Dockside, First Session

[Viper]

Well, we kicked things off tonight, and it went rather well. As promised, here's some actual play details.

Our characters began with a typical night at the Azure Eel, drinking and gambling, couple of fights here and there, nothing special. Suddenly, a spear hurls through the air, trapping a rat between it's two tines just as the filthy creature is about to scurry back into it's whole. All in a night's work, as Squib the ratcatcher explains. But rats aren't his only business at the eel tonight, he has a message for Igor, which he delivers post haste, before collecting his quarry and heading off to the nearest pot-shop to sell it for meat.

Igor breaks the seal, finding a letter from his sometimes-patron and longed-for paramour Black Mol. It seems she has an opportunity that would suit the diminutive tinkerer perfectly, though she has a feeling he will need some muscle to back him up. He is to meet her man Kryge at a nearby brothel, where he will provide the details.

Igor rounds up his fellow boarders; Jason, a brash pugilist whose recent stint as a prize fighter has won him fame all across dockside; Caleb, a silent chap who keeps to himself, but is extremely deadly nonetheless, a mystery man who seems to kill with no weapon anyone can see; The mysterious and beautiful Linda, also called Lethal Linda, who confines her nightly activities to two most profitable ventures, namely prostitution and assassination; Lawren, an ex-military man, ex-mercenary from the sticks who has found himself in the big city for the first time, with nary a penny to keep him company, only his deadly bow, and mysterious violet eyes that glitter like no human's should; and at last, the mysterious Mr. Grieves, whose proclivities for unnecessary surgeries and fascination with the dead have driven him from any respectable practice to his current, less than sanitary accomodations, which is most worrisome, as he has great concerns over something he calls 'germs'. Igor himself is a tinker extrodinaire, he stands a shade under five feet tall, though he is no dwarf. He carries his precious machines with him at all times, and cannot keep his hands off of new and interesting bits of mechanica.

[Viper]

All assembled, the players set off for the Tallow Street house, a den of ill repute run by one of Black Mol's underlings, the aforementioned Kryge.

It is a typical dockside night, street littered with drunks and vagabonds, leering faces and shady dealings. A pair of Redeyes have staked out a corner looking for easy prey, though for now they are just having a smoke.

Jason, who has an unending supply of hatred for all who wear the redeye's colors, charges at them with a furious shout. Not ones to muck about, the redeyes meet his charge with knife and cudgel.

Jason scores a hit, but is dismayed to find that even a marked result with his bare hands causes little more than a superficial wound, while he himself takes a sharp blow to his head from a cudgel that causes him to fail a steel test, and run screaming back to his fellows. The gangers give chase, but Lawren downs one with an arrow to the throat, while Caleb steps behind the other and grabs him by the throat. Crackling black energy surges through his victim, searing and rending his flesh, leaving a charred decaying mass at the sorcerous assassin's feet. After some quick discussion about Caleb's use of sorcery in the open, it is agreed that the bodies would best be hidden. As the rest of the group proceeds to Tallow-house, Mr. Greaves uses his body disposal-wise skill (not kidding!) to find a suitably large rain barrel to hold the pair of recently dispatched scrappers. With Jason's help, the bodies are disposed of, and the group proceeds to the brothel with no further incidents.

Once at Tallow-house, they are lead to Kryge's office, where they learn just what this is all about. Perhaps not surprisingly, Squib is there as well, with the same rat, or another much like it skewered on his fork.

Kryge recounts to them the legend of Ald Morg's hoard, an old yarn they have no doubt heard a hundred times if they've heard it once. For the benefit of my readers, it is recounted thusly; two centuries past, Ald Morg was born in dockside. At a young age, he was drafted into the holy legions of Gaush to fight the Haarikans, who had recently invaded. Throughout the campaign, Ald Morg distinguished himself time and again, and soon rose to the rank of captain. It is said that Gaush himself elevated Ald Morg to the rank of Holy Defender, and the glory of the god's presence made such an impression on him that Ald Morg devoted his very soul to the servie of his lord. To that end, he kept all the plunder that was his by right, and when he returned home to Dockside, he donated it all to Gaush's temple, on the condition that he be allowed to guard the vault, even unto his death. The upshot of the story is that Gaush's temple is one of the grandest in Dockside, dwarfed only by that of Great Gorum, emperor and cheif among Dergath's living gods.
Tales persist of theives brave or foolhardy enough to risk a go at the treasure, and Kryge reveals that one thief, a daring fellow named Gyve penetrated the temple to the very door of the vault himself. He was, however, unable to work the complex mechanism of the vault door, a piece of mechanica so complex it made the eye dizzy trying to follow its workings. Gyve left with plans of returning with a larger group, and a machinist, but had a most unfortunate encounter with a runaway oxcart before he could accomplish this. Luckily, the map was vouchsafed along with the rest of his possessions in the room he was renting at Tallow-house at the time.

[Viper]

Kryge explains that the map was useless until this past week, when one of the girls was seeing one of her regular customers, a priest of Gaush who was given perhaps too much to the pleasures of wine and women. Deep in his cups, she coaxed valuable information from him, that he had at last been entrusted with a key to Ald Morg's vault. And of course he let her see it, and of course she stole it when he passed out.

So, now Mol's organization has the key and the map, and all they need is a clever machinist to figure out how to use the key. Which is where Igor comes in. Igor agrees to do the job without question, but the others are not so quick to acquiese- after all, they want to know their cut. Kryge proposes a 70-30 split, which is unacceptable to Linda and Lawren. Igor points out that 30 percent of a shit load of money is still a shit load of money, but the pair will not be swayed. They both attempt to intimidate Kryge into giving them a better split, perhaps 50-50 (rolling 1 and 0 successes respectively on 2 dice apiece), but they are unable to sway the canny businessman. Rather than have them walk off the job, though, he agrees to 60-40, and offers them a bit of money up front that they might purchase incidental needs for the job.

There is some concern that the tomb is guarded, but Kryge and Squib dismiss them as fanciful tales spread by the priesthood to keep away intruders. Who believes ghost stories anyway?

Mission in mind, the group goes to case the Temple of Gaush, stopping only to pick up a few sacks to haul the loot away with, and Jason returning to the eel to pick up his brass knuckles, which he unnacountably forgot to take with him on the way to the brothel.

The temple is an imposing complex, three stories tall with two towers bracing it. Two statues guard the doors, the hands of each dripping with fresh blood, which must be applied hourly by a servant, thus ensuring the god lives up to his moniker "bloody-handed". A quick reconnoiter of the building reveals a servant's entrance to the rear, and between the pair of them, Jason and Igor pick the lock. Jason enters first, rolling a stunning 6 successes on his stealth roll, which we let ride throughout the following scene. It is late at night, and the kitchen and storage areas through which the group entered are deserted. Jason scouts ahead to find 4 very non-alert guards on duty in the main temple hall (1 success on their perception roll!)

Using discretion for once, Jason reports back to the party, and a plan of ambush is formed.Stealth rolls are made, with Caleb getting 3 successes, Linda and Lawren getting 4, and Igor trying his beginner's luck at it, getting 2 successes, just enough to clear his double obstace.

Linda creeps up behind one guard, Caleb creeps behind the other. Jason and Igor get into position to spring into action against the third, across the hall, while Lawren draws a bead on the fourth with his bow.

Lawren looses his arrow, scoring a superb hit as his arrow passes through his opponent's eye! The rest of the party falls upon their chosen target... Linda scores a midi wound with her daggers, Caleb uses havoc's hand to inflict a light wound, while Jason inflicts a superficial on his man.
The next exchange, Linda scores a light wound on her hesitating foe, enough to force another steel test and make him hesitate even longer! Caleb's turn aside the blade stops the incoming spear of his opponent, while Mr. Greaves enters the fray and moves inside on Caleb'e opponent. Jason clocks his foe with a marked result, inflicting a light wound. The guard fails his steel test and stands and drools while Igor moves inside and stabs him in the knee, causing another superficial.

Next volley, Linda inflicts another light wound, enough to incapacitate her opponent. Jason attempts to disarm his opponent, but cannot overcome his natural defenses. Mr. Greaves tries and fails to lock his opponent while Caleb retreats a step and prepares another havoc's hand.

Next exchange, Linda delivers the coup-de-grace to her fallen foe, while Jason gets a superb hit on his foe, enough to cause a serious wound and clean his foe's clock. Of course, this was the same foe whom Lawren had targeted with his bow, and with a release scripted, his arrow sailed through the air, catching the man in the eye and inflicting a mortal wound as he fell, as if Jason's mighty blow knocked the guard's head right into the arrow's path. Igor, poised to deliver a groin strike to the dsame man, found that by the time he was ready to deliver it, there was no longer a groin in front of him to hit.
Meanwhile, Mr Greaves managed to get hold of his opponent and slam his head into the wall a couple of times, enough to bring the fool to a bloody end.

Again, with judicious use of body disposal-wise, a suitably dusty corner of the cold storage room was found to hide the poor, dead guards.

[Viper]

The guards dispatched, the group returns to the main hall to examine the statue of Gaush, which a note on the map indicates is somehow connected with the catacomb entrance. "Mind the sword arm," it reads, though what that means, no one knows. Perception tests all around, with Lawren focusing his attention on the statue's sword arm. He spots a small seam, as if the arm was sculpted seperately then attached. He grabs the arm of the twelve foot high statue and tries to use his weight to pull it down, to no avail. Meanwhile, Igor and Linda both discover an oddly shaped stone at the base of the statue. Igor leans in to study it, while Linda impulsively kicks it with her foot. The grinding of gears is heard, and the sword arm rises (with Lawren still on it!) before swinging down in a mighty arc, stopping a mere millimeter from the floor. A stunning 5 success agility test, aided by a fate point saves Lawren from being crushed!

As the sword clicks into place, tiles begin to depress on the floor before the statue, revealing a spiral staircase that goes down, down, down.

Jason volunteers to go first, and Igor lends him his goggles of cat's eye to aid his vision in the darkness. Mr Greaves takes a torch from a wall sconce and the rest of the party follows.

The stairs lead deep underground to a corridor blocked by a pair of stone doors. Jason takes a moment to listen, then enters the room. It is a catacombs, with slabs recessed in the walls containing the remains of many priests. Assured that the coast is clear, the party enters the room. Mr Greaves is quite intrigued by the bones, and performs some tests to see if he can divine their origins, while Linda and Lawren look for stuff to steal.

Growing impatient, Jason strides down the dawrk foreboding corridor at the other end of the room with no torch and not telling anyone. Igor noticaes and follows him, igniting his flamefinger inspred lighter to see by. Jason fails a perception test miserably, and is hit full in the face by something he cannot see. He takes a light wound, but passes his steel test, though the goggles get knocked off his head and skitter back into the catacomb room. Igor takes this as his cue to run, and the others see him coming out of the darkness with Jason not far behind. What follows them is a horror almost beyond comprehension. The dessicated, withered body, presumably of Ald Morg, fully armored and menacing them with a great mace. The creature opens it's mouth as if to scream, but all that escapes is a horrible, wheezy rattle. All are forced to take a will test at Ob3, and those that fail find it most difficult to look upon the creature, and atre at +1 obstacle to hit it, as they struggle to maintain their gaze long enough to deliver a blow. The horror winds up affecting Caleb, Linda and Lawren, the rest pass the test. Caleb looses an arrow, which bounces off of Ald Morg's armor, as does Linda's hurled knife. Jason tries a disarming strike, and miraculously, the mace clatters to the ground. Mr. Greaves attacks with his torch, but it glances harmlesly off of the wight's helmet. Ald Morg rakes Mr Greave's with it's bony claws, causing a superficial wound. Caleb backs away, chanting turn aside the blade, Igor gets his dagger out.

Next exchange, Jason scores a midi wound as the creature retrieves its mace, but it seems to have no effect on the thing. Mr Greaves scores another hit, doing no wound, but damaging Ald Morg's helmet. Caleb's spell goes off, but he barely makes the obstacle and will get no benefit from turn aside the blade. He begins to chant white fire. Lawren looses another arrow, causing a light wound, while Igor inflicts a light wound with his dagger to the creature's leg. Agian, the small wounds do nothing to hamper the thing. Linda scores a hit with her dagger and gamages the helmet even further, allowing Jason to score another superb hit and Midi wound.

In the final exchange, several things happen. Jason hits the beast again for a light wound, but the wight, having recovered it's mace, his Jason with a resounding blow, causing a midi wound and taking Jason down 3 dice- he is almost incapacitated. He is about to make a steel test when Caleb's white fire goes off, immolating the wight with an amazing B13 result. The wight's flesh crackles and pops, and the catacomb now stinks of burnt flesh. Lawren beheads the beast out of spite, and Mr Greaves begins attending Jason's wounds. Meanwhile, the party advances down the dark corridor to Ald Morg's tomb. The sarcophagus lies open, and the grand vault door dominates the back wall.

After a quick inspection and machine-wise test, Igor figures out where the key goes. He inserts and turns it, and the vault doors spring to life, whirring open of their own accord. Even Jason looks up bleary eyed to gaze upon the hard-won hoard that is now theirs. Igor shines a torch into the vault chamber to find it... empty! Not a gold coin anywhere, excpet for three that have fallen near the back wall, at the foot of a newly excavated tunnel that leads to who knows where. The party is stunned silent, until Lawren begins cursing and kicking the dismembered head. Igor's final words on the matter: "Well, that would have been the smarter way to go about it."

[Viper]

And that was it for our first session! Things went very well, we all had a great time. Sorry about the long post, but it's still fresh in my mind.

[Thor]

Sounds like it was a blast, Rich. You guys certainly sounded like you were having fun.

One question about that intimidation roll though. Why did Linda and Lawren roll separately? They didn't want to use the helping die?

[Viper]

They're both new to the system, and I don't think either one knew they could do that (and I didn't know exactly what they did and didn't know).

What happened was, Lawren said "I'm going to intimidate him.", made his roll and failed. Then Linda said "Well, now I'm going to try." Lawren had already tried and failed, so I didn't think it was appropriate to allow him to give Linda a helping die, and even if I had, it would have taken some serious artha expenditure for either to overcome Kryge's Will. It was a relatively minor plot point, so I had Kryge compromise even though they failed their rolls miserably. Later on, we got to the concept of helping dice when Igor helped Jason pick the lock, and they got an idea of how the mechanic works.

[clancyjr]

Also, we probably should have had to make a steel test as well as the Will check because of that damned monster. Perhaps a steel check after the Sword Arm thingee too. Sure, I'll do anything to get more steel tests under my belt...

[Thor]

They're both new to the system, and I don't think either one knew they could do that (and I didn't know exactly what they did and didn't know).

What happened was, Lawren said "I'm going to intimidate him.", made his roll and failed. Then Linda said "Well, now I'm going to try." Lawren had already tried and failed, so I didn't think it was appropriate to allow him to give Linda a helping die, and even if I had, it would have taken some serious artha expenditure for either to overcome Kryge's Will. It was a relatively minor plot point, so I had Kryge compromise even though they failed their rolls miserably. Later on, we got to the concept of helping dice when Igor helped Jason pick the lock, and they got an idea of how the mechanic works.

That makes sense.

[Thor]

Also, we probably should have had to make a steel test as well as the Will check because of that damned monster. Perhaps a steel check after the Sword Arm thingee too. Sure, I'll do anything to get more steel tests under my belt...

This seems to be a recurring pattern with you. :lol:

[clancyjr]

yeah, even though my character is not a flaming wuss, I am still trying to figure out how the damn system works.

I have a 6 steel, a 6 hesitation. The result then is that i have to roll 6 successes on 6 dice? WHY AM I HAVING A HARD TIME WITH THIS?!? It always seems so backwards to me.

[Drozdal]

yeah, even though my character is not a flaming wuss, I am still trying to figure out how the damn system works.

I have a 6 steel, a 6 hesitation. The result then is that i have to roll 6 successes on 6 dice? WHY AM I HAVING A HARD TIME WITH THIS?!? It always seems so backwards to me.

In Abzu's game I play Sigurd, hardened knight - veteran of many combats with mundane bandits and even demons. That do not change the fact that he has a B5 steel and 6 hesitation. It's not backward - your character just knows his limits, and he would rather run away (if suprised or wounded) than stay and (possibly) die :).

Do not forget about that difficult steel tests whenever you are forced to do a steel test (Skill of 6 vs. OB of 6 = difficult test towards that stat advencement). :twisted:

Drozdal

[Thor]

yeah, even though my character is not a flaming wuss, I am still trying to figure out how the damn system works.

I have a 6 steel, a 6 hesitation. The result then is that i have to roll 6 successes on 6 dice? WHY AM I HAVING A HARD TIME WITH THIS?!? It always seems so backwards to me.

Also, don't forget that Steel is an open-ended roll. It won't be easy to hit that 6 mark, but it can definitely be done. Also, did you consider Traits like Hardened (I believe that's the name), which reduces hesitation for Steel tests due to pain? That would make sense for a boxer.

[Kaare Berg]

How to avoid rolling steel:

1. Don't get ambushed :wink:

2. If its a dark and nasty catacomb, don't go in. :roll:

3. Do not get injured. :cry:

Even if your charcter is a hard ass, fear hesitation tests. But if you are suicidal build up to a heroic (aka grey) steel by pumping artha in while you seek out Hesitation causing situations.

Odds are you will be dead before you reach grey, but hey if you reach grey . . . he he he.

Or you could add the trait alert which lets you script glance assess instead of stand and drool. At least you'll see what eats your face off.

K