2024/06/26: Rescuing Miles Part 3 Report

General Summary

Terana, Knight, Zaran, Kal'vus, Buzz   Roen got picked up by a transforming F-15 mecha. Knight waved at her as she was running from a hiding spot to the pickup, and the group was happy to see that she waved back before she went. She left some frustrated superfans/paparazzi behind.   The party headed back to the farm to get some rest. Kal'vus, still injured from the fight with the cyborg, took the opportunity to drink the Potion of Murder he'd picked up from the fight with the demigod of industry. The potion enhanced him but did make him feel... angry. He managed to keep it under control, but the violent urges were tough to live with. After a while he was able to sort of adapt it into his normal mental state and make it his own, but the anger was still there.   Partway home, Gork slammed on the brakes. A little girl had run out in front of the wienermobile. This was out in the middle of nowhere: There were no buildings within half a mile. When Buzz went out to check, the bubble of force he'd put over the girl to protect her was empty. Investigation suggested it was some sort of horror story ghost that was probably trying to make someone else die in the same way it did. Its soul did keep spinning around the van as the group went home.   Buzz went searching for it after the party got some food in them. No luck, but he did get the sense that there was still something around. Knight found similar. Knight did sleep sitting up in a ready position, and when he woke, there was a fluffy grey bird sitting on one of his horns. It seemed content to ignore everyone (including Terana) and sleep, so the group left it alone while Terana was welcomed back and everybody got waffles. Speaking of which, Terana was dropped off. She was still a little unsteady and her tan lines were messed up, but she was okay.   The residents of the house gathered for a lovely breakfast of waffles etc. Hoen declared that he'd finished the creation and started the dispersal of the anti-disease agent. Buzz asked him if he could revive Miles. Hoen said yes. He also took the rest of the retrieved souls.   Kal'vus mentioned that he was hungry for battle, but not hungry for waffles. He really needed to get some of this rage and adrenaline out. Humphery was up for a spar, given someone had just tried to hurt his wife, so they set up for that.   (Ended up with Knight joining in the sparring. They had a lovely day of it. Kal'vus got more evasion training, Humphery got training from Kal'vus in flight in combat. The bird on Knight's horn vanished once the movement got going, but reappeared in the same spot once the fighting was over.)   Around lunch, Miles came back up from the basement. He told the party a lot of info over burgers. Apparently there are lots of cult cells that are independent but feeding into each other. The big monsters that had kidnapped Miles are still at large. Apparently there were at least eight of them, and they're ridiculously tough and strong.   (Aside: Terana got clothes to replace the cultist robes Hoen was giving to the revived people.)   With support from the party, Miles chose not to report in to his superiors, instead opting to call some old friends for support. Tev and Lev were called in to give him computer support, and it turned out they had a pile of papers an inch thick of new intel. Apparently a lot of the police and adventurers in the city have been investigating the cults, but they're not likely to catch up in time.   Lume set up an illusionary conspiracy board so the party could figure out everything that was going on.

Necrosa's touches on all these cults is subtle, but it adds up.

Planning a lot of conflict and chaos during the concert.

A certain amount of animosity is aimed at the concert, but not all of it.

The authorities have caught and killed some groups.

Reports of a petite dark-haired female dropping off items and guidance. A messenger, or Necrosa herself? Might be multiple messengers.

Theme of viral attacks. Snowcones that possess you, the infection we saw earlier, super-soldier cybernetics that trigger a rage at concert time, the fanaticism records, the nanomachines...

Quite possibly a global event.

The giant wrecking ball monsters can apparently fold down to be human-sized and disguise themselves like Men In Black.

Possibly a goblin invasion to the northwest. Lots of goblins. Hundreds of thousands. Apparently Necrosa has been attacking the goblins and also giving the goblins advice on where to attack in revenge. Also, the goblins have access to technology, i.e. guns and explosives.

Mysterious wizard cult, mostly just sharing resources rather than planning an attack.

The demigod of industry might still be around. Might have picked up and moved and still be regenerating in some way after being killed.

What do we do with the gear? Hoen says it seems familiar, possibly from a being like himself. It's a "gear of a dead god", and that machine god is probably better than the evil one. Also, the evil one probably lost a good chunk of power by losing this.

The party went and grabbed the mecha-transforming apparatus of Kwalish from Knight's city so they could put the dead god into that rather than into the wienermobile. Apparently there was some sort of menderbug labor dispute. The drow are being problems. The dwarves have "invited themselves in" to "help" with that problem. Also, there's a drow warlord who keeps showing up to challenge Knight to a duel. Knight talked to Hornet, set a date to duel that guy in a week and a half, picked up the apparatus, and went back to the mission. (Terana offered to fight him in Knight's place, if it turned out it was the weaponsmaster from the derro city.)   Zaran and Terana set up to run the ritual to revive the god. To get a little more information beforehand, Knight got everyone together and used the dream nail. Rather than sucking everyone into a dream realm, tapping the gear made Knight's sword resonate at a single note and sparkle with green light. A bit of exploration showed that swinging the sword more quickly enhanced the effect. Knight used a maneuver to attack with blurring speed, and a globular purple portal formed around him.   Zaran responded to the portal's forming by starting the casting of true resurrection. It did start to work, but it was going to take an hour to cast, and Knight had no confidence that the portal would stay open that long. He stepped through. On the other side, the sky was an alien yellow, and the ground was gears. This was a portal to Mechanus.   Terana and Kal'vus joined Knight on the floating gear platform on the far side of the portal. The one other gear platform nearby held the only notable thing in the area: Aside from a steel-colored band around its edge, it was covered in zones of different colors, and at the center was a semi-crucified old man in the image of a stereotypical "God". His lower half was sealed in rock. He appeared to be unconscious.   The party got to prodding at the obvious puzzle. The colored zones were a trap: Anything crossing one would be hit by an effect appropriate to that zone's color, with blue causing a sort of paralysis effect, yellow lightning, and green acid. Furious but inconclusive debate on how to handle this followed. The old man, beginning to wake up as a result of the resurrection and accepting the party's explanation of their presence, suggested trying to remove some of the colors. No immediate explanation was forthcoming as to how this might be done.

Rewards Granted

1 xp

Character(s) interacted with

Miles Gargos, Hoen, Auntie Edna

Notes

Kal'vus's stat effects from Potion of Murder: Permanent +1 to hit, +2 to Int, crit on 18-20.