"Murder, Lies and Civic Duty." a Pathfinder Campaign Journal

[GorinichSerpant]

I'm guessing that the invasive surgery is going to be a wolverine claw like thing, and/or chompy metallic jaws or even extra limbs! So much possibility.

Also it just occurred to me, our friendly neighborhood wizard said that he didn't make a lot of undead because of the upkeep. Does this mean his goal was to built an army all along?

[(Un)Inspired]

Does pathfinder have grafts like 3.5? That would be awesome.

[Kid Jake]

Awesome! Invasive surgery!

God, it seems like every session Gandil's player throws a new curveball. You're reacting to them like a champ however.

Thanks, I try to just let players run wild, it's usually as much of a hoot for me as it is for them. For some reason though Gandil's creed seems to be 'Make life harder for me!' So I crack my knuckles and see what I can come up with.

I'm guessing that the invasive surgery is going to be a wolverine claw like thing, and/or chompy metallic jaws or even extra limbs! So much possibility.

Also it just occurred to me, our friendly neighborhood wizard said that he didn't make a lot of undead because of the upkeep. Does this mean his goal was to built an army all along?

He starts referring to himself as Zombie Edward Scissorhands, if that paints you a picture of the direction he's embraced with Gandil.

Yeah, he's been looking for a way to replace conventional soldiers, at least on a local level. His stated goal is to bring peace and prosperity to the country, but considering his chosen medium is pretty much completely dependent on murdered men that might be a half-truth.

Does pathfinder have grafts like 3.5? That would be awesome.

Not sure if it does or not, but I slip in quite a bit of 3.5 material. Hell, Gandil's zombification is through 3.5 material.

[GorinichSerpant]

He starts referring to himself as Zombie Edward Scissorhands, if that paints you a picture of the direction he's embraced with Gandil.

Oh my god, that sounds amazing! The gap between what he is, what he thinks he is and what people see him as is widening and stretching in a morbidly grand fashion!

[Grim Portent]

Thanks, I try to just let players run wild, it's usually as much of a hoot for me as it is for them. For some reason though Gandil's creed seems to be 'Make life harder for me!' So I crack my knuckles and see what I can come up with.

It's very pleasant to watch players run wildly through the verdant fields and woodlands of a homebrew setting. It's even more fun to watch them tear it down and erect a giant monument to their characters glory that can be used to advance the setting a few hundred years for a new campaign.

Sadly when I GM'd half my players needed led by the nose to do anything at all, let alone anything constructive, so I've been forced to get my GM thrills vicariously.

Yeah, he's been looking for a way to replace conventional soldiers, at least on a local level. His stated goal is to bring peace and prosperity to the country, but considering his chosen medium is pretty much completely dependent on murdered men that might be a half-truth.

I see no reason to mistrust the necromancer corpse constructor concerned citizen here, no reason at all.

Not sure if it does or not, but I slip in quite a bit of 3.5 material. Hell, Gandil's zombification is through 3.5 material.

Hmm, if you're using a bit of 3.5 material you may at some point want to check out the Book Of Vile Darkness, it's 3.0 so it needs a bit more updating to cross into PF, but some of the prestige classes and spells might be of use to you when making NPCs, or hell, they might be useful to your players for advancing into more [EVIL] evil. I'm a fan of the Mortalhunter personally.

[Kid Jake]

Oh my god, that sounds amazing! The gap between what he is, what he thinks he is and what people see him as is widening and stretching in a morbidly grand fashion!

Spoiler: To Borrow Another Thread's Format

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It's very pleasant to watch players run wildly through the verdant fields and woodlands of a homebrew setting. It's even more fun to watch them tear it down and erect a giant monument to their characters glory that can be used to advance the setting a few hundred years for a new campaign.

Sadly when I GM'd half my players needed led by the nose to do anything at all, let alone anything constructive, so I've been forced to get my GM thrills vicariously.

I understand your pain. Believe it or not, my M&M group was the same way when we played D&D. I'd ask them what they wanted to do and they were like "I 'unno." which was terrible, because I'm not very good at structuring a campaign. I can do it in a pinch, but I prefer to just set up dominoes and watch them get toppled, so I didn't really know how to proceed with them if they don't have at least a few selfish motivations to play off of.

I'm not really a fan of 'Band Together For The Common Good And Save The World' type quests because I'm just not very heroic at heart and they come off cheesy when I try them. Kind of funny then that the one time I tried a heroic game with a straight face I got Roger McCrow and Fanboy out of the gate.

I see no reason to mistrust the necromancer corpse constructor concerned citizen here, no reason at all.

In all fairness to Professor Rambalt he's never really tried to hide his motivations, it's just that nobody's ever bothered to ask him what they are. They saw 'Free Frankenstein Monsters' and were like 'Gimme!' and naturally he's happy to oblige.

Hmm, if you're using a bit of 3.5 material you may at some point want to check out the Book Of Vile Darkness, it's 3.0 so it needs a bit more updating to cross into PF, but some of the prestige classes and spells might be of use to you when making NPCs, or hell, they might be useful to your players for advancing into more [EVIL] evil. I'm a fan of the Mortalhunter personally.

I should have that sitting on my shelf somewhere, when they really start digging into super villain territory I'll drag it out for 'em.

[(Un)Inspired]

Stop teasing us by referring to your M&M campaign. When're you gonna get those two knuckleheads together again?

[Kid Jake]

I'm trying so very, very hard but it's like wrangling cats. McCrow has to be up early for school and/or work but Fanboy doesn't get off his job until midnight and he's been working seven days a week. Things should change soon though, McCrow's looking into a new job and Fanboy claims his work's about to slow down so hopefully we'll get another game in before the new year.

It also might be worth noting that we're in the middle of setting up a Play by Post game as of this morning for us to fiddle with as we've got time, so while it might not be Adventures in Ventnor City it will probably be the same craziness.

We're still discussing what system we're going to use (Shadowrun, Dark Heresy thanks to this thread, Cthulhutech or Vampire: The Requiem) but so far McCrow's vote is for Vampire (even after I explained that he couldn't play an immortal Nicholas Cage because vampires don't show up very well on film) so I'm imagining they're going to be playing undead Roger McCrow and Fanboy expies pretty soon.

Our first choice was actually unanimously Deadlands (where one of them wanted to play a 19th century Tony Stark and the other wanted to play a vengeance seeking Gomer Pyle) but it doesn't seem like the card mechanics would fit very well with PbP.

[(Un)Inspired]

I would love to see Tony Stark and Gomer Pyle together.

[Grim Portent]

I'm trying so very, very hard but it's like wrangling cats. McCrow has to be up early for school and/or work but Fanboy doesn't get off his job until midnight and he's been working seven days a week. Things should change soon though, McCrow's looking into a new job and Fanboy claims his work's about to slow down so hopefully we'll get another game in before the new year.

It also might be worth noting that we're in the middle of setting up a Play by Post game as of this morning for us to fiddle with as we've got time, so while it might not be Adventures in Ventnor City it will probably be the same craziness.

We're still discussing what system we're going to use (Shadowrun, Dark Heresy thanks to this thread, Cthulhutech or Vampire: The Requiem) but so far McCrow's vote is for Vampire (even after I explained that he couldn't play an immortal Nicholas Cage because vampires don't show up very well on film) so I'm imagining they're going to be playing undead Roger McCrow and Fanboy expies pretty soon.

Our first choice was actually unanimously Deadlands (where one of them wanted to play a 19th century Tony Stark and the other wanted to play a vengeance seeking Gomer Pyle) but it doesn't seem like the card mechanics would fit very well with PbP.

Judging by the general trend of your campaign journals I think Black Crusade might be more your style than Dark Heresy. DH is very much a GM driven gritty underdogs kind of game, while BC is more of a dark lords out to stomp the world kind of game which rewards player initiative. Both do reward out of the box bat**** insanity though, and sometimes you see people running interlinked games where BC human cultists are corrupting a planet and the players are also playing in a DH game as =I= acolytes trying to stop the cultists from the BC game.

Both can be very political and subtle, both can be combat driven gorefests of pain and death and a dozen back up character sheets. DH has the insanity system, which is pretty fun at times, but BC has a ticking clock built into the PCs in their Infamy and Corruption tracks, run out your time with infamy high and you become a literal demigod, run it out with it just a bit too low for that and you die gloriously in a footnote, run it out any lower than that and you become a tenacloid monster with a mind made of spaghetti and a desire to eat everything nearby.

The most entertaining thing in both systems is the critical wounds tables. They range from heads being hacked off and creating a bloodslick that trips people up to superheated legs exploding like grenades. There's no death like a 40k death for the over the top awesomeness.



Vampire is also pretty fun. It lacks the OTT nature of 40k, so it's a bit less entertaining to me but it makes up for it by being heavily inclined to a politics and intrigue style of game while having a lot of flexibility in regards to character abilities. One of the better parts is that since vampires are by and large an unusual lot you can justify any number of characters that aren't normally sensible options having been turned because their sire was bored, casually interested in them, drunk, horny or high.

I've only played vampire once, I was playing a drug dealing chemistry graduate who'd been turned by a vampire belonging to the Daeva clan, the hedonistic cult of personality seductive vampires. My character had been turned because his sire wanted a new source of drugs that was reliable and I wound up as the party occultist/driver (no one else had a car) and alchemist. I was starting to shift my operations more towards the alchemical/occult side of my skillset when the campaign broke up due to scheduling issues.

Highlights of that game included the party face being slammed facefirst into a car by the party beatstick so hard his face caved in and he spent the trip home sulking, Boris, the russian bouncer vampire outranking the self styled politician vampire (the face) in their faction, one of the players making Caleb, who was basically a 16 year old vampire batman, us getting shot at by a bunch of drug dealing kids before tackling the little brats and taking their guns and Butcher (the beatstick) having to awkwardly distract someone who recognized him from his pre-vampire wrestling career and happened to be a fan. Fun times. Our characters did all their shopping at a local Walmart, we bought guns, camping gear, axes, ingredients for molotovs and so on there.

[Kid Jake]

I would love to see Tony Stark and Gomer Pyle together.

I think that deep down, everyone wants to see that.

Judging by the general trend of your campaign journals I think Black Crusade might be more your style than Dark Heresy. DH is very much a GM driven gritty underdogs kind of game, while BC is more of a dark lords out to stomp the world kind of game which rewards player initiative. Both do reward out of the box bat**** insanity though, and sometimes you see people running interlinked games where BC human cultists are corrupting a planet and the players are also playing in a DH game as =I= acolytes trying to stop the cultists from the BC game.

Both can be very political and subtle, both can be combat driven gorefests of pain and death and a dozen back up character sheets. DH has the insanity system, which is pretty fun at times, but BC has a ticking clock built into the PCs in their Infamy and Corruption tracks, run out your time with infamy high and you become a literal demigod, run it out with it just a bit too low for that and you die gloriously in a footnote, run it out any lower than that and you become a tenacloid monster with a mind made of spaghetti and a desire to eat everything nearby.

The most entertaining thing in both systems is the critical wounds tables. They range from heads being hacked off and creating a bloodslick that trips people up to superheated legs exploding like grenades. There's no death like a 40k death for the over the top awesomeness.

Dark Heresy has the benefit of being a system I already own, though have never played. I'll definitely look into BC though, it seems like the kind of thing they'd try whether or not it was supported by the system. I'm positive that regardless of what I do though, the entire team would be made of nothing but Psykers and knowing Fanboy's luck with the dice the majority of gruesome deaths are going to be 100% self-inflicted and thus all the more hilarious.

Vampire is also pretty fun. It lacks the OTT nature of 40k, so it's a bit less entertaining to me but it makes up for it by being heavily inclined to a politics and intrigue style of game while having a lot of flexibility in regards to character abilities. One of the better parts is that since vampires are by and large an unusual lot you can justify any number of characters that aren't normally sensible options having been turned because their sire was bored, casually interested in them, drunk, horny or high.

I've only played vampire once, I was playing a drug dealing chemistry graduate who'd been turned by a vampire belonging to the Daeva clan, the hedonistic cult of personality seductive vampires. My character had been turned because his sire wanted a new source of drugs that was reliable and I wound up as the party occultist/driver (no one else had a car) and alchemist. I was starting to shift my operations more towards the alchemical/occult side of my skillset when the campaign broke up due to scheduling issues.

Highlights of that game included the party face being slammed facefirst into a car by the party beatstick so hard his face caved in and he spent the trip home sulking, Boris, the russian bouncer vampire outranking the self styled politician vampire (the face) in their faction, one of the players making Caleb, who was basically a 16 year old vampire batman, us getting shot at by a bunch of drug dealing kids before tackling the little brats and taking their guns and Butcher (the beatstick) having to awkwardly distract someone who recognized him from his pre-vampire wrestling career and happened to be a fan. Fun times. Our characters did all their shopping at a local Walmart, we bought guns, camping gear, axes, ingredients for molotovs and so on there.

I have never had the chance to play WoD at all but I've been wanting to for a while. So far McCrow wants to be a Daeva with the intention of Blue Steeling everyone into submission and Fanboy's endgame is to turn into some sort of demonic sugar glider.

[Grim Portent]

Dark Heresy has the benefit of being a system I already own, though have never played. I'll definitely look into BC though, it seems like the kind of thing they'd try whether or not it was supported by the system. I'm positive that regardless of what I do though, the entire team would be made of nothing but Psykers and knowing Fanboy's luck with the dice the majority of gruesome deaths are going to be 100% self-inflicted and thus all the more hilarious.

All the 40k RPGs are cross compatible, and BC has rules for converting characters from the earlier ones into BC characters, so you could run a DH game until either of them starts to die from corruption and then offer them a chance at destroying everything they've spent the previous time protecting.

Though DH psykers are hilarious, especially if you don't use the errata'd Corpus Conversion talent. A pyromancer/biomancer with decent willpower and enough wounds can set an entire city on fire in a few minutes with a bit of luck. Diviners meanwhile can flawlessly shoot enemies with heavy weapons like lascannons or missile launchers.

[Kid Jake]

All the 40k RPGs are cross compatible, and BC has rules for converting characters from the earlier ones into BC characters, so you could run a DH game until either of them starts to die from corruption and then offer them a chance at destroying everything they've spent the previous time protecting.

Though DH psykers are hilarious, especially if you don't use the errata'd Corpus Conversion talent. A pyromancer/biomancer with decent willpower and enough wounds can set an entire city on fire in a few minutes with a bit of luck. Diviners meanwhile can flawlessly shoot enemies with heavy weapons like lascannons or missile launchers.

"Well you've failed the Inquisition so thoroughly you've become a champion of Chaos. Enjoy!"

All I can picture is Fanboy repeatedly critically failing and having his head explode while he curses at the dice OOC.

[Kid Jake]

Alright, I meant to have way more of this finished today than I did but things came up and I didn't get much time to write. All the same, I present the first part of our sixth session.

Spoiler

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Bryce Haverston is loading up everything he can get his hands on as Kavos approaches offering an olive branch of sorts. Kavos tells Bryce that it would be dangerous to bring his dwarves along with him since they're infected and could turn at any moment. Bryce explains that dangerous or not he'd be turned away from the gates of his ancestors if word got out that he'd left kin behind.

Kavos asks that everybody stay another night at least so that he can send Bryce off with enough elixir to cure his men. Bryce says that if they can get control over the sheriff he'd be willing to stay a little longer.

Kavods nods. "I can handle him for a night at least. He just has strong feelings over what he considers right and wrong." the priest explains somewhat apologetically.

Haverston shakes his head. "I've never understood the type."

As Kavos smiles and turns back towards Rambalts he bitterly mumbles "Neither have I..."

Kavos knocks on Professor Rambalt's door and the little mage answers shortly covered in thick black blood. "Can I help you mayor?"

Kavos asks why Rambalt isn't brewing potions and the professor explains that it's a simple process once you get going and that he's got some brewing as they speak, he just has...other projects which need his attention.

Kavos shrugs and asks if it would be possible to brew a potion to spread the disease instead of cure it. Rambalt admits that his knowledge of ghouls is rather limited so he's not sure if the disease can spread without the bite of a ghoul, but does believe it would be a simple thing to brew something which makes someone more susceptible to the disease.

Kavos asks if he can have it done by morning and Rambalt assures him he can, right after he gets finished with his current project. It seems to satisfy the priest.

Rambalt returns downstairs where Gandil is strapped down and missing about 80% of his hands and forearms, flesh and meat have been mostly stripped away and bone has been discarded in favor of metallic replacements.

"As I was saying," Rambalt says, sitting down next to Gandil and finishing up his attempt to basically meld steel and bone together, "One of my older experiments was with automaton effigies. They were stupid and unfit for real service, but as I recall their pointy bits were pretty sharp. These grafts should shred flesh easily, although they might be a little...unsettling."

"Whatever it takes to keep this town safe." Gandil says, watching as Rambalt begins sewing what meat and skin is left around the razor sharp digits so that he can still use his paralysis attack. "Will I be able to take down another ettercap with these?" he asks.

"Sure." Rambalt says absently, putting the finishing touches on Gandil's new and disturbing hands. "Although I assume you'll want the complete package?" the mage asks, admiring his work.

"What's the complete package?" Gandil asks, flexing his bladed fingers experimentally, enjoying the sound of steel dragging against steel.

Rambalt reaches into his kit and removes an entire metallic lower jaw filled with jagged, razor sharp teeth as well as the top teeth to complete the set. Gandil's eyes grow with desire and he lets out an audible "Oooooh."

Rambalt laughs and says that that's what he figured. Laying Gandil back he returns with a hammer and chisel, placing the chisel against the rop row of Gandil's teeth. "Now obviously you can't talk while I'm doing this, so try to think of something else to do, alright?"

He doesn't wait for Gandil to answer before the hammer comes down and teeth and bone start showering the floor.

Spoiler

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Come morning Rambalt delivers a bottle of his anti-vaccine to Kavos in the temple of Pelor. For some reason Father Adrian never came back the night before, still dealing with the infected he assumed, and Kavos thought it would be fun to make a night of personally venerating Asmodeous in the town's holy place. Once he regained his spells for the day he made sure to rid himself of any lingering injuries or afflictions from the day before.

Kavos thanks him for the delivery and asks where Gandil is, Rambalt replies that Gandil is assisting him, but that he'll be along later in the day. Kavos asks if he could instead keep the sheriff busy for a bit longer. Rambalt almost seems relieved when he says that he'll do his best.

It's not long afterwards that the two infected dwarves arrive. Kavos greets them and hands them his insidious potion, encouraging them to drink up. The dwarves do as they're told appreciatively and then glance around conspiratorially.

"Look, we appreciate what you've done for us and we're sorry that you and Bryce couldn't work something out." one of them starts.

"But Bryce isn't the understanding type." the second finishes. "We don't believe in getting something for nothing, so we arranged for some lumber to be unloaded on the docks for you. Bryce rationalized it as being necessary to fit in more refugees since lumber is considerably cheaper than most of his wares, but we figured Westbank probably needs building supplies with the horde coming this way."

Kavos is touched by their generosity. Apparently war truly can make allies of the bitterest of enemies. He offers to pray for the two dwarves before they depart.

He takes this opportunity to cast Bestow Curse on each of them and reduce their already compromised Fortitude saves deep into the negatives.

"You should stay friend." Kavos says, patting one of the dwarves on the shoulder. "Within this town I can offer you the protection of Pelor, however once you leave I fear for what might happen to you and your people."

The dwarves look at each other and sigh. Finally one of them says "We're followers of Moradin, now and until the day we die. We respect what the sun god has you do, but we won't bend knee to him."

Kavos nods sadly. "If that is your wish. I wish you all godspeed."

The dwarves nod and insist that if Westbank can hold out for a few weeks their clan should send a warparty to reclaim their tradepost. When that happens they'll stop in to check on everybody.

They part ways amiably, though Kavos knows he's sent them and most likely their crafts to their deaths. Good enough an end for deserters such as them. The aging priest takes this opportunity to do a head count of those remaining and finds that their remaining citizens number around 160; they seem to have lost almost a third of their population to Bryce's fear mongering and most likely would have lost more if the boats weren't so full.

Kavos has Elder Hadran gather up as many skilled or semi-skilled carpenters as he can gather to get to work erecting a wall around the town. Kavos instructs them to use not only the wood that Bryce's men left, but everything left over from the unfinished housing project too.

While he's issuing orders Kavos notices Gandil emerge from Rambalt's house looking just as he always does, although he does seem to be rubbing his fingers together and grinding his teeth more than usual. Gandil flags down Jonathan Lark and gets a rundown of their current situation before sending Lark out to scout the horde himself; trusting the ranger's stealth abilities to be greater than his or Kavos's.

Gandil then joins his deputies in evacuating the farms of their occupants and bringing them into town for safety, no longer trusting the remaining citizens to lock down their homes properly. Kavos spends his day polluting the temple of Pelor with prayers and rituals to Asmodeous and the workmen bust their asses to erect a wall.

Several days pass in this manner with Kavos tending the temple in Father Adrian's lengthy absence (though Kavos hadn't heard from him several farmers reported him stopping in and praying for them and Jessup reports that Adrian evacuated the remaining infected somewhere to keep the rest of the town safe), Gandil and his deputies nearly kill themselves alternating between guard duty and evacuating farmers and everyone able to hold a tool work on setting up a perimeter defense.

On the third day Lark reappears to find a 4ft wall defended by pike emplacements almost surrounding the village, he gathers Gandil and Kavos together to discuss his findings.

For the most part all he's managed to find are small packs or even single ghouls milling about the area. He mentions finding nearly twenty of the monsters lying dead in the forest, apparently crushed or trampled to death. He also mentions that another half a dozen of the creatures had been killed in Briar's Pass by the mercenaries Bartan and Rutgard.

Kavos and Gandil look at each other eagerly. They'd nearly forgotten about the mercenaries and didn't realize they were so formidable.

Lark sighs and says that that was just for the most part however. He claims to have stumbled onto a horde of more than forty of the beasts gathering just under a day's march out of town.

Kavos asks if Lark would be willing to join them in attacking the horde if they could hire the services of Briar's Pass's mercs. Lark replies that it would be suicide to jump onto a horde of that size, but that he would be more than willing to lay a trap for them. Kavos asks that Lark join them in recruiting the mercenaries since he knows them.

Jonathan agrees but as he prepares to leave a messenger arrives on behalf of Rambalt, asking Kavos and Gandil to come by his lab at their first opportunity.

Remembering what happened the last time Rambalt requested his presence, Kavos decides that this takes priority for the moment.

[GorinichSerpant]

Remember that thing I said about how I would compromise with Kavos?
Well, that compromise would end when something like the anti-vaccine happening, or more likely when or if I found out about it.

I really want to see when the hat of disguise falls off and Gandil's true form is revealed to the whole town. The town's folk would probably have one of those looks on their faces that is absolutely hilarious.*evil giggling*

Did the actual priest of Pelor become a ghoul while no body was looking? The evidence would point to that.

When the mighty Sheriff got thrown into the river, surely his fluids got into the water. Does that mean that the river, and by extension, the fish-people also became infected?

[Kid Jake]

Most of Kavos's evil has been immediately self-serving so the anti-vaccine threw me for a loop. I assume that he thought Bryce would be coming back for him is why he set ghouls loose on his ship.

I imagine horror, followed by panic, followed by torches and pitchforks. Gandil's pretty slick though (he's got an 18 Charisma) so he might be able to actually talk them down and walk among them as his true self by wallowing in his own delusions of heroism.

Nah, he's just been busy out of the village itself. Everyone's been too busy to really look for him to see what he's up to.

Heh, he's not that potent. He's not Stubbs the Zombie quite yet.

[GorinichSerpant]

I feel talking his way out of the pitchforks would be very difficult when he can't properly cry about his ailment.

It also begs the question, what of his food supply? Who is he going to eat when all the surrounding foes are undead ghouls?

[Kid Jake]

Difficult, but he did manage to talk his way out of an ass-beating by an enraged unicorn he'd just betrayed. I've learned not to underestimate his ability to BS people.

Once he finishes off this bandit I have no idea who he's going to eat, but I'm positive it's going to be hilarious to watch him justify it IC.

[(Un)Inspired]

Difficult, but he did manage to talk his way out of an ass-beating by an enraged unicorn he'd just betrayed. I've learned not to underestimate his ability to BS people.

Once he finishes off this bandit I have no idea who he's going to eat, but I'm positive it's going to be hilarious to watch him justify it IC.

If you're an adventurer there's always a steady stream of cannon fodder heading your way. I get the feeling that it will be a long time before Gandil goes hungry.

[Kid Jake]

Yeah, plus he found an alternate source of food during tonight's session. Of course who knows how long that might last.

Spoiler: Unrelated

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Also, for anybody who might have been interested in our Vampire game, I've got some new players confirmed.
McCrow is playing a Daeva.
Fanboy is a Gangrel.
Tiffany said she'll be playing and wants to play a Ventrue groupie.
My sister who played Stardust in one of our sessions has expressed interest in a...sexy Nosferatu nurse.
Another girl is playing a Mekhet with aspirations of becoming a lawyer.
And the guy that plays Gandil is working on a character right now.

The game's already started although like all PbPs it's off to a slow start. Fingers crossed though.

[Grim Portent]

sexy Nosferatu nurse.

And the award for worst combination of words ever goes to...

[GorinichSerpant]

I am horrified and morbidly curious about the minds behind McCrow and Gandil playing in the same game.

[Kid Jake]

Alright, here's the rest of our sixth session. Most of our combats are pretty quick and dirty, but this one lasted more than half the session (and we didn't finish) so the narrative seems a little short.

Spoiler

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They find Rambalt's door unlocked, alarmingly, and rush downstairs and into his lab. The first thing that strikes them is that is that it's surprisingly sterile. No body parts or strange contraptions laying around like usual. Everything's been scrubbed down and packed away.

The second thing that catches their eye is that next to Gandil's half-eaten bandit is a seven foot tall creature that might have been considered human at one time, long ago. The creature's body is a strange mashup of scars and reinforced leather straps and sports a steel collar around its neck, binding it to the wall, like Rambalt's earlier creation; but unlike his last attempt it seems to sit quietly in the corner and turn a mirror over and over in its large, meaty hands.

Gandil and Kavos gawk at the creature and Kavos finally asks if it's dangerous.

Rambalt whispers that it doesn't seem to have any of the rage issues of his former creations, it seems to be quite childlike. "It's only an hour or so old at this point, everything still amazes it." he explains quietly. "But I'm confident that it will defend itself if threatened."

"What's his name?" Gandil asks, feeling a strange sense of kinship with the hulking flesh golem.

"I considered calling him Junior...but I thought it might be a tad morbid." Rambalt says.

"Junior..." Gandil repeats, nodding.

"Hopefully we'll live long enough for me to build him a brother." Rambalt says with a worried smile.

"You'll do no such thing!" Gandil snaps. "Seeing this specimen with my own eyes makes me realize the horror of all this. Creating giant children to fight for us isn't what Westbank is about! Instead, we'll raise Junior with all of the values this town was founded on."

"Great idea Gandil." Kavos says with a laugh. "But what will the townsfolk think?"

"We'll tell everyone that Junior is a giant child we found in the mountains. If they ask about the scars we'll just make mention of the gaints brutality as the reason we're raising him!" Gandil says excitedly.

"I didn't create Junior as a solider, but a protector. He SHOULD know everything that he's protecting." Rambalt agrees. "But he doesn't look like a baby, he looks like a man...or rather six men sewed together."

Gandil thinks on this for a moment. "Then make him some toys Rambalt. Sturdy enough for him to have fun, but fragile enough for him to learn his own strength. We'll raise him!" (Gandl himself points out that this has suddenly become Three Men and a Baby starring a mad scientist, evil priest and zombie Edward Scissorhands. As such, he begins referring to Junior as Mr. Baby and I considered titling the journal Three Men and an Abomination.)

Kavos asks if Junior is susceptible to the infection and Rambalt shakes his head. "He's not undead, but he's also not human. The infection shouldn't be able be passed along to him."

Kavos gives Junior an amulet of Pelor and spends the afternoon explaining basic values to the creature. Despite his mental age, Junior is a quick study and while he doesn't seem to understand all that jazz about honor and love for they neighbor; he does understand that they're good.

Kavos attempts to drill the tenets of Pelor into Junior's head and within an hour he can repeat them back to him, albeit with a childish; halting manner of speech.

Spoiler

Show

Gandil and Kavos finally return outside and find that Jonathan Lark has returned, along with the mercenaries Rutgard and Bartan. He's also brought along the forty some inhabitants of Briar's Pass.

Outside the walls they have already began digging pit traps, hiding snares and laying tripwires under the supervision of Lark and the mercs.

Kavos mentions to Lark that he thought it was just going to bring back a few people and Lark replies that with himself and the mercenaries gone Briar's Pass would be undefended. He couldn't leave these people to die. Kavos agrees, though wishes he was consulted, and sets out assigning each of them a place to stay until the seige is over. Space is quickly becoming hard to find.

As Kavos deals and wheels with the townspeople and Gandil sits telling stories of his heroism to Junior something happens outside. Panicked shouts ring out across the town and our heroes leap into action. Gandil instructs Rambalt to watch over Junior and rushes off to join Kavos on the wall.

A group of about eight ghouls is charging across the field, the mercenaries are showing their worth as they cover the retreat of the Briar's Pass villagers who slowly scramble over the wall itself to avoid impaling themselves. Lark is peppering arrows into the undead as he sees them.

The ghouls are starving and reckless, most find themselves accidentally skewered on the defensive pikes only to be finished off by the deputies, the rest are killed by the mercs before they can do any harm, however they see dozens more swarming from the east.

All civilians are inside the walls and their assigned safehouses before the horde approaches, the half-orc Rutgard positions himself so that he can watch over both the East and South walls while his partner Bartan positions himself to cover the East and North. Looman, Devon and Horace take up spears behind the East wall but are ready to go where they're needed. The ranger Lark stands atop the East wall and fires into the approaching horde wordlessly, dropping several before they get anywhere close to the wall.

Kavos slowly lowers himself past the wall and outside of town, casting Hide From Undead on himself. Gandil gives a whoop and leaps both the wall and pikes so that he can face them man to horde.

An absolute tide of flesh slams directly into them. 60 or more ghouls and ghasts roaring for flesh. Kavos slips past them with all the stealth he can muster, finally arriving behind the bulk of their forces. The first wave of ghouls get stuck on their fortifications and are quickly dealt with by the deputies, several more tumble into their half-finished traps; some breaking limbs or getting stuck, others only mildly inconvenienced or even unaffected. Gandil dives face first into the horde, his claws easily slicing through meat and bone while his new teeth sever limbs. Those on the wall can't even see him however, he's just one more body among many.

Kavos summons a wolf which harries the horde as best it can, Gandil doesn't even aim anymore; just lashes out in every direction, confident that he'll strike a target. Those on the wall strike down on the horde, while the horde reaches up expectantly. In moments the Pikes are so laden with undead that they're no longer dangerous, ghouls simply climb over their impale allies to reach a more advantageous location and even MORE are on their way.

Kavos casts Command Undead into the horde and has his handful of ghouls press back against their fellows, the tide halts for a moment but quickly resumes its march once the traitors are crushed. The horde starts spilling out and around the town; no longer do they just strike the East wall but anywhere there's room.

Horace and Devon break off from the thick of the fighting to secure the south wall while Bartan tries to cover the north but finds that everytime he starts to step away from his position more ghouls haul themselves up. Kavos takes control of several of the ghasts and has them reinforce Bartan's position while he himself charges to the north to see what he can do.

Kavos sees around 14 ghouls piling to the north, overwhelming the wall and there doesn't seem to be anything they can do to stop them. He sees one of the creatures among the horde in a dark robe, even covered as it is Kavos can sense its strength. The creature is massive and barrel chested and its robe is tight and almost comical. Kavos watches as this creature lifts its green tinged hands up to the wall and...seizes one of the ghouls by the scruff of its neck.

Kavos watches in confusion as the robed ghoul literally hurls its catch into two more and then throws a haymaker which crushes the skull of yet another into paste. Kavos suddenly notices that there are a number of ghoul corpses to the north side of the wall, yet no defenders...

As the battle rages around him, Kavos simply watches their unknown ally wade into his fellows with fist and teeth. The creature has unbelievable power and Kavos marvels as he watches it bring a ghast down over its knee and tosses it aside, bent and broken.

Whatever it is, Kavos is glad that it's on their side. He hasn't seen a man this strong since....

Kavos gasps.

[GorinichSerpant]

Is it the druid, someone from the Duke's Army or another evil priest?

I know that saying it would spoil the suspense, so we'll just have to...

no wait! It's the Sheriff they murdered isn't it! He also became an intelligent ghoul?
What a twist! Oh, what a twist!
*evil giggling,hand rubbing and getting out the metaphorical popcorn*

[Kid Jake]

As soon as Gandil came back to life and we justified it with 'Sometimes a wrongfully murdered soul is given a chance at vengeance.' I couldn't help but cackle, because can you think of a more wrongfully murdered character so far?

[GorinichSerpant]

As soon as Gandil came back to life and we justified it with 'Sometimes a wrongfully murdered soul is given a chance at vengeance.' I couldn't help but cackle, because can you think of a more wrongfully murdered character so far?

*Out burst of straight up laughter*
Wonderful! Simply wonderful!
This made my inner villain's day.
*Continued laughter*

[Grim Portent]

Hmm, won't that have turned the sheriff evil? Thereby making him more revenge inclined? Maybe a tad more sadistic as well though...

[Kid Jake]

*Out burst of straight up laughter*
Wonderful! Simply wonderful!
This made my inner villain's day.
*Continued laughter*

Glad to hear it.

Hmm, won't that have turned the sheriff evil? Thereby making him more revenge inclined? Maybe a tad more sadistic as well though...

Oh definitely. Like Gandil he's got enough of his old self that he doesn't want to see the town he worked so hard to protect destroyed; but also like Gandil he's got no qualms about eating a bitch's face anymore. You can of course guess who the aforementioned bitches are in this scenario.

[(Un)Inspired]

Please KJ, please, please please keep this campaign going. It's incredibly entertaining. I cannot wait to hear more.

[razorfloss]

As soon as Gandil came back to life and we justified it with 'Sometimes a wrongfully murdered soul is given a chance at vengeance.' I couldn't help but cackle, because can you think of a more wrongfully murdered character so far?

i cant wait for that to come back and bite them in the behind god i love this journal kavos and gandi are an entertaining read