Friday, October 5, 2012

Google + ASE - Session 1 - Learning a Few Lessons

A decision to embark on a life of adventure driven by destitution and the social collapse of brewing war, the adventurers marched to the nearest ruin, an ancient pre-fall tower of cherry red ceramicrete that most recently was home the a skull crushing Wizard/warlord named Johnny Two-Bad who was apparently killed by the City State of Denethix's armies 30 years prior.

GOOGLE + GAME OF ASE - SESSION 1
Art by Gex - from a comic title Mute Tower



RIFFRAFF OF THE CERTOPSIAN PLAINS
Rawr - A "playful" Moktar shaman (Holy Tom1)

Jane Dill - Circus Lady (Illu1)

Wildeye - Demobilized Mercenary (F1)

Forgotten Priest - Devotee of the God of Forgotten Things (CL1)

Valar Ragerind - Poet and Swordsman (F1)

Nire the Dead - Possibly suicidal cat burgler (Th1)

GLEANINGS
50 GP - Opal eye - From the left  two-headed deer Automation.
60 GP - Brass Repeating Crossbow - Wildeye owes Rawr 32 GP for the buyout.
50 GP - Ancient Tuning Fork - F Sharp, Green Metal.


VERMINOUS DESERT SCUM SLAIN
14 Wasteland Goblins
1 Goblin "Boss"
- 150 XP

Exploration - 50 XP each for entering the Adventurign Lifestyle with gusto
Death Bonus - 100 XP each to Nire and the Priest for surviving a near death experience.

TOTAL XP = 310XP
XP PER ADVENTURER = 102

THE MUTE TOWER
After carousing with local oldsters revealed the existence of an abandoned wizard tower only a couple hours walk from town, a cherry red edifice known as "The Mute Tower" our scratch band of destitute riff-raff decided to investigate.  Further drink buying revealed that a group of Scientist cultists had gone to the tower three weeks before with a few carts of supplies, and hadn't been seen since.  Vision of ancient treasure and reward money for Scientist rescue dancing through their scale brandy fumed minded the adventurers resolved to make an expedition to the Mute Tower the next day, discounting the history that the place was not right and had been the home of a local skull crushing despot named "Johnny Two-Bad" before the army killed him off 30 years prior.

The tower, a 70' tall edifice of red cermicrete was right where the old lushes promised - in the midst of a wind swept patch of flat, cracked bad land.  Wildeye, with pretensions of military science began to scout towards it scurrying from outcropping to dune in an effort to stay under cover.  He soon noticed the tower mostly lacked windows, a narrow slit between two doors on its front side, ventilation slits on its wings, small apertures on the second floor and a few arrow slits or portholes in the narrow tower itself.

As Wildeye moved forward, Rawr, a playful lion-man shaman, decided to cavort amongst dunes in mockery of Wildeye's efforts. His dance is rewarded by a cranking noise from the second floor of the tower, followed by a 4' spike of iron thrown by some kind of siege weapon that narrowly misses the Moktar.

Now realizing the tower is occupied, but thinking the siege weapon (fired from a window above the Eastern door), might not be able to bear on the adventures is the approached the Western door.  Rawr continues to cavort in a successful effort to distract the siege engineers and two more bolts miss him before the rest of the party is sheltered under the lee of the tower's West Side.  While Rawr attempts to sneak back through the dunes from the West side of the tower, the rest of the Adventurers push open the ancient door, which smoothly opens. The party moves into the room beyond and discovers a strange indoor forest of bronze telescoping trees, with the ceiling painted in a peeling mural of the night sky.  At the far end of the chamber is a large bronze throne, flanked by a pair of two headed deer statutes.  Near the door stands a spiral staircase heading to the second floor.  On close examination, Nire notices that there are opals in the eyes of the deer, and that the back of the throne has some kind of attached helmet that can be lowered over the face and eyes of a person seated in the throne. Nire decides to sit in the throne and try the helmet, and his vision momentarily blurs, but the magic of the device is too mush for his magically unattuned and unquiet mind and Nire collapses mumbling drinking song sunder his breath.

As the party clusters around Nire, they almost fail to notice that a small, scrawny taupe humanoid with giant black eyes who wields a spear made of twisted rebar and napped flint is creeping down the stairs with a murderous look.  Turning the band spots more of the things coming downstairs.  They are goblins, terrible vermin of incredible stupidity and persistence supposedly descended from space faring monsters from another sphere.  Wild-Eye's spear catches the goblin in the throat, as Rawr lands on it and rends it with his claws.  Unfortunately Rawr is distracted by the kill and two of the other creatures plunge spears into his back. Even as more of the creatures, ten ultimately, hurry down the stairs to attack the party beings to massacre the goblins with great efficiency.  When the fight is over, goblin ichor is everywhere, but other than Rawr's stab wounds the party is still in good shape, and the hearty Moktar shrugs off the wounds.

Climbing up to the goblin band's perch the party finds a fighting gallery, originally holding several metal ballista, of which only one (bolted down and pointed out a window above the tower's Eastern door) is operational. In the back of the chamber a tube of red ceramicrete, clearly an elevator shaft, goes upward, with a knotted rope visible and hanging from the floor above.

Ascending the rope the band finds a dusty room full of smashed machines, a lab or control room now reduced to mute worthlessness.  Rawr, while tearing apart machines finds an ancient tuning fork of obvious value.  The elevator shaft continues up another level, before being obstructed and the adventures grapple their way up, forcing open the elevator doors to find a long neglected guard room.  The only thing of interest within is a brass repeating crossbow, which Wild-eye takes and lovingly stores in his pack for refurbishing.

Attempts to ascend the shaft are halted because the elevator car is stuck blocking it, and the party's efforts to pull the car down only seem to wedge it in more.  Jane tries to lubricate the elevator works on the far wall of the elevator shaft with a flask of military oil, but it is to no avail, the machine has engaged some sort of safety interlock.  Wild-Eye's attempt to cut through the bottom of the elevator car are more successful, and he is just starting to saw away at it, when hearing a noise below on the ballista level Rawr investigates and discovers more goblins trying to sneak up after the party.  Rawr lets out a huge growl and the three goblin scouts flee back down to the throne room.

When the party peers down the spiral stairs they see ten goblins and two larger goblins, one with a big mace and the other with a pair of short swords, awaiting them.  Jane attempts to terrify the goblins with an illusion of a giant boulder, a chomping face on one side, rolling down the stairs and after them. The illusion, despite its silent nature, is effective at terrifying the goblins and "squishes" two unlucky enough not to avoid it.  four of the remaining goblins and the sword carrying leader flee to the East, but the Mace goblin, steps forward and roars a challenge, ignoring the boulder and dispelling it.

In the battle that follows three more goblins escape and the Priest has his sternum crushed by the goblin boss (and barely survives, with a punctured lung and permanent loss of 1 CON point) before the goblin boss and his two flunkies are killed.

About to leave after the tough fight, and dissatisfied by the treasure recovered, Nire plucks an opal from one of the deer statutes.  Predictably the quiescent automaton animates and gores him through the belly.  The party flees, as the brave Valar grabs his unconscious companion, Rawr scoops up the opal and narrowly avoiding the bronze horns of the charging statute the party tumbles back outdoors with little to show for their efforts.  Nire is revived, but will never be able to digest things right again and will forever be more susceptible to poison.

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