leave in two hours.
Until then, please enjoy our entertainment. She's a very talented girl who will doubtlessly go far in her musical career. Please welcome, fresh from her third place win at Chile's Viña del Mar International Song Festival , a daughter of Colombia, Shakira!
Thank you all, and HAPPY HUNTING!
Manda obviously can not go hunting in a party dress, so Catalina provides her with a powder blue jumpsuit and tennies. The jumpsuit is a little tight. Manda and Joe will represent Catalina, and Candy and Thumbs will represent the Rabatino family. Thumbs is none too happy with this. Manda is the only woman hunter. They all get patted down for firearms before they board the speedboat that will take them to the island. Manda gets groped, and elbows the guard in the ribs, hard. He likes it, though, and slaps her ass. Each team member is given a bullet, and off they go. They speed to the island in three big speedboats. The silhouette of the island looms ahead under the dark sky of a new moon. The boats arrive and drop anchor. The teams leave the boats and head off in different directions up the beach and into the jungle. The hunt is on!
~
Joe leads the way toward the center of the island. Thumbs is resistant and wants to know why they are headed in that direction. Candy tells him, "You couldn't find your way out of Brooklyn on free transit day." Then he sucker punches Thumbs, and a fistfight ensues. Manda yells at them to knock it off, and they stop. Joe motions for silence and they begin creeping through the dense undergrowth. Then something moves through the trees ahead, and Joe narrowly avoids getting caught in a snare trap. A Tong jumps out of the trees to attack and is joined by his teammate. The first Tong stabs at Candy and Joe, but misses. Joe buries the Lopper in his skull as Manda shakes the other one. Candy slits his throat, they grab their bullets, and move on. They creep forward and drop down into a creek bed and encounter a huge effing snake. Joe neatly decapitates it and they head on out. Soon they encounter two more thugs,cartel by the looks of them. Candy, Thumbs and Joe fail to sneak, but Manda stays hidden. Combat ensues, wherein Candy puppets his cousin and forces him to stand completely still, Joe decapitates another guy, Candy throws his dragontooth dagger and loses it in the brush, and Manda gets hit hard by a machete then pins the guy's arms behind him for a Candy kill.
Candy tells Thumbs he wussed out, but Thumbs, chagrined, is convinced someone back on the yacht drugged his food. Thumbs notices a big hole and throws an arm out to catch Manda from falling in. The hole is stone-worked, about six feet by three feet. Joe starts making a rope out of vines so they can climb down. Thumbs doesn't want to go down there, he wants to find the DEA agents, and repeatedly and loudly says so. Manda quiets him a bit by telling him there are priceless relics down there for the taking. Candy tells him they have to go down there to save the planet. Thumbs says he's had about enough of Candy's Terminator/Star Wars b&*~*%@$. Candy tries pushing Thumbs into the shaft, but fails to get a good hold on him. As they teeter on the edge, a gunshot rings out about a quarter mile away.
The rope is ready, so Joe ties it off and Candy descends first. He slips and falls and takes damage. Candy hears a hissing and scratching in the dark and yells for light. Joe makes a torch and tosses it down. A big black shiny bug nudges his foot. Manda goes down next. The light reveals a low-ceilinged chamber. The floor is covered with bugs. Joe and Thumbs come down. The walls are covered with old paintings. The predominant color is green, and the content is weird abstract shapes and designs. Manda grabs the torch and examines the walls, then gives a vocal archaelogical discourse on the paintings. They are not quite Mayan, and she spots glyphs for heart, knowledge and memory. They press forward and encounter another chamber. A well seems to have been dug here. They shine a torch over the hole and spot shiny bits of metal at the bottom, and a tunnel leading away at the bottom. Manda dives down and grabs a handful of shiny bits. She comes up with jewelry, doubloons, and an artifact - a silver ring that casts light. They decide they need more rope to help guise them through the deeper tunnels, so Joe heads back up to the surface.
As he squats and works on twining vines together, a gun barrel touches the back of his head. He whirls with his knife, but the gun goes off, and takes a good chunk of Joe's skull and brains with it. Manda and Candy scramble up the rope after hearing the shot, and Joe manages to take the gun from the DEA agent then calm him down and convince him they are not there for his head. Thumbs makes it up the rope and starts yelling - he wants to decap the agent so they can get the reward. His shouting attracts another team. One shoots the DEA agent. Joe loads the gun and hands it to Candy as Manda spots the shooter. Candy double taps the shooter and takes him out. His team mate circles around from behind the clearing, but Joe rushes him and takes his head off. Now that it's quiet again, they gather the other pistol and bullets that the thugs were carrying and attend to the agent. Joe heals one of his wounds, and they all climb back down into the well with the extra rope.
Candy borrows the light ring, ties off and dives down to the bottom of the well, finds the tunnel, and swims for it. He finds a couple of air pockets to help him along, then emerges in a big chamber after several dozen feet. The room is full of statues of worms, insects and octopi. He heads back, they all tie off together, then swim for it. Amazingly, they are all able to follow Candy's light and find the air pockets along the way, and they find themselves all in one piece together in the statue room. Everything in there, the statues, floors and walls, is covered with a thick slimy algae. They follow a hallway leading out. The paint is fresher here, and there is a scene featuring human-like figures in a pile being eaten by a huge worm-like thing. The hall leads to a huge chamber covered in four inches of water. Across at the other end sits a pool of green glowing liquid. Standing above the pool is a big ebon statue - part worm,part insect, and part octopus. Candy shines his light away from the statue for a second to light up a pile of baskets and gourds, and when the light returns to it they realize the statue has moved. He trains his light on it and they step closer. The thing is still moving, but very, very slowly - millimeters a minute. Candy roots around in the pile of gourds and finds a potion that allows him to turn into a hawk for twelve hours!
Manda moves the light away and back to the statue, and it moves twelve feet. Joe flips out, gets an adrenaline surge, and a handful of smaller statues animate and step out of the shadows. They, too, are of polished black stone and exhibit human and snake features. Thumbs loses his s$@#, but the DEA agent keeps it together. Manda tosses him a Glock and battle ensues. After trading bullets, sword and dagger thrusts and the like, eventually all the statues go down. They turn their attention to the pool. Candy drinks and nearly pukes. The water is green and murky and sweetly dank. Joe drinks and seems fine. Manda also takes a big gulp. They dip a gourd into the pool to save some water for Blaine and Mickey later. Thumbs and the agent wonder what the heck is going on. The water brings a pins and needles sensation, tunnel vision and the drinkers feel clammy and sick. Manda passes out,then Candy and Joe, too. They awake after a few minutes, and Candy successfully gets Thumbs to shut the hell up. Then Candy dives into the well, sure there must be loot down there. He finds another artifact - a flute that grants quickness. All the while Candy was diving, a weird scraping could be heard behind the party. They turn to investigate, and see that the big statue has almost completely reassembled. Not eager to repeat a tough battle, they tie off and swim back the way they came.
When they resurface, voices speaking Spanish can be heard up above, at the lip of the stone hole. The thugs are talking about climbing down. Manda screams and pretends to die to lure them down, and down they come. Joe shakes the s!$~ out of the rope and one thug drops a machete, nearly hitting Joe. Candy chucks his dragontooth dagger and hits a thug, who falls. The other guy falls, they kill both and recover a DEA agent head. Thumbs *really* wants to decap the other agent, but they tell him no. A plan is hatched - they will decap and mutilate a different head, and leave the agent safe down here in the hole, claim the prize, and then come back for him later. Manda bashes a head against some rock, making sure it is unrecognizable. They hole up for a few hours, then head out toward the beach rendevouz point. Along the way they spot a Triad ambush. Candy puppets one guy and Manda takes out the other with a machete.
They stagger out onto the beach. Manda holds the pair of heads aloft. Cartel muscle helps them onto a speedboat. Thumbs looks nervous. They are given beers from a cooler full of cold ones. They are offered cocaine, and Manda and Joe do a line - Joe didn't get to sleep or eat any meat, and the cocaine wipes out his fatigue. The ride back is rough, and the pair of heads get their own seat. Another speedboat catches up to theirs, and they race back to the yachts. It's sunny, clear and hot. The men on the boats are wearing white linen suits and the women sport bikinis. Catalina comes swishing down the pier to meet them. She seems pleased and says, "Well done! You did a great *sniff* a great job!" then glances at Manda knowingly. Joe declares he could eat a horse. Antonio arrives to congratulate everyone, and Catalina convinces him to award every team member fifty grand. The Rabatino family gets the two hundred fifty grand in product, since Catalina isn't remotely interested. Uncle Larry is proud of Candy for his performance and says he has redeemed himself with the family. He's surprised he let Thumbs come back alive. Candy says, "He has his f-ing moments."
Catalina takes them aside and asks about the other agent. They spill their plan. She asks if they drank from the well. She tells them she can give them the exact location of, and instructions to reach the Minge.
Session 25, unfortunately is missing from the journals.
In that session, the party finds the Calypso at the docks in Belize City, makes plans to steal the boat, and then realize that they don't have enough people with the requisite boating knowledge to actually drive such a large boat. Nor do they have the expertise to operate the submersible.
So Manda and Blaine get dressed up and find Jacques Cousteau at dinner, where they attempt to convince him to take them to the Blue Hole where they can drop an ancient Stele into the water. Meanwhile, Candy and Joe are harassed by representatives of the Department of Antiquities.
Luckily, Manda is convincing, and with the promise of more artifacts to be found underwater where they shouldn't be, Jacques Cousteau takes them to the Blue Hole, where they unceremoniously dump the Stele over the side.
Catalina told to wait until the next morning for the Minge to contact them, but in the morning, there is no word from the Minge, so they convince Jacques to take them down into the Blue Hole in a submersible, where they find an underwater city in a massive cave.
They explore some, stumble into a battle between the local Minge and some Mi-Go (Wake of the Watcher, for those who are trying to figure out which adventure this was), and activate the beacon to take them to the Library of Last Resort. They are lifted back to the surface, minus Jacques Cousteau's son and the submersible. A massive storm is on the way, and they need to figure out a way to retrieve the submersible and save the Cousteau scion before the storm arrives.
Session 26 ~ The Phylactery of Dragotha
June, 1993
GM's note: Once again, Blaine's player was missing from this session, hence the incapacitating seasickness. At this point, I was having serious problems converting adventures. This was due to how Savage Worlds scales to tougher encounters, what could be reasonably included in a modern retelling of AoW, and how little of the background of the adventures translated. Here's where I decided to scrap the rest of the AP and see what happened as the characters plummetted toward the impending apocalypse.
The adventurers make it back to the surface and are fished out of the water by the Calypso crew. They count heads and realize Phillipe Cousteau is still stuck in the weird gel in the submersible below. They try reeling him up, but it seems the hoses and cables have gotten stuck on an outcropping of coral far below. Radio communication with the sub is down, so they can't get Phillipe to assist from his end, either. They down the potions of not breathing and swim down to manually guide the sub back up. As they are diving, the waters get choppier and the massive hurricane draws closer. The crew starts emergency procedures and hopes the party returns quickly.
They descend past sharks, though they are not big enough to be man-eaters. They manage to get down to the sub fairly quickly and get the hoses tugged free. They ride the sub back up and wave at an incredulous Phillipe through the port window. Joe tries brushing the salty brine taste from his mouth upon their return, but it won't go away. The wind picks up as they return and the boat rocks violently back and forth, which turns into wild pitching. The skipper calls everyone inside for safety and shelter. Kendra and Blaine get violently ill. The sky gets very dark except for brilliant lightning flashes, and the boat loses all power, including the backup emergency lighting system.
Suddenly the howling wind dies and the darkness lifts. The boat's power is still off, and they float gently to an island that appears out of nowhere. There appears to be a wide beach that gently slopes up to dense jungle. Far beyond at what seems to the island's center is a mountain. The boat eventually comes to rest in the shoals and the adventurers disembark. They spot a young naked guy sitting cross-legged on the beach not too far away and approach him. He greets the party in Quecha and Manda responds. A silver chain wraps around his arm and disappears into the sand beside him. He says he can help them get to the Library, but first they must prove themselves. He wants them to pluck a feather from the bird on the mountain and retrieve the heart of the blackest tree in the jungle and bring them to him.
They decide to go to the mountain first to get the feather. They head off in that direction and hike through the jungle after grabbing a couple of machetes from the boat. The jungle gives way pretty easily, and they quickly pass through it. Beyond lies a grassy plain. Towers dot the plain, tall constructions of metal and wire. The sounds of unseen monkeys and parrots echo all around them as they cross the plain. The plain is also crossed easily and they climb the foothills below the mountain to find a path that seems to wind its way up the mountainside. The path abruptly ends after about two hundred yards, however, and they start a tough climb. A huge dark shape wheels above through the mist.
Candy slips and falls, but he's OK. Joe goes ahead and ties off a rope to help the others. The climb gets easier. They reach the summit and find a huge nest. The walls of the nest are thirty feet tall and the nest is circular, about one hundred feet in diameter. Four blue speckled eggs the size of couches rest near the center. The floor and walls of the nest have been woven out of trees. They decide to hide and ambush the bird when it comes home. Candy slips and falls, but they all manage to stay hidden when the bird arrives. The bird resembles a giant parrot, with gaudy colored feathers and a bright red head. It circles and settles down to warm its eggs at the center of the nest. It shakes its tail feathers as it settle in and the whole nest vibrates. Its wingspan is easily more than a hundred feet - humans are about the size of insects to it.
Candy, sporting a track suit, gold chains, and rings, sneaks up and takes hold of a tail feather, which is about twelve feet long. As Candy adjusts his grip on the feather, the bird moves, hoisting a stunned Candy four feet into the air! Manda tries shouting at the bird to ask it for a feather, but her voice is carried away in the wind. The bird cocks its head to look at her, then looks away, completely disinterested. Manda crawls down and joins Candy - maybe together they can pluck a smaller feather? They team up and give a great tug, and pop a feather out. At this, the bird caws loudly, turns, and attacks Candy. Manda is able to get to the edge of the nest as Joe fires shots across the bird's beak, shaking it twice. Candy. however, does not fare well. He gets picked up in the massive beak, shaken like a rag doll, and thrown across the nest. He's in bad shape.
Manda drops the feather and runs to Candy and gets him on his feet. He then unloads his shotgun on the bird, killing it. It falls and cracks three of its eggs. Joe leaves his magic duster over the fourth and they leave with the feather. It is slow going, as the feather they plucked is a good fourteen feet long. They have to carry it like a canoe, ever careful of it picking up and floating off in the strong winds near the summit.
It seems pretty obvious when they get off the mountain where the jungle is darkest, so they head off in that direction. Hiking through the jungle is difficult, because even though the feather is light, no more than twenty pounds, it is unwieldy and must be folded and bent to maneuver around the thick jungle boles.
The compasses on their survival knives do not work - magnetic north keeps changing on them. The sun remains at the noon position. The trunks and leaves get darker, the canopy denser yet sparser at the same time. The undergrowth that tangles their feet eventually gives way to bare ground, and the trunks and exposed roots become more twisted. They stop for a rest and Joe tries healing Candy, but botches terribly, giving Candy a terrible wound - he exacerbates the minor back injury Candy sustained by getting thrown in the nest. They finally find the blackest tree in the jungle. It is massive, at least fifteen feet in diameter. Reddish sap drips from the trunk in spots. Joe pulls The Lopper and Candy pulls out a machete and they start chopping. Unfortunately, the sap is very sticky and catches both their weapons fast. At the same time, the tree animates and its branches start whipping around wildly. Candy shoots the tree, and seems to do some damage to it. Joe retrieves The Lopper, Manda gets hurt, and Candy finishes it. They chop and saw their way to the very middle of the huge trunk and cut out a piece of heartwood.
Mission accomplished, they head back to the naked guy on the beach. They give him the items, and he grants answers to two questions (actually, he grants answers to two major questions and a whole raft of minor questions). He admits he is the phylactery of Dragotha. The party gathers and mutters to themselves whether they should kill him. The naked guy, who they now know is named Taloq, continues and tells them in a few weeks, during an eclipse, on a snowy mountain in a desert, they can kill Tla-Kyuss. But first they need to free him from his bondage, as he can only be killed away from the island. The key to the padlock is being held by a giant, in a gourd on his belt, on the opposite side of the island. He points the way and the adventurers head out. The way is easy. The way is marked.
They arrive at the opposite end of the island and the path leads them to a cliff overlooking a rocky outcropping over the water, atop which sits a ruined tower. A bat-winged humanoid darts out of the tower and flies around a bit - a scout of some kind. Two more figures fly out of the top of the tower, wheel, and land on the beach in front of the party. They have brick red skin and lizard tails in addition to their bat wings. They look a lot like animated gargoyles! Candy intimidates them and they back off to give them room. Yet another pair launches from the tower and land behind the party. Joe intimidates this pair and Manda covers them with David Koresh's Desert Eagle. A big voice booms out, "What's out there you miserable little f--ers!?" The party moves toward the tower like this, flanked in front and behind and finds a set of weathered steps. The entire side of the tower facing the island has fallen down. A thirty foot tall giant with ebony skin steps forward. It seems that dots of starlight fleck and shimmer on his skin. At his side hangs a huge red gourd. A silver chain like the one on the naked guy winds around his wrist and disappears into the ground (GM's note: It's the other end of the same chain, stretched beneath the island and keeping the naked guy there). Manda tries convincing him to help them kill Dragotha, but he appears uninterested in the idea. Candy fails to intimidate him. Joe rallies a few of the mistreated gargoyles to their side and battle ensues.
Both sides trade shots, axe swings and claw attacks, and Candy eventually blows the giant's head off in a spray of starry mist. They advance to examine the gourd, but it is empty. The padlock on the giant's chain falls open upon his demise, however. Bloody and bruised, they head back to the naked guy. They find Blaine, now recovered from his seasickness, pulling the silvery chain out of the ground fist over fist. He has amassed a huge pile at his feet. Taloq stands and they escort him to the boat. Suddenly the lights on the boat all turn on and music fills the beach. They board and head away from the island. The wind picks up and a gentle rain falls.
Session 27 ~ The Happiest F-ing Place on Earth
Theme Song: I Could Just Kill a Man ~ Cypress Hill
June, 1993
GM's note: I hadn't planned for things to wrap up quite this fast, but everything just sort of fell together.
As Blaine pulls up silver chain hand over fist, he finds a relic - a bone needle has been sewn into the links of the chain. It grants luck, but it is unclear if he merely points the needle at the one who gets the luck or if he has to stab the person. The group heads back to the Calypso and the skipper turns the boat and heads away from the island. The naked guy introduces himself as Taloq. A random crew member brings him a jacket, but he declines the offer of pants. He says the next step is to track down Dragotha in his canyon stronghold. The Calypso traverses the scrim of storm and is buffeted for about five minutes, then the rains lessen and wind dies, and they are on familiar calm seas once again. They consult their GPS/LORAN system and find they are on the northern coast of Cuba. They head to Miami - Dragotha's canyon seems to be somewhere in the southwest United States. Taloq can point towards it, but he can't give precise directions.
Before they exit the ship, Taloq is coaxed into wearing sweatpants and flip-flops. When asked for clarification about the location of the canyon, Taloq merely points west. He gazes forlornly at a hot dog stand, and Blaine buys him a hot dog, which he devours noisily. Candy tries using his connections to get a Winnebago, and Blaine stabs him with his luck needle for extra help. Candy's successful - he gets in touch with a local mob connection, one Tommy Two-Toes. He lost some toes in the Great Pine Barren Blizzard of '84. He has since dropped out of the business to raise a family, but he remembers Candy and is eager to help in any way he can. He agrees to pick up the party from the Sunshine State Mall and yells at his wife to prep some extra cold cuts for dinner. Candy tells him to simply look for the people who don't look like they belong together.
Tommy pulls up in a minivan, and introductions are made all around. Candy notices Tommy has put on a few pounds, lost some hair, and now sports many gold rings. There are two baby seats in the back seat, full of the babies Merv and Hannah, one or two years old. Tommy says his old lady says they need to stop by the store to pick up a couple things, so they pull into a Safeway parking lot. Once in the store, Taloq wanders the aisles, and Blaine is tasked to keep him from opening packages and trying things out. Tommy vocally wonders what is up with their strange companion, and Joe says he's retarded. Tommy clucks his tongue and shakes his head. Joe and Manda are given charge of the toddlers, and Hannah starts screaming. They cruise around looking for toys or something to keep the kids occupied and find the pet supplies aisle. They find a couple bacon-flavored dog chew toys and that shuts the kids up for a while. Candy and Tommy wander together, and Candy picks up several pounds of meat for Joe. Tommy consults with Manda on the kind of tampons he should get for his old lady. They check out, return to the minivan and head for Tommy's domicile.
GM's note: That scene was largely to spotlight just how out of touch with everyday life the party had become. Manda giving the children pet toys to chew on in the supermarket was a perfect demonstration of this. More than one NPC had to be told that there was no reason to call Child Protective Services on the group...
The house is in the Miami suburbs. Tommy pulls into the garage and they are met by a buxom blonde in a red bikini - Tommy's wife Sheila. There is a pool out back, and Taloq immediately strips down and goes for a swim. A BBQ montage ensues and Candy asks Tommy for that favor. Candy tells Tommy everything. They need an almanac to pinpoint the date of the next eclipse and a Winnebago to go out west. They also need a chemistry lab for Blaine so he can do some cooking on the way. Tommy says he can manage a van with a fridge and red upholstery. It gets 10 MPG. The next eclipse is in twelve days - they need to scramble!
The boys pile into the guest room for the night and Manda bunks with little Hannah, who stares creepily at her all night. They say their goodbyes and head out in the morning.
In Alabama they are pulled over by a local cop. They don't exactly know why, but they get off with a minor citation and keep on going (GM's note: This was actually a pretty tense scene, with Candy talking to the cop while one hand rested on his gun, all the while praying the cop wouldn't want to look at the arsenal they had in the back). Candy drives very carefully after that, and they stop at a few rest stops along the way.
In north Texas they stop at a greasy spoon/truck stop. CNN is on the TV, blaring reports about earthquakes in the Four Corners area. There is also a news bit on the coming Mayan Apocalypse, slated for November 12th, 1994. They finish their meals and head out again with a renewed sense of purpose.
They eventually reach New Mexico and use Taloq and triangulation to pinpoint Dragotha's canyon. Since they realize that Taloq must be killed soon, they decide to treat him to the wonders and thrills he may have missed in life. A bucket list montage ensues, wherein he visits the Albuquerque Zoo, eats cotton candy and watches the cavorting gazelles, hooks up with a call girl, takes a hot air balloon ride over the Grand Canyon, visits the Jim Rose Circus Side show (where he learns to fire dance!) and rides horses. (This montage was totally spontaneous. I was not at all expecting the players to get into a montage of Taloq's bucket list.)
Montage over, the party gets back to planning. Taloq points at a place called Pueblo Bonito, not Chaco Canyon where they originally thought things were going down. They visit a TGIF and convince the staff it's Taloq's birthday. They sing to him, bring him a cupcake with a candle and give him a button. Over dinner, Manda declares her urgent desire for a rocket launcher. She's able to procure said RPG and four rockets, and they also purchase an entire case of grenades, 36 in total. Candy finds hookers and blow for Taloq and they also take him to the Ice Capades. Manda takes him to a bar where she proceeds to get him trashed for the first and last time.
Blaine and Kendra sneak up to the top of a mesa and have a romantic scene complete with loud, industrial music and lots of LSD (GM's note: it took me a while, but I finally realized that Blaine was recreating the infamous "Animal Crackers" scene from Apocalypse).
The next morning, after the second round of Taloq's Bucket List, they stow their gear in the van and head out. They arrive at Chaco Canyon, the epicenter of all the recent earthquakes, and survey the scene. There are plenty of white USGS vans parked around a ruin, and lots of excited white-coated USGS employees and scientists running around. Taloq points directly at the ruin. They grab their gear and head that way. At the entrance to the ruin they have a lock and load scene. They follow Taloq into the ruin and the ground shudders mightily. He leads them to a gaping hole in the ground. It's about one hundred twenty feet deep. They tie off some ropes and tackle and rappel down. Candy enters a big sandstone-walled room at the bottom first. It's a kiva. The only entrance is a small round opening at the top. The kiva is about three hundred feet is diameter. Everyone else manages to make it down with out any mishaps. There are no obvious exits from the ground floor, but huge petroglyphs line the walls. One in particular catches their eyes - it's of a huge black-skinned man with a swarm of brick-red minions around him. It must be a depiction of Dragoatha. The brick-red figures are his handmaidens. A booming voice echoes in the suddenly tight space, "How dare you disturb ME?!"
Candy turns and shoots Taloq in the head (GM's note: we all saw it coming, but it was still shocking just how casually it happened).
The huge figure on the wall comes to life and Dragotha himself steps into the room in the form of a huge black dragon! His handmaidens also animate and pop out of the wall, and battle does indeed ensue.
Manda shoots a rocket at Dragotha, shaking him. He recovers, notices the fresh corpse of Taloq and roars angrily. Dragotha breathes fire and the party advances to inflict melee damage. Dragotha himself is very difficult to damage, but the handmaidens go down relatively easily. Manda fires more rockets at Dragotha, punishing him with explosive hits, but he refuses to go down. A mighty tail slap knocks down all four of the party members, but they are able to unshake and regain their feet. Eventually, Dragotha loses all of his handmaidens and takes flight, headed up to the exit hole at the top of the kiva. He doesn't make it. His body bursts into flames as he tries to scramble out of the kiva. The earth shakes and rumbles, boulders drop from the ceiling and the adventurers barely dodge out of the way. With Dragotha gone, the party regroups and climbs out of the kiva.
The USGS crew stares, astonished at the bloodied and battered group emerging from the kiva, but give them a wide berth. They return to the van and swig bourbon. They spend the night at the ruin site, listening in on the USGS crew and discover the earthquakes are moving west towards LA. In the morning they break camp and follow the USGS vans to LA, and finally realize their true destination. As they enter Anahiem and pull into the Disneyland parking lot, they know they must face whatever they must face on the Matterhorn, a snow-covered mountain in the middle of the desert.
This was the final session of the campaign. I don't have the full write-up of it in my hands yet, so I'll give a synopsis below the session title and theme song.
Session 28 ~ A Whole New World
Theme Song: A Whole New World ~ The Soundtrack to Aladdin
In Anaheim, the group gets hotel rooms in one of the hotels next to Disneyland, and starts preparations. The eclipse is only 36 hours away, and there's a lot to do.
Manda busies herself with her black market contacts, trying to gather anything that might help them with the upcoming battle. She also manages to collect a small group of archaeology graduate students with guns to assist.
Candy first contacts Agent Cooper, who flies out to meet with the party, then starts calling in favors with all his mob contacts.
Plans and preparations are made, and the group is left to their "probably last night on Earth" montage. Things take a somewhat touching turn when Candy calls his wife and kids and gives them the "be good for your mother" speech (this may have been the third time in the entire campaign that Candy had mentioned he was married). Candy then ruins that feeling by buying Agent Cooper some lingerie and telling her to wear it when she comes to his room that night.
On the morning of the final battle, the players start tossing down all their adventure cards and calling the contacts they'd been hoarding. They ended up with a small army consisting of:
1) An LAPD SWAT team
2) FBI Agents
3) A group of mob toughs
4) Crips, Bloods, and various gangstas
All in all, they had nearly 300 people, most of whom were stationed in the parking lot (Pluto section) and waiting for the prearranged sign (screaming visitors), because nobody wanted to pay to get that many people into the park.
The party, Agent Cooper, and a couple FBI agents let themselves in through the employee entrance, where they surprise some cultists making last minute preparations.
Catalina, in full dragon form, arrives to greet them. She then breathes fire on the FBI agents, killing half the entourage instantly. Candy kills Catalina with her own tooth, doing a ridiculous amount of damage.
There's fighting, running, screaming, and then the Matterhorn erupts into a humanoid geyser of worms. Tla-Kyuss manifests and starts laying about the park with his giant macuahuitl.
Families run around screaming, some obviously infested with worms. Security is quickly overwhelmed as manholes belch forth masses of pre-infected zombies into the park. This is the sign the reinforcements have been waiting for, as mobsters, gangstas, and a SWAT team charge in to shoot zombies.
The party engages Tla-Kyuss, and use every trick and resource at their disposal. The battle isn't looking good for them. Their forces are holding their own against Tla-Kyuss' zombies, but the party has taken major wounds and are out of bennies.
The entire battle, and by extension, the fate of the world, ends up resting on a single die roll. Nobody has bennies left, every PC is either incapacitated or out of ammo, with the exception of Manda, who might be able to take one more hit, and has a single rocket left. She shoots the rocket, doing enough damage to disable Tla-Kyuss, as long as he doesn't roll to regenerate all the wounds.
On Tla-Kyuss' turn, I have to roll above a 4 on a d12 for him to regenerate completely. There are no bennies left on the table. No rerolls for anything. And there's no way the party can handle another turn.
So I roll the die into the middle of the table...
3
The apocalypse is averted by one.
Tla-Kyuss collapses into a tsunami of worms that quickly dissolve. All the zombies collapse, the force that animated them defeated.
Joe collapses. With Tla-Kyuss gone, he can no longer be held between life and death.
We have a short montage scene for the epilogue.
The survivors visit Joe's grave and tip a 40 to him.
Blaine takes over the family business (Johnson & Johnson's), marries Kendra, and makes a bunch of babies.
Manda is the star of her own supernatural reality show on SyFy.
Fin
\o/
o7
Nice!