Have a Happy Insidious New Year!

Enter the Paladin

So, haven't posted in a while. I'm sure you've heard it all before: moved, new job, etc, etc. I always need some sort of creative outlet, whether it's drawing, writing, or running the game. But I haven't been doing much of any of those. What have I been doing?

I haven't painted minis is years, as I had moved away from all my gaming buddies and evolved into doing our gaming online. But now that I'm back on home ground, the very chance that we could get together to physically game has sent me into an orgy of figure painting.

I've collected so many figures over the years, I can probably paint for the rest of my life and not need to buy another mini. As far as to what I like to paint has changed over the years, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for the early chunky Grenadier and Ral Partha minis, but as you can see from the pics, I have GW/Citadel and the newer Reaper Bones figs, too.

I promise more gaming posts are coming up, including my ridiculous even Grimmer Hack rules, plus more Licheville.

-Mick

Licheville

Play Report from 8 Nov 16.

11/8/16 Crown’s Hold Play Report

Anatoly, Initiate of the Sciences (Dale)

Hurst, Adventurer Extraordinaire (Dave)

Klaus, Initiate/Disciple of the Flesh (John)

With Zachariah still out on his Intel mission for the Inquisition, and Halbert snoring in an alcoholic stupor under a table in the Slut and Brew, the rest of the party mulled over their various options to assuage their anger after the assault on both Crown’s Hold and Crown’s Stead.  Anatoly and Hurst want to solve the mystery of the un-openable vault beneath the West Anglypur Company’s headquarters, while Klaus just wants to eliminate the personal thorn in the party’s side: the beautiful and insidious Lenora Hatley. They all agreed that descending into the sewers would be their first step in accomplishing their mutual goals.

After the city-wide attack on the Stead, gaping holes were left open throughout town, so our intrepid adventures dropped in to a convenient one just outside of the Slut & Brew.

They immediately noticed something was amiss. Throughout the tunnels, they could see wide swaths had been cut through the muck and grimes leaving only the bare ancient stone used to construct the sewers. Sometimes the clean areas were on the floor, then shift to a wall, then the ceiling. The party didn’t know what could have done it, but just that it had to be huge as the width of the trail was at least five foot. They followed the northwest tunnel up and up, as that way led to the sewers under the Hold itself.

Then they found the crushed and shattered space helmet.

Anatoly filled the others in. They hadn’t entered into the locked down chamber in the buried space ship. They hadn’t seen the thing inside the suit begin to grow and burst apart its seams as the party had re-locked the bulkhead just before something battered against the metal door repeatedly, shaking the entire craft.

Klaus shuddered. He knew. Shoggoth…

Moving even more cautiously, the team arrived to where they assumed the West Anglypur Company Headquarters was located far above them. After some efforts in searching, they found a loose stone, and behind it, a large pull-ring. A door in the sewer walls swung open, leading to a short stairwell down, then to a beautifully crafted marble room. They placed their torches in the wall sconces and searched again, finding nothing but a foot wide circular brass plate seated into the wall opposite the stairs. Klaus could tell the plate held magic, but couldn’t decipher its use. Frustrated, they knew this must be the back entrance into the sealed vault under the W.A.C. HQ, but they could find nothing.

Then, noises were heard on the stairs.

Hurst and Anatoly hid in the corners off to the side of the stairs, while Klaus calmly waited.

A woman’s voice could be heard in the background as three toughs descended the stairs. Recognition crossed Klaus’ mind as he saw the man in the fore. The former Legionnaire who’d quit to serve Lenora Hatley. After a brief attempt at deceit upon both sides, blades were drawn. The assault by the enemy leader was brutal and savage. Mighty blow after mighty blow hacked into Klaus, who crashed to the ground, unconscious, a new scar to add to his body, mind, and soul (- Fate pt.).

Anatoly and Hurst, after some give and take with their enemies, finally began getting the upper hand, particularly after Hurst hamstringed one of the combatants who crawled up the stairway. The ex-Legionnaire, after taking some wounds and seeing the battle turn, pushed his other trooper in front of himself and sprinted up the stairs.

The abandoned thug only half-heartedly fought for a moment before surrendering, then spilling all he knew about the vault. He’d had enough betrayal, and vengeance on his recent employer was foremost on his mind. Lenora Hatley had indeed been accessing the vault from that very room. He didn’t know exactly how she did it, other than laying her palm against the plate. After some discussion on which hand, and if there was jewelry on that hand, the adventurers thought they may be on the precipice of solving the mystery of the vault, but also gained a new ally. Important for the fact that Kyle was may be laid up for some time, and they had no one to guard the party’s hidden (well, not so hidden now) manse.

Heading back to the surface, they entered the W.A.C. headquarters to talk to the new boss, Lady Norah, who promised to get any rings that the disgraced (and executed) Sir Edmund may have had in his possession to the party.

If any of Edmunds worn rings didn’t open the fault, they’d just have to use Hatley’s hand. Whether it will be still attached to her when they use it, the party members seemed not to care at all.

Klaus' downtime tale.

Explanation: whenever the cancellation of the game is my fault and lasts more than a single missed session, I like to whip up a little narrative on what has happened to their characters, and depending on a dice roll each player makes, I access a random table I’ve made up (and expanded significantly over the campaign). This table can contain Faction points, EP (though I post about my Grim Hack rules, we still haven’t converted over except in one-shots), skills, characteristics, equipment, contacts, cash gains (or losses), new adventure locations, and just some bizarre shit. Most of the results are actually a combination of these things, with a scattered big gain for a single thing.

I usually just pass it on through group texts, but others may find some interest in this, if not mechanically, then for entertainment purposes.

Will post these as I finish them.

This time around since we had such a big break, I asked the players what their characters were attempting to do along with the result from their die roll, and tried to integrate, with the following results:

Klaus, Initiate/Disciple of the Flesh (John) – Klaus spits into the dust of the faint trail that he and the team have made over time travelling to their secret manse in the mountains northwest of Crown’s Hold. He’d been planning on getting here before this, but his studies into the nature of magic and particularly the mysteries of Hypergeometry. He knew he was close to cracking it. Just one piece was missing, and he was sure it was just within his grasp. When he’d gotten too frustrated, he’d gotten some satisfaction from tracking Lenora Hatley’s doings. He’d tracked her multiple times entering a heavily residence in the northeastern part of town. She’d be there for a couple hours at a stretch, then emerge with her dress soiled with dirt, and a servant with a bag. He was itching to get in there, but the rest of his compatriots have been incommunicado of late.

Something’s wrong with Kyle.

You start running towards the trail, the hired hands you‘d acquired stop in shock, then begin walking after you faster, but they’re laden down with paint and masonry repair equipment. As you scramble up the trail towards the manse, everything seems the same as you’d last seen it, but you’re tie with Kyle says otherwise. You slow as you enter the large foyer, hands held in front of you, the Rend spell ever ready to be unleashed.

You find Kyle in the middle of the theater. He barely breathes, his armor cracked and shattered next to him. A message has been carved deep into his chest.

“GO BACK TO YOUR EMPIRE”

Kyle’s eyes flicker open, trying to focus on you. “Just missed ‘em, boss. They’re hitting yer town, now.” He fades in and out of consciousness. “I’ll be alright, boss. Just find some strippers-” His eyes close as he falls into a stupor. You work your spells upon the fallen Siddich. Once you figure he’s stable, you give some terse orders to the laborers and leave, your teeth gritting in anger.

From the summit of the trail, you can see flashes of light on the horizon in the direction of the Hold.

Someone is going to pay.

You catch them just north of the Hold. A Mageregime sorcerer gestures and the ancient bars guarding a sewer overflow in the side of the mountain begin to change shape, fade into mist, and disappear. Of course. He’s calling and folding open elsewhere. You know you should write that down, but you’d rather Rend them instead.

Later you wipe the dripping gore from your face. They hadn’t expected you. You know you were lucky this time, but the victory still tastes sweet. You look down and notice that some of the blood is, indeed, yours. A lot, in fact. No magic left in you, you rip some rough bandages from the cloak of the enemy wizard. You pick up the piece of paper that falls out. Well, well, well.

+ Arcane language: Hypergeometric Formulae, + Map of the Crown’s Hold sewers (not to be confused with the map for the Stead’s sewers)

Halbert's downtime tale.

Explanation: whenever the cancellation of the game is my fault and lasts more than a single missed session, I like to whip up a little narrative on what has happened to their characters, and depending on a dice roll each player makes, I access a random table I’ve made up (and expanded significantly over the campaign). This table can contain Faction points, EP (though I post about my Grim Hack rules, we still haven’t converted over except in one-shots), skills, characteristics, equipment, contacts, cash gains (or losses), new adventure locations, and just some bizarre shit. Most of the results are actually a combination of these things, with a scattered big gain for a single thing.

I usually just pass it on through group texts, but others may find some interest in this, if not mechanically, then for entertainment purposes.

Will post these as I finish them.

This time around since we had such a big break, I asked the players what their characters were attempting to do along with the result from their die roll, and tried to integrate, with the following results:

Halbert, Legionnaire 2^nd Class (Doug) – One day after practicing his sword-play with the new Legionnaires in Crown’s Hold, Halbert, sweaty and sore, wandered back into the Legion barracks. Legion Commander Tarrant Bradwyr passed by. “Halbert, watched you in the courtyard, there. You’re becoming quite formidable. I was wondering if you’d like to join us for a few libations at the Slut and Brew in town. It’s an important day for us, the 51^st anniversary of the Legion Founding.”

Visions of alcohol, dancing women, and even more alcohol floated before his eyes. “Sounds great!”

“Did you want to wait for any of your friends?”

“Nah, more for us.” Bradwyr laughed as they headed to the Slut and Brew.

After the fourth or fifth drink, the tavern shook to sounds of laughter and revelry and the sound of an explosion just outside. Glasses rattled and fell off the tables, shattering the sudden silence. The Slut and Brew’s thick leaded glass windows crack into crude and ugly spider-webs.

As one, you and the Legionnaires draw your swords and head outside.

The street before you has collapsed, thick smoke and dirt billow up out of the chasm. Terrorist refugees? Some sort of gas build-up in the newly opened sewers? Klaus drunk again?

Men in blackened Anglypur armor pour out of the chasm. Another man floats above them, laughing. His tongue is split like a serpents, his eyes are also severed in half, hemispherical pupils spinning madly in their sockets. Other explosions are heard elsewhere in the vicinity, shaking the ground.

“Kill the wizard,” someone screams, but the press of the purple and black shod troopers is too heavy. You find your attention divided by two of them wielding spears that have been drawn to you, while reality-bending magics howl overhead, screams erupting behind you.

After long minutes of dodging and parrying, a lucky stab from your blade sinks deep into the throat of one of your attackers, while one of the Legionnaires grapples with the other. The laughter from the Mageregime wizard suddenly changes tone. You look up to see non-descript people in non-descript clothing, shooting a not so non-descript quantity of arrows, bolts, knives, and shuriken into the now cursing mage. Down the street, blue and green alchemical fires show the Monks have also entered the fray.

The sound of a peeling bell rings from the Cathedral, and a mage in the distance falls to the ground into the reaping greatsword of Inquisitor Varus.

The Mageregime wizard howls in fresh laughter and reality shifts, the Anglypur troopers and their master drop back into the pit and simply disappear.

Commander Gladwyr’s hand on your shoulder makes you jump, and you realize just how tired you are. “It was coordinated,” says Tarrant. “I’ve had runners come from the keep. The Guildsmen were able to hold them off. The Guildmistress herself tore a whole cadre of the bastards apart, I hear.” He shudders, then shakes his head. “I think they were only testing us. This is bad. The Mageregime war must be finally over. Emperor save us all.”

You sheathe your sword after wiping it on the corpse of the man you killed. Definitely have some drinking to do.

+Legion, Hidden, and Town faction. +Consume Alcohol skill. +Free Ale whenever drinking in the presence of more than 2 Legionnaires.