RM’s RPG Blog

 

Oh for Morrow’s sake, let me tell the story, Beazel, you suck at it. You do. And I outrank you.

 

So, yeah, we’ve finally drawn the warcaster into the open, right by the pool. I guess even warcasters get thirsty after a couple days in the desert. We’d whittled his group down throughout the day to just him.

 

We’d let his men approach the pool, and then shoot them when they’d try to get water back to him. Well, we were shooting at the warcaster–trying to anyway, and not having much luck. He could duck and cover, that Menite bastard could. Havlock would blast the men with the canteens. Great bolts of lightning crackling out of his hands. We were all pretty beat by that point. None of us were shooting well, not even Havlock. Sometimes it took a couple lightning bolts blasting the already blasted red dirt before nailing the poor sucker with the canteen. The Menite wasn’t shooting that well either. More than once he lobbed magic fire at us, and missed.

 

Finally, though, Havlock sets us up in ambush, after dark. He set some kind of magic boobytrap, then pulled us back from the pool so that the warcaster will make a try for the water. He does make a try for it, starting with raining down a shitload of fire right on top of the pool. It’s a good thing we’d pulled back or that would’ve been the last of us, I’m sure. So he drops fire on us–or what he thinks is us–then he heads to the pool.

 

Before he can get there, Havlock and the Sargeant come running over the rise. The warcaster gets off a shot with his pistol, winging poor Tev here. Even after three-four days in the desert, Tev was still the largest target among us. Anyway, then Havlock demands the warcaster surrender. After all, he’s outnumbered five to one. The warcaster struggles with it–you can see it on his face, he really wants to burn us all right then and there–but finally he drops his empty pistol and surrenders.

 

Havlock has us bind his arms. Then–and this is what we mean when we call Havlock a right bastard–then he tells the warcaster to help himself to the pool. Yeah, that’s right, the same pool Havlock boobytrapped with some kind of magic. Beazel makes some kind of bonehead comment about the pool, but the warcaster doesn’t seem to hear him. Havlock did hear you, though, you better hope he forgets.

 

Anyway, his hands are bound, but the warcaster–I think his name was Villius–he goes to the pool, kneels down and puts his face to the water to take a drink. And BOOM! All our ears are ringing and the warcaster has been blown back from the water. He lands in a face up heap, his ears and nose bleeding, but still living.

 

Smiling, Havlock stands over the warcaster–and then hits him with bolt after bolt of lightning. Yeah, he killed him. Maybe four times, at least. There wasn’t much left.

 

That Havlock, he’s a right bastard. Don’t get on his bad side.

 

Treasure-hunting in the warzones of the Iron Kingdoms.

 

The PC’s are ex-military (or ex-something) bad-asses, hunting artifacts of power as the wars of the Iron Kingdoms rage around them.

 

 

 

GURPS 4th Edition

 

150 Character Points

-75 Max Disads (includes quirks)

-5 Max Quirks

 

-David

 

 

A group of friends in western Cygnar come together to seek adventure, explore ancient ruins, find treasure–and try not to get killed/eaten/digested/et cetera.

 

Doldrum Deepthroat (Henry)

Cormin Fellblade (Mike)

Pali (Zac)

Taryn Go’vena (James)

Callus (Steven)

 

Morning dawned over the Satyxis jungle, bringing with it the sound of something large and mechanikal crashing through toward the party’s camp. The party, led by Pali on his riding dog, Simon, broke camp in a hurry, heading east, toward the city. The sound of another Something Large coming at them from the east, caused them to speculate on being herded and to turn to run south, to the beach.

 

Callus, a combat alchemist, slipped into the underbrush and hid to await the Something Large and maybe blow it up. At the same time, Taryn told the rest of the party to get to the beach, and she would try to distract the Something Large and head it away from them. Just as the Something Large came into view from Taryn’s position–and revealed itself as a Deathripper bonejack–it passed Callus’s position. Callus threw one his hasty concoctions, exploding a fireball against the back of the bonejack, damaging it. Taryn yelled to get the bonejack’s attention–and to tell Callus to get to the beach.

 

Doldrum Deepthroat (Henry)

Cormin Fellblade (Mike)

Pali (Zac)

Taryn Go’vena (James)

 

Aboard the Wicked Little Sister, the party found the Orgoth compass pointing to an island. Tacking around the island, a starkly beautiful city built of white stone came into view. The city was built in terraces leading from a large harbor to a palace or temple on the peak of the hills. Two curved and twisted spires rose from the palace like giant ram’s horns. The harbor had a number of large ships of the line and merchant vessels. Terraced fields surrounded the city. Captain Dromere recognized the description of Satyx, the city of the Satyxis, and she immediately set sail to put distance between the city and her ship.

 

Doldrum Deepthroat (Henry)

Cormin Fellblade (Mike)

Pali (Zac)

Taryn Go’vena (James)

 

The party met with Bastian Lattimore. The party said they planned to follow the “Orgoth compass” on the assumption it pointed to the missing artifact. Lattimore introduced the party to Captain Nivenne Dromere. “Captain Dromere is one of the most feared pirates from Five Fingers. Her schooner Wicked Sister frightens merchant shipping up and down the coast.”

 

Doldrum Deepthroat (Henry)

Pali (Zac)

Taryn Go’vena (James)

 

Doldrum, Pali and Taryn had a long talk with Genari. Genari kept trying to get them to go back to his shop so he could retrieve “some things”. Finally, the party admitted they had already found his secret vault and had both his spell book and the odd Orgoth device.  Ginari took back his spellbook, but said the party could keep the Orgoth compass.

 

Ginari told them he acquired the “Orgoth compass” in late 604 AR in a trade with a junk dealer, Elder Boggins, who had collected it on his travels up the coast of Cygnar. The compass, a sphere obviously old and almost certainly of Orgoth manufacture, had value. The trick was to figure out who would want it. There were collectors of Orgoth artifacts, even ones that appeared to be as useless as this one. So Ginari held onto it. Which is to say, it sat on a shelf of his antiques and arcane mechanika shop in Crucible Alley on Doleth Island.

 

Doldrum Deepthraot (Henry)

Pali (Zac)

Taryn Go’vena (James)

 

Not wanting to trust the locals, the party decided to have Cormin carry the spell book and have Doldrum keep the Orgoth device. (Unless the GM remembered that wrong.)

 

The party went to the Laden Galleon to find Devlin Darkmantle. Unfortunately, Cormin was unable to go. Much  to his disappointment. Doldrum introduced himself and sat in on Devlin’s game while Pali and Taryn kept their eyes on the crowd. Doldrum told Devlin he was looking for the next location of Waernuk’s Death Pits. Devlin said he had never been, but knew someone who might be able to help.

 

Doldrum Deepthraot (Henry)

Cormin Fellblade (Mike)

Pali (Zac)

Taryn Go’vena (James)

 

Doldrum Deepthroat, a trollkin fell caller of kith Gordon in the Bydand kriel of the Vescheneg Headlands on the coast of Khador, arrived in Five Fingers. He checked in with Olvemir Crenichko of the Greylords Covenant, his contact in Five Fingers, then walked to the Kithgrav Bourg on Hospice Island to meet Heath Bluetongue.

 

Cormin Fellblade, a gun mage of Cygnar, arrived and went to Bull Island to meet his contact, Ambassador Lord Dardan Wyatt. Wyatt sent Cormin to a hotel on Captain’s Isle.

 

Pali, a gobber cleric of Dhunia from the wilds of Ord, walked into Five Fingers and crossed the bridge to Bull Island. His contact, Belchor Degrata, offered him a room in his brownstone.

 

Taryn Go’vena, monk of the Order of the Fist and mother of tree, arrived and found the small Temple of Menoth on Doleth Island. Larkin Kaddock, priest of the temple, welcomed her and told her where she could find lodging.

 

 

My Esteemed Colleague,

 

As you no doubt are already aware, in the month of Rowan 606 AR, Cryx landed invading forces in–of all unlikely places–Five Fingers of Ord. The invasion was short-lived. Rallied by Lord Governor Eilish Doyle, who showed previously unseen depths of leadership in the midst of the crisis, the city fought back and drove off the invaders. Unfortunately, the Lord Governor has not been seen since the attack, and is believed to be dead.

 

Indeed, losses on both sides were high, but especially among the poor on Hospice Island. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of men, women and children were forcibly loaded onto numerous ships and taken away in the Cryxian retreat. It was thought at the time, by myself and others, that this harvest of flesh and blood must have been the primary reason for the invasion.

 

We were wrong.