The Chronicles of Ceteri B-Team: Season 2, Session 5

Dramatis Personae

  • Devin Broadhurst (played by Rob D.): There was a blurb here the entire time. But it disappears every time you look away from the screen. Tagline: “You saw it, but forgot it.”
  • Gabriel MacAlister (played by Douglas Cole): Built like the natural athlete he is, he is tall, strong, and solidly good-looking, but deeply scarred from much combat. He’s missing his lower leg, which he lost fighting zombies. It is capped by a carbon fiber prosthetic that doesn’t seem to interfere much with his activities. A quiet and hard-working man, always ready to lend a hand with any work, which he will do without complaint or obligating the other person to respond. He is an expert martial arts teacher, and has been following in the footsteps of a carpenter for some time now. Emphatically not a pushover or weak personality, but also not one to purposefully show off. Has been in many horrible places and seen many horrible things; he’s a bit of a compulsive planner as a result, as well as always feeling that most folks don’t really know how lucky they are. He was cursed to carry a magical sword for a while, and gave into its Wrath before it was parted from him magically. He’s since given it up, in exchange for unknown burdens. Tagline: “To serve others is the highest calling; to protect the meek the noblest endeavor, and our works are judged by the effort that went into them”
  • Kamali Blackshear (played by Merlin A.): Kamali is a young man in his late teens. He is healthy and is of mixed ethnicity of Caucasian South African and native South African. He is a determined youth who believes in a justice of his own, likening himself to the knight of the round table whom he has read deeply into. Just as they stood against the darkness of their age so too does Kamali seek to do the same. For his sister, for his friends, and for the world. Tagline: “A knight without a sword  carrying a faith nobody believes.”
  • Lorenzo DeModouco (played by Christian G.): A man with movie star looks and a voice that belongs on the radio. Slowly coming to grips with the fact that he isn’t exactly human, but a “Lupus Dei” – “Wolf of God” – otherwise known as a Benandanti. He’s still cheery and always trying to make others happy, but has become a shrewd student of human behavior, which he uses for the benefit of the rest of his team. Lorenzo’s recently joined the Boston Fire Department as a volunteer as a means to get access to places he normally shouldn’t be able to go as well as medical gear and information that might not be available to the public. He’s become a master of spear fighting and like the rest of his brothers is a highly capable combatant. Tagline: “You can take me to the gates of Hell, but I won’t back down and I won’t be turned around.”
  • Markus Walker (played by Christopher D.): Only recently awakened to the world of Ceteri, Markus is a couple things. A survivor of Lorna Rd, an officer of the law, a physical mage. It’s hard to tell where each one leaves off and where the other comes into play. He tries his best to follow the law, but it’s hard when there’s no Massachusetts State laws on monster hunting. Tagline: “Honesta quam magna.”

Previously . . .

The session opens with the Orphans and Markus in Underhill, still searching for the sword of St. Eustace. Last said to be in the cave of a dragon living high up in a mountain. The group seems to walk for days before they ascend a hill to find a rickety wooden bridge guarded by a knight in black armor.

Insanity at the Cliffs

Devin, Gabe, Kamali, Lorenzo, and Markus
The Cliffs of Pithia
Sunday, October 22nd, 2000, 10:00 pm (tim in the Inland is effectively frozen)
Somewhere in Underhill

A nearby rock tips over and a tiny man crawls out from beneath a rock, it appears to be a leprechaun. A Texas twang explaining that there’s two choices to getting past the bridge. Either answer riddles or get killed by the Black Knight. For each riddle missed, the knight will take a step forwards and if he reaches the group, they’re going to die. The group discusses it between themselves about whether to answer riddles or die. They decide that riddles seem more humane.

 

The first riddle:

What is made of wood but can’t be sawed?

Sawdust is the answer accepted.

The second riddle:

I am always hungry and must be fed, whatever I touch it will turn red.

The answer is fire.

The third riddle:

What type of lion is fuzzy but never roars?

The answer is Dandelion.

The fourth riddle:

What is often returned but never borrowed?

The answer is A Compliment

The fifth riddle:

What has hundreds of ears but can’t hear?

A corn field is answered.

The sixth riddle:

I am often running but have no legs, you need me but I don’t need you, what am I?

The boys answer incorrectly with Nose but the answer is actually Water.

The knight takes a swipe at Devin who barely dodges out of the way.

The seventh riddle:

I am a seed with three letters in my name. Take away the last two and I still sound the same. What am I?

The answer is Pea.

With the last riddle answered, the black knight stands aside.

Across the misty bridge, they encounter a rather large amount of cliffs reaching up into the sky. A quick view through Devin’s goggles reveal a large amount of faces superimposed upon the cliff face. It’s a long treacherous cliff face nearly a mile high, thankfully Kamali came prepared with climbing equipment. They tie themselves together and strike out a path.

Unfortunately Devin manages to get tangled right from the offset and drops ten feet onto his bum. With this first stumble, the group heads upwards slowly but surely. It was a rather long climb to the first ledge. Taking stock of themselves, the group prepares to scale the cliff again for the next ledge.

Devin still has some troubles making it as the least athletic, all that time in the labs have taken their toll on him as regret starts setting in on climbing the cliffs of insanity while whispers are heard all around them. Slipping a bit, they get their grip back multiple times as Gabriel, Lorenzo, and Kamali scramble up the side of the cliff in a perverse competition while Markus and Devin bring up the bottom. They clamber onto the ledge and find themselves in front of a cave.

The group decides that it’s a good idea to enter the cave, well almost everyone except for Markus who gets dragged along by the rope. They find a large bird’s nest that’s empty and then the rock walls start to smooth out into worked stone that abruptly ends. Kamali stabs his sword into it, revealing it to be an illusory wall with runes and stairs behind it. The runes are obvious fae runes.

Kamali manages to notice pressure points on the stairs which might trigger spear traps. Recollection from Amos and textbooks, Kamali has recalled that these runes trigger the traps if a person breathes while on them as well, leading the group upwards while holding their breaths. They emerge from the ruins of a castle.

Glarankaryx’s Lair

Devin, Gabe, Kamali, Lorenzo, and Markus
The Lair of Glarankaryx
Sunday, October 22nd, 2000, 10:00 pm (tim in the Inland is effectively frozen)
Somewhere in Underhill

It’s time for the end game here. They’re in the dragon lair itself, Kamali manages to witness it acting asleep. Kamali knows that it’s a fire dragon, with flame breath. Devin knows that it’s rather heavily armored, even on its eyes. A rather healthy dragon that can perceive all around it. With fast flight it’s a rather dangerous foe that can even use magic and melt stone walls. Also on the field is a bystander that is rather dirty and possibly female. Kamali comes prepared again, pulling out a rather large .50 caliber gun.

The groups understand that it’s a quest, a set of rules. Against someone that is going against it, it is weaker due to the rules of the quest. Gabe tries to convince the group that they should be heroes and go in with swords drawn and fight it heroically. The group decides to instead test things out by stepping forwards.

Kamali begins by taking aim while the dragon leaps forwards towards the group. Gabriel strides forth with sword, shield, and armor to distract the dragon with a challenge. Kamali fires off a shot that is dodged by the dragon. Devin manages to fire off a shot to its right foreleg while Markus lines up a shot, unfortunately it manages to dodge the lightning bolt.

Lorenzo takes a claw to the leg, crippling him and being down in the fight while Gabe manages to dodge a claw heading for him too. Gabe retaliates with a spear to the eye, the dragon dodged too close to the build knocking into it and falling into the spear taking quite a bit of damage. Kamali ducks back out into the clearing and fires off a shot from Gabe’s rifle. Markus’s lightning shot doesn’t manage to get through the DR of the closed mouth and neither does the second shot to the eye. Lorenzo manages to hit the dragon’s other eye managing to cripple the second eye after Gabe’s first shot. Devin keeps aiming for the dragon.

The dragon snaps at Lorenzo and Gabe managing to get away from its teeth while getting closer. Gabe retaliates by fast drawing his sword and swiping at the neck. Lorenzo tries to damage him but in exchange the dragon bites again at them. Gabe blocks the mouth while it bites its tongue keeping him from breathing firing at Kamali. Kamali steps forwards and fires a shot at the injured leg, finally crippling it. Markus takes a wait for the mouth to open again while Devin aims.

The dragon attempts to gore Gabe with its horns, hitting him in the torso, taking a fairly strong wound but still remains up. Markus takes a chance when the dragon opens its mouth and manages to land a single shot inside it. Gabe attempts to free himself from the horn, pulling himself most of the way off of it with Lorenzo helping him the rest of the way. Devin manages to find the reverse scale on the dragon and deals a rather epic body shot. The dragon charges for Kamali believing him to be the one shooting and attacking with a bite. Markus takes the opportunity to fire another shot into the dragon’s mouth.

Unfortunately this doesn’t keep him from finishing his attack on Kamali. Gabe steps forwards to strike the beast’s neck, but it’s still up and going, the dragon doesn’t have time to bleed. Kamali fires once more straight into the dragon’s eye as Lorenzo stabs into the backside of the dragon. Who knows what lies up that scaley hole?

Aftermath

The blind dragon attempts to strike Gabe with a wing only to knock itself off balance. Gabe steps forwards and lops the head straight off the dragon. The captive gestures wildly at the group, speaking in a language the no one understands but they seem to intuit it from them that they need to stab the dragon with the sword. One quick thrust later and the dragon is dead and they try to remove the shackles and collar from the prisoner, they unlock but the collar doesn’t remove itself from the skin.

At this point, a portal opens up and John Coyote drives through in his purple Roadrunner.

After Action Report (GM)

We ended up having to skip a week thanks to a confluence of things, so I had extra time to prep the game. Things I did:

  • Hunted for some fun, but guessable riddles.
  • Created a framework for Climbing making it its own “mini-game.” Probably due for a blog post or Patreon release.
  • Created a framework for hunting making it its own mini-game (Didn’t get to use this because the player who it was designed for had to call off at the last minute). Ditto.
  • Created how dragons work in Ceteri and then made a unique dragon who was fully stated up.
  • Created exactly what the Sword of St. Eustace was/could do.
  • Created a set of meta-rules for “fairy tales” the PCs could groove to; basically, modern weaponry is somewhat effective, but swords and spears worked better. It worked VERY well. I am going to formulate them an put those on the blog or patreon as well.

Overall, the session went really well even though I had to NPC a player character or risk a continuity break – which I didn’t want to do. The dragon fight took over 2 hours and lasted 11 GURPS rounds before it finally died. High HT, Regeneration, Supernatural Durability, etc. made it a harder fight then it probably was “on paper.” That said I did reduce it’s IQ a bit and force it to fight in melee since the PCs did the same. Given the compulsion surrounding it because of its geas that just seemed appropriate. After all, it was given some edges to defend the blade, so stuff had to be removed too. Stupid fairy curses/blessings.

Other Notes

None.

Soundtrack

Fairies Wear Boots” by Black Sabbath (Opening Song)
Where Dragon’s Rule” by Crimson Glory (Dragon Fight)
Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen (Closing Song)

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