Dramatis Personae

• Chad “The Chad” H. Ramirez (NPC): Demigod of Cupid. Surferbro. Good guy. Not really a great combatant. Guess he’ll die. Tagline: “Whoa.”
• Cosmos aka The Management (Adelphin’s Ally): Cat and hotel manager. No, really. He’s got keys to everywhere, but is still a cat. Tagline: *Forgets to cat*.
• Rui Qui (Adelphin’s Ally): Theogenic Demigod. Hacker, magician, and entrepreneur. The team’s backup fighter and sneaker. Tagline: “Reality is just another simulation to be hacked.”
• Siv (NPC): Demigod of unknown parentage. Not a big talker. Doesn’t understand modern-day and was obviously raised in another dimension. Tagline: “. . .”

Previously . . .

Previously Adelphin, Yannis, and Suveer stayed at the hotel while Liam got patched up in Otherworld by his father and was granted a minor destiny. Mitzidu contacted his parents by being spirited away into a Japanese world in a productive meeting. Adelphin was similarly busy with a few other things, including helping another person develop a magical spell. Mitzidu and Adelphin also worked together to try to contact Hades as she’s a death god and is therefore someone that he might make time for. There’s also locating Kora Chambliss, via scrying or otherwise.

War Is Upon Us

Adelphin Jean-Baptiste, Liam O’Shea, Mitzidu Ito, Suveer Patel, & Yannis Papadopoulos
Karnival Resort Hotel and Casino
Sunday January 22nd, 2012, 2000 hours
3500 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89169

They’re sitting in the war room in the penthouse and talking about what to do next and what they’d encountered as Liam comes in off the elevator carrying a keg and large bag, telling Mitzidu that his house had probably been attacked and people killed. Explaining what he’d done over the past couple hours. He takes two apples from the bag and gives two apples, Emain Ablach, each to Adelphin and Mitzidu, they’re from the isles of apples where if they consume them before doing serious magic they’ll lose less energy and regenerate faster. He also presents them with a rasher of bacon of youth which also heals whomever eats it, keeping a side eye on Suveer who wants it for a BLT. The keg of beer also speeds up healing and mana recovery, and is one of the most delicious beer possible, made from honey, apples, and hops.

Mitzidu pulls out a gourd of sake from his father and some glasses and presents it to the group along with information. Mitzidu had been told to speak with the Greek oracle, Delphi, that’s in the town. He also passed along the information to his parents and Ares who are aware of what is happening. None of them are very happy with what is going on and it appears that the Olympians are all aware of what is happening. Also speaking with the Police Chief, offering to help fund an extension of the SWAT and counter-terrorism forces.

There’s also the contacting of Hades, where Adelphin is just the go-between the two since he probably doesn’t get out much. She sets up a ritual on the roof of the Karnival with Mitzidu and he literally appears from thin air. She offers him up some well-aged alcohol as a welcoming, and he accepts it, sipping it for a bit before asking what she wants. She introduces Mitzidu and asks after Cerberus and Persephone. Responding, he turns to ask what Mitzidu wants who turns the flattery on high before warning him about Poseidon’s plans and they try to explain that Poseidon is a bit stranger than normal, a bit more intense and not all together there, plus laying the groundwork for dealing with pantheons. Hades accepts it and says that it sounds like his brother.

Mitzidu says that it’s two things, that he may try to go after other powerful gods even in the Greek Pantheon. Hades says that it sounds more like an example of same eagle, different liver. Mitzidu asks to take the sword within Tartarus and place it in the hands of a Pantheon that Poseidon isn’t allied with. Hades, however, made an oath to Poseidon that he would keep the piece in Tartarus. While he cannot hand them it, he can’t always watch all of his realm so if someone else came in and stole it, well then, he’d have to be quite angry but there is nothing that he could actually do.

The second thing is the blood oath that Mitzidu has sworn against Poseidon and the Spartans for kidnapping Maki and then destroying his house, killing his staff, and burning his food. He wants to make sure that Hades is sure that it’s nothing personal against any of the other Olympians, just something that he’d have to do as part of being honour bound. He nods and then asks after Yannis and asks to speak with him. Mitzidu offers Hades sake from his father who enjoys it. Adelphin sends Yannis a text message asking where he’s at and if he’s busy. She explains that Hades is wishing to speak with him and has sworn an oath to do no harm. Yannis takes a long while to formulate his reply before responding with one word, no and then goes silent, any more SMS messages bounce back with an error code.

During the wait, Mitzidu continues to entertain Hades with Sake and discussing and creating food for him. Creating an exact sandwich that Hades had spoken about before, Hades enjoying it immensely. Adelphin informs him that Yannis is not receptive to things and he asks for her to deliver something to him, extending his hand as though to shake Adelphin’s hand. Accepting it, a tattoo of wings seems to move from the back of Hades’ hand onto Adelphin, he tells her that it’s from Yannis’ mother and that not every agrees with what happened to Arke, that there’s dissenters about her punishment and what happened was grossly disproportionate before heading back towards his realm, a good bit tipsier.

Down in the war room, Liam is still trying to keep the bacon away from Suveer. They get Auriol up in the war room, doing better and using a cane to get around now, but she still looks like she hasn’t slept properly in several weeks. She looks at Adelphin and asks how they’re going to get back Kora, and that Adelphin is going to use her presence and her blood to track down Kora. Use it to scry her daughter and things will go down very fast and to start getting prepped for combat. Armor, weapons, charms and lucky tokens. Mitzidu tosses Liam a charm enchanted with a Safeguard spell to help with his defenses. Adelphin tries to give Mitzidu a charm, but he’s not able to use any of them. Auriol also offers her expertise, she’s fine with firearms or fighting but she’s mostly good at getting in and getting out without getting caught.

Yannis is made to utilize his ability to locate a target to track Kora down and then using that to scry on the child. They locate her at the Red Means Go Motel with a near birds eye view of the motel, getting almost everything in sight and ready to plan, none of them are relaxed with everyone on alert with the men outside wearing long coats that are most likely covering firearms with differently dressed people carrying swords, looking to be demigods. Liam tries a divination about the demigod in the room with the girl, asking what sort of powers they have and just gets visions of darkness. As a countermeasure, Liam improvises a charm for Dark Vision and Sonar. Mitzidu also casts Kojin’s Visage on himself.

Suggestions about how to rescue the girl comes in, suggesting putting the portal right next to the girl with Mitzidu heading through first, then Auriol to grab her daughter, then another as a rearguard. Holding out with the opponents in the room while Kora gets dragged to safety. Yannis is made to get two portals set up at the opposite ends of the room. Adelphin, Suveer, and Auriol pour out of the portal closest to Kora while Liam and Mitzidu come out of the other side of the room closest to the darkness demigod. Yannis is not happy with the situation, having previously made his feelings clear, feels like his life is already completely screwed up, decides to go through the most dangerous place which is right behind Mitzidu and Liam, setting up Obfuscate before entering.

A Rainbow in the Dark

Adelphin Jean-Baptiste, Liam O’Shea, Mitzidu Ito, Suveer Patel, & Yannis Papadopoulos
Red Means Go Motel
Sunday January 22nd, 2012, 2200 hours
1605 E Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101

Rui draws 80 lbs of swords from his stash and animates them into a sword wall as Spartans start swarming for the room in response to the rainbow portals that opened up and the two groups that swarm through the portals. Adelphin cracks a charm to start a fire beyond the sword wall that the Spartan and the mage both dodge away from. The darkness demigod, Vincent, attacks Mitzidu who dodges out of the way of the darkness. Liam gets attacked by a Spartan, but manages to finally dodge through all the bullets along with The Chad behind him. One Spartan goes to rip down a hole in the wall which leads into the bathroom where another Spartan is trapped in the bathroom by Adelphin’s wall of flames as more come swarming out of the rooms and towards the group. Liam steps forwards, his muscles bulging from aetheric might, he bashes at the Spartan and the Mage to push them into the wall of fire, as the Spartan manages to dodge the shield. The Mage, however, catches on fire and then sliced by the sword wall, killing him and triggering his dying curse that shuts down Yannis’s portals into the room. Mitzidu slices into Vincent, hitting him three times and dealing a lot of damage to Vincent’s torso. He’s severely injured but still alive. Suveer cracks the Safeguard charm over Kora and moves acrobatically past the Sword and Fire barriers. The Chad summons his bow from his stash and fires at Vincent’s weapon arm, striking him and crippling his weapon arm and taking Vincent out of the fight for now. The mages start moving as Yannis turns around and lets loose, amping up his entire Rainbow Blast to blow apart the motel, causing a lot of blindness and fire. Kora jumps into her mother’s arms.

Rui deactivates his sword wall and directs them to tear a hole into the other room. The martial demigod, Yorimi Sakakihara, that manages to avoid Yannis’s rainbow blast activates an Aetheric power. Adelphin readies to defend the hole made by Rui. The Spartan backs away from Liam and sprays and prays as Liam slips forwards, hitting twice, Liam’s barkskin defense protects against the first round, but the second catches him in the groin. As a Spartan moves for Auriol and Kora, Adelphin death glares at him, killing him on the spot. A Spartan tries to fire through the wall as a third demigod, Steven Harris, slams towards the door into the room trying to open it and instead takes a series of bullets intended for Yannis, dropping him immediately to the ground. Another Spartan fires through a window, intended for Suveer who manages to dodge out of the way. Liam does a double attack at the Spartan that has been firing at him, cutting him in half. Mitzidu jumps through the broken window and attacks Yorimi who is standing on the car outside, he’s got the high ground, but Mitzidu is still striking at the demigod’s weapon arm and chest, both get parried by Yorimi as he takes two steps back. Mitzidu implies that he did that so the Spartans could shoot him, and Yorimi orders them to hold their fire for the duel. Suveer charges forwards to attack the Spartan that attacked him through the window, but the Spartan manages to dodge. The Chad turns around and fires his bow at one of the Spartans, hitting him in the right arm’s veins. Auriol begins to cast a spell and moves backwards with Kora in her arms. The mages move in and some start to cast a spell. Yannis calls down the sky, causing a huge area of effect of damage, setting almost everyone on fire and slagging the cars on the parking lot as Yorimi dodges outside the area of the rainbow blast, many die not only in the primary blast but from the secondary burns.

Yorimi closes his eyes and motions for Mitzidu to come closer as Rui runs for Suveer to aid him. Auriol dodges outside the spray pattern of a Spartan’s attack as Liam comes to their defense. Mitzidu activates the necklace that he bought with a drop of aetheric energy, gaining a lot of speed in return, charging at Yorimi, evaluating his opponent as he moves forwards, attacking twice, Yorimi’s parry turns his sword in his hand but Mitzidu is able to recover it. Suveer moves with half of the swords of his adoptive father following him, striking at the nearest Spartan in the abdomen, killing him immediately. The Chad steps outside the room, shooting an arrow into the head of one of the mages, knocking down and stunning them. One of the Mages heals the other, curing their blindness at the same time. Yannis draws several knives from his God Stash and disappears from the combat field.

Rui charges forwards, sending all his swords at several of the Spartan and a mage, killing three at once. Yorimi studies Mitzidu as they circle each other and then initiates a contest of Wills which Mitzidu can accept or decline. Adelphin steps forwards and evaluates the Spartan in front of her. Liam peeks around the corner to see a Spartan with a gun before turning around and going to the window to investigate the melted piles of slag and dead bodies. Mitzidu accepts the contests of Wills but bends to Yorimi’s pressure, causing his hands to shake a bit as he continues to strike at his opponent with flurries of blows that gets parried away. Suveer charges towards the south to strike a mage that just barely dodges out of the way. The Chad misses attacking the mage again while the mage that Suveer just struck steps back and casts a spell that Suveer resists. Yannis appears behind the mage and slashes into him, killing him.

Rui moves and takes two blind Spartans before the fire can finally kill. Yorimi steps forwards and launches his own flurry of blows against Mitzidu who desperately defends against them with his own parries before he launches his own final attack versus Mitzidu called Death by 88 Cuts, getting hit 17 times, taking a lot of damage to the torso but remains standing in front of his opponent. Adelphin draws her sword and slashes at the Spartan’s head before her, chopping the skull in half. Liam charges out the door, slashing at the stunned mage on the ground before him, splitting him vertically. Mitzidu feints versus Yorimi, striking twice at Yorimi’s heart, killing him. Pulling himself closer to Mitzidu on the sword, he draws himself closer and tells Mitzidu, in Japanese, that he’ll regret it.

Aftermath

With everyone down, Liam uses his Druidism rituals to call down a huge rainstorm to douse the remaining flames of the Motel before moving to lop off Vincent’s head, gaining some of his darkness realm while Adelphin rips out the heart from Steven’s burnt corpse, only picking up a bit of his powers. Both are still conscious while the aetheric energy rips through Mitzidu as he fully gains Yorimi’s domain, barely keeping up. Adelphin’s animates the burnt corpses of the Spartans and they march through the portal that Yannis creates back to the hotel, dragging all the bodies back.

After Action Report (GM)

To be perfectly candid, after the last session I almost disbanded B-Team. There was frustration on both sides, but as the GM being frustrated is not a good thing. Too much crosstalk, too much dealing with some players over others, just too many small things adding up. I told the team how I felt and that the entire team was in review. I’m not going to waste my time on a group that can’t pull together. And when it comes down to it this was mostly my fault. C-Team gelled from the first session onward. B-Team didn’t have a defining event like they did. That was a mistake. I thought the character ties we did for everyone would have drawn tighter, but they didn’t. Some of the players opted for character roleplaying vs. player aggregation and that caused some problems. In the beginning you want the latter always. There will be time for the players to RP their characters and as a GM I always make the time to do so. But even long-standing gaming groups can have players who are at odds with themselves or others. This is kind of what happened.

That said, last session was the BEST one we’ve had for B-Team for this campaign. There was some roleplaying, some combat, and the players got to do a good thing. They pivoted when they needed to and one of my more quiet players (Chris D.) pulled out some god ju ju and just wiped the floor with a dozen Spartan soldiers. The enemies magic users were essentially wiped out before they could do anything really. The blinding effect was also brutally effective and allowed other PCs to pick off the enemy quickly. The duel between Mitzidu and Yorimi is going to have very dangerous repercussions for Mitzidu (and maybe the team as a whole). There was little crosstalk and push-to-talk was used as well. Side conversations went to DMs or Roll20 text and man did that help. The team as  whole was focused, on point, and able to interact with the campaign in a way that was better than any previous sessions. Overall, I’m really happy with how the session turned out and B-Team is out of review as long as the trend continues forward from this game.

Other Notes

Bonus report here.

Soundtrack

“In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins (Opening Song)
“Rainbow in the Dark” by Dio
“Win In The End” by Mark Safan (Closing Song)