Session 9: Easy Money

Part 1

Another new crewmate named Stitch has signed on with the First Light, a goblin pit fighter whose body has been torn apart and rebuilt with magical technology. Stitch convinced a group to join him on one last quick money making jaunt to the fighting pits on the night before they set out for their next voyage.

The intrepid adventurers made their way to the Red Circus, hidden in a warehouse in the Aynuk dockyards, where the enigmatic crime boss Delightful Tooth has contracted Stitch to win his way to the final round of the night’s tournament before taking a fall.

In disguise, our heroes became Team Cannibal Priest:

• Professor Zebraman (Jack)
• Puss n Boots (Drop)
• Gondorf the Black (Finn)
• Bob the Robot (Mordecai)
• Stitch (as himself)

Along with Devon manipulating events from the crowd.

In the first round, they faced off against the incomprehensible warriors of McRock, whose black leather and longswords were not much of an obstacle.

Then they watched while Jim and the Crazy Humans faced off against Super Delightful Mice, who took down the Crazy Humans but then fell before the cold savagery of JIM.

In the last match of the first round, Ross’s Midnight Plumbers crushed the wizardry of the Red Gonzo Burnouts with brutal efficiency.

In part two, Cannibal Priest must go toe-to-toe with Jim and the Crazy Humans. Can they stand up to the mysterious and deadly black Knight JIM?

Part 2

Our mighty heroes faced down Jim and the crazy humans in the arena, Jack going toe to toe with Jim while Stitch kept the crazies busy. Drop took out a few with her trademark bolts of light, but then things began to take a turn.

One of the hapless crazies bled out from Mordecai’s expertly placed crossbow bolt right before Stitch’s eyes, but that’s not how the scene went sour. Coal, having made his way back to the city as the new envoy of the Eternals, heard about the fight with Cannibal Priest and assumed that Pete had found his way to Aynuk already.

Still intent on opposing the cult of Johnny, Coal believed that he’d identified the false mage Gondorf the Black as Pete after interrogating the betting booth staff. As the others battled in the arena, Coal plotted to finish off Pete.

A huge crystal ball hung above the fighting pit, broadcasting close ups and replays to the crowd. When Gondorf set foot below, Coal fired off a blast attempting to sever the chain. Unfortunately, the aim was a bit off and instead of dropping immediately the ball began to swing wildly back and forth, ultimately breaking on the return swing to crash into the bleachers where Coal and hundreds of spectators would be crushed.

Coal quickly cast a spell to transport himself into the arena to chase down the fleeing “Pete”, leaving behind a shockwave that killed several civilians before the crystal ball could strike. This of course resulted in the ball broadcasting images of Coal doing so, in disguise as his favourite tinker Bub of course.

Mordecai let off a barrage of magical bolts that tore apart Jim’s black plate armour, revealing the leathery skin of some undead horror beneath, and Jack and Drop finished it off.

Drop then chased down Coal to make sure he realised that Gondorf was not Pete but, in fact, 14 year old Finn who’d been under Pete’s spell back in Quelimane.

Will the criminals who run the fights allow the tournament to continue despite the pandemonium? There’s a lot of money riding on it, and this is not the first mishap in the underground fighting pits in this world of magic…

Part 3

Our heroes parlayed the chaos into a big payday, negotiating a bonus deal with boss Delightful Tooth to get a big extra payout in exchange for “dealing with” Ross 😘. On top of that, Mordecai placed a death-or-injury bet on Ross, so that they’d get a nice little bonus. Typical hero stuff, let’s move on.

Bob the Robot got out to a quick start, zooming above and behind enemy lines to strike at them with flaming blades.

Puss N Boots raced out to meet an opponent on the right flank, while Professor Zebraman, Gondorf, and Stitch formed a scrum in the center of the arena.

At first the team believed that Ross was in the center, but before long the gladiator matched up with Boots began to set themselves apart. Gondorf joined them, while the Professor raged against the others in the center and Stitch attempted to rein him in. No one came to Bob’s assistance, matched up 2 on 1.

Ross tried to topple Boots as she leapt away to get some distance, and failing that turned to drive Gondorf to the ground and stab him viciously with a long pipe sharpened into a nasty spear.

Professor killed one of the plumbers and nearly brutalized another before Stitch managed to help him calm his rage. Shortly thereafter, they both died of terrible heart attacks due to the (imaginary) poison of the dastardly mindnight plumbers. Bob fell to the savage pipe blows of the two rear guard, and finally crowd favourite Boots fell to a flying wrench.

It was mostly an act of course, with only Ross (and an unlucky plumber or two) really being harmed, unless you count the separation of a fool from their money.

Our heroes collected a mighty payout, losers in the arena but winners on the balance sheet, and with the favour of Delightful Tooth to aid them in the future.

Rumors

• The ruins of Rohesia are home to a portal to the Fade, currently reburied at the request of the Eternals.
• The city of Quelimane in the periphery is suffering from a terrible famine. Some say terrorists of the Defiant are responsible.
• The party has rescued or identified all of the Unseen researchers that had been lost beneath Luxor, and recovered a large stone key that had been entombed there.
• Babis in the Periphery has become a hotspot in a war between two Lithics.
• There are reports of the failure of magic in the town of High Nest in the Periphery.

General options:

• Expedition into The Dark.
  • What rumours have you heard about your destination?
• City mission in Aynuk.
  • Intrigue/diplomacy, stealth, or intimidation?
• Trade mission to The Periphery.
  • What kind of goods are you transporting? What’s the place you’re trying to get to, and what makes you think you know where it is?
• Discovery: A new discovery session is always an option, for example to define a new region.
  • What are we most excited to learn about?
• Downtime: If people want to allow the passage of time and have their characters pursuing some downtime activities (like researching something, training, building things, etc). This combines well with Discovery or Bottle eps to fill up a shorter session.
  • What are you trying to accomplish? How long do you think it wil take?
• Bottle episode: Roleplay-focused episodes are welcome for nights when the group is in the mood for it. Shipboard hijinks, hometown visits, whatever.
  • Where are you? Who is with you? What’s everyone excited/concerned about?
• Hero smash: If the group is having a night (…or week) where they want less thinking and more heroic smashing, we can always create a combat-focused mission.
  • No question, just smash.