SESSION 6: A Farmboy, a Moktar, and a Moustache.

(The adventurers go to Denethix for a look around)

CAST

Nick:  Cybella - Magic User 1

Syam:  Brychan - Fighter 1.

Telfer:  Maredud - Thief 1.

Michael: Pelegost - Cleric 1  (Calina of the Twelve Annihilations)

Theresa:  Fokus – Cleric 1 (Frig of Gluttony and Rutting), Velegerd – Theif 1.

Ha ha, a whole crew of all five players, and yet a shrinking character cast.  

SESSION 6

Having a bit of time on their hands before the Slavers leave for Denethix the characters kill time in Lugosi for a day or two. 

The PCs are approached at Bella's by Dawn, an attractive well spoken young woman, the daughter of a well to do farmer and less publicly an heiress to a line of female familial witches.  Her inheritance, her grandmother's 'tools', had been interred against her will along with her corpse at the Obelisk of Forgotten Memory and she needs the PC's help to retreive the items because she heard it was dangerous down there now.  Amazingly the players didn't go for this, thinking she was too nice to be genuine.   

Oh please brave adventurer's, please go and get my loot inheritance for me.

Rolling for a random encounter the next morning produces six angry farmers’ sons wanting to know why their sisters have returned home so upset.  A demand for compensation or satisfaction accopanies a challenge being made to determine how much the PCs will pay.

A strapping bruiser of a farmer’s son squares off against Brychan for fisticuffs.  Brychan loses initiative and farmer boy rolls a natural twenty for the grapple followed by a one in a roll under your strength contest to put the clinch on and humiliate Brychan.  Laughing, the farmers sons take their spoils and head off.  Mutterings are made about how this is all Fokus’ doing (who is notably absent). The PCs maintain a low profile around town afterwards until the next morning when the slavers they have hired on with leave for Denethix.

Helping guard the slave caravan for the trip to Denethix proves largely uneventful, with the slave bosses making it clear that they did not talk to the help, and the guard leader having little in conversational ability beyond ‘if shit happens, you all fight’.

Approaching Denethix the characters find an unwalled city, a mish-mash of architechtural styles with some large structures at the centre.  They approach through the factory part of town through the coal smoke.  An old woman hawks the PCs a map at the gate for ten gold pieces, and seems surprised when they accept, quickly handing over a scribble and departing with their cash.

I'm sure she would hate me for this, buy hey, this is D&D okay, it's important and all that.

They make their way up the the Street of Industrious Efforts which features factories, warehouses, the stink of pollution and chemical run-off, and turn along the Street of Lesser Men.  Here they encounter wooden tenements with tin roofs, often a few stories high, obviously the home to many of the city’s poor; sitting in doorways, leaning on posts, and collecting in alleys are the disadvantaged, down on their luck and downright shady.

Making their way to their destinations, the Street of Tormented Flesh, a collection of tenements tucked between slave warehouses, flesh markets, auction courtyards, hospitials, and brothels.  The slavers order the guardmaster to pay the PCs and they set off to explore Denethix.

What it would look like if this was a movie (Image:  Slave Market by UdonCrew)

What it probably looked like.

As they head up the Street of Worthy Servitude, the main raod in Denethix they pass the palaces and tower of Feretha.  The Palais Immaculate, a ten story marble edifice which serves as the palace of the Vizier, head of the Council, Feretha’s tower, a 200’ white sphere atop a 1000’ tower, and the Palais Indomitable, a massive heavy looking fortress of dark stone with turreted towers which houses Feretha’s army, the Unyielding Fist.

The PCs decide a trip to the Bazaar Incomparable is in order.  On the way the pass a formation of Fist equipped with chainmail, spears, swords, and rifles accompanied by an armoured, tracked and turreted Steel Leviathan.  The troops are forming up and looking serious so the dventurers waste no time in moving on

Passing the Bank Inviolable, they cannot resist a look inside.  They are greeted by a dapper floor manager who explains the banks terms and relates that he hopes the PCs will return to open an account.  The characters are all amazed at the bank’s two guardians, twin 20’ tall armoured humanoid constructs which both look every bit as powerful as the manager implies. 

They keep going and a bit further down the road come to a demonstration.  They are told the demonstration was started by some ‘students’ and the players turn off the road to head through the built up area to avoid the trouble.  A short time later the clanking of treads can be heard behind them followed by heavy machine gun fire and screams.

It’s early evening as the PCs get off the main thoroughfare and the PCs are keen to hit the bazaar.  A random encounter (ASE Denethix Table) turns up street urchins, who are friendly and helpful, only too happy to tell the characters the best way to get to the bazaar through the back streets and by the time the PCs realise their mistake, the smaller less obvious urchins have made off with about 10gp.

Wandering through the bazaar another random encounter (ASE Denethix Table) sees two drunk moktars test their muscle against the PC’s resolve.  Brychan quickly cuts one down, severing the hand from the arm, and the other flees.

Moktar!  Feel my furry... err... fury.

Into the markets and the character look for weapons merchants (a theme).  They find a caravan (like an old combi wagon rigged to be towed by donkeys or horses) displaying weapons for sale attended by a man who calls himself The Scouser.  The Scouser is dressed in a black string singlet, leather trousers and black leather suspender/harness and sports permed black hair, a large and moustache, two nunchuckas tucked into his belt and various throwing stars on his person. (Think Napoleon Dynamite meets the drummer from Frankie Goes to Hollywood).

"You know, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills." (Napoleon Dynamite)

It was getting late at this point so we called it a night having not really got much done.

LOSSES:  Nil

GAINS:  A few gold.

THE (DIS)HONOUR ROLL 
Here we list those brave adventurers who have been tested and found wanting (more hit points).

Dode Enemy-Breaker, Dwarf-1,  Session2,  Fell into a pit trap.

Fighter guy,  F1,  Session3,  Throat torn out by Pretender.

Mike’s Wizard,  MU1,  Session4,  Shot in back with laser while carrying 8 flasks of oil in his backpack.

Syam’s Elf, E1,  Session4,     Face burned off by energy bolt from nano-poo-monster in water recycling plant.