Session 2
Rollin on a River!
The party rests in the warehouse for the night, then Vik meets with the Colonel, who indicates the party has made a bit of a mess but escape is still within reach. The party pokes around and finds there are posters with their mugshots, and Realm troops are searching every ship leaving harbor. They quickly nab some disguises and investigate various ways of leaving. It is finally decided that the party will escape into the ocean since it is the only way not being watched, and will send Martel's parrot as a messenger to the ship, which has a very small window before the Wyld Hunt cracks down on the city, letting no one escape until they track down the Anathema.
The party is also saddled with an intelligence contract for the trouble they have caused the Colonel. They are to investigate a new and mysterious Shadowland to the far east, and send back a message with a provided automated messenger. Failure to comply will result in catastrophic rearrangement of limbs by the less-than-sane Mistress Robed in Midnight.
The party makes it out to the city wall, and after a bit of trouble, makes it into the water. After a bit, Vik is smitten with a seduction attack by a fair folk, while the other two are dragged down by her accomplices and their pet sharks. Game over-- oh wait, the party is a group of Solars and kicks royal tail. The party then swims close to the beach because they're bleeding and attracting sharks.
The party sits on its heels for a day, then the ship is sighted being escorted in by a First-Age style destroyer boat which apparently has the Wyld Hunt on it. The party waits nervously, then the boat shows up and they board and bail. Behind them they can see the city being put into full lockdown by the Wyld Hunt.
The ship makes a stopoff at Lookshy, and Christophe and Viktoria secure a sweet deal on some elementally-empowered farm equipment from the military surplus depot. They skip Nexus and are most of the way to Great Forks when Daniel Archerguy notices that their travel pass seems different, and Martel notices it is now throbbing slightly with some kind of signal. The party tosses it overboard since they were overdue to get back to Nexus. They continue to Great Forks, where they secure a sweet payday for the farm equipment and then buy a new boat, trading in the old one. They have the crew repaint it "light red" (pink) while they sail onwards (after buying some farm gear to sell at Rana). While passing through Pallin's territory they are accosted by the Pallin naval force, curious as to whether they are pirates or just awesome. The guy (Lieutenant Nels) seems interested in getting to know as many boats as possible.
The party makes a sale at Rana, then continues to the new shadowland. Leaving the crew behind at the river with instructions to wait a week, the party heads in. After a long day's haul, the castle is visible in the distance. The party cowers in a cave for the night because the shadowlands are CREEPY.
Stealthing in is easy. Stealthing around skeletons less so, so Vik leaves the others and locates the Green Lady conversing with some lackeys, leaving them in charge while she goes on her trip. Vik reports back, then spies again and sees that she has left entirely. He fetches the party and they burst in to create some mayhem.
Vik slays the skeletons quickly with thrown daggers while Martel holy-nukes and mega-crits the accompanying Nephwrack. Christophe uses Bulwark Stance to defend the Deathknight's Barrage Assault but is no match for his dark energy and is badly wounded. The rest of the party steps up and helps drag him down.
Going through his stuff reveals a lot of soulsteel gear (icky), armor bracers (cool), and a shapeshifting gadget (awesome). The party then strolls out, finds that the skeletons are all after them, and books it. Vik makes a brief detour to the top of the keep, where he finds someone has been hard at work under the shadowland stars. Interesting. He then Monkey-Leaps back to the others already fleeing the castle.
The party makes it back after a very grueling journey, then scrambles back on the boat and sails away. There is some debate whether to redeem the Deathknight's head for cash or not, eventually Vik insists to do it with or without the party and the others acquiesce. They sail back to Nexus, run into some pocketpicking (but escape unscathed), and make the exchange. Vik notices a bug (literally) has been placed on her person, so she does the only logical thing: put it on a random someone walking by.
The final act involves the party sailing to Rana, selling the ship and consolidating their cash (Resources **** for all!) and then setting out to reach Camp Granada. An extremely grueling journey which nearly kills Kether Rock grad Christophe ensues (embarrassing!) before they arrive at Camp Granada. They are greeted as brethren by the Solar soldiers and get a chance to meet Lupo, the mighty master of Camp Granada.
Roll credits!
(to be continued?...)
Session #1
How many Secret Organizations are allowed per city?
Viktoria and Martel meet by happenstance, as Vik is fleeing an angry set of Mercenaries and is glowing wildly. Martel has never seen another Solar before and protects her out of compassion and curiosity, not to mention having another awesome ally around.
Martel goes looking for work the next day and contracts with a profitable shipping company. The crew goes to work on the Flying Fox and makes the two-week journey to Port Calin just in time (after a botched navigation roll by Martel is reversed). Interestingly, the badge they were given seems to ward off all ships that seem to saunter by for illicit activity.
The Flying Fox arrives at Calin and the boxes are moved off. That night, Vik is awakened by noise abovedeck. A quick peek reveals sabotage in play, and Martel immediately joins the assault, starting with a presence charm and moving on to combat. The Solar anima banner attracts Cristophe, who was actually looking for the boat because it was supposedly the next ship out to Nexus. Cristophe, Viktoria, and Martel quickly subdue three and kill one saboteur, while the other two escape (during the course of the fight one guy botches and stabs his own leg, which causes Martel's parrot to call "Sever your leg please"). They are interrogated and it is revealed that they work for an organization that opposes the Green Wheel (the shipping company that hired Martel). The party decides to let the prisoners go, then track them back to the source.
The party tracks the operatives to an empty warehouse, then follow the two leader-types to an apartment in a residential area. Room 312 seems to be where the Bosses of the organization are residing. Viktoria stakes it out while Martel and Cristophe head back to the inn and chat about the Solar Camps.
Around midnight, Viktoria feels the presence of something invisible and intangible but definitely creepy in the hall. Taking a peek back into 312, she sees a ghost reporting to a skeletal guy and a powerful-looking man in black armor. Vik immediately bails and crashes on the couch in the party's inn room.
The next day the party, unsettled by the organization directed by the forces of Death to bring down the shipping company, decides to check out the other side. Viktoria does some snooping amongst her contacts and then goes in as a delivery girl, but it seems like it's mostly offices at the shipping company. They wait until nightfall to snoop. Once in, they look through the records to little avail, then Viktoria tries to pick a fancy lock on a safe. It spawns a demon that the party rapidly defeats. Now that the lock has been defanged, the party peruses the files, which include requisitions for evil and unnatural supplies, and diagrams for live human sacrifice.
The party sets about burning down the building, before booking it. Halfway back to the inn, Vik senses a presence, which leads Cristophe to follow his nose off the edge of the wharf into the water (yet another botch!) with a SPLASH! Cristophe is not in immediate danger of drowning but can't seem to figure out how to get up, and the others can't get him out, until two barnacle-encrusted necromantic skeletons arise and pull Cristophe back onto the pier. There, the Nemessary (or "Corporal") and his escorts arrive and quiz the party. They go somewhere secure and eventually hammer out a deal -- he will protect the party from the Green Wheel Shipping Company, and the party will turn over all materials about the Green Wheel to them.
The party hides out the next day, except that Martel feels the need to work for money, and helps clean out the ruins he helped create (well, him and the demons that were released when the building burned down-- hmmmm). He is apparently spotted and recognized somehow, because he is followed back, and the party has a knock-down drag-out battle with six Realm troopers and an Air-aspected Dragon-Blooded Immaculate Monk. It takes a lot of essence and a lot of lethal damage before the enemies are finally dropped. The monk is left on the ground for the party to decide whether to save, abandon, or off ("He might still catch a case of polearm").
The party manages to make a break for an empty warehouse via the roofs, along with the help of the parrot.
Prequels
Meet the party!
Martel: (played by Ellen) A sailor by vocation, has become a pirate and gained the loyalty of some of the crew. When his ship is detroyed by piracy he leads his men to do river boating, but his new ship is attacked by more pirates and he Exalts in defense of his crew. Now endowed with superhuman powers and with a loyal remainder of his crew, he sets out to reestablish himself from the ground up by doing dockwork with his men at Nexus.
Viktoria: (played by Trevor) A Nexus cutpurse who is caught by Guild mercenaries and Exalts to avoid having a hand removed. Uses massive quantities of essence to escape, finally drained of strength at the docks where a team of men is moving crates for low wages.
Cristophe: (played by Jennifer) An Architect from Kether Rock, an Illuminated training camp run by Gold Faction Sidereals. He is sent on a pilgrimage/mission/quest to head to Camp Granada in the jungles of the East, and takes some detours to get to know the world better.
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