Prog 4 - Pre Race Rumbles, Narcs and Pizza

The continuing adventures of four Judges (Holmes, Que, Steele and Wallace) pounding the mean streets of Sector 55 Megacy.

Aboard the Convoy

Wallace leaps on to cab of heavy hauler 4.  Que races along the right side of hauler 3 and Steele muscles his bike into line behind the stolen spinner but his line of fire is is blocked by a truck.  Holmes moves up to the ladder on the left side of hauler 3.  The Spinner brakes sharply crashing into the truck behind shredding bodywork and rubber across the megway.  The truck swerves violently into Holmes and pushes her bike forward.

Wallace climbs down onto his Lawmaster as Que climbs under the tarpaulin of a second spinner and fires it up its blades which shred straps and coverings like confetti in the wind.  Steele fires his Lawmaster cyclops laser punching a huge hole in the spinner causing it to shed one of its 4 huge blades which embeds intself in the side hauler 3 taking out a pair of tires in the process.  The haulers crew try valiantly to keep the truck in lane as it drifts lazily to the left.  Holmes radios Wombat ahead and tries to get the attention of hauler 3's driver .

At point blank range Wallace blast the spinning death machine with his cyclops laser and the bubble dome cockpit starts to fill with smoke.  Using his bike's PA system he cites the driver with the crimes of Road Piracy, Armed Robbery with Violence and Driving without Due Care and Attention.  The perp gives Wallace the bird.  With a whine of turbines, Que drives her requisitioned spinner off the flat bed of hauler 3 and slams into the stolen spinner locking blades and slams on the brakes.  the spinner acts like a huge anchor slowing them both down.  Holmes cuts across four lanes of traffic and doubls back down the hard shoulder to aid the crashed and shredded vehicles left in the wake of the spinner.  The convoy's procession towards the Omni Dome is unabated and now unescorted.

Wallace pulls down his respirator and climbs aboard the stolen spinner to unlatch the canopy.  He drags out an unconscious 40 year old male wearing a Banzai Institute jacet and a FIDGET World Series T-Shirt.  Que shuts off her spinner and gets out calling her bike.  Steele climbs up and switches the stolen spinner off.

"Where the hell is my escort!" shouts Wombat, "Give us a minute" responds Wallace.

The sirens of H-Wagons and Meat Wagons approach.  Wallace cuffs the perp to the FIDGET Spinner, he is wearing a corporate ID lanyard which says his name is Derek Wibley, the Team Principle of team Banzai.

When he comes around he explains that "This was just a pre-race rumble to get the fans excited".

Wallace retorts "There will be no rumbling for you!"

The judges mount up and rejoin the convoy.  The rest of their escort duty is uneventful. 
When they reach the Omni Dome a huge crowd and press pack are waiting as the trucks roll into Park Ferme.   Holmes surmises that this was some form of inter-team espionage and whilst the agitated Wombat talks to race officials, the judges proceed to the pits and confront Team Banzai.
team one that states the judges proceed to team banzai is that the person in charge is a mechanic called Jonah Louie The team are uncooperative and Wallace arrests them all for Obstruction of Justice

More Strange Creatures Sighted

Que spots an orange dragon about 2 foot tall walking behind the pit lane.  She follows but it spots her and runs off into the undergrowth.  She gives chase and enters a clearing, there is no sign of the dragon, just a male young person wearing a red jacket, white T-shirt and red cap.  She asks where the creature went, he says he doesn't know.  She says if that she doesn't want to see him loitering around here again.  The boy says okay and runs off shouting "Gotta catch 'em all!"

Their shift ends and the Judges return to the Sector House to fill out their paperwork and hit the hypersleep pods.  Holmes takes time-out to make her way over to the La Cucarracha bar in Jessica Alba block.  Her narc Vinnie the Spiv is propping up his usual spot at the bar and Holmes orders a synthi-orange and a mint julep.

Vinnie tells her that the Nitro-9 was stolen to order, Holmes slips him 100 credits for more info and when pressed, tells her that he doesn't deal in this kind of stuff.  The people who want this kind of stuff find it in city bottom.

A New Day a New Briefing

During the briefing the next day Patrol Chief Belloch tells them that they did a great job yesterday.  There were only 55 citizen fatalities at the Super Duper Loop Plaza and 47 on the Megway.

She also states that there have been numerous sightings by other patrols of small aliens in the sector.  Que adds that they appear to be getting help or being chased by humans.  A boy in a red cap has been seen chasing the aliens.  Belloch suggests that she visits face sketch artist Judge Ross.  Not long after an APB gets put out on the boy.

All the Clues Lead to City Bottom

Closing down leads in the Nitro-9 case is imperrative and the Judges head to Surveillance Command to inspect footage of the Thatcher Block Thruway and other nearby CCTV cameras.  With a bit of help from Barney they ascertain that 15 vehicles, all registered to Thatcher Block residents, took the off-ramp but none of them were commercial.  One vehicle, a van registered to Fratellis Pizza, spent 15 minutes too long in the tunnel before exiting.  The business is located at 101st street and 76th Avenue, city bottom.  The judges requisition a Nitro-9 calibrated sniffer and head to Fratelli's Pizza arriving two hours later, it is clear even in the darkness of city bottom that this warehouse has been at abandoned for some time.

Que gets out the sniffer and scans the buildings exterior for signs of Nitro-9.  Wallace spots a suspicious looking citizen carrying a suitcase walking hurriedly away.  Giving chase around a corner Wallace shoots a warning shot over the guy's head and he stops.  When questioned he says his name is Melvin Twaddle, he tries his best to hide the suitcase which is overflowing with comics.  Wallace tells the perp if he gives him information about the Fratelli's van he'll let him go.  Twaddle says he hasn't seen the van in a couple of weeks but the Juves who buy some of his comics might know, perhaps Nelson Sponge.  Beligerently, he gives up his suitcase as Steele scans his fingerprints on his bike computer.  Twaddle has numerous previous convictions for dealing in comics, he complains that this is his personal collection and it's taken years to collect he doesn't know what he'll do without them.  Wallace secures the suitcase to his Lawmaster, activates anti-tamper mode and consoles Twaddle with words of encouragement

"For every citizen there is always the hope, however remote, of employment"

Whilst using the sniffer Que spots tire tracks going in and out of the Fratellis warehouse garage through a rusty and graffiti covered roller shutter door.  An infrared control box is fixed to the wall nearby.  The judges decide to gain covert entry to the building and Steele begins pulling boards off of a window on the corner of 101st and 76th.  Punching through the thin glasteel he reaches through unlocks the window and the judges climb into the dark interior.

NEXT PROG - Ed, Edd, Eddy and ED209 ->

Back Issues

• Prog 1 - Another Day in Mega City One
• Prog 2 - Super Duper Loops and Loopy Droops
• Prog 3 - Juve Punks, a Vampire and Meg Way Carnage

Visualising Judge Dredd: Dream, Design, Print

As a kid reading 2000AD, I was enthralled by the zarjaz ideas that the writers invented.  As an adult, I see that many of the stories took contemporary issues and explored them to their logical extremes.

Take sugar for example, in the 70s & 80s as kids we would think nothing of downing a litre of Vimto followed by handfuls of popping candy to see if our mouths exploded.  In the Dredd universe it is the most addictive substance in the galaxy and more illegal than narcotics.

I have used this classic Sci-Fi narrative approach extensively when creating the backdrop to my Mega City One adventures (it works particularly well for crazes).  Take a common or garden thing and amp it to the max.  However, I can sometimes be guilty of not describing what is in my head in enough detail that players can formulate effective plans.  A physical representation such as miniatures would be ideal and is now a real possibility thanks to budget 3D Printers.

From Friday Night Dream, through Design and Print to Table

Last Friday saw me throw a new challenge at the PCs in the form of Fast Incredibly Destructive Giant Ironclad Tank (FIDGIT) Spinners.  These heavily armoured combat vehicles are being transported through Sector 55 to the Omni Dome where they will take part in a demolition derby with the last vehicle running crowned the winner. 

The description I gave to my players was a classic UFO festooned with rotating rings of blades and spikes.  The vehicle runs on three wheels like a dodgem car giving it an incredibly small turning circle. 

Design in Sketchup

I've been using Sketchup for quite a while and it has to be one of the easiest 3D modelling packages around, the best thing is that it is free.  The design was simple, a relatively easy taks to design in sketchup as it is essentially a series of circles which are lathed to create the cones and a dome.  Wheels and blades are simple shapes etruded with the push/pull tool.
 

A FIDGIT Spinner

Export, Slice and Print  

I use an old copy of Sketchup on my venerable 08 iMac but the latest version of Sketchup Free is a web based tool.  It is a trivial task to port from one to the other and export as an .STL file and import into my slicer Cura 3.1.  This then gets sent to the 3D Printer (in my case a knock-off Prusa Mk3) which converts raw PLA filament into a finished FIDGIT Spinner in 1 hour and 25 minutes.

A couple of 3d Printed Spinners and a 5th Element Taxi
with Laserburn Lawmen and GZG 15 mm Sci-Fi minis for scale

As you can imagine the potentil is tantalizingly infinite and it is now quite literally possible to go from imagination to reality in time for next weeks game.


 

Prog 3 - Juve Punks, a Vampire and Meg Way Carnage

The ongoing adventures of a Judge patrol in Sector 55 of Mega City One

Firefight on Floor 426

The synthi wood door of the apartment splintered into a thousand pieces when Dave Sputum unloaded his stub gun.  Steele quips  

"Start to blubber punk, here comes the rubber!"

and unleashes a 3 shot burst of Rubber Ricochet rounds which floors one of the perps.  Holmes tosses a stumm gas grenade into the apartment which is quickly kicked out into the hallway.

Meanwhile Judge Que decides to gain access to via the balcony nextdoor and High Exes the door of the adjoining apartment.  The residents of 426-58 are stunned but get out of her way as she barrels through the pad heading for the balcony.  Obstructing a Judge in the execution of their duties is a crime.

Psi-Judge Wallace has a precog vision of the perp charging out into the corridor.  Pulling down their respirators the Judges in the corridor brace to engage.  Steele steps into the doorway and fires 3 GP rounds striking the punk in his left arm as Holmes fires a 3 round burst opportunistically over Steele's shoulder and takes out a door handle, a light fixture and the 90inch Tri-D Set hanging on the lounge wall.  After reloading Dave fires wildly at the patrol, a lucky shot slams into Holmes abdomen.  As he charges down the narrow corridor of the apartment he trips over the unconcious body of his  accomplice Nelson Spunge, falls flat on his face and the stub gun skitters across the floor.

Que vaults over the adjoining balcony ledges and lands in a combat stance just as Steele executes a coup de grace.

"You're the Slime, I punish the Crime!" retorts Steele and unloads a 3 shot burst into Dave's head splattering blood, bone and brain fragments across the apartment.

Wallace administers a hypo spray to Holmes gutshot, cuffs the unconcious juve and then tears off a wakey-wake strip wafting it under the punk's nose.  With a splutter Nelson Spunge comes to, blinking incredulously at the blood soaked shattered remains of his family home.

"You killed Dave, you drokking gruds!!"

"Dave got in well over his head" laughs Steele, "Now tells us what you know about the Nitro-9"

Nelson explains that he has no idea what the Judge is talking about.  Tech Judge Murtagh sweeps the apartment with the sniffer which comes up empty.  Spunge continues to tell the judges that Dave got out of the Iso-Cubes this morning after a 3 month stretch for handling stolen goods.  The pair celebrated by going to city bottom and buying some vintage comics, none of the hard stuff, just a Dandy, a couple of Beano's and a Tammy.  The dogeared contraband publications sit incriminatingly on the nearby coffee table being avidly read by one of Dave's eyeballs.

As the adrenaline fades from her bloodstream Que peers over the balcony.  Running along the pedway some 10 floors below is a strange 2 foot tall blue mammal with a turtle shell pursued by two YPs, a girl with long red hair and a boy with pair hair, dressed in white uniforms emblazoned with a red "R" closely followed by a large beige cat.  Passing this off as a reaction to the stumm gas she refocuses her attention on the apartment.

The Judges bag Dave's stub gun, seal the apartment with CS tape, radio in for a clean up crew and escort the juve down to the holding post outside the block entrance.  After a quick trip to the block's med centre to dig the bullet out from Judge Holmes they decide to continue their investigation into the other resi with known Nitro-9 experience, Tom Vampire and confront Nigel Faraway who is on stage at the brexit rally in the atrium.

Interview with a Vampire

Steele's intimidating gait parts the riotous assembly like a red hot hammer through synthi-butter.  A master of public speaking, Faraway milks the opportunity for all it is worth before gesturing the Judges to meet him back stage.   Steele gets straight to the point and asks Faraway what he knows about the High Explosive heist whose trail leads directly to this block.  Faraway explains that this is a peaceful gathering and his motives are honest and true.  Perhaps the Judges should investigate what's really going on and visit the real agent provacateurs in Merkel Mansions, Mitterand Habitat and Berlusconi Block.  The Judes demand to interrogate Faraway's volunteer Tom Vampire.

Faraway exits through the curtains and a few moments later Vampire emerges.  A tall, thin 28 year old man dressed in an immaculate suit enters.  Sweat beads across his bleached skin and drips from his top lip smearing the laughable drawn on pencil moustache he wears as an affectation.

When questioned under birdie lie detector, Vampire testifies that his explosives knowledge comes from his first and only job 10 years ago when he was on a fatberg cleaning crew in the sewers.  They used Nitro-9 to blow up the more stubborn blockages which set like plas-crete.  His rap sheet is clean save for a jay walking incident 5 years ago.  The lie detector barely registers off the 0 scale and a frustrated Steele tells Vampire that if he hears anything to call it into the sector house immediately.
Holmes puts in a call to Tech Judge Carson who informs them that they have recovered some partial DNA from the abandoned Judge uniforms and have MAC, the Justice Department's super computer cross matching it with Sector 55 residents.  He estimates only a 1 in 5 chance of a positive match and it will take a couple of days for the program to finish running.  Perhaps there is another way, her stoolie Vinny the Spiv might know something so she arranges to meet him after her shift ends at his regular haunt the "La Cuccaracha" bar in Jessica Alba Conapts.

Destruction Derby on Meg-Way 5555

With Nitro-9 leads drying up, recently graduated Psi-Judge Wallace advises that his instructors at The Academy used the mantra "If in doubt, roll out" meaning that they should mount up and look for trouble.  As they gun their lawmasters an urgent call comes in for an escort duty from the spaceport.  45 minutes later they are talking to the Fidget Spinner World Series loadmaster Trevor Wombat.  He has a problem, he is due at the omni dome in 2 hours for tech inspection and he has 7 heavy haulers each loaded up with 4 spinners waiting for an escort.  Each of the spinners sits on the back of the loader, their armour plated, bladed and spiked shilouettes reminiscent of sleeping dinosaurs strapped down and covered with tarpaulin.  The fans at the Omni Dome are in for a real destructive treat tonight.

The convoy is a wide load and takes up 3 lanes as it heads out at a steady 80mph on Meg Way 55-55.  Steele and Holmes are up front and Que and Wallace bring up the rear.  The first few clicks go without incident until a slow driving Old Person in a white compact bubble car blocks their path.  Holmes rides alongside and taps on the glass.  The OP gips the wheel like her life depended on it and the sudden shock of a Judge demanding her to pull over makes her jerk the steering wheel in fright.  The white compact fishtails wildy out of control and veers right before crashing into the guardrail.  The car's safety foam pre-emptively triggers safely encapsulating the interior in a rigid shell.  Holmes slaps a slow driving citation on the magled vehicle and chases after the convoy.

Que spots that a strap has come loose on hauler 4 and orders Wombat to strap it down.  A crewman emerges from a hatch in the cab and attempts to tighten the strap just as the truck rolls over a pothole.  The jolt throws the hapless tech into the air and leaves him dangling from the strap inches from the road and the haulers huge tyres.  Que quickly rides alongside and wrestles the tech onto the back of her lawmaster.

Wallace drives expertly up to grip the crew ladder and orders his bike into auto mode.  He climbs onto the bed of the truck and tightens the loose strap.  As he finishes he gets another psychic vision.  3 perps are about to jump onto the convoy from the bridge ahead.

The call comes too late for Steele as his bike thunders under the bridge but Que takes a well aimed longshot and hits one perp square in the center of mass and he falls backwards onto the bridge.  The remaining perps leap.  One lands on the cab of hauler 3 and rolls onto the flat bed, the second bounces off the bed and slams into the windscreen of hauler 4 before being crushed under its wheel like roadkill.  Wallace scans the back of hauler 3 but can see no sign of the remaining perp.

Steele side slips right and slows down to bring him alongside the truck.  Even above the roadnoise and the rumbling drone of the heavy hauler he can hear the unmistakeable sound of a turbine spooling up.  Suddenly the straps and tarpualin explode like confetti as the spinner tears off it's protective wrapping and careens sideways off the flat bed passing over the stunned Steele, shredding innocent motorists to pieces as it clears a path of destruction ahead.

Steele pulls back to a safe distance, selects Armour Piercing rounds and fires a close knit burst at the spinners glass-steel canopy.  The rounds bounce harmlessley off the glistening dome, these machines are not just common citi cars, they are built like tanks and designed to destroy each other.

NEXT PROG - Pre Race Rumbles, Narcs and Pizza ->

Back Issues

• Prog 1 - Another Day in Mega City One
• Prog 2 - Super Duper Loops and Loopy Droops

Prog 2 - Super Duper Loops and Loopy Droops

Holmes, Steele and Wallace arrive at Super Duper Loop Plaza in Steve Jobs Block and join Judge Que and a full complement of Riot Squad manning the crowd barriers.  The Super Duper Loop capsule is due in 10 minutes and the crowd is getting increasingly excited.  The Judges witness minor offences being committed such as littering, but now is not the time to be diving into the crowd to make arrests, surveillance will follow those perps home cuff them in a safer more controllable environment.

Steele spots something in the foliage at the side of the plaza, a two foot height yellow rodent.  When he pokes about in the bushes a male citizen wearing a trench coat emerges showing signs of emotional distress.  Obviously a flasher, he struggles to resist his inner urges even when Steele points his lawgiver at him.  He can't contain himself and flashes open his coat to reveal a blue leotard underneath.  Out of the corner of his eye Steele spots a young civvo in a red cap enter the bushes and a little later a bright flash.  Pushing the kook out of the way Steele investigates the undergrowth further but finds no sign of the boy or the yellow rodent.

The 2 foot tall yellow rodent

The unmistakable thwoppa thwoppa of a rotor drowns out the assembled crowd and the chopper of Super Duper Loop creator, Elon Deerscent, lands in the plaza just as the jumbotron counts down to zero and is replaced by a vid feed from inside the approaching capsule.

The faces of the celebrity citizens are barely recognisable as they contort in expressions of terror.  Something is clearly amiss with this maiden voyage and further confirmation is received when the capsule shoots through the station at Mach 7.

Deerscent immediately runs to the chopper signalling the pilot to spin up the blades.  The Judges react, calling in a spray of riot foam from the nearby Riot Wagon which coats the tailboom of the chopper and sets hard as rockcrete.  The chopper attempts to lift off and rips off its own tailboom.  With its counter rotation device gone it corkscrews into the air violently throwing out Deerscent and the pilot before crashing down and exploding in the middle of the crowd.

Within seconds nearby med teams and a water cannon equipped H-Wagon quell the flames and begin treating the casualties.  Holmes and Wallace rush to find the pilot unconscious on the ground.  Steele and Que rush after Deerscent who has picked himself up and run into the bushes.  Chasing him through the undergrowth they emerge to find him standing on the railing which marks the edge of the plaza.  Deerscent tells Steele "no further or I'll jump".  Steele continues to advance, trying to calm the situation down but the inventor jumps off the railing flipping him off with two extended middle digits.  Rushing to the railing the Steele and Que see Deerscent thump his chest and bat wings extend from his arms to his legs.  He rolls and flies off.

Benny the Bat, a somewhat famous perp who used a Bat-suit to criminal effect

Fishing out hypo rounds from his glove pouch Steele fires twice, narrowly missing him with both shots.  Que is more successful and as Deerscent succumbs to the sedative he loses control slamming into the sloping windows of nearby Steve Woz block and sliding down into a park level which juts out of the side of the structure.

Meanwhile Judges Holmes and Wallace have left the pilot in the capable hands of a medic and run over to the station complex.  After relaying events to sector control Wallace tries to negotiate with the station bot who seems to be malfunctioning as he does not recognise the authority of the Judge and proceeds to seal the station behind plas-steel security walls which pop out of the ground.  Wallace contacts the Super Duper Lopp Inc's customer centre and is eventually put through to the technical team who successfully cut the power bringing the capsule to a graceful stop.

Steele and Que leap on their Lawmasters and drive off in the direction of Steve Woz block.  When they arrive at the block park there is no sign of Deerscent save for a human shaped divot in the grass.  Que routes the park surveillance vids to her bike computer and spins back to see Deerscent pick himself up and stagger off in the direction of the block's Med Centre.  Soon after the heavily bandaged Deerscent is cuffed to a Med Centre gurney awaiting collection by a Pat Wagon.  No doubt he will lawyer up, these rich citizens always think the law doesn't apply to them.

Back to the Euro Zone

The four judges regroup on 5527 heading towards Thatcher Towers and unfinished Nitro-9 business.  

Cross referencing all the registered residents with those who have explosives experience throws up 5 matches, 3 of which are already serving time in the iso-cubes.  They request forensics backup which arrives shortly after in the shape of Judge Murtagh, a tech Judge with his Sniffer device specially calibrated to detect Nitro-9.

Iona Skye lives at 202-47 a sweet old lady of 92 who serves up a great synthi -tea and tells the judges of the days of her youth after the apocalypse war when they drove this block across the destroyed Mega City along with others which survived the Sov Rad bombs to form what is now the Euro Zone.

Tom Vampire 28 lives in a dingy apartment at 427-95.  No one answers the door so the judges force entry and a scan of the filthy interior draws a blank save for a collection of pristine suits and a duffel bag of "Vote Nigel" badges stashed in the closet.

Neither apartment tests positive on the Sniffer and the Judges seem to be running out of leads.  Wallace decides to do some house to house enquiries and knocks on the door of 427-96.  A juve punk answers the door and tells them that he saw the guy leave this morning whistling a happy tune.  He doesn't know where he went but he's one of Nigel Faraways lackeys.  The door closes and in hushed tones they hear two voices converse "Phew that was close", "Yeah they almost got us".

Judge Que knocks on the door again, issuing a standard pre arrest declaration.  Steele hears the unmistakable click of a stub gun being primed and thanks to his lightning reactions pushes Que out of the way as seconds later the door explodes in a shower of splinters and bullets.

"BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA"

NEXT PROG - Juve Punks, a Vampire and Meg Way Carnage ->

Back Issues

• Prog 1 - Another Day in Mega City One

Prog 1 - Another Day in Mega City One

A continuing series of session reports from my current Judge Dredd Game using Starblazer Adventures rules.

Sector House Briefing

Another hot and sunny Wednesday afternoon's patrol in sector 55 begins with a briefing.  Patrol Chief Belloch informs the assembled Judges that weather control has a ten minute shower programmed for 14:00 hours.  Elon Deerscent is going to be unveiling the latest stretch of his super duper loop with a big ribbon cutting ceremony at the newly commissioned Loop Plaza near Steve Jobs Block.  Lastly, Sector 55 is hosting the Fidget Spinner World Series later and expects a large number of competitiors  and tourist fans to be targetted by the locals or causing trouble.

Hitting the Megway

Judges Holmes, Steele and Psi Judge Wallace mount up and head out to Loop Plaza on Meg 5535. As they approach the junction with 5527 the traffic has slowed to a crawl.  An impromptu roadblock is in place manned by two Judges, White and Greene.  Pleasantries are exchanged and the patrol takes the off-ramp for 5587 heading to Loop Plaza.

A few miles down the road Holmes suddenly realises that there was something wrong about those two judges.  White's left knee pad was on upside down.  She orders the patrol to do a swift 180 and ride back to the roadblock.

The two Judges are gone but their Lawmasters remain parked blocking the off ramp.  Two civs in grey corporate security uniforms flag them down.  They explain that the Judges requisitioned their truck and sped off towards the 5527 off-ramp.  The guards are really concerned as they forgot to tell the Judges to be careful, their truck is loaded with Nitro9 explosives and any sudden impacts will set the explosive off.

This looks like a classic case of Jimping and Road Piracy, but the Lawmasters are real which means somewhere there are a pair of Judges in trouble or worse dead.  The patrol soon finds a set of tyre marks  at the side of the road which swerves off into the undergrowth.  At the bottom of a short slope is an abandoned Fonda hatchback.  Wallace gingerly lifts the tailgate to reveal Judges White and Green, stripped down to their regulation underwear, bound and gagged in the trunk.

When released, the Judges explain that they were investigating this abandoned vehicle when they were jumped from behind and knocked out.  They didn't see their assailants and they woke up in the trunk of this car.

A message from Sector Control squawks over their helmet radios.  They had a drone cam following the truck but it went into a through-way in Thatcher Towers and never came out.  The judges head out to the block to investigate.

Thatcher Towers in the Eurozone

Arriving at the through-way the truck is abandoned awkwardly on the side of the road its rear doors wide open and cargo gone.  The only thing in the back of the truck are two piles of judges uniforms.  A cursory scan of the through-way identifies at least 4 block vid cams which might have caught the perps in the act.  They make their way to Thatcher Towers and enter the block at the level 250 atrium.

A demonstration is in full swing with a couple of thousand residents chanting about something called BREXIT.  On a stage at the far end of the atrium stand a few well dressed citizens below banners emblazoned with the the slogans "Vote Nigel"  "Vote Brexit".  At the moment this seems like a peaceful gathering but the Judges' training and experience tells them that a situation like this can get ugly fast.

However, their immediate concern is a missing cargo of Nitro-9 and so they head to the Block Security Station.  When they arrive it is in lockdown and after Steele shows his badge, the staff let them in.  The watch officer Dun Can tells the Judges that they are an old pre Apocalypse War block and their CCTV system can't surveil every camera simultaneously.  They don't have any footage from the cameras in the through-way as they are totally focussed on the rally in the atrium which has been going on for the last two weeks ever since Nigel Faraway was elected to the post of Citi-Def Block Commander.

Just as the Judges are about to wrap up their investigation, Chief Belloch shouts over the radio

"Steele where are you? You're supposed to be at Loop Plaza by now.  Get your asses down there pronto!"

NEXT PROG - Super Duper Loops and Loopy Droops ->

Tested by the Elements - TLOD S07 E10

As she gasps for breath the catgirl Ai-Nyx is pulled out from under the hulking corpse of the Giant.  

Searching it's huge corpse Wulf finds a two handed sword the giant was using as a table knife and a bag containing some mixed coins.  Our heroes lick their wounds, and press on to the Eagles Eerie.

Are "Enemies" Electric?

By noon they have made good progress trudging through the light snow and howling winds when suddenly the clouds darken and the air becomes still and heavy and.  Lightning tears Argos the sky. And with a flash Tarigoz is hit by a bolt which bounces of his metal breastplate and coalesces into a crackling humanoid figure made of blue jittery light.

Lightning Elemental by Chalmer Relatorre

Laurel is immediately reminded of the bedtime tales her Aeroimm Father used to recite to her about the strange elemental beings which inhabit the clouds.  She recognises this as a lightning elemental of sorts.  A force of nature with no evil intent, just primordial awareness.  She waits to see what it does.

However, Jan the Sell Sword knows nothing of elemental beings and strikes the creature with his magical sword Maraghbur, wounding it.

The elemental flashes across the pass, seemingly attracted to Tarigoz's metal armour, flashes across the pass in an instant.  In a dazzling show of lights, tendrils of electricity arc around the Knight and discharge with raucous barks.  Ssinkar attempts to strike the creature with his wooden staff, Styx strikes with her sword but misses it and Nyx throws a javelin straight through it embedding itself in the cliffside.

Tarigoz bashes the creature with his shield but the creature seems unperturbed.  Wulf strikes at the creature with his newly acquired sword and is rewarded with sparks of crackling blue energy which run up the length of his blade and lick up his arms shocking him.

Laurel grabs the peace stick which hangs from her belt.  A strange foot long smooth black rod which terminates in 3 embedded glass rings which give off a faint glow.  She swings at the creature but misses.

Jan invokes Maraghbur to flame and strikes the creature carving off a chunk of crackling blue energy which dissipates.  The creature retaliates blasting Tarigoz a hundred feet down the pass in a shower of blue flame and sparks. Styx strikes the elemental solidly with her sword and like wulf before her is rewarded with a shocking surge of energy which passes through her body singing her hair.

Undeterred the Barbarian unleashes his primal fury and once again is rewarded with stinging pains throughout his whole body.  Laurel hits the creature with her peace stick and with a bang, the elemental seems to shrink in size.  Laurel's weapon grows strangely warm in her hand.

Once again Jan brings down Marghbur's fiery vengeance down upon the elemental and the creature blast him with energy knocking the sword out of his hands and the mercenary back 60 feet into an unconscious heap.

Styx picks up Maraghbur and the sword assaults her mind with the question "Who the Hell are You?" The Catgirl was not expecting this and is stunned.  The barbarian rages on.  Tarigoz picks himself up and charges headlong at the elemental hitting it squarely with his shield.  Sparks fly off and around him as he pushes the creature back against the cliff.

Laurel snatches Maraghbur from Styx's outstretched hand and hits the creature, her other hand swings around and stabs with the peace stick which once again emits a bang and the elemental is reduced in size.  Styx grabs laurels Peace stick and hits the now child sized elemental with and it dissipates with crackle.  Styx immediately drops the peace stick in the snow as it grows to hot to handle.  A cloud of steam rises up and the snow is quickly reduced to a puddle of water which bubbles vigorously before evaporating.  After a short while it cools and can be picked up again.

Ikkarikka urges them on as the Eagles Eerie is not far.

Giant Bird in Flight by ArtificialGuy on DeviantArt

Entreating with Eagles

A few hours later, as they approach the snow line of the mountain, they are buffetted by winds from above and a giant eagle lands on the ledge above them.  The Eagle speaks to their minds directly asking them

"Who are you and what brings you to Mount Durcas?"

Nyx explains their mission and recants the Arakocara shaman's vision.  The Eagle tells them that the they have seen the dark clouds gathering and it concerns them.  The tower of ice and the frozen lake is known to them.  It is many days travel from here and they agree to take the party there.  However, Ikkarikka must attend the council of Eagles.

More Eagles swoop down from the clouds above and snatch up the heroes in their great talons.  The journey to Mount Ederglow takes a few hours by Eagle and one by one they are deposited on a ledge outside a cave mouth.

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Get Knotted - TLOD S07 E09

Our Heroes rest the night at Tikka Ti-Jarra whilst the remaining Aarakocara pack their belongings for the journey to the last refuge at Tchichi-Kwaaka. 

As dawn breaks they head off with their new guide Ikkarikka heading for the Eagles Eerie.  They descend the mountain and into the valley and it is not long before they are once again climbing into the mountains and wending their way along the mountain road.

Danger Round Every Bend

As night begins to fall they find a shallow cave in which to shelter from the wind and the snow.  Without firewood they huddle round the flaming sword Maraghbur.  During the second watch Styx's hears gruff voices coming from above them.  Maraghbur's dim flickering affords her keen vision enough light to pierce through the darkness and illuminate the faces of two Giants who have spotted the party from the ledge above.

 

Awesome Artwork by Einar Martinsen

Returning to the group she wakes them all and describes the interlopers.  Maraghbur is extinguished and in the darkness she listens to the pair hatch a plan to ambush the party as they traverse the pass in the morning. 

Forewarned is forearmed as they say, and the heroes hatch a cunning counter plan.  Laurel, Styx and Nyx scale the 100 feet of steep but not sheer cliff which separates their ledge from that of the giants.  They stealthily approach the now slumbering Giants and tie their bootlaces together before retreating up the pass and around the next bend.

Before dawn Tarigoz leads the other half of the party along the pass around the switchback to within earshot of the still sleeping Giants.  With a battlecry he leads the charge and in a simultaneous pincer movement Laurel and the two Phylus attack from the other side.

Caught Flat Footed

The Giants are quick to their feet but one stumbles and falls, its boots tied together by stout laces the thickness of good rope. Ssinkar recites a blessing as the combat ensues.  Despite having the boon of Kriskar vested upon them both Tarigoz and Wulf's blows are found wanting whilst Jan envokes his firry blade and strikes solidly at the standing Giant who retaliates with his big club catching Wulf a mighty blow to the chest. 

Styx pounces on the fallen Giant and her sister swings at it with her nunchuks to no avail.  Laurel catches it with one swipe of her scimitars slicing the creature a deep wound. 

Whilst Tarigoz's attack is parried away Ssinkar commands the standing Giant to Sleep.  Offering no resistance the Giant is struck by both Wulf and Jan who open new deep wounds in the creatures flesh.

Styx is roughly tossed aside as the second Giant lurches to its feet, Nyx stabs at the creature striking it in a vulnerable spot.  Laurel strikes once again and both blades find their targets opening wicked wounds across the Giant's arms.

Tarigoz lands a blow on his foe who stands as still as a rock under he Salamankari Clerics thrall.  Ssinkar reiterates his command and regains control of the Giant.  Jan plunges his fiery blade deep into the creatures belly.

A Crushing Defeat

Laurel once again deals a serious blow to the other Giant.  Tarigoz finally despatches the enthralled enemy and it tumbles off the ledge and down the mountainside.  Wulf critically injures the second Giant and Tarigoz finishes the job.  The Giant teeters and totters before crumpling to the floor on top of Nyx. 

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Death from Above - TLOD S07 E08

As the heroes caught their breath they could see that fighting had broken out on the amphitheatre ledges surrounding them.

Laurel shot at a flying ape on one of the eastern ledges hitting it squarely in its back, Wulf followed suit with his longbow piercing another's bat like wing.  Ssinkar rushed across the plateau towards Jan who had crashing to the ground like a meteor falling from the sky, landing on one of the ledges where a winged ape commander was overseeing the attack.

Having slaughtered their initial Aarakocaran targets some of the winged apes swooped down to attack the heroes.  Styx was soon engaged and struck at one with her short sword.  With enemies closing in on her Laurel tossed aside her bow and drew her scimitars cutting down her nearest foe with a whirl of her wickedly sharp blades.  Undeterred by losing  his beloved sword, Wulf flicked his dagger out of its sheath flipping it between his hands as he chose his moment to strike, plunging the dagger into the winged ape's chest.  Tcho'eh was set upon by another flying ape which clawed viciously at his scarred skin.  Wulf's opponent was joined by another and both cut deep into the barbarian as they tried to overpower him.


Jan picked himself up only to find himself beset upon by a flying ape commander.  The quick witted mercenary cried "Parr" and shot skywards from the melee like a cork from a bottle. 


Across the field of battle Nyx whirled her three segment nunchuck staff at another winged ape striking it squarely in the shoulder.


With Jan gone, the winged ape commander leapt from the ledge and into melee with Ssinkar clawing at the Salamankari like a vicious beast.


Laurel engaged with a fresh enemy making a solid strike.  With a holy word Ssinkar channeled a prayer of Hold Person on the commander freezing him to the spot.  The creature attacking Tco'eh struck the birdman's beak and recoiled in pain at the shock of his hand hitting the hard keratin.  Wulf's foes continued their assault on the Euborean raining a bevy of battering blows on top of him.  Luck was not on Laurel's side as a strike from her enemy temporarily blinded her.  Fortunately Tarigoz was close at hand and he leapt into the fray slaying the creature with a mighty blow worthy of a bard's tale.

Above the Clouds

The sword Maragbhur pulled Jan screaming skywards, piercing the black cloud layer and emerging into clear bright sunlight.  As he arced gracefully over in a backflip he could clearly see the minarets, turrets and battlements of a small castle floating atop the castle.  Winged apes scuttled around the ramparts and flights of creatures assembled for yet more waves of attack. Just as quickly as he had emerged from the clouds he reentered their dark embrace to return to the fight below.

Floating Castle by Bancotovsk found on DeviantArt

Armed with one of Styx's short swords and the shield he scavenged from the Northern gatehouse tower at Fanjr, Tcho'eh pressed his attack and with more luck than skill lunged at his opponent lodging the point of his blade in the creatures eye socket.  The top of the creatures head exploded in a mess of blood and brains as the Aarakocaran claimed his first kill.

The Temple of Tikka Ti-Jarra is Lost

A huge explosion rocked the mountain top as a great bolt of lightning cracked from the heavens crushing the top of the temple like a spoon on an egg.  Great chunks of what passed for Aarakocaran masonry rained down on the combatants below.

Blinded but unbroken, Laurel calmly waited for Tarigoz to lead her to the next enemy to be slain.


Blood filled Wulf's eyes as the rage swelled inside him.  Armed only with the small dagger he u
sed to peel fruit he attacked the nearest winged ape who grabbed his wrist turning the blade against Wulf himself and the barbarian felt the blade slowly pierce his flesh.


The tide of battle was turning against the heroes as a winged ape flew in to protect its leader striking Ssinkar on the head and knocking him unconscious.  Nyx's enemy struck her with a battering blow of its clawed fist.  Wulf's rage was fading as one of two apes attacking him struck him across the face whipping his head from right to left, blood and sweat streamed from the barbarian as he fell to the floor vanquished.


A winged ape fresh from killing a family of bird people swooped down upon Tcho'eh and floored him with a single blow.  Tarigoz turned towards the beast and ferociously swung at it with a strike worthy of a hero cutting the abomination in two.


Through clouded eyes Laurel stumbled over to the downed figure of Wulf in a desperate attempt to stop the creatures from attacking her fallen comrade, blindly flailing with her scimitars.


Meanwhile the Flight Leaders eyes could only blink as Jan's flaming sword struck his frozen body.  The sell sword landed clumsily on the ledge a moment later.


Tarigoz ran to Styx's side to defend the plucky cat-girl as she boldly fended of an apes advances.  She chipped away at its grubby grasping clawed hands.  Laurel's sight cleared and she carved a chunk out of the ape who had felled her friend Wulf. 


On the ledge, the effects of Ssinkars prayer waned and the Flight Leader's body sagged as control of his muscles returned.  Jan struck him again in a blaze of fire and sparks.  His attack left an opening for his enemy's subordinate to rain down a flurry of blows which battered the brave sell sword.


Laurel despatched her winged ape opponent and stood over the crumpled barbarian like a mother lion protecting wounded cub.  The embattled Jan struck once more with his scorching sword and once again was rewarded with a howl of pain and anger from the flight leader.


A Horn Blast shook the heavens sounding the retreat for the flying apes and with a flap of their bat like wings they attempted to disengage.


As it leapt into the sky, Tarigoz cut down the creature he and Styx were engaged with.  It's companion, who had been attacking her sister Nyx, managed to get one foot into the air, the other would never leave the ground as Styx severed it from the ape's leg with a swipe of her short sword.  The creature screamed in pain as it clawed its way skywards , the ragged stump spraying a sticky blood trail on all below.  The Flight Leader and its subordinate dove off the edge of the ledge and swooped into the air heading back to the safety of the ominous clouds above as they lazily drifted away from the destruction that they had wrought.

Aftermath and Interrogation

Despite being near to death himself, Jan administered Ssinkar's healing draft to the Salamankari cleric, who swiftly returned to consciousness.  He began to scour the amphitheatre, that had so abruptly been turned into a battlefield, for dying and injured to treat.  Sadly only six male and four female Aarakocara had survived the Cloud Giant's wrath and so he stabilised Tcho'eh's wounds and then said a healing prayer over him.  Life returned to the birdman with a sputter.  Likewise Nyx who was also close to death received a healing prayer from Ssinkar.  Laurel used her healing potion to revive Wulf.


The group helped the Aarakocara in their solemn task of collecting their dead together before turning their attentions to the sole surviving assailant who cowered under shadow of one of the ledges.  The heroes attempted to communicate with the beast who could only retort with guttural animal howls grunts and whoops.  Nyx thought that the creature might be trying to communicate with them but could only converse in his own tongue.  Fortunately Ssinkar remembered that one of the scrolls he recently had acquired contained a prayer which would allow the creature to speak and understand them.  As he read out the prayer the words on the page glowed and faded, crawling up his hand like a snake.  The beast recoiled from the holy power and tried to escape.  Nyx wrestled the creature to the ground and in the scuffle Ssinkar accidentally touched Nyx.

Suddenly the young Phylus could understand the creature and that it was demanding that the group kill it. 

"a Ba'atun without wings was as no Ba'atun at all!" cried the creature.

Nyx questioned the creature and it blurted out that they would all suffer the wrath of his mistress the great magic user Yesork Pahyeh.  No haven was safe and her cloud castle would return and her Cloud Giant plaything would wreak a vengeance upon all before she turned her attention to the ground dwellers.  All would face a fate worse than death.


When the interrogation was over the Ba'atun pleaded once more for death and Jan obliged, clutching the creature around the waist he commanded the sword to lift them into the sky where he promptly dropped the wingless Ba'atun over the edge of the mountain promontory.


After a few hours the Shaman Kirraka emerged from the temple and told the group that he had consumed the seeds which allowed him access to the spirit world and he had had a vision.


The chosen would need to travel to the eerie of the giant eagles who would help them find an ice tower piercing a frozen lake and inside lay a silver sky fish which was critical to the defeat of the cloud giant.  He excused Tcho'eh from this quest and instructed his most trusted underling shaman, Ikarrika, to guide them to the eagle's eerie.

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Clarke's Third Law... Librarians Style

Clarke's Third Law is a popular trope amongst GMs particularly for those running Sci-Fi games and stems from this famous quote:

Arthur C Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

You've seen examples of this in the movies include:

• Star Trek Into Darkens - When Kirk orders the Enterprise to move in order to save Spock, he breaks the prime directive by revealing the ship to the volcano worshipping Nibirans, who immediately begin worshipping the ship.
  
• Star Wars - On seeing C3-P0 the primitive Ewoks believe him to be a physical manifestation of their long prophesied deity "The Golden One" and do his bidding.
  
• Apocalypse Now - The primitive tribesmen are easily swayed by the imposing god-like Colonel Kurtz, and become followers of his own personal army/religion.

However, in the The Librarians episode "And the Rule of Three",  writers Paul Guyot and John Rogers  flipped the trope around, making a magic spell indistinguishable from a mobile phone app.

The central premise of the episode was that each time you played a wishing game on your phone you actually cast a wish fulfillment spell and were rewarded by things happening in the real world.  This instant gratification becomes addictive, just like Candy Crush or Angry Birds. 

A Conceptual U-Turn

This conceptual U-Turn opens up all sorts magical and supernatural possibilities for modern day games like Cthulhu Now, Shadowrun and The Laundry RPG which take place in our current technology obsessed world.  Even though we use these devices every day, very few of us really know how they operate, ie: at the machine code level, for all I know 4G might just be the fourth gate to Hell.  Is it a coincidence that the Steve Jobs chose "Apple" as the name for his company?

We put a lot of trust in our tech, we don't really want to know how it works, just that it does.  We are okay with that, our devices enrich our lives and make things easier (mostly). 

Our global IT Networks are central nervous system connecting us all together through our devices, much like the Ley Lines of myth, through nexus sites like Stone Henge.  Why wouldn't modern mages piggyback this global telecoms network in some way, harvesting energy from the unsuspecting masses, or feeding energy into it or even just piggybacking on the signal.

Arthur C Clarke - The Father of Global Telecomunications

Arthur C Clarke died on this day in 2008 at the ripe old age of 90.  Coincidentaly, Arthur C Clarke is most famous for inventing the concept of the geostationary orbit used by telecomunications satellites and underpins the whole shebang.  Is it a coincidence...

Fight and Flight - TLOD S07 E07

Our heroes escape the mountain fortress that is Fanjr Way-Station leaving the ramshackle occupying force to fruitlessly search for them.

Hurrying along the pass, as they turn a corner, Ssinkhar spies the silhouette of a lone figure standing in the road.  As he Points and gesticulates to his friends the figure darts behind a large boulder.  The cat girls Nyx and Styx immediately spring into action and bound into the shadows of the mountainside and stalk their new prey.

The Madman on the Mountain

As they pounce upon the boulder they briefly see a wild eyed human male dressed in shabby furs  crouching behind it.  Startled by the sudden appearance of the two Phylus the man suddenly shrieks and disappears with a pop.

The rest of the party are immediately aware that someone is behind them, turning they briefly see the same shabby man clutching at an amulet with both hands.  With a pop he disappears, reappearing some 100 ft further along the pass.  Tarigoz boldy walks forward to engage the man in conversation but when he gets close to the fellow he once again vanishes to only reappear a second later in between the Knight and the rest of the party.  The two cat girls get ready to pounce and the man blinks out of existence reappearing next to Ssinkar.  With alacrity the Cleric strikes the man on the head with his staff and stuns him.

When he comes to, he gives a madness filled rambling speech about white winged demons  descending from black clouds.  He struggles to his feet and as prances too and fro on the narrow pass, mimicking the demons in flight, swooping down on their targets with claws .

"All dead, they're all dead now" he cries before launching himself over the edge of the cliff.

The heroes continue along the pass until they find a shallow cave, little more than a depression in which they can see out the approaching night.

Pairs of Watches are set and on the third, Laurel notices that they are being watched by a pair of eyes.  Eventually the form of a mountain lion looms out of the night unaware that Laurel's natural night vision, the half elf knocks an arrow and shoots the cat in the side.  It whelps and runs off.

 

A Mountain Lion

In the morning, the snow which had fallen through the night had banked in drifts along the pass.  The hungry heroes trudged on.  Nyx caught a whiff of blood on the air and it was not long before they saw a solitary familiar arrow poking out of the snow.  Scraping the snow away they discovered the corpse of the mountain lion Laurel had shot the night before.  They butchered the animal and continued further down the pass until they found enough vegetation in order to build a small fire to cook the meat.

Stomach's filled as best they could they set off down pass into the valley until they came to a fork in the road.  A rudimentary sign points East towards the town of Melmond.  They briefly contemplatea visit to the outpost town to gather supplies but Jan reminds them of the urgency of their mission.
The path to the left took them further into the mountains until they came to a steep sided gully between two towering cliff faces.

Deadly Whirlwinds

As they traversed the gully suddenly the wind picked up unnaturally and in front of them a spinning whirlwind appeared from nowhere and rushed towards them.  Tcoh'eh, who was guiding the party from the front, leaps to the left pressing himself flat against the rocks.  All but Jan followed suit and the sell sword was picked up by the tornado and flung violently up the gully to land in a crumbled heap of broken bones.

Just as they recovered another even larger whirlwind came barrelling down the gully and Tcoh'eh flung himself to the right side of the gully and grabbed onto the cliff.   The heroes followed suit but Styx and Wulf were tossed by the hurricane force winds and bashed against the unforgiving walls of the gully.  As Ssinkar healed Jan and Wulf, Nyx administered her potion of healing to Styx.

From the maelstrom descended at least a dozen or more Aarakocara, two of whom swooped down to pick up a protesting Tcoh'eh whilst the others hovered brandishing long ropes and sharp spears.

A few seconds later they began their attack swooping low over the rag tag band of adventurers.  A shrill shriek pierced the winds and one by one the heroes were lassoed and carried off into the clouds.

The Temple of Tikka Ti-Jarra

The heroes were deposited in what looked like a natural amphitheatre.  A bowl like cluster of rocky outcroppings which served as terraces for the many Aarakocara who looked on with an equal mix of apprehension and hope.

They were then led into a large egg shaped lattice structure from which lights sparkled and danced and presented to the Shaman of the nest, Kirrikaraka.  The Shaman told them that his species were being systematically hunted down and their nests destroyed by a cloud giant with the assistance of some white winged creatures.  He explained that they were poor by land dweller standards but they offered what little they had, presenting some jewels and a few potions.

At that moment the bell suspended in the roof of the nest begins to ring and Aarakocara warriors shrieked

"The cloud giant approaches"

Rushing outside they immediately spotted that the skies were dominated by boiling black clouds.  Suddenly several groups of winged creatures began to descend towards the amphitheatre and attack the Aarakocara who perched on the ledges.  As the group neared the centre of the amphitheatre they were suddenly surrounded by one of these flights of winged creatures which resembled white baboons with great wings.

 

Flying Ape miniature from Footsore Miniatures

Great White Flying Apes 

Laurel lets fly an arrow, grazing one of the white whinged apes.  Sinkar casts a hold person prayer on another.  Tarigoz strikes one with his sword dealing serious damage at the same time Laurel switched to her scimitars dealing two light wounds to a second.

Jan, who had singled out one of the leaders, used his flaming sword to good effect.  With a mighty swing Wulf eviscerated his opponent and it crashed to the floor in a pool of blood and entrails.

Laurel struck twice again at her enemy killing it.  Plucky Nyx, managed a lucky strike on what was clearly some sort of commander knocking him prone.  Jan continued to hack away with his flaming sword and was soon joined by Wulf.  Ssinkar swung his staff at a third flying ape, knocking him unconscious.  Wulf's foe retaliated and drew the barbarian's blood.

Tarigoz finished off his protagonist whilst Laurel chose another target and struck twice more.  Jan continued to press hiss attack, his flaming sword biting down on fur and feathers.  Ssinkar's prayer wore off and he returned to finish off the creature.

To prevent the unconscious creature from escaping Tarigoz chopped off its wings.  Laurel struck her foe twice again killing it.  as Wulf attacked his foe parried and with a crash of metal, Wulf's blade shattered.  Ssinkar pressed his attack onto the lead creature.  Sensing that the fight was lost the creatures fled.  Jan struck his fleeing enemy in the back killing it.  Nyx managed to graze the fleeing commander with her nunchucks as it peeled away.

Jan does not look at all like Jet-Li with his flying flaming sword

In his mind the sword Maragbhur said " after him son, Paar, Paar" the sell sword echoed the word and with a whoosh the sword pulled him off the ground into the air.  Unaccustomed to flight Jan gripped the sword for his life and a brief dogfight ensued.

The commander of the flying apes prevailed, striking Jan to the ground.    

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Maragbhur's Pity - TLOD S07 E06

It was clear to Ssinkar that their small band could never defeat the large and organised force which now occupied Fanyjr Way Station.  They were going to have to use subterfuge and stealth to continue their journey to Tikka Ti-Jarra.  They would also need to retrieve their guide Tcho'eh from the safety of the wagon and proceed on foot.

Jan and Laurel volunteered to sneak through the great wooden gates and fetch the Aarakocara. 

In the ground floor room of the southern gatehouse tower, Ssinkar's prayer of silence finally wore off just as Jan , Laurel and Tco'eh returned.  Jan bumped into the door with his shoulder as he entered and the door swung back on its hinges with a thump.

The Jig is Up

"What's going on down there" boomed the Ogre on the floor above.

Ssinkar tried his best to make some bugbear noises but animal mimicry was not his forte.  Suddenly one of the Gnolls in the watchtower exclaimed

"Boss! Boss!There's a wagon on the pass."

Realising that they were in danger of being discovered, the heroes quietly bundled down into the cellar bellow.  Not a moment too soon, as they could hear the heavy steps of a Gnoll descending the sstone spiral staircase.  A few seconds later the Gnoll caught a glimpse of the carnage that the party had wrought under cover of Ssinkar's zone of silence.

"Boss! Boss! They're all dead Boss!  The Troll, The Bugbears, All of them, dead!"

The Ogre squeezed his imposing frame down the narrow staircase and immediately shouted

"Alarm!, Alarm!, Ring the bell, we are under attack"

The Perilous Passage

Knowing that it would not be long before the enemy searched the cellar, the heroes hurried through the only exit available and down the tunnel which led North.  A wise decision as not long after they heard the sounds of gnolls crashing about in the cellar.

As they moved down the tunnel they noticed that it was clean and dry, the sturdy wooden posts and beams which held up the room were bleached an ashen grey and as they progressed further they discovered a pair of Gnoll skeletons lying face down on the floor their bones picked clean of flesh and bleached white.

After a couple of hundred feet they stopped at a side passage which opened in the left wall.  Styx cautiously approaches and looks and listens.  She can see nothing but hears a soft slurping noise.  Tarigoz waved his torch down the tunnel and seeing nothing declared it clear and proceeded to investigate.  Boldly striding forward into the side passage he was suddenly engulfed by a Gelatinous Cube whose transparent flesh had been invisible in the dim light from his torch, which was promptly extinguished.  He silently gasped for air as his body was lifted off the ground, floating inside the cube's jelly like flesh whilst his flesh began to slowly dissolve in the creatures acidic digestive juices.

 

Time to bust out my DIY Gelatinous Cube Miniature

  

In the darkness Jan blindly slashed at the gelatinous wall in front of him, his blade slicing like a cold knife through butter, flicking globs of acidic flesh onto Nyx as he followed through. 

With the benefit of her night vision Styx rummaged around in her pack to find the slim box containing the three potions which she had found in the secret space in the fireplace of the Southern Gatehouse.  Carefully uncorking the vial of poison she thrust her hand deep into the cube's interior and shook out the deadly strawberry flavoured liquid.  In an instant, the creature reacted violently, enlarging in quivering and pulsating waves.  It's flesh blistered and bubbled until after a few moments it exploded like an overripe melon showering the party in sticky acidic goo.  Tarigoz writhed on the floor his skin and hair flaking off his body in crusty clumps.  Styx's hand and lower arm were now similarly bald.

Undeterred by their brush with the Gelationous Cube,  they continued to explore fiddling a 30ft sq room beyond filled contaiing a meagre horde of Gnoll bones, some 60Gp worth of mixed coins, an acid scorched bone scroll tube and a bastard sword in a scabbard.  Jan took the sword to replace his now damaged family heirloom.  Drawing it, he discovered the fine blade was inscribed with two words, one on each side, "Zharr" & "Parr".  Ssinkar uncorked the bone scroll tube to find a scroll containing prayers of Restoration, Tongues,  Cure Serious Wounds and Neutralize Poison. 

Returning to the main corridor they continue until it ends in a door much like the one at the southern end of the tunnel.  Styx cautiously opened the door to find another cellar with a ladder on the left wall which went up to a trap door in the ceiling. 

The Northern Gatehouse

Opening the trap door revealed a room constructed in an identical fashion to that of the Southern Gatehouse.  This room had clearly been ransacked by the Way-Station's  new occupants and Nyx could hear and smell a pack of Gnolls in the room above.  Above their commotion could be heard the distant pealing of a bell.

A Female Gnoll found on Pinterest (If you are the artist please send me a credit link.)


On the first floor of the gatehouse tower, the leader issued his orders to his troops and the Gnolls filed out through the door onto the battlements of the Northern Gatehouse to investigate the alarm. 

Nyx bravely climbed the stone spiral staircase in the Northeast corner of the room onto the second floor and watched the Gnolls assembling on the battlements.  Climbing back down to relay the information to her comrades and then returning to take up a closer position.  By this time Wulf, had become tired of all this skulking about and urged his comrades to take up arms and fight.  He hurriedly followed Nyx up the stairs.

Tarigoz's training kicked in and he slowly opened the door which led into the large passageway through the fortified wall.  His caution rewarded, as he spied four of the Gnolls rushing southward across the plateau towards the sound of the alarm bell.  The odds were steadily becoming more favourable, leaving only 7 Gnolls atop the wall. 

Tcoh'eh answers the barbarians call and pleads to be given a weapon.  Styx obliges, handing him one of her own short swords.  The Aarakocra lifts down one of the round shields from the wall and calmly awaits orders.  With his assistance they now outnumber the Gnolls.

Favouring a pincer movement Tarigoz, Jan and Laurel crept out of the ground floor room, through the large archway heading for the stairs which lead up to the battlements, and hugging the southern wall as they went.  Unfortunately stealth does not come naturally to a Knight of the 5th Legion and Tarigoz's armour scraped along the wall alerting the Gnolls to their presence.  With the element of surprise gone the trio bolted for the stairs and Tarigoz and Jan engaged immediately with two Gnolls. 

As Jan drew his new found sword, he heard a voice in his head which said "Zharr, Zharr".  Repeating the word in mid swing towards his enemy, he was stunned when red flames burst forth, flickering and licking along its length.  The Gnoll he faced was equally stunned as pain shot across its face as the sword struck home.

At exactly the same moment, Nyx darted out onto the battlements and with a hefty swing clubbed a Gnoll from behind wit her nunchucks.  Wulf joined the fray, charging through the door and engaging in combat beside her, his two handed sword chopping deeply into another Gnoll's shoulder.  Running up the stairs Styx can only throw a dagger through the open doorway at the same Gnoll fighting her sister.  Unfortunately her rushed attack saw the blade glance off stonework and skitter to the floor. 

With her passage up the stairs blocked by the engaged warriors, Laurel scaled the cliff with expert prowess and leapt into the fray, her twin scimitars striking sparks as they glanced off the Gnoll leader's breastplate.

Ssinkar moved onto the ramparts and swiftly envoked a blessing on all his comrades.

Emboldened, Styx quaffed the potion of heroism and let onto the wall bounding along the crenelations as if they were rocks in a stream to land gracefully behind a Gnoll surprising it with a sword in the back.

By the stairs Jan brought his flaming sword down once again on the Gnoll but with a flash of sparks his strike was repelled by the Gnoll's armour.  The Gnoll retaliated immediately dealing him a stunning blow and Jan fell to the ground unconscious.  Tarigoz and his target trade blows but not damage.

Wulf continues to harry the Gnoll and they both trade blows, each drawing the other's blood. 

Laurel's scimitars strike the Gnoll Leader causing a serious wound but the Gnoll fight's on.  Ssinkar moves into an offensive position beside Wulf and brings down the wrath of his goddess upon the Gnoll's head.  The heavy bronze idol which tops his staff crushing the beasts skull like an egg spraying blood and brains everywhere.  Nearby Nyx flashes her Nunchucks at her opponent finishing him off.  Styx strikes with her short sword at her enemy whittling away at him.

Wulf spies the leader in a battle with the Gnoll Leader and charges in with a horrific hack to the Gnoll's back just as a swipe from the beast takes Laurel by surprise and her scimitar flashes through the air o land on the stone floor of the battlements, her right hand still gripping the hilt.

A lucky strike from Nyx's opponent lands square on her nose temporarily blinding her with pain.

The now one-handed desert rider blocks out the pain from her severed hand and retaliates with her off handed scimitar further scarring the Gnoll leader, she was not done with him yet.

Overreaching towards a new target Ssinkar dislocates his knee as he attacks and his weak strike falls short.  Nyx continues to flail at her opponent bruising and battering the now bloodied creature.

Laurel's strike is turned away by the Gnoll, but Wulf's strike finds an opening which ends the creatures life with a deathly howl.  Two of the Gnolls leap over the southern wall and flee down the stairs.

Ssinkar once again brings his goddess down on the head of the Gnoll facing Styx cracking open its skull and it collapses to the floor dead.  Nyx finishes off her Gnoll and the Barbarian strikes a vicious blow at the last remaining Gnoll ending the battle in a geyser of blood.

Ssinkar retrieves Laurel's hand and as he holds it against Laurel's shaking stump reads out the healing prayer from the scroll.  One by one the words peel of the page and curl around the ranger's wrist reattaching bone and knitting sinew together.  In moments Laurel's hand is reattached leaving a small circlet of words tattooed onto her wrist as a gentle reminder of the incident  

Tarigoz rummages around in Jan's pockets to find the healing potion which revivifies Jan.  The sell sword awakes fully restored and as he picks up the now extinguished sword, he hears a haughty voice in his head

"I don't know if I should laugh or cry…                  …Maragbhur pities you!"

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Curiosity Kills the Cat - TLOD S07 E05

Styx rushed into the ground floor of the tower, dodging the opportunistic flail of a Bugbear sword, as she moved into it's blind spot and stabbed it from behind. Her sister Nyx kept it busy from the front with her flailing 3 segment Nunchuck.

From the safety of a shield wall of his friends Tarigoz and Laurel, Ssinkar commanded the Troll to "Sleep".

The Troll, filled with awe and rapture complied, his eyes drooping and the fight leaving his bones. Tarigoz stabbed it in the gut with his longsword dealing a vicious blow. Laurel followed suit, her scimitars flashing in the light as they slashed at the awestruck Troll like a pair of scissors cutting cloth.

Across the room, the lead Bugbear, slashed Wulf across his muscled torso parting skin and bone.  The Euborean's blood sprayed wildly across the room as the battered Barbarian, beset on all sides, tried to hack at a second Bugbear.

As the Troll shrugged off the rapture, Ssinkar reaffirmed his Holy Command and the Troll's eyes drifted once again to the floor. Tarigoz over-extended himself and his swordthrust was turned away by the Troll's thick hide.

The third Bugbear stabbed at Nyx and she fell to the ground in a crumpled pile of fur.  The lead bugbear, sensing that the Barbarian was beaten, playfully nicked at Wulf with his Scimitar. Embattled and battered, Wulf called upon his primeval instincts and the rage welled up inside him.  With a mighty downward swing of his two handed sword he cleaved the second Bugbear in two from stem to stern.

Meanwhile Jan the Sell Sword dodged and parried every blow sent his way but his own swordplay was similarly unsuccessful.

Threats from ABove

From the room above came a bellowing Ogreish roar

"Will you lot stop fighting each other, If I have to come down there and talk to you again, I'll kill you all myself!"

Fighting tears from her eyes, Styx stabbed aimlessly at the Bugbear which had killed her sister.

Ssinkar knelt at the lifeless corpse of the young Phylus and rifled through her belongings until he found the potion of healing which Asdos had given each of them and forced it down Nyx's throat.  The cat girl coughed and spluttered back to life as the magical concoction coursed through her body.

Tarigoz slashed hopelessly at the now conscious and reinvigorated Troll which responded by punching him in the head with his huge fist. The blow knocked the Knight of Wulfschlossen for six leaving stars in his eyes and a fist shaped dent in his steel helmet.  Laurel chose her moment wisely and stabbed the troll under the left arm with one of her scimitars.

Fuelled by adrenaline and anger, Wulf hacked viciously at the lead Bugbear with Norse fury and the will to continue the fight left the Bugbear alongside copious amounts of blood.

Concious of the noise that the battle was causing, Ssinkar invoked a zone of silence around himself encapsulating all in the room save for the softly sobbing Styx who was just happy that her sister was alive.

In the hallowed silence of the Ssinkar's prayer, Tarigoz reacquired his focus and rained down a flurry of serious blows on the Troll who seemed to be shrugging off his earlier wounds.

Meanwhile, the lead Bugbear felled Wulf with a desperate riposte as he wildly searched the room for an escape route.

Outside the zone of silence all that could be heard was the creaking of her leather armour as Styx silently backstabbed the Bugbear in front of her and with a noiseless terrifying roar it collapsed on top of Jan.

"That's better, now keep it down"

bellowed the Ogre followed from the room above.

The remaining Bugbear fed towards the spiral staircase in the North East corner of the tower dodging opportunistic attacks from Nyx's Nunchucks and Jan's nine-ringed sword.

Ssinkar had silently moved around to engage the Troll and brought the full force of his staff, tipped with the heavy bronze tip carrying the likeness of his goddess, down upon the Troll's head. An expertly aimed swing of Tarigoz's sword parted the troll's head from its body and sent it sailing overhead and into a pile of detritus in the South East corner of the room.

 

A Dead Troll Base from Micro Art Studios

Laurel dropped her scimitars and an arrow flew across the room from her hastily drawn short bow bouncing off the stonework of the stairs. Jan swiftly extricated himself from under the corpse of the Bugbear and ran their fleeing leader through as he tried to climb the stairs. The fight was over.

Under the cover of Ssinkar's zone of silence spell the party regrouped. Wulf's unconscious form was searched for his potion and he was quickly returned to health. Kicking the Troll's head aside, Nyx discovered a trap door in the floor. Tarigoz discovered a shield far finer than his own hanging in a display on the wall. Laurel investigated the fireplace, discovering a loose stone behind which was secreted a long wooden box with a finely fashioned lock.

Into the Cellar

Opening the trapdoor revealed a set of wooden rungs set into the wall acting as a rudimentary ladder. The cat sisters descended into the darkness and discovered what was clearly a cellar stocked with some weapons. A single door was set into the North East corner of the room.

Tarigoz climbed down and lit a torch, immediately moving over to the door and opened it. The torchlight illuminated a short 40ft section of the tunnel which was clearly manmade with sturdy props and beams to prevent it collapsing. His knowledge of siegeworks came to mind and he was reminded that fortified complexes, like the way-station, often had secret passages designed-in to them to allow defensive forces to retreat or reinforce from other buildings. However, Nyx's heightened sense of smell picked up the fetid odour of something long dead and decaying drifting down the corridor.

Above ground Laurel had pressed the other cat girl to try her thievery on the locked wooden box, which she excitedly agreed to. Pulling out her picks she stabbed and twisted at the keyhole and with a ping a poisoned needle jabbed out of the box pricking Styx's paw. She immediately fell to the floor with a swoon. Ssinkar who had been studying a pair of vellum scrolls rolled his eyes skyward to his Goddess and read out the words from one of the paragraphs. The ink on the page glowed briefly and then the text disappeared as did the look of pain and anguish on Styx's face. Using up Styx's potion of healing, the Phylus came to with one less life but having learned a valuable life lesson.

Despite her curiosity having cost one of her nine lives, she was unbowed and with the trap neutralised she picked the lock revealling the box's contents.  Her prize?

Three small vials of liquid, a potion of poison, a potion of heroism and a mysterious white fluid which could not be identified.

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