Bedlam in the Badlands/Player Recaps

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Players document their characters' experiences in the Badlands here.

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See The Story So Far for the DMs' session overviews.

Session 1: Kickoff Megagame - New Place, New Identity, and New Dream with an old scar of redemption

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Himo Nilo,Raazdrog, Stix, Delaia, Demir, Caesana, Jynx, Leonard

NPCs:Raegina,Baftzmyr, Kicyr, Cilvdywutc

Significant events: Himo Nilo has just arrived at the junkyard. It has been months of traveling alone with the hope of improving himself. Sweat constantly drips off his forehead as he is not used to this area. He received a letter from his contact arboretum asking for new hires and who goes by the name, "The Chairman." He left for the Arboretum, has been on the road since, and doesn't know anything. After all, he was given only a description of Raegina, her cohorts, and had no tools. He scraped the money he could and went over to the junkyard putting everything he could on the line just for the security of a little bit of breathing room. He watched Grind,Smash, & Cleave with great intent because he has never seen functioning robots, but sharpened himself when he realized he was fighting them. Attacking the robots, he realized they explode on death. He let instinctual training kick in and just kept throwing his dagger at Grind, Smash then Cleave. Adrenaline still rushing, he learned how to scrap creatures, but not that he was good at it. At least now he could possibly gather parts he needed to jerryrig what he wants. When he got the chance to improve Grind, he attempted two things to make it better. The first is he tried to increase the accuracy of the attacks, but as he worked on it, he got really nervous and fumbled with arm, almost removing it entirely. He barely improved it and attempted to improve the armor but proved impossible since he had no effect means of attaching parts wile casting mending. Stix meanwhile, made the saw light ablaze whenever it swung to attack, and Raazdrog managed to add a ranged weapon to it. He did have two really great ideas that both of them liked. The first is he renamed Grind to Sparkburn. The second is he built off of Raazdrog's idea to give a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." to repeat while fighting enemies. Himo added to that by having it also repeat "Feel the Spark. Feel the Burn!" When Raegina offered a wager for the best bot created, she gave everyone 10 additional GP and Himo bet seven of that ten on Sparkburn, and the other three went to Cleave. Sparkburn ended coming out on top and he made 31 GP out of that and Raazdrog's got 35 GP. Raazdrog's managed to convince Himo to give Stix 10 GP from both of us since they helped improve Sparkburn, to which Himo agreed and almost seemed relieved that Raazdrog's prompted him to do it. When the horn was blasted, Himo immediately got on the war rig and started repairing Sparkburn. When they got to an entrance of the Arboretum the war rig was flipped onto its side by an Oliphaunt. He managed to catch himself landing and immediately tried to help others up but it wasn't enough with his one hand. While fighting, Himo climbed on the war rig while it was on its side to get a clear vantage point, and saw the scale of this invastion for the first time. He focused hard on the Capra hard and got off the war rig when he was told by Raegina to get off. After cleaning up the Pustuloids, Capra Demons and Lesser Rage demons, a massive wave of wild magic energy was released. When the fight had ended, all spellcasters were spent including Leonard who saw the Rig get rammed into its side and decided to help out. Delaia and Raazdrog's defender were severly injured, and realization dawned on Himo when he knew that the conservatory was desroyed. A few more demons were picked off while they were trying to flee, and while people were talking about uniting, Himo only thought of one thing. Using the very tool that turned his life into a living nightmare; Explosives.

Session 1: Kickoff Megagame - Trading Route Troubles + Aggression From Above: Koro's Account

DM: Amanda

PCs: Pryderi, Silgr Þyrikk, Chanterelle Viscaryn, Davin Dunefoot, Rhogar Dreel, Rimsa Pavdad, Koro, Demir Malchan, Lincoln "Toots" Whiterock, Pearl Dust, Larry

NPCs: Lord Pavan, Swordmaster Krispin, Tradesman Kareek, Stanley the monitor lizard

Significant events: Jeez...this place is insane. I guess the multiple sulfurous explosions originating from Hell Circles should've maybe tipped me off to that, but I figured I could avoid all that craziness if I just did what I've been doing this whole time! Simple job got served up on a silver platter from Duke Solon: escort duty of some goods and traders heading into Fed territory, easy peasy; been doing that type of thing for a while before coming to the Arboretum and never ran into any trouble that couldn't have been solved by standing around and looking tough. I assumed it would be more of the same this time around, just with more company than usual, and certainly better than getting served up as a punching bag against the Scrappers' war machines. It was a fairly sized convoy: couple camel-drawn carts and some horses to carry the lord Pavan and his bodyguard Krispin, the trade envoys at the head of the small group. There was one cart that seemed more important than the others though. Drawn by a large monitor lizard named Stanley, the mystery cargo remained covered by thick tarps at all times, and the driver, Kareek, was not forthcoming about its contents either, despite Pryderi's inquiry. With the last thing that, at the time I thought, would make the job somewhat interesting firmly drowned in secrecy, I decided to settle in for the long haul...but that's when it all went to hell.

Davin, a bow wielding halfling draped in the garb of one experienced in desert living, extended his senses into the distance searching for threats...and pinpointed a group of shadowy figures ahead of us. He was able to ascertain that the figures were no ordinary desert travelers, nor normal animals native to the dunes, and so we decided on a defensive approach. Unloading the carts of the wooden barrels and boxes, we fashioned a rough defensive perimeter of carts and containers, keeping what traders and animals we could within the circle. They were upon us not long after we finished setting up...these...things, they looked like dogs but ones that had been...melted. They flung themselves at us, tearing apart the animals first, but swiftly moving on to the traders if they had an opening. It seemed like they barely felt the impact of our attacks, I'm not convinced they could even feel pain. I was struggling to even hit them with my sword...probably because it was too...uh, short! Yeah, it wasn't a longer blade like the ones I was used to wielding, just the one I was able to steal from back east...yeah that's probably it, probably should've gotten around to replacing it sooner. I saw Pavan's bodyguard, Krispin, struggling to hit with his sword as well. His blade wasn't curved like the ones I preferred, but the length was right, I wondered if there was a way I could get it from him...but that would have to come after the battle. There was a larger hound leading the pack, cloaked in shadow and radiating heat, and it spewed a great beam of lava across Rhogar's body and many of the containers behind him; seemed like it nearly killed him on the spot. Oh, also forgot to mention that Stanley and the cart he was hitched to took off into the desert as soon as the hounds appeared, some help he was! A couple of the other animals got spooked too, but some members from our little troupe were able to round some of them up in the middle of the battle so we wouldn't be stranded if we survived. It was anything but easy, but eventually we were finally able to take out all the hounds. The traders had taken some casualties despite our efforts, but we didn't even have a second to catch our breaths before a flare shot over the horizon from the direction we had come from: the Arboretum was under attack. Pavan told us to forget the goods and to immediately hop on a cart and head back to assist. We did as we were told and were swiftly pulled back towards where we came. (Was able to convince Krispin to trade swords though with Pryderi's assistance, score! Not actually sure if the sword I gave him will serve him well, but I'm certainly happy to be rid of it. Only wish the old man could've been here so I could look him in the eye as I discarded it, good riddance).

Arriving at the Arboretum we saw a nightmare: demons flooding every inch of the place, inside and out. Everywhere you looked you could see a battle; metal hitting metal, claws rending flesh, it was chaos all over...except for one place. Above the very top of the massive tree was seemingly a dark cloud that upon closer inspection, was revealed to actually be a swarm of countless flying demons, seemingly targeting the defenses mounted atop the Arboretum. Pavan urged us to be the ones to rush to meet the swarm and keep them from assisting their grounded allies. My mind immediately told me it was impossible, but for some reason my feet followed after the group. Our druid, Rimsa, ran off to join another part of the battle, and a tiefling named Demir joined up with us during our ascent. At the top, we split up to try and cover more ground, and at the start it seemed like it was going to be alright. A large, feathered demon seemed to be leading its brethren up there, but Silgr was able to send it careening down the side of the tree by somehow freezing it in midair with a flash of one of his runes. He and Rhogar were able to get Pavan and Krispin to one of the ballistae while Chanterelle, Pryderi, Demir, Davin, and I were able to start carving a path towards the double shot ballista...but our success didn't last. The smaller demons would come in waves; they could swoop and slash at us and be repositioned in the air before we could get a swing on them. I found myself wishing for a bow in my hands again, but it seemed even our allies with ranged abilities were being torn up. Even worse, the feathered demon had seemingly broken free of Silgr's rune before it hit the ground and was rapidly ascending back up the side of the tree. One by one we began to get knocked unconscious, I myself would've likely fallen from the tree after a particular claw strike hit me hard if it wasn't for Chanterelle and Pryderi...it wasn't looking good. Additionally, a loud boom rang out from below us, and a violent quake shook the tree. Soon after, the cloud of demons above us began to dissipate, seemingly having completed the objective they came for (which I later learned was the destruction of the Arboretum's magical forge), but it seemed like the ones engaging us were still keen on wiping us out. I'll admit, I wasn't sure how we were going to make it out of there, but then, from the southernmost side of the tree, two literal bears that had scaled the entire height of the Arbotetum, one bearing a lizardfolk in wizard robes on its back, crested the top of the battlements and began laying into the demons. After realizing the new arrivals were on our side, our group was also able to rally and wipe out the demons before they could destroy the two remaining ballistae. The feathered demon appeared briefly, but it too followed its departing brethren away from the Arboretum.

The rest of the day was a blur. I remember bits and pieces of a big speech about the three factions banding together to restore the Arboretum and defend its denizens from the demonic forces that had made themselves known, but my body's aches seemed to distract my mind from fully comprehending it. And while this was a victory, I was left to wonder just what on Quelmar I had gotten myself into...

Session 3: WereVultures by Night (As Told by Stix)

DM: Chris

PCs: Davin Dewfoot ,Raazdrog, Stix, Delaia, Steady Wind, Leonard

NPCs: Suki, Brandran, Hektor

I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to write here. I was told to keep a log of the missions we’re sent on, so that’s what this is, I guess. I (Hi, I’m Stix) was summoned along with Delaiah (I really can’t seem to escape her), Davin, Dee, and two other familiar faces, Raazdrog and Leonard. We were taken before Suki, who said she’s the de facto healer for the Arboretum, and also claims she runs the Casino in the Federation? I heard of people ~~and she who mustn’t be named~~ talking about this ‘Casino’ concept and gambling. Suki said she’d teach me, so I guess I’m going to learn how to gamble at some point. She also gave us our mission- to escort an escaped Shend prisoner named Brandran to the Federation HQ and deliver him to Hektor himself. I brought up the fact that it might be unsafe and the whole madness thing might be an act and he might be a double agent. The rest of the party was mostly concerned about getting paid and what to name our horse companions (A and B, Incase whoever is reading this is wondering.) We were told it would be a 7 day trek if we paced ourselves accordingly. And the first 3 days went fine. On night 3, as I kept watch, I noticed some vultures circling our camp. In the morning they were still there, so I pointed them out to the crew. Delaiah actually said something smart, and pointed out that it might signal to other caravans that we were also out in the deserts. Davin managed to shoot them both out of the sky, and we continued on our way. And everything was fine. Until the evening. In the middle of the night, we were attacked by several more vultures, two large kinda vultures, and four foul smelling sand worms. Thanks to Delaiah knowing some weird hell’s language, we were able to figure out that they were after Brandran. I immediately shoved him in my locket to keep him safe, which was both a great and terrible idea. It kept him safe for several rounds of combat, but caused most of the adversaries to target me, and, being just a doll, it didn’t take much to get me out of the fight. From what I was told, the two larger vultures turned out to be were shapeshifter vultures, and Brandran is one of them as well. From what my party members could surmise, they wanted to take him back to the Shend? Maybe? At some point, I was woken up, and we finished off everything that was left. However, the were vultures kept healing themselves no matter what we tried. In the end, we tied all three of them up, and brought them to Hektor for questioning. He thanked us, and arranged for a safe caravan back to the Arboretum.

Session 5: Bombs (and how not to make them) 101: Koro's Account

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Syl, Ollie Ollivine, Glorivesh, Koro, Mizuka, Avel

NPCs: Raegina, Baftzmyr, Kicyr, Cilvdywutc

...I really should listen to my gut when it gives me a bad feeling about something. I mean, I guess I was for a while; I knew doing jobs for the Scrappers was a death wish more often than not, but after that fight on top of the Arboretum, after needing to be saved from certain death by others because I couldn't keep up with those demons...somehow all the "training" I suffered through wasn't enough. I thought I needed to be challenged more, I know I have what it takes I-I'm probably just rusty after all this time...yeah, that's probably it. For some reason I thought the best way to shake the rust off was to take a job for the Scrappers. Apparently their home base, the Junkyard, was infested with pests, seemingly some demons that retreated from the battle at the Arboretum. I figured this would be a great way to get my groove back: fighting some lower strength demons who can't just fly away after they get their cheap shots (still need to find a longbow somewhere), sounded like a cakewalk...and that, of course, is where I was mistaken.

Not only did we have to walk hours through the desert on foot just to get to the Junkyard, exhausting half of us before any fighting even began, but after arriving we were "recruited" by a woman named Cilvdy to make some...questionably designed explosives that would apparently draw the demons out of their hiding places within the piles of junk. Oh, I guess I should also mention who else was on this job. Syl was the only one I was previously acquainted with; they were apparently cleared for this mission by their boss, so we didn't have to worry about any demotions...hopefully. There was an elf named Ollie who had a giant frog companion, a scarred and tattooed elf named Avel, a vulpine performer named Mizuka, and a sorcerer named Gloria who's human...I think. Cilvdy set us up in a crude assembly line and we got to work, seemingly not really having a choice. Even though I was exhausted from travel, I was able to pick up the presence of someone watching us from afar; Raegina was here, and she was observing our group's progress. The only other people present for the show that was about to commence were Baftzmyr; a masked figure with an ornate headdress, and Kicyr; a half elf with a boisterous personality, both of whom seemed to be slightly antagonistic towards Cilvdy, though it seemed that she herself was none the wiser to this.

There really isn't any other way to say this: we couldn't stop blowing ourselves up. Or more specifically, we couldn't stop blowing up whoever was unfortunate enough to be at the end of the assembly line. I was at the first step, folding the origami that would act as the casing for the explosive, so I was out of harm's way, and I was perfectly fine to stay there until we were done, as some of our group sustained some substantial damage from these misfires. I was convinced that more harm would be done to us doing this process than during the actual combat with the demon pests, but as is seemingly becoming more and more common these days, I was incorrect.

After equipping us with the bombs that we were able to successfully construct, we were finally allowed to head out into the Junkyard to clear out the demons. As we were fanning out trying to find suitable locations to throw our bombs, I climbed to the top of a junk pile to try and get a better look at the surroundings, and that's when this demon...chicken...thing jumped out at me. It didn't have a head, but instead it's neck just ended in this huge mouth, I'm not even sure it had eyes so I don't even know how it could see me...it was disgusting. I scarcely had a chance to draw my blade to retaliate before the chaos erupted. I heard explosions as the rest of the group began throwing their bombs, drawing out more of these poultry-like creatures, but also these huge writing leeches that accompanied them. I saw one take a chunk out of Syl's hood and just, dig into them. From my high vantage point, I could see this same thing happening to many other people in the group as well. Even when the leeches were killed the wounds they left would just gush blood uncontrollably, it was a scene out of a nightmare. Just like at the Arboretum, I had no focus when faced with these monsters; there was no calm threat assessment or confident show of force, panicked instinct took over. I remember rushing to Syl and trying to carve a path through the demons to give them some breathing room. I remember sprinting over towards Avel and Gloria and all I could see was red, just...blood everywhere. I remember slashing away at a group of three leeches that were latched onto Ollie and her frog, as well as Mizuka, our only healer. I think that was when it went quiet, and my senses returned to me. I heard no more otherworldly screeches or growls, only the soft hum of Mizuka's harmonica as she used her healing magic to stop the wounds of those who were still bleeding, it was over.

The happy-go-lucky CIlvdy came to congratulate us and showed us how to harvest materials from the creatures' corpses. I couldn't really focus on that though, my eyes were drawn once again to Raegina, who seemingly hadn't taken her eyes off us the entire time. Kicyr was with her this time though, and the cambion handed her lieutenant a bag of gold, still never taking her eyes off of us. I guess our performance was acceptable to her, but somehow the passing thought of a scenario where she wasn't filled me with more dread than any of the bloody scenes I witnessed today...

Gloria's account

I took the job with the scrappers for a few reasons: first, it was the first thing that popped up after the attack on the arboretum that I could help out with between putting my own accomodations back together and helping with the conservatory. Second, it gave me a way to get back in touch with Baftzmyr and Kicyr to see if I could figure out if there was room for friendship or anything else there, or if I'd poisoned the well a bit. Third, it gave me a chance to contextualize several of the people I've been meeting around the place, like Gobbo Greenskin. I needed a sense of where they're coming from to really be able to know if there's something I can do to help, or something I can tailor my performances to. And finally, I wanted to get my hands a little dirty and deal with some of the demons that started all this chaos. Good news: mission accomplished on all counts. Bad news: I'm apparently not very good at building bombs, and pretty fragile when it comes to fighting demon leeches. But that's getting ahead of myself.

First off, we had to walk out there. It takes a few hours by foot, and the sun is punishing. Skin feeling cold and clammy to the touch of most people doesn't mean I don't sweat or overheat, but I managed it better than several of the others. Probably might help if someone sold parasols or other desert gear. Worth checking into later, if these sort of excursions become a regular thing. From that point we met with the lady lieutenants of the scrap heap: Baftzymyr, Kicyr, and Cildywutc just "Cilvdy" seems to be her preference. The first two definitely sort of hate me still for the time being, and the latter was most interested in getting us to build paper bombs filled with black powder.

The goal was to fold the bombs, fill them, and then dip the finished product in hot wax with a fuse that could be easily lit and thrown to flush out the demons that were hiding around the various scrap piles. Cilvdy walked us through the steps and we each took a station. I thought that with my musician's steady hands, I'd be a good fit for the final step, and because a lot of the others were exhausted, it seemed dangerous to put them there. Turns out, I'm at least as prone to explode as anyone else. After barely managing to avoid maiming my hand by bodily throwing myself into the explosion of one bomb, we switched things up. Syl and Koro insisted on switching places with me, and I had absolutely no objections at that point. And now I have a distinct fear of losing digits when handling explosives, so I'm going to try to never have to do that again if I can help it. Mizuka and Avel were both a really big help during the bomb-making too. It's interesting how their magic differs from my own, and it might be worth looking into studying the approach at some point in the future after I figure things out with V.

After we got the bombs together, we took a bit of time to recuperate. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who needed that the most, but I wasn't the only one to suffer an accidental explosion, so maybe we all needed it. Anyway, we went out to the junkyard and spread out to deal with the pesky demons (demon pests?). As were were just getting set up to start lighting bombs, Koro got attacked by a couple of the beasts that were hiding on the scrap he climbed on top of. Very quickly from there, all the hells (or I guess the Abyss) broke loose. There were maybe two dozen of these monsters: nasty demon leeches that could stick to you and keep you bleeding without magical healing to staunch the wounds, and these hideous... meat chickens. Which, yes, chickens are meat animals already, but believe me, these things were just awful looking. No feathers, just like fleshy monstrosities. I do not recommend trying to eat one.

Things got a little hectic in the fight. Cilvdy got attacked by a couple, and I helped her out. Syl seemed to be holding their own despite practically being surrounded. Ollie picked a few off with her bow and with the help of her giant frog. (Which, let's be real: has to require some crazy upkeep out in the badlands! Lots of water!) Koro went wild, taking out at least a half dozen of the creatures himself. (Not sure if I was feeling a little scared of him, or just impressed. He was a little monstrous himself, but nothing that was worrying.) Avel stayed pretty safe, from what I recall, and he held his own, but I lost track of him when I nearly passed out from blood loss. I... had a harder time than I expected. A handful of the creatures got close, and I couldn't manage a clean shot with my spells or to get away from them without getting hit. I'm very fortunate that Mizuki was there. She's a bit of a lifesaver, for real. She used some sound spell to cause an explosion at one point, and it left my ears ringing, but she was even closer. Still, she managed to offer some healing words and keep me from ending up as the incubator for nasty demon eggs. Which, yeah, it would've been nice to know that these demon chickens apparently lay eggs in people they knock down. Could've been vital information that the resident demon-parts expert Baftzymyr could have shared, but I guess we didn't get to know that. I'm not sure if it's because she was still mad at me that she left us all in the dark or if she just wouldn't have told us either way. But she wanted to harvest the eggs, and maybe they're easier to get out of a person than they are out of the dead monsters. I hope they're easy to get out of a person, but I'm a little afraid to ask on the chance it's not the answer I want to hear. Note: stay far away from demon chickens if you're close to keeling over.

We wrapped things up with Baftzmyr showing half of the group how to harvest the eggs, and Cilvdy showing the other half, including myself, how to slice up the demon leeches into something that they find useful. We got paid, and we did an okay job of it all, although the eggs were too difficult for anyone but Baftzmyr to get them out completely intact. Still, Cilvdy was happy with how we did, and on top of the payment she gave us a discount coupon for her explosives stand. (One that I'm probably going to try to trade away, because of the above fear of blowing my hands up.) As everyone else started walking back to the arboretum, I was able to talk Cilvdy into giving me a ride on her horse. That let me get in a private conversation to learn a bit more about everything going on there, and get a sense of the feelings minefield. (Not spilling any of their secrets in this public report, no. If you want to try to talk me into revealing them, you can meet me in person, but be warned, I am sworn to secrecy by the unbreakable girl code!)

Session 6: The Tower That Wasn't (9/21/25)

DM: Cat

PCs: Mezzi (they/them), Diana (she/her), Davin (he/him), Dallas (she/her), Himo (he/him), Polvo (she/her)

NPCs: Sir Anthony, Jerbo, Dapple, The Osteomancer

Himo has walked nearby the chapel as the service was ending Himo met an arcanist who goes by the name Jerbo. After some conversation, Himo learned that kobolds had attacked the Arboretum with the help of a demon. Confused, he pushed for more details, but didn't get much out of it but agreed to help if he got a few more people involved. When he got over there, he was surprised to see entirely new faces.There was the usual faces like mezzi, which surprised me, but also a mouse like person he hasn't seen before. After some quick introductions, The group learned they were going to find someone who goes by The Osteomancer who might know something about what happened, and it's a 2 day travel over. Himo and the rest of group went to Dapple's Stable to rent a few horses. He paid the deposit and they set of to the north east to this Osteomancer.

Along the way The group met a lone dog that seemed to have been abandoned what seemed to be a short time. We continued on our journey until we reached a trapped door. opening the trapdoor, a ladder heads down a worked tunnel and Himo voted to go in front. When they entered, they met the Osteomancer, A loxodon living alone in what appears to be a simple home. A deal was struck to help them out if they helped us with the why the kobolds attacked. The Osteomancer, was dealing with something made of absence, that erased identities the longer someone was there. To protect us from this, The Osteomancer led us to a somewhat large humanoid skull engraved with a lot of divination runes on it. There each of us shared our memories, to remember who we were. The group learned of his escape from High Lunas when he first picked an Arcane Lock. Other information we learned was it could only be seen with reflections, and we were given a scroll with an egg to crush it when we started using the scroll.

When we got to the structure, It was like walking into an insane asylum. A pitch black outside, to bright white inside and it made seeing outside really hard. What was up, down, left, right, front,back when everything around is the same? Himo found himself close to a center of complete silence, crushed the egg and began reading the scroll. Suddenly white lights appeared as well as a ghost of some kind but not like your standard ghost. It was trying to make me dissapear while the lights whittled down my teammates. I placed my cannon down to give me a "wall" against the lights which worked out well. Mezzi started making the lights inactive which was good because Davin and Polvo, were both being injured a great deal. I completed the scroll with every creature there incapacitated and we left. The tower collapses and we return to the Osteomancer

In payment, the Osteomancer explained that in dragon-worshipping Swikedom, "the divine Blood Law relegates kobolds to the Thrall caste, below all save Warmbloods like us," but that kobolds who revere Kurtulmak above Tiamat may try to escape their thralldom, denying that the Blood Law is divinely ordained. "One such group," she revealed, "led by Snizz the Fortunate, used the demons as a way out of bondage, but their freedom -- such as it was -- ended when your comrades cut them down."

We learned that kobolds with make deals with anything to get out of the blood law. A group led by Snizz the Fortunate, made a pact with demons, that ended when they were cut down. The Osteomancer Finished off by saying "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free."

Session 7: Tracking Demons 102 (As Told by Stix)

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Stix, Steady Wind, Himo Nilo,

Koro, Raazdrog, Ozmir Nightshade

NPCs: Baftzmyr

So. Here we are again, I guess. After my last adventure in the desert with crawling creatures under the sand, I suppose I wanted more? I guess this is what I’ve been told desire is? I don’t think this is desire though. I figured I take less resources than the others who need to y’know….eat and drink. So, I heard about a new mission headed up by Baftzmyr and showed up to the Junkyard. I was slightly surprised to see Himo and Raazdrog there, though I guess I shouldn’t be since both of them, but especially Himo, are obsessed with that boy we enhanced and named Sparkburn. I wasn’t surprised to see Dee there, he seemed to do pretty alright in our last mission out into the sands. There were two new faces as well- Ozmir, who I haven’t seen around the Arboretum at all, and Koro, who I was …happy? Pleased? To finally converse with. We’ve been always just missing each other, but I’ve heard other people talk about him. I was very surprised to not see Delaiah there, but it was a welcome change. She’s nice, but she’s nosy, and talks a lot. So, anyways. The six of us get to the Junkyard, where Baft was waiting for us. She explained that there is a very large demon creature that’s stuck in the sand someplace west of us. Unlike Suki, she did offer to accompany us into the desert, and gave me the old buddy Sparkburn to ride for the journey as well. We were only out for a couple of hours before she spotted some rippling in the sand. Turns out that it was another kind of dretch, which were the sand swimmer creatures we fought with the WereVultures. However, these ones looked different and were mutated in some way. I realised this pretty quickly when Sparkburn punched one, and the fire damage I enhanced him with healed the dretch instead. Koro rushed up and dispatched it pretty easily, and Raazdrog and I noticed the rest of the dretches running away to the east. We followed them to find a rather large crater in the ground. Baft then offered the group a large oragami pig bomb? I volunteered to run to the edge, drop the bomb in, and run away. The plan went off without a hitch, and I dove into my locket for safety as a wall of force and sand hit everyone. In the middle of the crater was a large demonic creature that we later learned was the Baron of Filth. What a dumb name. Anyhow, I was straining to listen through my locket to figure out what’s going on when Raazdrog tapped and called into it, telling me to come out. A group of us then rushed up to peer over the edge of the crater to get a better look when the fighting really began. It used the lantern on his chest to shoot coils of magic and energy at us that ranged in flavor and consequences. I think I got hit with a lightning coil at some point during the fight and I know Koro said he felt pretty heavy. And, to top it all off, the ‘Baron’  summoned more of those mutated Dretch things to just cause more complications to the whole ordeal. And, if that wasn’t enough, anytime the Baron struggled or tried to free himself, the sands shifted, causing a sandslide down the crater to the large monster. Most of the fight was attempting to hurt the Baron while picking off the dretch and avoiding falling in. Some of the group decided to willingly slide down into the pit and face him head on. Unfortunately, this caused Koro and Dee to both get knocked unconscious and Himo to get buried in the sand. We are in Raegina’s debt that Baft accompanied us, if she wasn’t there, I really don’t think we could’ve gotten Koro and Dee back up. Though, Raazdrog did do some pretty decent healing as well. We did manage to hit the Baron enough to down him, however, I guess it caused the lantern contraption in his chest to overload, causing a massive fireball explosion. Once we all recovered, we helped to heal and stabilize each other, and make sure we were all mostly back on our feet. We took some time to scrap the Baron for some components before making our way back to the Junkyard and Arboretum, a job completed and mostly unscathed.

Koro's Account:

You know, there's an old Snobbish saying about being fooled twice and the shame being on the one who was fooled...or something like that; not sure why that's popping in my head just now. Anyways, I took another job for the Scrappers. A large demon was spotted out in the dunes near the Scrapyard, seemingly being stuck in the sand somehow. After my last job with the Scrappers, I was...concerned about the approach they were going to take with dispatching such a thing, and for some reason I could feel in my gut that this wasn't something I'd feel comfortable sitting out on. So, perhaps against my better judgement, I joined the group bound for the Scrapyard, all unfamiliar faces to me except for Stix, a sentient...doll of some kind? I'd only seen them in passing before in the Arboretum, but this time they were accompanied by a large scrap construct they called 'Sparkburn'. Steady Wind was an armored tabaxi that seemed to possess similar abilities to Rhogar and Silgr, Ozmir was a lightly armored tiefling who created psychic blades, and Himo and Raazdrog seemed like inventor types like Gobbo.

To my surprise we were accompanied on this mission by Baftzmyr, Raegina's masked lieutenant. Apparently this demon was formidable enough to actually warrant personal involvement from Scrapper high command. As would be expected though, they still ordered us to do the tracking; are they testing us or something? First with the bomb making and now with the tracking, it feels like they're trying to "train" us in a weird way...not entirely sure how to feel about that. On our way to the demon's location, we came across a strange pig creature that could dig through the sand with ease. We chased it for a bit before it decided to stand its ground and fight, bursting out from the sand. It was a relatively easy kill, but looking towards the direction it was heading, we could see many more moving mounds of sand heading out to the demon's location as well; were these its minions or something? Cautiously we followed their trails, eventually reaching a large patch of undulating and shifting sand, Baftzmyr indicating that the demon was located just below it. Baftzmyr produced a large bomb housed inside of an origami pig, clearly another Cilvdy original, and Stix put it in place over the buried beast. As we hastily took cover by digging a shallow trench in the sand, the bomb exploded, filling the air with sand as a deep crater was left in its wake. At the bottom was this enormous gray skinned demon; bipedal seemingly, but perhaps not used to traveling the shifting sands with its immense weight, causing it to get stuck. Its mouth was peeled wide, the edges stretched thin and pinned to its huge arms, its bottom lip stretching down past its chest. In the center of this horrific creature was something not biological though: a lantern-like object was snugly tucked in the center, glowing a bright orange.

We didn't have much time to take in this fresh horror though, as more of those pig minions began to swarm us, trying to defend their master. Their stench was unbearable when so many were in one place, and Steady Wind found out the hard way that it seemingly carried a poison in its wake as well. We tried to clear out the pig creatures first, but the large demon began shooting out tendrils at us that could reach our position, so we knew we couldn't ignore it. Raazdrog conjured a field of light that surrounded the creature and made it easier to hit, even in its constant struggle from within the sand pit. Himo, Stix, and Ozmir were occupied with the minor demons at the edge of the pit, but Steady Wind had been captured by a tendril and drawn close to the large demon, being knocked out shortly after. I saw that his body would be pulled beneath the sand if nothing was done, so I headed into the pit myself to try and get the beast's attention. I was able to levitate Steady Wind's body out of the demon's range in hopes that Baftzmyr could help him, and I took up a defensive position to try and dodge the demon's attacks. It didn't do much good though, despite my efforts the thing was able to knock me out in two hits, I couldn't even dodge one attack. The next thing I knew I was healed by Himo and more of the group had been drawn into the depths of the pit. Not long after though, Raazdrog was able to plunge his trident into the demon's head, seemingly killing it, but the lantern in the beast's center began to glow brighter and brighter. Before I could even shout out to the remaining group that was nearby, the device exploded, sending me to unconsciousness once again. I was lucky the group still had healing abilities left though, it was barely enough to get me and Steady Wind back from death's door with Baftzmyr's help.

Verbally saying that I owe my life, even partially, to one from Raegina's inner circle feels a little dangerous in itself though, so I may keep that thought just to myself...

Session 12: The Doll, The Vulpine, and the Corpse Girl: Koro's Account

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Gobbo Greenskin, Demir Malchan, Koro, Diana Belkacem, Steady (Dee) Wind, Razzadrog Eyepoker

NPCs: Cilvdywutc, Jitcwal, Stix, Sandra Sanderson

Cilvdy, Jitcwal, and Stix got kidnapped. We didn't know much at the time, but apparently some lizardfolk and Yuan-ti tricked some of our allies into a trap job that ended with those three getting snatched and ferried away to some unknown place. Tensions were high immediately, and admittedly, I was also driven to a bit of a panic. I don't know why exactly, but the news hit me pretty hard, harder than I would've thought it would. All that I could think about for days after was what could be happening to them, what their captors might be doing to them every second we weren't getting them out of there; it was maddening honestly. I was restless and agitated, I needed to get out of the Arboretum and actually do something that would help us find them. Luckily, Syl had the same idea, and together we decided to head out to the site of the kidnapping to try and track down the culprits.

It took some doing, and for Syl's sake I won't go too much into the details (and maybe my sake a little bit too...don't tell Lenore), but long story short: we found a smuggler's den inhabited by one of the Sandra's gang members who was there at the time of the kidnapping, but had been injured in the process. We interrogated her for information, eventually finding out that Sandra was a powerful bard who led the Shabby Scales, a mercenary group for hire. They were hired by someone else to capture Baftzmyr in order to lure in Raegina, but they ended up getting Cilvdy, Stix, and Jitcwal instead. Apparently, they had made off with the prisoners to a rendezvous point further east of the den, but the lookout wasn't told the exact location. Inside the den was also what looked like a miniature version of the lantern-like object fused into the Baron of Filth's chest, apparently the down payment given to the Shabby Scales by their client for this job. I decided to bring it along since we planned on letting the injured scout live, and as soon as I touched it, I felt searing energy rush up my arm and a soothing voice speaking in my head in a language I couldn't understand. It didn't feel like anything else happened though, so I didn't tell Syl about it as we exited the den. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but the lantern was apparently magically influencing me to keep it close and safe, for reasons I'm honestly lucky I never had to fully find out.

It was dark when we left the den, so we had to head back to the Arboretum. We still didn't have enough to pinpoint where our friends actually were, and it felt like our scouting effort may have been wasted, but upon returning to base, we got the final pieces we needed. Himo, having apparently used some kind of contact he had to gather additional information, found the exact rendezvous location: Triton's Terrace, a watering hole at the base of the eastern mountains. He also learned that the client who hired the Scales was a literal demon, and one that was looking for revenge for the killing of the Baron of Filth. Wasting little time, I took off to prepare and gather a team to head to the location to extract our kidnapped friends.

Everyone was familiar to me on this mission except for one: Diana Belkacem, a human woman who seemingly had a similar skill set to Gobbo and Razz, running with a construct companion that fought by their side. Using horses lent to us by the Scrappers we made a direct path towards Triton's Terrace, and it didn't take long for shit to hit the fan. With the numbers we were bringing, stealth was more of a pipe dream than an actual option, so the guard out front of the cave entrance nestled in the oasis noticed us immediately and a battle commenced. Backup quickly joined him and an all-out brawl unfurled on the oasis shore, construct pieces and blood scattering about. This bruiser-like guard was an absolute tank, Razz threw a Faerie Fire spell on him to make him easier to hit, but he was still soaking up all of our strikes like they tickled. Even worse, he literally ate TWO OF HIS FELLOW GANG MEMBERS WHOLE in order to heal himself mid fight; a battle of attrition would be putting it mildly. And as if we hadn't had enough, Sandra herself showed up to the fight too, accompanied by this mysterious old elven woman none of us had seen before. Sandra and I exchanged some blows atop the cave entrance, and Razz came over to make it a two on one fight. She attempted one last dive for the lantern on my belt before she teleported away, along with the mysterious elf. It was around this time that the effects of the lantern began to show themselves, as when I took aim at some of the demons fighting alongside the Shabby Scales, the soothing voice it emitted in my head would build to a scream, disrupting my aim and making it nearly impossible to hit them. Luckily, the team was still able to manage...barely...but when the dust settled, we were the ones still alive.

Once we picked everyone up who had gotten knocked out, I used my sword to cut the belt that was holding the lantern off my body, letting it clatter to the sand. Now that I was fully aware of what it was doing to me, I explained the danger of it to the team. We entertained the idea of destroying it there and then, but it was right next to the entrance of the cave, and we didn't want to trap ourselves if it ended up exploding like before when we still had to get out friends out of there. In the end, we left Diana's construct outside the cave to guard it as we went inside. Gobbo and I could hear Cilvdy's voice from inside, and our haste to finally get to her caused us to run into a few traps, but eventually we finally found them, trapped within an anti-magic cage. Touching the cage seemed to give off a powerful shock, one that knocked Gobbo clean out. The other artificers were able to drain the cage's charge and lockpick the door to finally free the three captives. As we exited the cave, Razz and Dee found contracts detailing bounties on the killers of the Baron of Filth, and the location where the Baroness of Filth wished to lure Raegina to with the capture of Baftzmyr. We took the bounty money that was stashed in the cave for ourselves, but after emerging, we found that the lantern had been teleported somewhere else, and I can only imagine it's now in the hands of Sandra again. Honestly, I didn't mind too much though, with Cilvdy and the rest safe and sound (minus and arm and a leg, seriously may never get used to that), I found myself thinking that it was a more than worthy trade.