11/12/2023

Q1: How do you feel about your character's past? A1: Geno's past isn't really much, but the time spent on guard duty would have been harrowing the first few times through. More recently, things are probably tougher, but he hasn't had time to fully process a lot of that since it's been go-go-go since selling the shop and chasing after Yun. The stress dream from last session is probably an early sign of the reckoning to come in the near future.
 
BEGIN SESSION
 
Last day of the voyage to Davenport, we descend in the water on the far north coast. It is still about a day's sailing voyage. I spend the last day in the hold/stables section with Mikey, mostly to get my head on right as we enter a scenario with a lot of potential danger. As sun sets, we can see the peaks of buildings and will probably arrive in the middle of the night. Firework-type sounds are detectable from the interior side of the town at the gates. By the time we are able to dock, it has died down. They were accompanied by smoke, and maybe are not actual fireworks, I'd guess.
 
In the morning we disembark and go through customs. Everyone heads downtown to the Dog's Breakfast except Marda. She's having some me-time to work through the mental issues that came up last session. Marda runs into Melfina's sister and they have a little chat. The rest of us arrive at the Dog's Breakfast, which is a shitty little tavern that is more like a diner with beer. An older woman (Lazy Susan from Gravity Falls) is our server and takes some orders for the children and Vern. Just then, Marda walks in the door but suddenly has a thousand-yard stare. Melfina puts her hand on Marda's shoulder and the halfling is able to rein it in. After the food arrives and we eat for a bit, an older half-orc man emerges from upstairs. He's very grey in color, clearly used to be in phenomenal shape, and is not wearing a shirt. Maybe a hint of undeath to him?
 
"What do you want?" he asks, and "Garnet sent us." is Druss's answer. The owner, Drax, is reticent to show us to the basement, where an object of our search may be located, a teleportation circle. After some explanation, we are led down there to an ornate rug, which Drax pulls aside. Some small talk reveals that Drax was at some point resurrected by Garnet. Drax has a stash of powerful relics down here, and that's why he doesn't like people coming down here. Vern can tell that the circle goes to the Incatori Mountain Range, some wizard's tower (the one we've been to before, it turns out. This is the super-duper secret base for the Undertow.) Kevin the Mob Boss, not a friend to Drax, has lost some guys to Drax sending them on "vacation" for an indefinite time. Drax's friend Post, their Mate, might be able to help us locate this Kevin.
 
We go on a walk and some large guy with a pompadour shoulder checks Druss. The guy is scared away when Druss uses his breath weapon to intimidate him. There are many other pompadour-bearing fools, also with leather jackets which have a one-eyed skull on the back and the word Baraxus. (INS - 23 - the shoulder check man was an up-and-coming lieutenant in this gang) Yun and I are able to flank around the guy and get some blood for our cleric, and I hide (STE - 9 - this works). This gives us enough blood to track him down later. We're stopped at the gate and Druss is targeted as someone who shouldn't be in the city, but we talk our way out of that. He might have some trouble getting back into the city though.
 
We are greeted at the Black Legion camp with vigor. Druss and Max are celebrities to these guys. Someone named Ragnis approaches, pretending to think Druss is here to help them and sign back up. Druss presses almost-not-at-all and gets the real story. The Black Legion wants to check basements for human trafficking, but most people aren't traffickers and it's just an invasion of their homes and privacy. Since the Incident, they've been barred from the town and the guards will occasionally shoot cannons (ineffectively) at them. They're looking for the child of a new patron who gave the Legion some money to find him. He's a small blonde boy, musical prodigy. Senator Kevin Baraxus, elected in a corrupt fashion, uses his power to keep the Legion out.
 
We head back to the Dog's Breakfast and get another inhospitable greeting. Drax appears and invites us upstairs, past the bedrooms, to an office sized for Drax. In the chair is a young halfling newsie boy. Posty helps with the map and asks how we are at fighting. He knows where the item is, but it's under the Baraxis Casino. We've figured out that Drax just really wants nice rugs and it's not hard to convince him to come on the heist. Before bed, Marda hands Melfina something and relates running into Melfina's sister. It's Melfina's moonstone amulet of Solvene. In the wee hours of the morning, Drax wakes us up and it's go-time.
 
Yun and Melfina (w/ Spellen) walk in and scout the place, while the rest of us plus Drax wait outside for the call to come in swinging. They find where the money would be, the boss's office, another exit, and a weird door. Helen sees an odd room, with an exposed cave lit with bioluminescent lighting. She hears movement, then sees a reflection. There's a fucking cat of some sort that hurts her mind and chases her. Helen fills them in on the kitty cat, then Melfina uses Sending to fill the outside group in.
 
ROLLO 4 INITIATIVO. Helen (we'd assume, since we can't see her yet) mauls a guard. Yun controls the early combat with a fireball, taking 11 guards down to 5. Marda cleans up most of the rest, leaving the boss and 3 normies. After we put down the humanoids, *KA THUMP* resonates. Druss lets the last of the civilians out and locks the door behind them. We don't want to let the kitty out onto the street. It does bust out of the basement to meet Drax, who really gets off on getting stabbed. I really book it down the tunnel and come on a chamber filled with undead, so I turn right the fuck around towards the group. Back through the tunnel, a yowl indicates the cat's demise. I see some friends in the tunnel, tell them about the room of undead, and head back to the entrance to that room (PER - 17 - there are about 100 undead gazing at a glowing red gem on a pedestal which is about 80 feet in the air.). I wait there for friends to come help. I wade in and smash one's head, but then Melfina one-ups me and 33 of the remaining 99 just, go away. A wall of flame appears in the back third of the room, cutting many zombies off from our area. Yun and Druss Dimension Door up onto the pillar and take the stone. We continue to whittle them down, then Melfina makes all of the ones on the other side of the fire wall just gone, again. Monster. Yun descends with the stone. Then, Vern and Drax Teleport right out of there, leaving us to escape on our own (next time on...Dragon Ball Z).
 
END SESSION
 
INSP Inventory: +d6