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 . . .

With Kora having been saved from the motel, Auriol still holds back her piece of the sword as the deal went that they would have to get the sword piece from Tartarus before she’d hand hers over. But if they can’t, then she might end up handing over her piece to Poseidon for her and Kora’s safety. Poseidon still has his piece too, leaving the last one in Tartarus where Poseidon had Hades vow to keep it there, but Adelphin is not happy with that idea and says that she’d kill Auriol before that happens and make Auriol hand over her piece.

As they patch up Liam, they go over the options they can do with the sword pieces as Rui brings a lot of Voodoo doughnuts to Adelphin. Mitzidu prefers not to have anyone possess any piece of the sword, perhaps giving the two different pieces to different pantheons not allied with the Greco-Romans, but the only issue is that there is no way to convince a pantheon to take the pieces and hold them away from their rightful owners thereby making them a target. Auriol offers to come along with them in Tartarus to help them get the sword, though giving Adelphin a bit of a side-eye after she mentioned killing her.

Yannis ignores the goings on and refuses to step foot in Tartarus. There is way too many problems with his past and present to actually go through. Instead he opens a portal into the underworld, on the side of the river Styx where there lay a pier.

Into That Place, That Yawning Mouth of Hell

Adelphin Jean-Baptiste, Liam O’Shea, Mitzidu Ito, & Suveer Patel

Tartarus
Tuesday January 24th, 2012, 0230 hours
The Underworld

They see a rowboat piloted by a skeletal figure that docks the rowboat as they watch The Chad follow them through the portal. He’s excited and not too disturbed by the fact that they’re basically going against his father’s pantheon, since his father doesn’t really care much for him anyhow. They go towards the rowboat, the skeleton holds out his hand to Mitzidu who is in the lead and asks for destination and number of party. The gates of Tartarus and 7 people, 8 if they include Liam’s sheer size. The ferryman accepts the silver they hand him, using Adelphin’s jewelry and decorative coins as most of the fare.

The ferryman begins to row down the river once all have entered the boat. It’s a strange sensation going along the river, though none dares to touch the river, Rui does use a set of tongs and a jar to gather some water from the river for his own use. They get to Tartarus oddly fast, almost as though the master of the realm is aiding them behind the scenes. The gates to Tartarus themselves are broad and with skulls set within them. Mitzidu bows to the ferryman and thanks him before heading off the boat while Adelphin throws a bracelet into the river Styx in exchange for the water. The bracelet comes back on a wave and it’s filled with rubies that weren’t there before, placing itself at her feet completely dry. The group heads towards the gates which are open, apparently Hades is letting the place air out a bit.

Through the open doorway, Auriol leads them through the landscape to a hill that they must climb up. At the crest of the hill, they group encounters multiple giant cyclops guarding their destination, the third piece of the sword upon a giant dais surrounding sparsely by trees with people and animals hanging upside down from them. The sword piece itself is stuck into the stone and surrounded by very powerful protection magics, guarded by the cyclops with huge weapons. It’s also radiating a faint magic, surprisingly a small amount considering that it’s rumored to be able to kill deities. The cyclops haven’t noticed the group yet, though they’re rather focused on their job, patrolling around.

Liam arms himself while they try to talk a plan of action. Mitzidu suggests they distract the cyclops while one charges in and grabs the sword, but the very powerful protective spells prevent that. Rui suggests that if they can get him close enough, he could analyze the spell to take it down, but he’d have to stay there long enough to analyze and the cyclops might not like that.

The group charges forwards with Rui and Adelphin in the lead straight towards the dais, cracking various charms to buff themselves. Mitzidu uses a stacked charm on Liam and himself and a few others to grant them Safeguard. Liam amps up his strength and charges towards the nearest cyclops, chopping at it with his sword only to get parried. Suveer amps up his own strength and attacks the same cyclops that Liam did, managing to cut into the cyclops’ chest, still alive and looking quite ticked off. The Chad draws his bow and tries to put an arrow into one of the cyclops, only for it to knock the arrow out of the air. Auriol seems to summon up shadowy forms against the cyclops only for them to dodge it. The cyclops charge in, swiping against Adelphin and The Chad, missing their blows, while Liam has to block against the cyclops’ blow and reflects the attack back upon the cyclops, glowing green as it cuts into the cyclop’s pelvis, knocking it to the floor as Rui defends against a cyclops.

It’s going to take Rui several seconds to determine what the protection is on the sword while Adelphin gives one of the giants a death glare, killing one which turns to dust, while casting a spell to cut off the stairways up to the dais with a wall of magical fire. Mitzidu turns to the side and rapid strikes against the cyclops, slicing into the shoulder. Liam chops into the cyclops only for it to parry the first and slashes into the arm with the second blow, chopping it off but it’s still alive. Suveer chops into the same disarmed cyclops’ digestive tract, killing it. The Chad steps back, firing into the eye blinding it but it’s still alive. Auriol fires another shadow blast at the cyclops, but misses. The blinded cyclops attacks Mitzidu but misses and return he counterattacks, slicing into the giant’s wrist, cutting it off.

Rui continues to decipher the spell while Adelphin sees that several of them are contemplating running through the firewall that Adelphin summoned before Adelphin death gazes two of the cyclops, killing both. Mitzidu turns from the blinded and crippled cyclops to attack the one coming up behind Auriol, aiming for its eye and killing it with a single thrust. Liam grasps Suveer and throws him against a cyclops almost 15 yards away, impaling the cyclops with Suveer and killing it. Rolling off of the dead cyclops, Suveer comes up behind the blinded cyclops and chops it dead. The Chad runs up the hill and fires an arrow into the back of the remaining cyclops’s skull, causing it to charge straight at The Chad.

Rui continues to analyze the spell while Adelphin glares at the back of the cyclops’s skull, killing him instantly like the other three.

With the guards dead, Rui manages to decipher the spell, calling it an exceptional complex piece of magic and feeds the information directly into Adelphin’s head. Mitzidu heads up towards the dais alongside Adelphin and Rui. Rui squints at the sword for a moment, and picks it up and knocks it against the rock where it crumbles to pieces, proclaiming that it’s not the sword of Cronus. He looks at Auriol who tells the group that’s where it was the last that she knew. The team instead moves towards the trees while Liam asks his divination stone if the piece of sword is anywhere in Tartarus. The group goes to release the dog from the tree, hearing a voice telling them to save the dog as it’s not supposed to be there and muttering in Russian about how much he misses his wife and children. Suveer and Liam move to unbind the dog from the tree, utilizing Suveer’s divine power, whimpering in Suveer’s arms as Liam pets the dog, it looking up at him with frighteningly blue eyes. Mitzidu looks at the Russian, a middle-aged man, recognizing him as someone that he fought with in Japan, and that he’s actually in a body, not as a shade. Mitzidu cuts him down, he’s lost and babbling in multiple languages about seeing his baby girl again. He stares at Mitzidu and then at Adelphin before passing out, apparently Adelphin is his adopted daughter. Adelphin has several different sets of parents, her birth parents and her adopted parents and probably others. He slings the man over his shoulder and moves, while Adelphin recognizes him, he should have died during one of the past Harrowings, what he’s doing in Tartarus is not something that should have happened.

Liam casts a spell to allow him to speak with animals to ask the dog who’s a good boy, but it only wags its tail. They’re still suspicious about the dog, and Liam asks one of the other magically inclined group members to cast divination on the dog to determine what is going on with it. Adelphin takes the point as she’s more comfortable in a domain of death and casts Sense Sin on it, gaining no information as it seems to have done nothing wrong. It seems like the happiest, cleverest puppy ever that has done no wrong ever. They decide to take it with them through the still open gates of Tartarus almost like someone wants them to leave. Suveer and Mitzidu leave sandwich offerings at the gate, along with several other trinkets from the others.

They go via the ferryman’s boat and see the portal is still there despite it being five hours later. They walk through the portal like it was nothing more than a cake walk after leaving a tip for the ferryman in the form of food and valuables. The food disappears inside the darkness of its hood and comes back with nothing left on the stick. Adelphin gives him a charm to allow him a day off. The ferryman bows to everyone, shaking the hands of Mitzidu and Adelphin, the skeletal grasp feels strange to at least Mitzidu.

Earthside

Adelphin Jean-Baptiste, Liam O’Shea, Mitzidu Ito, & Suveer Patel
Karnival Resort Hotel and Casino
Tuesday January 24th, 2012, 0235 hours
3500 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89169

On the other side of the portal, they’re back in the hotel feeding those they have rescued. Mitzidu’s guest mostly drinks broth and is crying for his wife and child before passing back out with very shallow breath. Mitzidu sends a managram towards his wife, Baba Yaga as Liam takes care of the Good Boy. Baba Yaga responds back with a managram saying that she’ll be right there using her chicken hut. It’s got a charm on it, similar to the one that Adelphin granted the ferryman to make it unnoticeable.

With Adelphin and Liam taking care of the dog, Adelphin healing it and Liam strengthening it via his domain. It wags its tail in response, but it’s still very tired and needs to rest. Liam goes to groom it while it rests, combing out tangles and matts and bathing him in the pool to get rid of all the gunk. He’s got holes and scars in his body where he was pierced and healed, whimpering every once in awhile but mostly just sleeps to regain his energy.

Adelphin’s adopted mother, Baba Yaga, shows up demanding Adelphin’s presence. She’s standing over her husband beside Mitzidu, finding numerous wounds and puncture wounds, including one so severe that it’s literally has left a hole straight through. Baba Yaga starts cursing in Russian, angry at what has been done to her husband, demanding answers from Mitzidu and then Adelphin who verify each other’s stories though Adelphin expands that they were looking for the sword of Cronus, and that they also rescued the dog alongside him. Baba Yaga calls her husband a fool and bends down next to him and whispers in his ear, causing his eyes to slam wide open. Baba Yaga then drags Adelphin off to speak with her privately while Mitzidu sticks with the man to feed him more.

Aftermath

Baba Yaga demands to know why Adelphin went down into the Greek Underworld and demands to know what is going on. Adelphin covers everything that has been happening over the past week, including Poseidon’s idiocy, Auriol’s idiocy, the food eating contest, and everything. She tells Adelphin that Poseidon is going to make a move against Adelphin for this, which Adelphin says she’s been prepared for for the past year. Yaga says that she assumes her private suite is all ready for her to move back into and then has her chicken hut collapse into the form of steamer trunk with chicken legs.

Adelphin also informs them that the Spartans have them all in their black book, but Yaga is not happy with any of the Greco-Romans for what they’ve done to her husband and demands that he be moved into her quarters and starts ranting against the Greco-Roman pantheon again. She heads for her quarters with her chicken trunk following and Adelphin immediately goes to move Yaga’s husband with Mitzidu’s aid. Yaga looks at Mitzidu and pats him on the cheek like a 5-year old, holding his head in her hands and telling him that he has done a good thing. Adelphin works with Yaga for several hours laying on various spells and healing charms, Yaga occasionally shaking with rage.

Auriol is looking and feeling a bit out of place considering what has been happening and the fact that Baba Yaga has shown up. Being rather terrifying to a normal person.

After Action Report (GM)

I didn’t want to drag out the descent into Tartarus because Chris D.’s character simply would not go there and while one session absent a character voluntarily might be ok, two plus…is not. The PCs went in, got the job done (or didn’t as it may be). Were they tricked? Did Auriol lie to them about the location of the third piece? No. It appears neither she nor Poseidon knew the location of the Tartarian piece. Which is interesting, don’t you think? This leaves one piece with Poseidon and another with Auriol. Which she is going to give up and try to wash her hands of the whole situation. We’ll see if that happens. Otherwise, good session. I got to start bringing out the past of some of the PCs and the players got to feel a bit on the heroic side which is always great.

Other Notes

Bonus report here.

Soundtrack

“Highway to Hell” by AC/DC (Opening Song)
“Tartarus” by Evocatus
“Father and Son” by Cat Stevens (Closing Song)

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