Gaming Synopses July 1996 - December 1997

These are, in reverse order, the earliest synopses of our gaming group's exploits. The first night we gamed together is lost in the mists of time, but it was sometime in late 1995. We played at the house Karl lived in at the time, The Tower; in June of 1996, Jason, Allen, and Karl formed a new house, The Republic, where subsequent sessions have been held. At about that time we also moved from Thursday night gaming to Monday night gaming. These synopses started in July of 1996, and continued until the beginning of 1998, when Karl ran out of time to write them; however, as he continued to take notes, there are further synopses, only updated much less frequently.

December Twenty-second
Austricized

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Neal, Dave, Jason, Allen, Kathleen
Characters: Nigel Horace Nelson, Bran Sin'Aran, Dr. Challenger, Porthos Fontaine, Angelica Marldendale
Quotes of the Evening: "I've got your Faux Pas right here, Your Majesty" - Nigel
"Hmm... electrified cold-iron bars. An Elf-zapper." - Nigel

Porthos and his allies are summoned back to the court of King Ludwig, who has an urgent mission requiring their attention. The junior Bavarian ambassador to the Imperial Court of Austria has gone missing, as has the Austrian liason to the Bavarian Embassy, and relations with Austria are straining towards the breaking point. Our heroes leave on the next train to Vienna.
In Vienna, it is found that a hired mob surrounds the Bavarian Embassy, but a little ready cash bypasses them, and the ambassador, Baron Zalthus, is quite pleased to have the party's assistance. The next day is spent looking through the papers of the disappeared junior ambassador, Graf Hulschoen, and the liason, Krulz. A reception is quickly thrown, allowing the team to meet some influential residents of Vienna with an interest in the Bavarian side, and some old acquaintences, such as Graf von Barthut of Prussia and Laurence Scrif, from England.
Then it is off on the trail of the missing people, travelling to Graz by rail, and thence to Mrklow, the last town of any size they stopped at. Hungarian nationalism is running high, with armed parties of raiders in the woods, but many locals are of Bavarian extraction, and everyone is friendly. Interviews are conducted, but nothing seems amiss. Nothing save the fact that all the households have crosses on their windows, and don't venture out after dark... The following day it is off into Austrian Transylvania, to the roadside inn at Bergshuetz, the last place the victims were known to have stopped, and thence to the castle of Count Jovich, miles from any human habitation, and the destination the disappeared individuals never reached.

Next Week:Something Secret

December Fifteenth
Where There's A Will...

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Neal, Dave, Jason, Allen, Kathleen
Characters: Nigel Horace Nelson, Bran Sin'Aran, Dr. Challenger, Porthos Fontaine, Angelica Marldendale
Quotes of the Evening: "Delapitory Cream? It makes you look run-down?" - Neal
"When the first group of angry natives get tired, they hand off the big spears... how do you think baton races got started? 'They're tiring.... damn! a fresh team!'" - Porthos
"Lord Thorbardon is not a dinosaur... well, he is a dinosaur, but not the type you are thinking."- GM
"It's the second sword set... the bathroom set." "It's terrycloth." - Nigel, GM
"It would depend on how he died." "The horse bit his jugular." - Bran, GM

Summoned by their patron, Prince Edward, our coalescing team of heroes are asked to be present at the reading of the will of Lord Marldendale, a close ally of the prince, whose title may pass to either the elder or the younger son. As the elder son, Harald, is in thick with the nefarious Steam Lords, it is in the best interest of the country that the wealthy Marldendale holdings be granted to the younger son, Richard. It is a virtual certainty that the younger son is named in the will, but the presence of Charles Bryce and other wicked and powerful men of a Steam Lord bent practically guarantees skullduggery.
The will reading is attended by a cast of interesting characters; Laurence Scrif, who specializes in information, Ricardo Tonba, Marldendale's Argentinian estate manager, Harry Dixon, an American singer, and arriving with Charles Bryce are a Prussian artificer, named Heinrich Adel, a chemist named Dr. Qo, and a beautiful woman wearing a metal collar, introduced as Elizabeth Montcalm.
Sure enough, an attempt is made the first night to destroy the will in the safe; though foiled by Challenger's quick wits and Sin'Aran's ability to move about ethereally, the attempted destruction of the will leads the party to quickly conclude a second, false, will must be in evidence. The judge who is to read the will has his room ransacked, and the party finds from him that the second will is in a safe in the nearby town of Swansdon. They swiftly move to secure it, barely averting the break-in that was to switch wills, and apprehending those several criminals on their way back to Great Swansdon. Laurence Scrif aids them in their endeavor, as does Ricardo Tonba, who reveals himself to be none other than Mycroft Holmes.
The following day, the will from the safe is taken to be read - only to turn black and become illegible as it is placed on the chemically-treated desk. The tables turn again, however, as the will is retrieved from the village - and it is the original will, inheriting the younger son Richard and disinheriting the elder, Harold! The steam lords' fury is evident, but strangely subdued as they leave the manor house.
This is, of course, because they attempt kill all witnesses with an airborne toxin! Our heroes, however, foil them, and the evil Dr. Qo has his own toxin cast upon him. He disappears, however, no doubt vowing revenge. Our heroes have kept a valuable ally for the cause of good in the land, and upon their return, are invited to join the Promethean League, a organization of those who seek the uplifing of the human spirit. Moreover, the venturesome Angelican Marldendale, tired of country life and an endless parade of suitors, joins our heroes on their adventures.

Next Week: Possibly More Falkenstein

December Eighth
Massive Beavers

Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Master: Geoff
Players: Neal, Dave, Karl, Jason, Kathleen, Allen
Characters: Tiberius, Dingbat, Brom, Jonah, Polly, Eduardo
Quotes of the Evening: "No, I'd have to be a foot taller to be 'short'." - Eduardo
"Well, fortunately it's just going through my torso." - Jonah
"Well, when you value life, but you are a ninja, you run into conflicts." - Tiberius
"I see a crate of dynamite, I know it needs to do just one thing!" - Jonah
"We have lots of clues, we merely lack the ability to put them together." - Karl
"Quick - what's the number for 911?" - Dingbat
"Oh wait... these are beavers? And they're attacking the dam? These are not natural beavers!" - Eduardo

Finding themselves safe for the moment in Ferd's mutant hideout beneath the junkyard, our heroes soon discover that there is more going on that was at first apparent. Shipments of what seem to be explosives are arriving, and all eyes are on the weather - a fervent desire for rain is in evidence.
Asked to repay Ferd's hospitality, our heroes successfully steal some massive drilling equipment from a warehouse across town; tempers flare momentarily as Jonah rebels against the use of deadly force by other party members, but the larger problem faced by the whole team drowns out the conflict. It becomes obvious that Ferd and his coterie are planning to blow up a large dam near town - and equally obvious that our band of heroes has to stop him.
Events fly into motion, as a schoolbus is kidnapped and held on top of the damn, and an old mine near the damn is equipped with the stolen drilling equipment. Our heroes enter the mine, and arrive just in time to see the wall into the damn broken down by the mining team. They run off the miners, and bushwack a cheetah sent by Ferd to check his escape tunnel. But time is running out, and millions of tons of water await the city's unsuspecting inhabitants if Ferd is not stopped!

Next Week: Something else entirely (darn cliffhangers!)

December First
They're all aliens

Game: Fuzion
Master: Jason
Players: Neal, Dave, Karl
Characters: Guer Li, _____, Tohan Liu
Quotes of the Evening: "They have no noses, or sense of smell." "How awful." "It's an advantage - on their world, all food is legume-based." "Sulfur World." - Dave, Neal, Karl
"For Christ's sake, man, we're in a flying VW bus! How much more trouble can we get in?" - Karl
"That's his men screaming when he gives the 'rape' order - their opponents are Orks." - Dave re: the sounds coming from Geoff's playing a computer game.

Still in the alien universe, our intrepid heroes struggle to adjust to their new surrounding and a new game system. Fleeing from the Overlord, they touch down at a rebel base just long enough to betray it with the secret tracking devices implanted in them. Once more the Overlord was one step ahead. On the run again, the devices are removed, and the heroes arrive at Kabrakan, a planet bedeviled by strange gravitational string calamities.
They are searching for Lidian Gauson, a scientist familiar with dimensional physics, and a member of the rebel League of the Red Suns. After some brawling and some intrigue, we are indeed brought to him, and secure his aid.

Next Week: Back to the Barn.

November Twenty-fourth
Men(agerie) in Black

Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Master: Geoff
Players: Jason, Dave, Karl, Allen, Neal
Characters: Jonah, Skree, Brom, Eduardo, Tiberius
Quotes of the Evening: "I'm a ninja dolphin! Back off! Look - it's a Japanese tuna fisherman! Waaaaaahhhhh..." - Tiberius
"Military Submarine! Do it!" "I'm a horse..." - Geoff and Karl, discussing the merits of various piloting skills
"I'm gonna try to free Brom because he's the biggest one still awake." "Yeah, but you could use Jonah to block the door." - Tiberius, Skree
"Shut up! I'm not talking about his pants! I'm pointedly ignoring his pants!" - Tiberius
"I peer through the door using a sledgehammer." - Brom

Brom, a horse, and Skree, a bat, escape from a secret government agency with the help of their mentor, Harry Stanton. However, while hiding in the city, they are captured by unknown, sleep-gas using villains. The same fate befalls Jonah (a whale), and Tiberius (a dolphin, but one almost indestinguishable from human), and Eduardo (an armadillo). Our protagonists meet, having fallen into the clutches of the evil Method A Pharmaceuticals corporation. The evil Doctor Throckmorton and his giant white mouse assistant Carl prepare to dissect some members of the party, but after the first violent attempt at freeing themselves fails, leaving Eduardo the armadillo and Jonah the whale unconscious, Tiberius manages to escape the box containing him, and free the others.
We then search the compound, smashing guards that get in our way and regaining our equipment. Escaping in a van, we are suddenly chased through the city streets by other Method A henchmen, and gunplay at high speeds ensues... Skree's flight and grenade-using abilities come in handy, and ultimately we limp away in a battered van, to a junkyard outside of town. In escaping, we freed Spudgun, a hamster, who has now led us to his hidden compatriots.
In charge of this sanctuary is Ferd, a massive bull, who welcomes us dispassionately. Something is going on surreptitiously, with crates of secret items being purchased, and a strange obsession with the weather gripping the inhabitants. Given Ferd's antipathy towards humans, we can only guess what will happen next.

Next Week: Cthulhu? Castle Falkenstein? Fuzion?

November Seventeenth
Falling Damage

Game: DragonQuest
Master: Allen
Players: Jason, Dave, Karl, Neal
Characters: Olafina, Aeolas, Talalynn, Devin
Quotes of the Evening: "We took out the guards!" "Well, no. You took out the cooks." - Aeolas, GM
"So what if he's lying? We wind up in Hell - that would be exciting!" "For a brief, brief moment." - Talalynn, Devin

A mighty dungeon crawl ensues; behind the door lie a large area of squared corridors, pit traps, and rooms filled with monsters. We search several dart infested corridors, ultimately finding a room filled with goblins (Talalynn having chopped an hole in the barred door). They ask us to go away - so we do. Soon therafter we find the abandoned treasury housing the sword we seek, which we recover along with a large amount of swag.
As our heroes debate the merits of returning past the now incensed remainder of the dog-faced beings, we slip into a side door - and are greeted by a major demon, in the service of a powerful alchemist. Politely, he agrees to teleport us out of the caverns, and does so. We return successfully to Altrox, and place the sword in the temple, as asked.

Next Week: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. No, really.

November Tenth
Kiss and Spell

Game: DragonQuest
Master: Allen
Players: Jason, Dave, Karl, Neal, Geoff
Characters: Olafina, Aeolas, Talalynn, Devin, Malleus Thantos
Quotes of the Evening: "Just because you are incompetent does not mean that you don't understand what's going on." - Talalynn
"It's a big old sword monkey and we're all going to have to stroke it." - Malleus
"'AIR TIGHT GOAT'?!? Talk about highly dubious..." - Neal
"Huge amorous porcupine monsters..." - Allen
"But we can come up with a cunning plan!" "No we can't - it's us! This is the cunning plan." - Talalynn, Malleus
"You took a massive wound?" "Crotch to gullet. And that's not from crotch to gullet; that's where my crotch is, now." - Devin, Malleus
"We roll Aeolas down in a cage... if he stops twitching, the air's bad." "But that could also be caused by spears, axes..." "Those fall in my definition of bad air." - Malleus, Talalynn

We return to the city so that Talalynn can seek a cure for this horrible curse... she finds both cure and an immorally good time at the house of the eminently powerful sorcerer Nortlok, who has a Physical Beauty of 19. Additionally, all the characters train up with their new experience points, and it is a stronger and revitalized party that sets out once again to bring back the sword.
We return to the caves, and once more find ourselves arguing over the best method to get past the large party of dog-faced monsters between us and a metal door that just screams out to be broken into... luckily, half of them leave on an hunting expedition, and we gleefully engage the remaining ten or so, carving them into little dog-faced bits, with only Malleus getting injured due to exceptional sledghammer parrying (that's parrying with a sledgehammer) on the part of Olafina, two-weapon smiting on the part of Aeolas and Talalynn, and dart tossing on the part of Devin.

Next Week: Behind door number 1...

November Third
Speaking Softly...

Game: DragonQuest
Master: Allen
Players: Jason, Dave, Karl, Kathleen
Characters: Olafina, Aeolas, Talalynn, Penelope
Quotes of the Evening: "Well, we could make money with party tricks... we have a comeliness twenty hobbit who happily does whatever he's told..." - Olafina
"I've never seen anyone play this game and use magic the way you do." - GM
"Time for the Gentle Wind Ruffles The Leaves While The Sun Rises Peacefully In The East BLOW OF DEATH!!" - Talalynn
Note: we enlarged greatly upon the whole theme of "now for the soft mother's caress MEGA SMASH", as for some unknown reason naming a blow fearsomly damn near guaranteed a miss, whereas naming it gently ensured an hit - naming it something like "the total loser big miss whiff nowhere close blow" got one critical hits. Plus we were pretty spongy at that point.

While Devin recuperates, those of us staying in Silvertown notice that the local water seems to have gone bad. Penelope arrives as we are investigating, and soon we discover evidence of cult activites in the caves to the east. Back at the inn (the Alicorn) we are staying at, we find our hapless halfling has disappeared; our resolve to get to the bottom of this matter strengthens, and we ready our gear. Upon entering the caves, we are accosted by some strange grey humanoid, with sharp claws and paralytic venom in its barbed tail. Naturally, we slay it.
Deeper into the caves, we encounter three more - in the process of dispatching them, Olafina blows her own mind away, so we retreat for a day until she recuperates. Devin is still missing. We return the following evening, to find seven of the little buggers sitting around awaiting us. After formulating a plan incredible in its sheer lack of subtlety, Aeolas fires an arrow at them, and they come running into the room where the rest of us begin the old hammer-and-tongs.
As our numbers dwindle from paralytic venom, Penelope reveals a new side to her nature by transforming into a wolf, which incredibly enough startles neither the other party members nor the bad guys overly much. Then she rips out their throats (the bad guys). Despite party protests, Talalynn continues to use two weapons at once, and even convinces Aeolas to do the same; soon victory was ours.
Deeper into the caves, an evil altar is discovered, and the cell containing Devin. We fight the three much larger versions of these creatures guarding the altar (coming right down to the wire, let me tell you), rescue Devin, smash the altar (thereby cursing Talalynn), and loot the entire complex.

Next Week: We could do more.

October Twenty-seventh
Force of Hobbit

Game: DragonQuest
Master: Allen
Players: Jason, Dave, Karl, Geoff, Neal
Characters: Olafina, Aeolas, Talalynn, Malleus Thantos, Devin
Quotes of the Evening: "The toilet has gained sentience?" - Karl
"I've a hard day ahead of me fighting evil - oil me a hobbit!" - Malleus
"I stab myself repeatedly in the throat and get this over with." - Devin
"I'm so glad I took enchantment skills... it's the best and fastest way to get creeping senility." - Devin

After spending eight weeks in town training and increasing their skills, the church of Draal, good god of combat and tactics, requests the retrieval of an ancient sword from a long-ago destroyed temple. The party goes forth to retrieve this item, but spellcasting mishaps continually plague our intrepid adventurers. A riverside town on the way to the ancient temple is plagued by gargoyles, which our heroes slay. After further travel, we find the temple and descend to the caves beneath, but our bad luck with magic continues. Ultimately Devin blows away his own mind, and the party retreats to a nearby town to await the restoration of his senses.

Next Week: Devin regains his sanity. Maybe.

October Twentieth
High Fantasy... Very High Fantasy

Game: DragonQuest
Master: Allen
Players: Jason, Dave, Karl, Neal, Kathleen
Characters: Olafina, Aeolas, Talalynn, Devin, Penelope
Quotes of the Evening: "What did you just throw at them?" "It's the cockroach bomb." "Oh, great." "Hey - we're adventurers. We wander. We don't have to stay." - Devin, Aeolas
"'Halfling' and 'Empire' are two words that just don't go together." - Karl
"Plants talk?" "They do to me... I just have to smoke them first." - Penelope, Olafina
"It's the dog named 'Rex' you have to watch out for." - Neal, re: were-nobility
"Next time we hardened adventurers say 'run, poupourri golem, run!', you'll listen, won't you?" - Karl, re: strange, pleasant fragrances in dungeons.
"You wield a sledgehammer?" "Hey - I'm the home improvement mage." - Aeolas, Olafina

We create our characters, and then set off to retrieve some herbs for a wizard. We find the herbs in a forest with a minimum of difficulty, and the other sort up in the mountains, also with few problems. Luckily, a ghost is haunting the hillside, and at his behest we go forth and slay the local orc shaman who killed him, along with his goblin henchcritters and the undead he summons to stop us. They didn't save him.

Next Week: Off on a quest! A DragonQuest!

October Thirteenth
Money. Nothing but money.

Game: Life
Players: Jeanne, Mikal, Dave, Jason

Since the usual suspects were by and large gone, Dave and Jason wound up playing the game of Life with some guests. The Milton Bradley one, I mean.

Next Week: Dave runs Coc, maybe.

October Sixth
The Long Pseudopod of the Law

Game: Call of Cthulhu
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Neal, Dave, Karl, Kathleen
Characters: John Sebastian, Lerdo Shafter, Jack Smith, Randall Steakham, Barteloni
Quotes of the Evening: "It's October sixth, and there are enough bodies for a poker game." - Barteloni
"San loss? Hell, you come at me with sock puppets and I lose san!" - Lerdo
"World War.... 'One'??"
"It's New York - there are no innocent people." - Dr. Steakham
"I made a window in the air - I can see through it just like it were invisible!" - Lerdo

The evening of the final (?) murder, all hell breaks loose when we attempt to enter Tybald's Antiques for further investigation. A beat cop turns up to arrest us, and then chanting heard from inside resolves itself into Mr. Green, and the local captain of police, and other police officers - so naturally we break out the weaponry, the horrible thing in the basement gets loose, and we wind up using lots of dynamite.
Injured and insane, we nonetheless wipe out many of the cultists including the police captain and Mr. Green, destroy the thing, and manage to return to the potential crime scene in time to stop the librarian from killing again. Then, before you can say 'massive police inquiry', we are off back to Boston.

Next Week: Karl, Allen, Geoff will be gone.

September Twenty-ninth
New York City?!

Game: Call of Cthulhu
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Neal, Dave, Karl, Kathleen, Geoff
Characters: John Sebastian, Lerdo Shafter, Jack Smith, Randall Steakham, Barteloni, Jean-Luc Fermain
Quotes of the Evening: "you use a parrot to clean your teeth? See? See? He's fucking insane!" - Neal re: Jason
"Whoops - is today only the 12th? Sorry. I'll be back tomorrow." - the coroner arriving early, and really unnerving someone
"I'm drinking here - can I get it to you next week?" - GM as cop in bar, revealing the true levels of alcoholism in the force
"tuppence for love!" - GM as times square hooker (who apparently thinks she's in 1750s england)
"If you don't hold it open, it grows back." - Barteloni re: highly dodgy tattoo
"the police are not incompetent, because they have redefined competency." - Jack Smith

Once more in New York City, our protagonists find themselves asked by Captain Black of the 34th precinct to help solve some particularly gruesome murders. Research reveals that the murders are of a particular sort of tainted individual, and are forming an eldritch sign across Manhatten! Moreover, investigations in the 33rd precinct are met with stonewalling beyond that expected of police confronted with the supernatural.
The trail ultimately leads to the New York public library, where it appears that the curator of the rare books section is dabbling in forces beyond human ken. That evil painting from the nefarious Ganymede brothers is found in his office - damning evidence to our dynamite-happy heroes! Luckily the not-yet-trigger-ecstatic coroner has joined the team, and at the end of the evening we are still investigating the most recent murder (one each night for four nights - and the fifth night the sign will be complete), along with the highly suspect shop of a Tybald Green, who sold the librarian (Tom Lilar) the painting, and who has many other artifacts of a curious and twisted nature.

Next Week: The librarian finds that it's check-out time.

September Twenty-second
Where's The Damn System?

Game: Handle Magic
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Neal, Dave, Jason
Characters: Erik Greyfalcon, Khufu Sener-Hathor, Gareth Thorrold, Hyric
Quotes of the Evening: "Better a were-wolf than a were-chest-of-drawers." - Neal

In the most ancient volumes of library of the College of Magic in Talim Eremdor, there are prohecies written in a language now known only to a handful of scholars, the people whose language it is having passed into history before history, and all other knowledge of them forgotten. These tomes reveal that in the fourth age, in this world of Terelan, there will come the darkest of times, when evil will grow under the sleeping eyes of good, and suddenly rise to engulf the world. Then will come the end of magic, and everything will be cast down into darkenss and barbarity.
Unless.
The tomes also reveal that there will be heroes, powerful in the ways of magic, born on the same day, and that these heroes will be offered a chance to save the world from a thousand thousand years of ruin.
From frozen Kargad in the far north, from the lands of Senet in the Marrakesh empire in the south, from Kant and from Eremdor itself have come four young men, who were schooled in the ways of magic by the great Alambar, and then apprenticed to such powerful mages as Halin Blackfeather, Melinda, Nagrath, and Forge. Now, unproven but filled with potential, they must test themselves to find if they are the heroes of prophecy.
Arriving in Talim Eremdor to study further at the College, our protagonists are sent on a brief excursion to Fembra, to retrieve the ring of Balon Shorne for the College as an entrance fee. They are successful in this.

Next Week: More Magic?

September Fifteenth
Nice Guys Finish Last

Game: Handle Western
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Neal, Dave, Jason
Characters: Ivan, Augustus Jones, Michael Dyson, Burning Owl
Quotes of the Evening: "Isn't anyone here armed?" "No - not even the sherriff." "Heeeee - why doesn't he just wear a shirt that says 'pussy' on it?" - Neal, GM
"... people are coming in; they all look like farmers, with overalls, big brimmed hats..." "...eyeshadow, hose..." - GM, Jason
"Let's just kill that line of conversation right there." - Neal

Upon being deposited in Folsom, our protagonists walk to Sacramento, and catch the next paddlewheel steamer to San Francisco. Mr. Gruber is remarkably pleased at their success, and pays them the $8,000... but asks a little favor before he finishes rescinding the bounties on our protagonists. There's a little down, south of Gilroy, name of Mesa Vista - some men have disappeared there recently, and he'd like some investigating done.
Newly wealthy, our heroes decide to take Gruber up on his request, and after depositing their monies (and some stock certificates) with Wells and Fargo, they ride south on some newly-acquired horses. Mesa Vista seems peaceful enough as they ride in, with an unarmed sherriff and a friendly populace. This, of course, makes the players nearly rabid with fear and paranoia. Which, of course, turns out to be fully justified. Tom, the bartender at the hotel, Maud and Marvin, the hotel owners, Martinique the priest of french extraction, and particularly the sherriff - all are so nice and friendly they can only be evil. Some time is spent in snooping around, but events quickly gel when Mr. Anderson comes to meet with our heroes - and quickly reveals himself as the boss of the town. Drugged by Mr. Anderson, our protagonists find themselves in a large iron cage, soon to be burned alive in a ceremony for the worship of Satan! (except for Ivan, who through monumental bad luck has the sherriff get the drop on him and is captured anyways, despite avoiding the drugged beer).
Luckily, the Sanchez boy appears to aid the heroes out of the cage, and a quick looting of the sherriffs office provides guns. Soon the torch-wielding satanists find themselves dropping in large numbers, and break and flee; the big shootout occurs in the hotel, with our heroes ultimately storming downstairs and blasting the sherriff, Anderson, and his men. Then they wrap up the town with dynamite and fire, stopping at Anderson's house to slay a few remaining armed townspeople and recover evidence of the town's corruption.

Next Week: Handle Magic!

September Eighth
Hotheads and Hot Lead

Game: Handle Western
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Neal, Dave, Jason
Characters: Ivan, Augustus Jones, Michael Dyson, Burning Owl
Quotes of the Evening: "..I'm trying to be subtle, but I'm dumb so it doesn't work" - Augustus
"What do you call this dish?" "He said his name was Todd." - Burning Owl, master of dubious cuisine
"I will poke holes in him, put my mouth over his, and play him like a flute! That sound you hear is his soul escaping!" "You are so nuts." - Burning Owl, Augustus

Our heroes meet for the first time in a small cell in the San Francisco City Jail, brought in from a barfight which escalated into a small riot. Soon, however, the other rowdies are let go, but our four protagonists remain. Then they are escorted into a small room to meet John Gruber, ex-pat German and United States Marshal.
Marshal Gruber makes the boys an offer of amnesty from their crimes, and the full $8,000 reward money, if they bring in the dangerous fugitive Rodrigo Vargas, alive - or maybe dead. Vargas has been hired as chief rowdy by the mine owner in Body, CA, a town embroiled in a war between the railroad interests and the mining interests - a town decent people have fled. Being rather in a corner, our heroes tke the job.
Arriving in Body, the team spends some time getting familiar with things. Ivan has a run-in with some local toughs, which leads to his being hired by the corrupt sherriff as one of his gang; Augustus meets the local preacher, Reverend Black; Michael Dyson gets a job at the mine itself as a demolitionist; and Burning Owl gets hired as a cook at the Glass Goose hotel, where the Southern Pacific railroad men hole up. Soon, though, having seen what they need to see, namely that Vargas rarely leaves his guarded compound at the mine, plans are made to assault the mine. Michael Dyson shuts down the tailings conveyor belt, and Burning Owl and Augustus sneak in, while Ivan strolls in the front gate. Massive gunfire ensues, but the end result sees our protagonists fleeing on a Southern Pacific train, carrying with them Vargas' head and a briefcae full of stock that the mine owner was carrying when he attempted to flee.

Next Week: More Western Handle

September First

Everyone save Jason and Karl flaked. It was amazing. No Dave, no Neal, no Geoff, and no Allen.

August Twenty-fifth
From Russia With Rigor Mortis

Game: Gurps MIB
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Neal, Dave, Karl
Characters: Agents T, N, D, and L
Quotes of the Evening: "I hope to God that MIB agents have more savior-faire than that - 'you look mighty warm in those pants', indeed!" - Agent N
"Let's stake him in the heart. If he dies, he's a vampire." "What if he doesn't die?" "Then, my friend, we are in trouble." - Agents T, L

Agents B and G, returning from Kazakhstan, evince strange behavior back at headquarters. Although everything seems normal, continued surveillance reveals that Agent B is actually quite dead, and has been using some sort of mental powers to cause everyone to think that everything is normal. This, of course, cannot be tolerated, so when Agent B leaves to meet someone in the Little Odessa neighborhood, we track him and burst into the (as it turns out) bookstore.
We had been anticipated, and a burly man with a 50 caliber machine gun takes down the two agents in combat armor. Luckily, the other two agents take him down, and the pistol-toting individual posing as a sales clerk, and break into the back room, where the undead Agent B and some other hideous undead thing lurk. Agent N narrowly avoids death, but he and Agent L subdue the creatures, and call in a containment team to aid in the clean-up. The mystery individuals who escaped out the back will have to be dealt with another day.

Next Week: Karl will take a stab at some Handle

August Eighteenth
One Bloodsucker, Three Regular Suckers

Game: Fury of Dracula
Players: Allen, Geoff, Neal, Jason
Characters: Dracula, Godalming, Seward, van Helsing
Quotes of the Evening: "I'm up for anything next week, as long as it does not involve the words 'Fury' or 'Dracula'" - Neal

Dracula successfully eludes his pursuers, laces the continent with vampires, and takes over the world. Meanwhile, the intrepid group of heroes who were the last hope of stopping him manage to successfully tie their shoelaces. I was sick with the flu.

Next Week: More Men In Black

August Eleventh
No Chaos Warriors Here

Game: Talisman
Players: Allen, Neal, Dave, Karl, Jason
Characters: Beastman, Ranger, Minotaur, Wood Elf, Shaman
Quotes of the Evening:

Dave won.

Next Week: Allen wants a crack at running MIB

August Fourth
Boll Weasels

Game: Gurps MIB
Master: Neal
Players: Allen, Jason, Dave, Karl
Characters: Agents T, N, D, and L
Quotes of the Evening: "mmmm - southern fried lemonade" - Agent T
"The alien was going to Florida." "Was it old?" - Zed, Agent L
"I speak whatever language that is." - Agent D
"It's an old man - shoot it!" - Agent T
"Now I'm a vengeful GM." - Neal

An alien leaves Manhatten without authorization, so we travel to rural Georgia, where its craft apparently went down. Summertown, GA. Population 500 or so, and a collective IQ of about the same amount. During our investigations, we meet Clayton, an airplane pilot whose plane apparently crashed, Jeb and his son Jeth Moore, local mechanics, Doc Aaron, and the venerable Cletus, upon whose land the crop dusting strip is and the alien apparently crashed.
After much bumbling and conspicuousness, we discover that the aforementioned locals are holding the alien, and we shoot it out with them, rescue the alien, and go home. Interesting how well shotguns can hold their own against laser blasters.

Next Week: Who knows?

July Twenty-eighth
Alphabet Super

Game: Gurps MIB
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Geoff, Neal, Dave, Karl
Characters: Agents T, Y, N, D, and L
Quotes of the Evening: "You know, there are five of us. We'll have to take the MIB minivan." - Agent L
"Oh, Yes! An S.E.P. grenade - all over my body, baby!" - Agent N
"You're an human, aren't you? Then this grenade will work on you!" - Agent T
"Tell us where they are! I don't care if you don't know! TELL US!" - Agent N
"Why would electricity set off hydrogen?" - Agent D
"I put on my grey suit and jackboots and stride in." - Agent N

Zed asks the agents to find out about the Teklatane. So they hit the Settlement, located beneath Manhatten, as many more reclusive aliens live there. Once there, they find

Classified

leads them to an old hotel near MIB HQ. Several of the Teklatane are there, and a shootout ensues. One of them has a plasma weapon, which causes much consternation. Then Agent T liquidizes its head. We return largely successful to Zed, who debriefs us.

Next Week: Neal will grace us with his GMing, also MIB.

June Twenty-first
Witness this

Game: Call of Cthulhu
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal, Dave
Characters: John Sebastian, Father Kepler, Lerdo Shafter, Jack Smith
Quotes of the Evening: "screw them, I'm leaving." - Father Kepler, man of God
"Next time you hire consultants, and they say 'run, zombie horde, run,' you'll listen, won't you?" - Lerdo Shafter to federal agent

Referred by the ever-mysterious Mr. Pickston, the federal government hires the team as consultants to discover the circumstances surrounding the murder of three men at a new radio broadcasting tower in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country. Situated on Mt. Palm, the new tower had been broadcasting for perhaps two months when the men working there were all killed, and butchered.
The journey there is uneventful, and soon the team finds itself on top of the ambitious hill called Mt. Palm, and being introduced to the three new men there, as well as the three FBI agents stationed there to protect them. The ever present hum of the generator provides a backdrop to their investigations, but things really fall into place when they visit the Amish community at the foot of the hill.
The fields are untended, and the few inhabitants avoid our protagonists, save one Hermann, who demands that they leave. A visit to the village minister, who has fled to his sister's house many miles away, reveals that the village began turning bad soon after the generator on the hill fired up. Investigating Palmdale again that evening, a peek into the meeting house reveals an unspeakable pulsating mass of black foetor underlying the entire village; the meeting house floor is gone, and a vast cavern below is filled with the abomination.
So of course it begins spitting out zombie townspeople, who chase our heroes back up the mountain. The team flees and circles around, after killing the generator - for it must have been the noise it generated which disturbed the creature, which had been underlying the entire hill. Managing to escape, those who return the following day find the creature gone from beneath the village, and the stillness of death upon everything.

Next Week: Gurps MIB for the rest of us

July Fourteenth
Stomach Malcontents

Game: Gurps MIB
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Dave
Characters: Agent T, Agent D
Quotes of the Evening: none

Sent to investigate the disappearance of certain aliens from Earth, the agents find that a predator capable of interdimensional travel is appearing and eating them. Then it appears and eats agent D, who manages to blast his way out, slaying the creature. Of course, more may appear at any time...

Next Week: Several distinct possibilities.

July Seventh
Submachinations

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Geoff, Neal, Dave, Karl
Characters: Porthos Fontaine, Sir Reginald Oakley-Stringum, Nigel Horace Nelson, Brahn Sin'Aaron, Lionel Caerwyn
Quotes of the Evening: "yeah, well, being rich isn't the same as being interesting." - Sir Reginald
"He screamed like a woman as he fell overboard." - Sir Reginald
"Oh yes, my friend, now Das Boot is on the other foot!" - Sir Reginald
"Shoot Him!" "You might want to hear what he has to say-" "No! Shoot him in the mouth!" - Sir Reginald, Lionel

We rejoin our heroes on the passenger liner Leviathan, sailing for New York City. Having realized the true horrible nature of the vessel, namely that the top is designed to come sliding off and the bottom to behave as a huge submarine, our heroes act quickly to secure the vessel.
Needing proof to put before the captain, Lionel uses magic to break into and search Gyre's quarters. Sir Reginald encounters Tiblad Dwyer as he arranges a meeting with the captain. Realizing that Tibald has guessed our intentions of stopping his and Gyre's nefarious plan, Sir Reginald encounters him in the corridor outside, and swords flash. Tibald winds up going out a window. With the documents discovered in Gyre's quarters put before the capitan, we move quickly to sieze the engine room.
Nigel and Lionel, gone to search Tibald's rooms, find two thugs and Brahn, who is a captive. The thugs being vanquished, the freed Brahn and Lionel catch up to everyone else in the engine room, leaving Lionel to attempt to control the small feisty elemental he accidentally summoned.
A standoff ensues below decks, an injured Gyre managing to sieze the lever which will split the ship and plunge hundreds to icy deaths. Ultimately, he escapes through a torpedo like escape tube, but our protagonists have saved the day.

Next Week: Neal, Karl, Geoff all gone - maybe no gaming.

June Thirtieth
Cannibals Would Be Easy

Game: Champions
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Neal, Dave, Karl
Characters: Dr. Grey, Blackcat, Kent Stark, the Janissary
Quotes of the Evening: "You know, I'm just a cat person. This is an octopoid horror!" - Blackcat, explaining why the monster scares the crew but he doesn't.
"There's something evil in the jungle; those French had a nuclear weapon." - Blackcat, inviting us all to arrive at the same potential solution.
"paging Dr. Grey - to the interrogation ward, stat!" - the Janissary

Our protagonists travel with their Greenpeace benefactors to Madagascar to forestall a nuclear weapons test. Successful at this, they return along the coast in the ship, and the first night finds a small rowboat racing towards them, containing an injured native and on Jacob Smith, reknowned explorer and exploiter. They recount a tale of horror, as their expedition found magnificent gems in the jungle, but was then set upon and butchered. Bearing out this tale, an octopoid horror attacks the ship that night, clearly searching for Smith.
Of course, we investigate. We find the massacre site easily enough, and the village trading gems as well. The natives are all strange, and the gems compelling in an odd way - they are mind control gems! And the natives are demons serving the main gem, pulsating evilly in the center of the village. Jacob Smith now docilely loaded with gems to bring back to enslave civilization, we are tailed as we leave. When the Janissary removes the gems from Smith, we are attacked by our native pursuers, who reveal themselves as demons.
We manage to fight them off, and those heroes who can fly return to the village and destroy the huge main gem, saving humanity from a fate worse than death.

Next Week: Falkenstein!

June Twenty-fifth
Five Angry Men

Game: Stormbringer
Master: Geoff
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal, Dave, Karl
Characters: Var Potax, Kra Bon, Sennash bal Hammad, Shathor, Ilsvar
Quotes of the Evening: "Get your red hot ox! Programs! Can't tell the combatants without a program!" - Kra Bon, as we watch Sennash fight the last hunter.

Arriving at the beach, our heroes scatter the various servants and entourage of the hunters, and fight a number of sailors, taking the boat. Ilsvar then sinks the larger boat, leaving the cutter to escape the island in, and our heroes await the return of the other, larger hunting party.
Riding hard, with their lances at the ready, the hunters crest the ridge and come pouring down toward the dock - only to have the hidden men at the ridge crest burn them down or fill them with arrows, in conjunction with Shathor and Ilsvar on the dock firing their bows. The combat on the hill is rapidly resolved, and those men who reach the heroes on the dock are soon slain. The combat ends with a duel between Sennash and the last of the hunters - who fights valiantly, but the end is never really in question.
Returning to Aflitane, our party heals for a few days, and then returns to the castle of the baroness, with murder in their eyes. Finding the baroness, she turns out to be a cool customer, faced with such dangerous men - but it does not save her. Her treacherous words and wicked self-assurance only inspire Ilsvar to cut the bitches throat.
But before he can, her protective demon materializes, and attacks! Huge and covered in thick hide, our protagonists are immediately crippled by Kra Bon's near-fatal shooting of himself, but nonetheless attack the monstrosity. Poor Shathor is siezed in its mighty jaws, and as he is inexplicably wearing his old leather armor rather than his new plate armor, is torn asunder and dies.
Ultimately, our heroes manage to slay the beast, and the evil Baroness gets a sword through her lungs as she attempts to flee the room under cover of combat, and expires. Wary of the law's reaction to the rather public slaying of a noble (and several servants), our heroes swipe a boat, sail up the coast a ways, and then barter for some horses, and ride inland, to the great walled city of...

Next Week: Unplanned, but perhaps a return to the heroic world of Falkenstein.

June Sixteenth
A Really Bad Retirement Plan

Game: Stormbringer
Master: Geoff
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal, Dave, Karl
Characters: Var Potax, Kra Bon, Sennash bal Hammad, Shathor, Ilsvar
Quotes of the Evening: "You've finished your character, haven't you?" "Yes - well, I've rolled him, but it's up to jason to finish him." - Geoff, Neal

After the military has gone off and destroyed the nest of evil our heroes discovered last time, a new prospective employer arrives. Asmen Trig, servitor of the Baroness Grun, comes to Aflitane and hires the party. Once at the baroness' castle, the mission is revealed: to find a missing lad on a nearby island. Bets are taken as to a) the fate of the lad, b) the true nature of the Baroness, and c) what evil lurks, awaiting us. A grand party is held that evening at the castle, and our protagonists are introduced to many other notables, including Lord Stimsis, Casper Verrux, Duke Collegat, and the Marquis of Rashburg.
The following day finds our heroes on their way to the island, a half-day offshore. They arrive in good time, and head for the village in the center of the island. Arriving there, they find it abandoned, save for one man, named Crummus, who informs them that they are now the prey for the baroness' hunting party, which will arrive tomorrow.
Needless to say, our heroes were a tad put out. The phrase "Kill them all" was quite popular.
However, being practical as well as bloodthirsty, the protagonists set a number of traps, and fortify an hill towards the rear of the island. Some few survivors from earlier "parties" are found, but they are wimpy and are left to their fate. The next morning, a boat arrives, bearing musicians, cooks, sailors - and some 25 armed men on horses.
Kra Bon sneaks up for a look, and goes a bit father from our fortified position than expected; he finds himself in a whirlwind of combat - but the benevolent hand of the Gods grants him amazing luck, and he escapes, slaying several. Parties of riders are then seen leaving the beach; two groups of perhaps 9 men each. One group comes to the hill, and charges us - only to have their horses impaled on our stakes, and the party slays them all, mostly with arrows, but also hand-to-hand. The evening ends with our heroes mounted on several of the hunting party's horses, riding hell-bent for leather towards the beach.

Next Week: Once more we find ourselves in the massive Stormbringer revenge position.

June Nineth

Game: Talisman
Players: Neal, Karl, Dave, Allen
Characters: Chaos Warrior, Beast Man, and the other two died a lot
Quotes of the Evening: "Well, you may have won, but *I* got to eat an horse and cart" - Karl

We played Talisman at Allen's urging, so sure enough, he did the most poorly, while Chaos Warrior Neal won (darn but that Chaos Warrior has an huge advantage), and I did fairly well.

Next Week: Well, we will ostensibly all be around; perhaps we will get some Stormbringer satisfaction.

June Second

Game: Champions
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Dave, Neal, Karl
Characters: Dr. Grey, Kent Stark, Blackcat, the Janissary
Quotes of the Evening: "And you have clearance to do this?" "I have knowledge - that's better than clearance!" - overheard while we were unconscious
"quick - grab the biggest gun you can!" "that would be my gun." "oh, right" - other characters to Kent Stark, who found the armory

When last seen, our protagonists were caught in a gigantic explosion when Ascion's power armor overloaded. Months later, we awaken, trapped in an underground facility by his henchmen. Ascion has been rebuilt as a huge and powerful cat-being - a process tested first on Blackcat! Although groggy, our heroes sieze a chance to escape when Kent Stark breaks out of his cage, and battle Ascion, who tries to stop them.
Having narrowly defeated the villian, our heroes sieze him and Ultra Girl, and take them to the authorities.

Next Week: Jason will be gone, so plans are not yet laid.

May Twenty-sixth

Game: Stormbringer
Master: Geoff
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal, Karl
Characters: Var Potax, Kra Bon, Kalon Jhorne, Shathor (in absentia), Ilsvar
Quotes of the Evening: "I have a book called 540 Things to do with Leeches that result in Death" - Karl
"I'll just get my sun hat; I'm an old man, and quite prone to ig-, er, to burning in the sun." - dubious priest in Traget
"You can bind all of the demons some of the time..." - Var Potax
"I should never have let you people convince me that I was not going to blow up." - Neal

The characters flee into the inn, and the demonic entity moves off to kill one of the wagon drivers, who for some reason was in the town late at night. The next morning, one of the townspeople attempts to set up a meeting with the characters to inform them of what horrible things are going on, with the warning "you are not going to leave." The characters ignore him, and ignore the strange wounding of two of their drivers as they prepare to leave town.
And so, just as they pass the last edge of the town's fields, the first of the injured drivers explodes. Kra Bon decides that this is perfectly acceptable, and continues riding. In the second wagon, the next driver explodes, as the wagon crosses the edge of town. Noticing this, Jhorne leaps out of the third wagon, fearful that the bandages of his the priest kept will be used to ensure his demise upon leaving as well. Convinced otherwise, he crosses the edge of town.
And explodes.
Continuing onward, the four remaining mercenaries and sole remaining driver come upon an ambush, which they circumvent, and slay a winged chaos beast and two brigands manning it. Returning to their caravan, they find other bandits have siezed it and killed their sole remaining driver. Furious, they slay these men as well. A captive, Rigil, one of the lowest types of human scum, tells them that a man named Aviliad is the source of all their troubles, controlling the town they passed through and with his stronghold in the hills they are entering. Considering their options, the characters decide that they are now unable to reach the town where they were headed, and return to the city and Nervid deMar, who is horrified by their tales, but grateful for the return of his valuable cargo.

Next Week: We return to Traget with some of the army, and vivisect that priest, and the innkeeper, and Aviliad, and everyone else.

May Nineteenth

Game: Stormbringer
Master: Geoff
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal, Dave, Karl
Characters: Var Potax, Kra Bon, Kalon Jhorne, Shathor, Ilsvar
Quotes of the Evening: "If Jason's with our party, we're taping our mouths closed when we sleep." - Neal
"...lands in which people often do not return, but suffer brutal, awful death!" "I've never been here before!" - bandit leader, Jhorne
"You're the anti-conscience of the party; you let us do horrible things." - Ilsvar to Var Potax

Hired in Arkresh by a merchant named Nervid deMar to guide his wagon train, the characters find themselves on familiar territory, as they ride along at 50lb a day, watching four wagons of silk move slowly westwards toward Turhish. A minor bandit assault turns into a rout for the bandits, but the party encounters strange behavior in the town of Traget, where they stop for the night some days into the journey. Unholy things are creeping around the small town, and at night some foul and unnatural thing comes creeping to the inn's yard, where Kra Bon and Shathor are guarding the wagons; the door to the yard begins to weaken as something foul pounds against it...

Next Week: Memorial Day and more Stormbringer.

May Twelfth

Game: Call of Cthulhu
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal, Dave, George
Characters: John Sebastian, Father Kepler, Lerdo Shafter, Jack Smith, Jeff Wilson
Quotes of the Evening: "I coat myself in Worchester sauce, leave a trail of bread crumbs leading to my mouth and place a garnish of parsley around my head." - Lerdo
"It being Vermont, I fear the worst." - Mr. Pickston
"Is there a code word for Shoggoth?" - Mr. Wilson, sending a telegram
"I haven't quite made up my mind whether I'm going to machine gun everyone..." - Mr. Wilson
"So someone's a bad kisser and we have to blow up the town!" - Dave

The always-questionable Mr. Pickston once more entreats the characters to act on his behalf; his company saltpeter mining town of Langly Downs in northern Vermont has ceased communicating with him, and several agents he sent in have not returned; 'sources' tell him that something evil is afoot. He has secured an airplane and a pilot to fly it, and the characters arrive in Langly Downs with suspicions pricking at them, but recieve a warm welcome from the townspeople, who apparently are all quite well.
Of course, this is all a facade hiding the fact that they have all been infected by Shuggoth larvae, and John Sebastian is lured into making out with a local inhabitant, who "slips him the tongue". Luckily he succeeds at a difficult attempt to remove the thing, and massive gunfire ensues, as the characters (being just that way) start blowing things up and shooting everyone with machine guns. Not that it helps.
However, with the power generator destroyed and in darkness, they are cornered into moving off towards a water reclaimation plant, where they discover the missing children of the town, and a most horrible thing laying its eggs into said children. With the aid of great courage and some arcane kinves given them by Mr. Pickston, they dispatch the creature (although Father Kepleris beaten almost to death), and flee the town. Without the creature, the larvae (and their hosts) all die, but as they are starting the plane, some huge creatures can be heard in the woods.

Next Week: Geoff will return to GMing with a new Stormbringer campaign.

May Fifth

We gamed not.

Next Week: A quick Call of Cthulhu game.

April Twenty-Eighth

Game: Dirtside Two
Master:
Players: Allen, Karl, Neal, Geoff, Dave
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening:

Geoff instructed us all and we played a game of Dirtside II, a table-top wargame. It was fun, and Geoff even survived the criticism of his tank design and game setup.

Next Week: We will not be playing; Allen's in Vegas, Karl's in New York, Jason's in England, Geoff will probably have a new infant. The week after that remains undecided.

April Twenty-First

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Karl, Neal, Geoff
Characters: Porthos Fontaine, Lionel Caerwyn, Nigel Horace Nelson, Sir Reginald Oakley-Stringum
Quotes of the Evening:"You know it's a good cruise when they have a live bear skinning" - Geoff
"I'll tell her about the time I was a pirate. I'll tell her the adventurous parts and leave out the seamen." - Porthos (say it out loud)

Upon their return to London, Nigel and Sir Reginald find themselves invited by Ian McCleod to sail on the maiden voyage of his new titanic luxury liner, the Leviathan. A man with a strange past, name of Lionel Caerwyn, a friend of Leander Merriweather, makes their acquaintance as they board; on board they meet their Bayerische comrade Porthos, who has been sent on behalf of King Ludwig to guard the lovely lady Eva Baltane.
Various social entanglements ensue, notably Sir Reginald's pursuit of the lady Eva; Nigel and Lionel take a tour below decks to further view the nature of this great vessel. And, to make a long story short, they come to a terrible realization late one evening after dining at the captain's table: the top of the ship is designed to slough off of the bottom, which is outfitted for underwater transport! A disaster of monumental consequences, drowning thousands, unleashing a monstrous machine upon the world - and all blamed upon Ian McCleod. Suspicious in particular of the dwarven chief engineer, Gyre, once in the employ of their nemesis Charles Bryce, the heroes set out to foil this dastardly plan...

Next Week: Jason is off to England, Geoff may have his kid... things are up in the air

April Fourteenth

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal, Geoff, Dave
Characters: Porthos Fontaine, Dr. Horatio Challenger, Nigel Horace Nelson, Sir Reginald Oakley-Stringum, Bran Cinnarin
Quotes of the Evening:"So, fairies, and we're supposed to chase them out of Paris, is that it? Have you seen my rubber duck?" - Sir Reginald, proving that BSE is not new to the English
"The city of the dead - where the thieves and the beggars live!" "Beats the city of the wish-you-were-dead, where the thieves and the buggers live." - Geoff, Karl

In our exciting conclusion, the heroes split up to search the rail crossing houses. Porthos and Nigel find nothing untoward, but strange sounds and goings-on reveal themselves at the Toreador crossing house; even before entering, an hired duellist brings himself and Sir Reginald low in the misty streets. However, Sir Reginald's superior skills ensured that he was the one man to walk away.
Having returned to the Prince and reported their findings, the heroes take a squadron of guards to the massive building, instructing them to wait until summoned. Sneaking inside, they find the secret elevator to the massive laboratory beneath the crossing house. Inside, in the final stages of readiness, is Dr. Vicious' doomsday engine - a massive locomotive, gleaming menace and covered in strange devices. Rushing the engine, our heroes drive off the mechanics, but a too-good shot by Knight-Captain Porthos results in the fall of Dr. Vicious, and his death. The doomsday locomotive, already underway, is brought to an halt by Dr. Challenger, and the diamond is recovered.
A triumphant conclusion - but an affair raising perhaps more heat than is wise for the allies of our protagonists. A paid vacation in Paris is just the thing. Porthos, returning to his leige, King Ludwig of Bayern, is asked to once again undertake a mission for his king; this time, to go to the assistance of the Faerie in Paris. (Doesn't King Ludwig have any domestic problems?) Enlisting his former allies' aid, the team is reunited to aid the Seelie Lord Malavon in eliminating a troubling new influx of Unseelie into the undercity. Finding a recent rash of infant disappearances in the Rue le Buf neighborhood, our heroes set out to investigate...

Next Week: Playing more Space Handle, this time at Geoff's House

April Seventh

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal, Geoff
Characters: Porthos Fontaine, Dr. Horatio Challenger, Nigel Horace Nelson, Sir Reginald Oakley-Stringum
Quotes of the Evening:"Our only hope is that the evil mastermind is incredibly stupid." - Sir Reginald
"It's gone dark! And my tuh ith dithoffi..." - customer at the Grey Duck who drank the gin
"What are you *talking* about - you've been drinking the beer, haven't you?!?" - Dr. Challenger to Sir Reginald, also at the Grey Duck
"Gentlemen, have you visited the Prussian Embassy before?" "Never with my pants on." - Protocol Minister, Sir Reginald

Later that same evening of the theft, Prince Edward and our heroes interrrogate the men they captured. There are three apparent angles to the theft - the Prussian thief, the bribed guards, and the thieves of the Black Hand. On the Prussian side, the thief, one Adolf Herrenman, leads the players to his superior, Herr Foch of the Prussian embassy. The bribed guards have their minds read by the Prince's magician friend Malbigonian, revealing their hiring by the MP Charles Bryce. The thieves' mind reveals the other members of his cell in the black hand: a Mr. Hyde, Liza (a woman of the night), Bart Able the fishmonger, and a shadowy figure who runs a bookstore on Clyde St.
The players first go after the small fish, breaking into Mr. Hydes establishment, where they find clues that some other buyer for the diamond has cropped up. They confront Liza, who tells what little she knows, and catch an hireling name Tom Watt, who breaks down under interrogation.
Spending an afternoon at the Prussian embassy, the players learn little but that the Prussians swear no involvement, and that a Mr. Duplois of the Clyde St. Bookstore has visited the Prussian would-be thief. A later visit to the fishmonger proves much more fruitful; the recent and sudden deaths of Liza and Tom Watt convince him to spill his guts to our detectives.
Convinced now that Mr. Hyde and Mr. Duplois are at the center of this web, but puzzled by the reference to a "Xing House" in a letter they have found, our crew confronts the crooked MP, Charles Bryce. Drunk and believing himself safe from prosecution, the MP reveals his complicity in the theft, but insists that the Black Hand double-crossed him, and have since decided to sell the gem elsewhere.
At the last, upon the realization that "Xing House" refers to a railroad's Crossing House, the players frantically race to the city's few rail crossing houses...

Next Week: We wrap up this adventure of Castle Falkenstein

March Thirty-first

Game: Champions
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Karl, Neal, Geoff
Characters: Dr. Grey, Janissary, Blackcat, Gort
Quotes of the Evening: "Neal, you have the wisdom of Solomon. Well, the wisdom teeth of Solomon." - GM
"He may only have you by one." "One, both - it just doesn't matter at that point!" - Allen, Neal
"It's going critical!!" "I think I have to check for water damage in my suit now." - scientist, Blackcat

Discovering that the only missing component for their nemesis' powered armor is actually available from a military contractor, the team journeys to Los Angeles to visit the company and check their records for possible traces leading back to Ascian. When they arrive, they find the current stock of the power supply - stolen! Hurrying back to San Jose, word on the street is that Ascian, now nearly finished with his diabolical machine, is holed up in a warehouse in Oakland.
No sooner does the team arrive than they find themselves discovered, and are forced to storm the warehouse where Ascian is preparing. Gort takes massive fire as he enters the building, backed up by the Janissary and Dr. Grey - meanwhile, Blackcat sneaks in the rear of the building through an air vent. Then disaster strikes! Divided, the team is beaten down; Asican powers up his suit, and mentally paralyzes Blackcat; the Janissary and Dr. Grey are knocked unconscious by the massive weaponry of the guards, and moments later Gort's feeble mind is taken over by Ascian as well. It looks bad for our heroes... but a massive explosion tears through the building! What has happened?

Next Week: More Castle Falkenstein

March Twenty-fourth

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal
Characters: Captain Porthos, Dr. Challenger, Mr. Nelson
Quotes of the Evening: none

Our protagonists meet under the auspices of the Royal Prince Edward, and are asked by him to prevent the theft of the Star of India, an immense diamond belonging to the queen which is on display that evening at the Prime Ministers' ball. After meeting numerous luminaries and having carefully staked out the residence, the heroes are prepared when the villians strike. The gas is cut off, dousing the lamps - only to return a moment later as an evil hissing presence! Chaos!
Luckily, Mr. Nelson is there as the diamond is stolen - and nabs the thief. But wait! It's only a clever ruse - the diamond had already been plucked! Quickly following the thief into the central kitchen area, our three protagonists defeat some henchpeople who were not quick enough to leave the building, but the diamond has been lost. Or has it? The villians which our heroes captured spill the beans to the prince, and it is thought that the diamond may yet be recovered...

Next Week: Super Heroics Return!

March Seventeenth

Game: Champions
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Karl, Neal
Characters: Dr. Grey, Janissary, Blackcat
Quotes of the Evening: "Okay, Dr. Grey, your mind can go." "Oh, it's far too late for that." - GM, Dr. Grey

Janissary, whose mind was altered by the evil Ascion last time, is paid a visit by some fundamentalists seeking to take the ring of Haroun and the staff of the caliphs, on the pretext that Janissary (in a cell in HQ until he comes to his senses) is no longer serving Allah. A battle ensues in HQ, which the heroes win. Janissary comes to his senses.

Next Week: We are going to try that new game _In Nomine_

March Tenth

Game: Handle
Master: Geoff
Players: Allen, Karl, Jason
Characters: various New Swabian officials
Quotes of the Evening: none

A game of handle set in the Full Thrust universe; our New Swabian protagonists are sent to a New Swabian installation which is being lent to the Swiss, to determine whether or not the Swiss tenants are acting against New Swabian interests. A United Nations team is also arriving for the same purpose. After the preliminary meetings, investigation proceeds; the New Swabian mining base is wiped out by forces unknown, and murders occur back at the science installation. Then an FSE ship arrives, and sends marines to take the planet. Our protagonists are captured, save for allen's character who decides to take on the marines and is slain.

Next Week: Neal is back, Geoff is gone.

March Third

Game: Champions
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Karl, Neal
Characters: Dr. Grey, Janissary, Blackcat
Quotes of the Evening:"Hey guys - I got us a job! We get to break that Ion guy out of prison!" "But we put him in there." "I know - ironic, isn't it?" - Blackcat, Dr. Grey
"I'm the super hero that's magically delicious!" - Blackcat

Thanks to some undercoverwork perpetrated by the Blackcat, our protagonists set up a clandestine meeting on the docks at midnight under the guise of being hired on as new mercenaries. Instead of meeting up some other hired minions, the heroes stumble upon the mastermind of the whole plot to put together the governmentally abandoned powered armor suit design; that mastermind is Ascian, a huge-cerebellum'ed master of minds. Our heroes engage in battle when their cover is blown, but he manages to escape. Tragically though, it appears that the noble Janissary has suffered a brainwashing at Ascians mental hands.

Next Week: Neal will be gone and geoff will run something.

February twenty-fourth

Game: Champions
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Karl, Geoff
Characters: Dr. Grey, Janissary, Gort
Quotes of the Evening:none

Impressed by the team's performance while stoppin the thieves onslaught (even with the injury done to Captain Peterson), the police and interpol ask that some of the heroes show up at a serving of a warrant on the Diobre Corp's director (as he is suspected as selling illegal arms on the black market). The team proves needed as the director trips the scram alarm and the heroes have only moments to reach the main factory in order to save the incriminating documents from being shredded. That and fight quite a few guards.

Next Week: More champions!

February Seventeenth

Game: Battletech
Master: Neal
Players: Neal, Andy, Geoff, Paul, Allen, Karl
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening:none

We each take two mechs and one side and shoot it out. It took a long darn time.

Next Week: More champions!

February Tenth

Game: Champions
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Karl, Neal, Geoff
Characters: Dr. Grey, Janissary, Blackcat, Gort
Quotes of the Evening:none

Our protagonists, a band of superheroes sponsored by Greenpeace, are asked by the local police to intercept a gang of super powered murderous thieves stealing components for an abandoned high tech government project. When the dust settles two of the theives lie captured, Captain Patterson lies twitching in a pool of his own blood and the remaining two theives manage to escape by the skin of their teeth.

Next Week: Battletech day off

February Third

missing

January Twenty-seventh

no gaming

January Twentieth

Game:Mecha Hero (was Martial Mystic Fantasy Hero)
Master:Jason
Players:Allen, Karl, Neal, Geoff
Characters:Tohan, Sheyan Conry, Guer Li, Wu Li
Quotes of the Evening:none

The heroes finally emerge from the warp tunnel they'd dived into over a year ago to find themselves laboratory specimens of some high tech dark overlord. Fortunately a subtle combination of their unique chi mastery, their martial arts training, and the help of a rebel spy allows them to escape into a brand new world. A world populated with laser weapons, neural taps, featherweight body armor and 100 ton mecha. They leave the Dark Overlord's laboratory planetoid a smoking ruin while the escape in stolen prototype mecha to hook up with the rebel forces.

Next Week:?

January thirteenth

missing

January Sixth

Game:Call of Cthulhu
Master:Karl
Players: Jason, Allen, Neal, Geoff
Characters:John Sebastian, Father Keplar, Lerdo Shafter, Jean-Luc Fermain
Quotes of the Evening: none

Sent to investigate the dire omens that Pickston's hired psychics were picking up at the ... Manor, our valiant stalwarts journey to the Manor with a platoon of the United States Army. But within minutes of arriving on the scene they notice that doom is indeed coming to ... Manor. Recognizing that fractured Elder seal located undernieth the Manor is about to rupture and bring about a wet and soul consuming Armageddon for the entire world, our heroes risk life and limb and an invisible undead maniac in order to plug the seal with concrete and the souls of dead soldiers.

Next Week:?

December thirtieth

Game: Card & Dice games
Master: Jason
Players: Karl, Neal, Joel
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening:none

We play a series of dice and card games. Neal loses them all.

Next Week: Something will occur. You know it will.

December twenty-third

vacation

December Sixteenth

Game: Space Handle
Master: Neal
Players: Allen, Karl, Geoff, Jason
Characters:Tohan, Sheyan Conry, Guer Li, Wu Li
Quotes of the Evening:none

We spend some time making up characters. A merchant calls us in and hires us to investigate and rescue a research base his company has on a nearby planetoid. We go in, find it is controlled by pirates, and proceed to get into gun battles with them.

Next Week: The cheese stands alone.

December Ninth

Game: Call of Cthulhu
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Karl, Neal
Characters: John Sebastian, Randall Steakham, Lerdo Shafter
Quotes of the Evening: "Why would their brains spin around in their heads? Non-linear thinking?" - Lerdo
"Okay, you are all sitting there, drinking beer-" "beer? BEER? OH NO, MY FRIEND, WE ARE WAY PAST THE BEER STAGE! A beer is for when you see a Shoggoth in the distance! When you peer inside someone's cranium, and see SOMETHING LIVING THERE??! THAT'S AT LEAST 200 PROOF!" - GM, Lerdo
"If they get _me_, by God we're going to get _you_!" - Randall

Father Kepler petitions our heroes for aid on behalf of one Sister Miriam Halifax, whose brother has suddenly ceased to write her. The brother lives in Brooklyn, and works for a rather eccentric scientist name of Brian Teckle. We journey to New York City, and find the doctor in his store/lab working on a large helmet 'to keep the others out'. Things only get wierder, until we discover that an extra-dimensional being has eaten Simon Halifax' and Dr. Teckle's brains, and thus merged with their consciousnesses. San Loss abounds. Ultimately, the multi-personal thing absconds (at John Sebastian's insistance), and we destroy the lab, losing only one policeman's mind in the process. Perhaps more importantly, several extra-dimensional beings are freed to continue on their cross-dimensional journey (in an entirely different Jason campaign).

Next Week: Neal will launch his own modified Handle system into space!

December Second

Game: Fantasy Hero
Master: Allen
Players: Jason, Karl, Geoff, Neal
Characters: Lucretia, Iskander, Taksim, Villogo
Quotes of the Evening: "I have fallen into the company of bad men." "What makes you say that? - come, demon, lick the blood from my body." - Iskander, Taksim
"The best part about growing a tail is when you put vaseline-" "NO! THERE IS NO BEST PART!" - Iskander, Villogo

Our protagonists, at the Shade's bidding, journey to the nearby city to trade the vast sum of money that the Shade has been looting for five magical gems. We are successful in this, and return them to the Shade, who uses them to transform back into a human being. We are handsomely rewarded, and then are granted the request to be transported to a great southern city. We arrive just as the city is under final assault, and, being bad guys, help in the defeat and looting of the city. The uber-evil demon Frighzi gives Taksim a mission to destroy all the goodness and light in the world, and the party sets off with glee to do its evil bidding. With Iskander, as usual, in a state of moral dilemma.

Next Week: Jason gets Lovecraftian upon us.

November Twenty-Fifth

Game: Handle-On Five
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Karl, Geoff, Neal
Characters: Li'dar, Odin Neilson, Dutch O'Malley, Alexei Derleth
Quotes of the Evening: "You named your ship the Axomama? Why?" "I dunno - we came back one night and it had been painted on the side, so we figured..." - Li'dar, Dutch
"Minbari wouldn't have to worry about head lice. Head barnacles, maybe." - Odin
"Make a piloting roll." "This is okay... I can pilot... I'm a good pilot... No! Not the flashbacks! Not now!" - GM, Dutch
"So what runs have you made?" "I've done Mars to Earth, Earth to Mars, Earth to Venus - er, that one wasn't very good..." - Odin, Dutch
"Is that duct tape on the ship?" "No, that's space tape" - passenger, Alexei

Li'dar and Odin hired Dutch and Alexei to take them to Mars (Li'dar and Odin being on a mission for the Rangers). The Axomama takes on several extra passengers, some of a suspicious nature. After and incredibly long voyage, during which nothing happens, we arrived on Mars, made our secret transactions, and were almost caught on the launch pad. A furious ship-chase ensues, but our heroes are successful in making the jumpgate. On the way back, an altercation between several of the passengers (secretly Centauri) one one side and Li'dar and Odin (and then Alexei) on the other results in some injuries, but the Centauri are all subdued.

Next Week: Once again we are in a state of indecision.

November Eighteenth

Game: Handle Fantasy
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Jason, Geoff, Neal
Characters: Eric Redfalcon, Huz'ah, Hasim the Black, Al-Malik Ibn Hasad
Important NPC's: Fadul (who accompanied them on their mission), Makar (the bandit leader).
Quotes of the Evening: "So, you find yourselves alone in the commissioner's office." "We turn on the bat-signal." -GM, Al-Malik

The characters found themselves penniless in Kadrash, crossroads of the world. A job appeared for five men in the form of the Docks Commissioner needing his ledger recovered, and our heroes jumped at the chance. They tracked the thieves to their lair in the ruined city of Padrash, cut through them like butter, defeated and captured their leader, and recovered the book. Huz'ah was the only one injured, and that by the bandit leader.

Next Week: Handle-on 5, brought to us by Jason's fertile mind.

November Eleventh

Game: But Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond and Twisted Metal Two
Master:Sega
Players: Allen, Jason, Geoff, Neal
Quotes of the Evening: "Oh, Thumper's Nurgle cannon is just too frightening when you're on the recieving end."
"You might have gotten to the fourth arena, but at least we blew up the Eiffel T ower."
"I really hate lava."

Next Week: Some Revised Handle Fantasy.

November Fourth

Game: Handle Fantasy
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Jason, Geoff, Neal
Characters: spongy, the lot of them.

I killed them all. No, really. Guess I will have to tone down the amount of damage one takes in combat.

Next Week: I will be gone, so who knows what the boys will do?

October Twenty-eighth

Game: Handle Fantasy
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Jason, Geoff, Neal
Characters: spongy, the lot of them.

I was GM'ing this one.

Next Week: Neal will be gone, but it is thought that we will play more Handle Fantasy.

October Twenty-first

Game: Fantasy Hero
Master: Allen
Players: Geoff, Jason, Karl, Neal
Characters: Taksim,Lucretia,Iskander,Villogo Piros Tuz
Quotes of the Evening: "Let me know if any of you decide to abuse Taksim while he is asleep"-GM

We go to the tower of an uber-powerful but long-dead wizard to obtain some things. We are successful, and it only cost Villogo his soul.

Next Week: No body knows....

October Fourteenth

Game: Stormbringer
Master: Geoff
Players: Allen, Jason, Karl, Neal
Characters: Jantar, Diob, Hannibal, Ogodei
Quotes of the Evening: "Guess where our genitals have been?" - monkeys to just-awakened Hannibal, who sleeps with his mouth open.

We found the Sybil and got our answers, and have returned to Bakshaan.

Next Week: Allen will run us some Fantasy Hero.

October Seventh

Game: Stormbringer
Master: Geoff
Players: Allen, Jason, Karl, Neal
Characters: Jantar, Diob, Hannibal, Ogodei
Quotes of the Evening: "Selbanat was looking spry and thin last time you saw him" "But he was vast and corpulent the time before that." "He's like Oprah." - GM, Hannibal, Jantar
"...need to drink lots in this weather." "What did you call me?" "I said, 'one needs to drink lots in this weather.'" "What?" *draws sword* "I _said_ that you are the ugliest son of a..." - Diob, belligerant NPC in bar.

The party sailed to the southlands searching for the elusive Sybil. Selbanat had set everything up for us, and we met his man Tongara in the southlands. After much thematic prepping, we set of into the jungle. Lots of nasty things there, but mostly the natives, who were decidedly unfriendly.

Next Week: We will bring the Storm in the jungle!

We skipped September Thirtieth

September Twenty-third

Game: Stormbringer
Master: Geoff
Players: Allen, Jason, Karl, Neal
Characters: Jantar, Diob, Hannibal, Ogodei
Quotes of the Evening: "I don't trust any of you!" "Look, we trust eachother - we even slept in the same room! Of course, you did see us both emerging naked from that room..." Ogodei, Diob
"Hey, babe - what's your name?" "You....are....going....to....die..." Passerby, very surly henchman Mariantanes

As often occurs, not much occurred this time; back in Bakshaan, the characters ran their separate errands, all becoming agents of different gods. Trouble is most definitely on the horizon here, folks. The party visited Selbenat, the demon-oriented Pan Tangian who has so successfully employed us in the past, and he once more offered us dubious employment, which once more we went for. Lots and lots of intrigue and note-passing ensued, and by the end of the evening we were on a boat bound for the lands in the south, searching for the elusive Sybill.

Next Week: Votes are for more Stormbringer, but other options are around.

September Sixteenth

Game: The Dealer McDope Dealing Game
Players: Allen, Jason, Karl, Joel
Quotes of the Evening: "so I sell the 15 pounds of cocaine, 500 pound of herion, and 200 pounds of opium; I'll sell the 400 pounds of marijuana next turn." - all of us

Lacking two of the usual crew, we played a game of Dealer McDope. Our enjoyment level was vastly increased when we discovered that one did not have to roll the exact number to land on a space, but in general we had the usual freebasing good time this game offers. Jason won.

Next Week: Plans are for Fury of Dracula or Stormbringer.

September Ninth

Game: Call of Cthulhu
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Geoff, Karl
Characters: John Sebastian, Jean-Luc Fermain, Randall Steakham
Quotes of the Evening: "okay, so they are ludicrously fastidious, have torn down all these houses in a strict geometrical fashion, and hate noise to the point where they will kill people making it. But what does that tell us?" "Oh My God! They're Cthulhoid anal-retentives!" - Dr. Steakham, Dr. Fermain

Our heroes settled on the brothers Ganymede as the villians, but lingering doubts remain as to a motive, and the exact circumstances of the murder. After wrapping up their direct visit to the mysterious house atop the hill, a nocturnal investigation is undertaken, with Jean-Luc and Tobias, the murdered man's companion, staking out the bottom of the hill where the murder was supposed to have occurred, and Dr. Steakham and John Sebastian staking out the top of the hill. Late at night, the brothers emerged from their dwelling; the sight of one of them "unfolding" himself unhinged Dr. Steakham, who ran screaming down the hill. While the men at the bottom raced up, the first of the brothers in his altered form chased Dr. Steakham, but was fortunately unable to slay him before he reached the relative safety of his tommy-gun wielding allies. John Sebastian used some TNT to destroy the house, with the other brother in it, and the unfolded one was slain. Our mission was accomplished.

Next Week: Geoff is being dodgy, so we will probably play a board game or sommat.

September Second

Game: Real Life
Reason: Labor Day Holiday

August Twenty-sixth

Game: Call of Cthulhu
Master: Jason
Players: Allen, Geoff, Karl
Characters: John Sebastian, Jean-Luc Fermain, Randall Steakham
Quotes of the Evening: about a police detective: "He looks just like you expected him to look." "You mean he's a one-legged dwarf transvestite?" "You know some interesting police." "Hey, when they interrogate you, you stay interrogated." - GM, Jean Luc
"First let's check out Philipe (in the morgue), then we'll check out his apartment. (turns to GM) Okay, how many days can we get him for, and what's the late fee like?" - Randall

Father Kepler summoned his allies against the unnatural, and requested of them that they look in on a friend of his living in New York City. Father Kepler was under strict supervision, and unable to go, so the three drove to the city, and met Nathaniel Robeson and his son Toby. Toby's companion Philipe had been slain some week and a half before, in a most horrible manner. Our heroes took it upon themselves to investigate, and discovered a number of disqueting facts, among them the unnatural "folded" state of Philipe's corpse, and the unusual and occult history of Ganymede hill, on which the Robesons live. The end of the evening saw them paying a visit to the two brothers living in the house surmounting the hill, who showed to John Sebastian a painting he would have been better off not seeing...

Next Week: The evil Ganymede brothers get to meet Mr. 45

August Nineteenth

August Twelfth

Game: Xxxenophile
Master:n/a
Players: Neal, Karl, Geoff, Jason
Characters: Nine Inch Neal, Big Ol' Pole, Mr. Trousers, Evil Cherub
Quotes of the Evening:none

Allen was in Boston, so we played a different sort of game. Go see my Xxxenophile page.

Next Week: The Elder Gods Strike Back

August Fifth

Game: Call of Cthulhu
Master: Karl
Players: Neal, Allen, Geoff, Jason
Characters: Lerdo Shafter, John Sebastian, Jean-Luc Fermain, Father Kepler
Quotes of the Evening:none

I was GM'ing this one, so I was unable to take notes as to the events... not that I don't know exactly what happened, but I want this page to reflect things from a player's point of view. Besides, if I told you what really happened, you would go insane.

Next Week: ???

July Twenty-nineth

Game: Fantasy Hero
Master: Allen
Players: Neal, Karl, Geoff, Jason
Characters: Villogo Piros Tuz, Iskander, Lucretia, Taksim
Quotes of the Evening: "Look, I'm the acceptable face of demon worship." - Lucretia
"I'm not evil! I'm not, I'm not, I'm not! Im differently moralled!" - Lucretia
"I'm sorry, but if they're pirates and they come in to town and don't visit any brothels, then I ain't goin' with 'em. They aren't natural." "They are all happily married pirates." - Iskander, GM
"...and your skills are...?" (Villogo turns into column of flame) - Pirate recruiter, Villogo

Hold-Out having disappeared on a brief religious quest, our motley crew find themselves ambushed by eight thugs in the streets of Garrothold. The thugs are all swiftly butchered. After some discussion, it is agreed to remain together as a group, and attempt to join the pirate forces operating in the swamps. A meeting with the Warlord reveals that the pirates will soon visit, which they do, and the party returns with them as prospective pirates. A multi-week journey is taken to the castle of the Shade, the mysterious figure leading the pirates from its newly constructed castle in the swamp. The Shade hires the characters as consultants, and invites them on a raid. The Shade's battle barge is very impressive, the raid is nothing but successful, and the party is left to debate if they really want to take this individual on.

Next Week: Cthulhu is Calling...

July Twenty-second

Game: Fantasy Hero
Master: Allen
Players: Neal, Karl, Jonathan, Jason
Characters: Villogo-something-something, Iskander, "Hold-Out", Taksim
Quote of the Evening: "I ate the herbs." - Villogo

The characters awakened to find their demon summoneress gone, but assuming that she has gone on ahead to Garrothold, they proceed down that self-same path. They approach a cave to take shelter from a sudden thunderstorm, and are accosted by *huge* spiders, which they slay. Iskander and Hold-Out explore the caves a bit, finding them extensive, but the next morning the decision was made to go on to Garrothold. While in the cave, a black kitten insinuates itself into the party, by speaking telepathically to some of its members. Back on the road, an harpy taunts the characters, and is fireballed for its trouble (and then Taksim "Ginsu-master" gets ahold of it), and several huge trolls lay an ambush for our heroes. Hold-Out reveals the ambush, and the trolls are all slain. Garrothold is found to be a walled city of some 5,000; after paying the entrance tax, the characters settle themselves in an inn, and proceed about their various businesses. The demon summoneress is indeed already in town.

Next Week: More Fantasy Hero

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