#nerra deep time traveller

[slaughter-books]

Day 28: JOMPBPC: Read In February

My February, 2024 reading wrap-up! 💕

[letitrainathousandflames-archive]

"c'mere. shh, it's okay" with waxer and numa?

It wasn’tsomething for a soldier of Waxer’s rank, not anymore. To be honest, the reliefmission carrying food and supplies to the people of Ryloth was basically made outof Shinies and a few higher ranks to keep them in line, and Cody himself loathed the job, but he was the Commander and didn’t had any choice. But when Waxer heard thename of the planet where he had met little Numa, he had been quick to askCommander Cody permission to join the mission.

“Are yousure?” Cody had asked “It’s boring work, Waxer. Nothing like the front linesblowing clankers. We’re most likely be helping the people rebuild their homes,distributing food. You would be more useful training the shinies, or helpingwith…”

“Sir, I—sorry.”Waxer felt so nervous he hadn’t even acknowledged that he’d be interrupting thecommander until he was actually doing it

“Permissionto skpeak.” Cody had said absently as he pointed the ship in which he wantedone of his men to load the crate he was carrying

“I… I waswondering if I could see Numa again.”

Cody had raisedan eyebrow at that, turning to face his underling.

“You… Doknow it’s highly unprofessional to ask me for such a thing, don’t you, Waxer?”

Waxer stoodin attention at that, as if he suddenly had remembered that despite hisfriendly demeanor and the proximity he allowed the men under his charge tohave, he was the commander in charge.

“I do, sir.My apologies.”

“This isnot a road trip and we are not people on a travel. This is a relief mission andwe are soldiers. I expected you to know that.”

Waxernodded stiffly, feeling his face burning hot and wishing he’d at least had hishelmet on to hide his blushing.

“Once againyou have my apologies, sir.” he said absolutely devastated “I will take care ofmy duties.”

He salutedCody and turned his back on him, but the commander clicked his tongue.

“Where areyou going, soldier? Squad number three is in need of a man in charge. Get inthat ship now.”

Waxerlooked over his shoulder, not quite believing his ears.

“Sir, doyou mean…” he looked at the ship where he could see a group of shinies andgeneral Skywalker’s droid, C-3PO “Can I go?”

“T’s notwhether you ‘can’ go or not, it’s an order soldier. Get in that ship and stopwasting my time.”

Cody turnedhis back on Waxer, placing his helmet over his head and walking away towardshis own ship. Waxer smiled.

“Sir.” Codystopped at that “Thank you.”

Cody mayhad nodded, but it could be just what Waxer wanted to see.

So there hewas, heading to Ryloth. The place was far from their base but not that far; yeteverything seemed to be galaxies away when C-3PO wouldn’t shut up. Truth betold, when the ship touched the ground, the shinies were almost jumping out ofit to the small village surrounded by a dense forest. Waxer, however walked outand could see the twi’leks gathering around already, with the smiling faces ofa people that refused to give up no matter how hard things could get. But nomatter how much he looked, he couldn’t find Numa in the crowd. He felt someonepunching him right on his ribs over the armor.

“Hey, whatthe kriff…” his face opened up in a smile “Boil!”

Boil wasshaking his head and laughing from under his helmet.

“So, gotstuck with relief job too, huh?”

“Ah, yeah.”Waxer still looked around in search for Numa “Stuck.”

Boilgrabbed his arm and pulled him towards one of the ships.

“Great,help me unload these crates, these absolute morons can’t do even that properly.”

Waxer andBoil ended up organizing the lines for food distribution, helping the shinieslearn their individual jobs and fixing up the homes destroyed by the recentseparatist bombing, and when Waxer did take a break to drink some water, hereached for his helmet but it was just gone. He frowned, looking around andasking, but no one had seen it. Much later when the sun was already setting inthe horizon, he saw a small twi’lek child wearing the thing on her head in themiddle of the recently rebuilt square. It looked rather funny, the huge armoredhead on a small kid’s body, and… it looked like the child had doodled somethingon it too. The child pulled the helmet out of her head and grinned at Waxer,and the trooper ran to her, lifting her off the ground.

“You sneakylittle girl!” he laughed, hugging Numa tight “I was afraid I wouldn’t have achance to see you!”

“Nerra!”Numa giggled, still holding his helmet with her little hands

Waxer puther back on the ground, patting her head.

“Did yougrow up? You look taller, little girl.” Waxer knelt next to her “Don’t you goand get taller than me, huh?”

Numa smiledat him, and that was when he heard the distant whistle. He knew that sound fartoo well, and he heard Cody’s voice booming:

“TIES!Everybody down, NOW!”

Waxer threwhimself over Numa, protecting her. He could hear the laser canons shooting overthem, and with what little sight he had while hunching on the ground he couldsee the shots hitting the ground; not all of them, of course. Some of them hitthe twi’leks who were still confused by the sudden attack. Kriffing civilians,always trying to run instead of just drop down and wait. Waxer heard more TIEfighters incoming far in the distance.

“Get everyoneout of here!” Cody screamed “Prepare for counter attack! Someone get generalKenobi on the line, we are under attack!”

Waxer gotup to his feet, seeing the TIE fighter turning around for a new attack. He hurryinglyshoved his helmet back on his head and pulled Numa off the ground, holding herlike his life depended on it.

“Okay, now,hold tight, we’re gonna run into the forest, okay? There they won’t be able tosee us so easily.”

He couldsee Boil ahead and asked him to helped the other civilians run into the forest,and the two soldiers ran behind them, shooting back at the ships that stilltried to kill the twi’leks. Waxer held Numa with one arm as he’d shoot with theother one.

“Boil! Whatdo we do?!”

Boil lookedback at him from behind C-3PO, and the droid looked more panicked than anyonearound them, despite not having much of a facial expression to show it. Thetrooper gestured towards the woods.

“We getthem out, there ain’t much more than that! Pretty simple, eh?!”

It got morecomplicated than that. After another attack, Waxer and Boil had to split up,and the trooper ended up with Numa in his arms and C-3PO by his side, the threeof them all alone in the deep woods.

Numa keptsaying something over and over, but Waxer couldn’t understand it. He sat herdown by a tree and sat down close to her, pulling out his helmet.

“It’s okaynow. We’re safe. Commander Cody will get Kenobi here and we’ll be safe.”

Numa lookedreally sad, and her eyes were welling up with tears. She kept repeating herwords and Waxer felt bad for not even understanding her sadness. Then it hithim.

“Oh… C-3PO,can you understand Twi’lek language?”

C-3POseemed to snap out of his oddly quiet panick attack only to brag.

“My goodsoldier, I am fluent in over six million forms of…”

“Can youunderstand it?”

“…Yes.” C-3POlooked at Numa “She says the bad people will always come back.”

Numa lookedat Waxer, and her little eyes were wet with tears. She said a few more words,stuttered by her small sobs.

“She saysher people will never be free.” C-3PO translated it “She says she’s scared herfamily will die.”

Waxer felthis heart clench at that, and he reached for Numa.

“C’mere.Shh, it’s okay.”

The littlegirl pulled away at first but then threw herself in Waxer’s arms, sobbingloudly and still talking in her language.

“She says”C-3PO suddenly stopped talking.

“What?”Waxer asked, caressing the back of Numa’s head as her sobs made her entirelittle body shake in his arms “What did she say?”

C-3POturned his bright yellow eyes to Waxer.

“She saysshe’s afraid to lose you. She says that she doesn’t want you to die.”

Waxer heldNuma even tighter, a little awkwardly because of his armor, and he looked athis helmet that lied on the grass. So she really had drawn something on it, asmall portrait of herself, and blast whatever the rules said, he would wearthat helmet proudly in all his following battles no matter what.

“Can youtell her something?” he whispered at C-3PO, and the droid nodded “Tell her I’m invincible.Tell her that nothing stops a clone trooper of the republic. Tell her I’ll liveforever and will always be watching over her.”

C-3POrepeated the words in Twi’lek and Numa’s grip around the back of Waxer’s neckgrew so tight it hurt, but he wouldn’t say a word. Numa sobbed softly.

“Nerra…”

“Yeah, I’myour brother, right? I know what it feels like, to trust your brothers. I’malways safe with them, Numa. Nothing will ever happen to me as long as I havethem by my side, okay?”

C-3POtranslated that too, and Numa nodded, although she still cried softly. Thelittle girl fell asleep much later at nightfall after Waxer had given hisnutrition bar for her to eat, and Waxer watched over her, his hand ready on thegrip of his blaster. That was when his comlink buzzed, and Cody’s voice cameout of it, tense and worried.

“Waxer,come over.”

Waxer satup, pressing the comlink.

“Sir?”

Codysighed.

“Ah, thankKamino, you’re alive. Kenobi helped us stop the attack, and the damages weren’textensive. Are you alone?”

Waxerlooked down to Numa, who was still asleep.

“I haveNuma…” he cleared his throat “I have a twi’lek child and General Skywalker’sdroid with me, sir.”

“Then bringthe droid and… ‘Numa’ back.” Cody paused “And, Waxer?”

“Sir?”

“Boil told me of your quick thinking. Good jobin saving the civilians. I’m glad I brought you along.”

“Looks likeI’m also good at boring duty, sir.”

“Looks likeyou are.”

[probablyottrpgideas]

Game Recap Series: EIS 0

Since I started this series I’ve only been playing my Dungeonbowl campaign, which has meant I had completely forgotten to do an Up-to-Speed post for the actual real proper campaign I’m running. Since we had our first session of that game in over 2 months last Sunday, I need to do a recap, so I’ll push through the update as quickly as possible before I get to that session. Here goes:

In the land of Caerwyn, there is one central government, the Tyrian Empire, and the largest institution within the Empire is the Imperial military. Given this juggernaut of resources, many people enlist as a means to pull themselves out of debt or receive training they otherwise would have to pay a lot of money for.

Through a variety of reasons, a pool of new recruits all join at the same time, and underwent basic training. 

Group A (PCs)

Avoyelles Isani: Drow, Circle of Twilight Druid, Charlatan (Feygate) Arner Diomal’st’ano: Eladrin, Sorcerer/Cleric, Archeologist (Encarlin) Nerra: Half-Elf, Skirmisher Rogue, Criminal (Imperial) Eleric “Relic” Mort: Human, Champion Fighter, Gladiator (Imperial) Jimothy Tames: Githyanki, Battlemaster Kensai, Merchant (Imperial)

Group B (NPCs)

Nichollo Gioirdani: Eladrin, Evokation Wizard, Folk Hero (Feygate) Sorel Conera’st’ona: Deva, Storm Cleric, Outlander (Encarlin) Errol Goddard: Pixie, College of Maestro Bard, Artist (Imperial) Farren Selch: Feytouched Githzerai, Path of Brawn Barbarian, Urchin (Imperial) Robert Tames: Razorclaw Shifter, Inquisitive Rogue, Charlatan (Imperial)

During their training, rather than be transferred to one of the many formal units, they are instead put through a rigorous induction test (involving being dropped with minimal resources and separated from one another in the middle of a blizzard) to join the mysterious and prestigious Empire Intelligence Services.

After their induction the two teams were assigned separate senior agents; Group A would be led by Celia Sapienza (Eladrin, Shinobi Kensai, Guardsman, Feygate) and Group B would be led by Glymmer d’Embry (Elf, Wyrmling Shogun, Scion, Imperial). Group A were then given their first mission; investigate a series of disappearances in the northern town of Farren’s Landing that had the local guard puzzled. 

Arriving in Farren’s Landing and setting up their temporary base in the top level of a local inn, the group began investigating the three disappearances that they knew of, as well as organising a meeting with a locally known smuggler who might be able to provide them with information. Within the course of their investigation they discovered a number of details; all three disappearances featured a paw print as of a large dog, and two of the three featured closed and locked doors. They also discovered that one of the disappeared was a member of the local crime family, and that all three had interacted in some way with the local manor. Arner and Relic visited a local dog training yard with a mould of the paw-prints and confirmed Arner’s suspicion that the culprit was using some kind of Blink Dog. 

Using Celia’s cover story that they were the retinue of a minor Feygate noble to establish an audience with the Duke, the team investigated the manor and discovered that a number of scholars from the arcane library had been recently dismissed. One of those figures, a young sorcerer named Dareg Shille, had been messing about with Blood Magic, and after discussing with the senior arcanist what sort of mutations could be achieved using blood magic the team began to believe that Dareg Shille had twisted a once good-aligned fey into assisting him in abducting townsfolk.

Using both the Pollan crime family and the local guard for assistance, the team tracked Shille to the flood-water tunnels under the city and, despite being forcibly separated by the Blink Dog’s ability to grab hold of them and teleport them away, they slew the dog and Shille, although they were too late to rescue any of the abductees. 

While in town, they received a message from command of a new mission; the late brother of the Duke of Farren’s Landing had apparently been having an affair with the young sister of the Empress, and the two had been trading letters that, should they be made public, would embarrass the royal family. The team had to track down the hiding place of the letters and bring them back to command. By discussing the details of the Lord’s personal life with the residents of the Duke’s manor, the group identified a hunting lodge deep in the nearby forest, and travelled out there to retrieve the letters. However, as they pulled the letters from their hiding spot, the group was ambushed by unknown assailants, who used blinding and stunning alchemical explosives to temporarily subdue the party. When they recovered the assailants were gone and the letters still remained, and no-one was quite able to work out what had been taken/done. Still, they returned the letters to command, and their CO Warren Caine told them not to worry about it, as without more to go on they couldn’t really do much more anyway.

Returning to the field base the team had a week of rest before being sent off on their new mission; a mercenary guard for a lord of the royal court had been accused of the murder of the lord’s son. Ma Wei, a talented and dangerous arcane archer, had resisted arrest and fled, heading north. The last word anyone had was of her boarding a boat at Farren’s Landing.

The team geared up and returned to Farren’s Landing, without Celia (who was on another mission at the time), finding the docks and asking around to see if anyone had seen an elf matching Ma Wei’s description. A few people mentioned they had seen her getting on an ice-cutter, implying that she was heading further north into the frozen polar continent of Kalteheim, although they could not remember the name of the ship she had boarded.

Needing passage to the north for themselves, the team went looking for someone with a similar ice-field ready ship, and were directed to Emilie Greys (Shade, Nightstalker Shadowblade, Pirate), captain of the Viaggiatore. Greys turned out to be a Shade, and what’s more her entire crew were comprised of the dregs of mortal races, be they shadow creatures or shapeshifters or even an ogre. After a minor scuffle with sahaugin saw the team step in to protect the crew, they were accepted as friends and the journey continued much more congenially.

Halfway to Kalteheim, the Viaggiatore stopped off at a small island town called Isla Helado to restock, and the team, with nothing else to do, decided to investigate a local haunted castle. Once there they destroyed the ghost of the old Imperial commander and the skeleton soldiers, broke the enchantment on the armoury, and cleared the place out. In the process, a ghost of a dog imprinted on Relic, and now follows him around (the team now call him Zero, after the ghost dog from The Nightmare Before Christmas).

While stuck on Isla Helado, the team were treated to a story/mass hallucination by the skaldic ships quartermaster, Lucas Rimeweather AKA Old Man Exposition. Through his storytelling the team got to live through the story of how Captain Greys became a shade, 1000 years previously when the Viaggiatore crew were only six;

Captain Ysalt Margaine: Deva, Shugenja Cleric, Pirate, Imperial E4-G13 AKA Birdbot: Warforged, Path of the Eagle Totem Barbarian, Gladiator, Imperial Amaya DeSaad AKA Goldfist: Lightborn, Sweet Science Pugilist, Vigilante, Imperial/Fallow Elena Willow: Hamadryad, College of Courtship Bard, Courtesan, Feygate Everett McCree: Changeling, Shadow Spy Rogue, Cultist, Imperial Emile Greys: At the time, a regular human

The story went that Emilie, seeking the power to wreak vengeance on those who had killed her family, had tried and failed to become a Shade. So the crew went to Marnati City and sought out the expertise of a non-binary Elven magician called Maester Delver. Delver told the crew that the only way to save Emilie was to complete the full ritual, turning her into not only a Shade but a Shadowblade. The ritual could only be found in the Isle of the Lost in the Shadowfell, and to get there they would need to be able to travel across the planes. They suggested that the best way would be to bind the soul of a planar travelling creature to their vessel, and they provided the crew with some soul-binding artifacts. Meanwhile, the crew tracked down rumours of a Shadow Dragon hiding in the islands south of Caerwyn, and so travelled there. They got the location of the Shadow Dragon, found it, slew it, and bound its soul to the Viaggiatore. Once complete, they travelled into the Shadowfell and found the Isle of the Lost. 

Retrieving the correct ritual required them to complete the challenge of the seven virtues. The first room was a puzzle, testing their wisdom, where they had to solve a riddle to find the key to the next room. The second was a large battle arena with a cage door that only allowed a single combatant through. Birdbot went through and faced off against an Earth Elemental on his own, testing his courage. After this was completed the cage lifted and Birdbot was attacked by a fearsome dracolich, forcing the others to rush to his aid, testing their loyalty. Once they realised there was no way they could defeat the dracolich the team had to lay down their weapons, testing their humility. They then passed into the next room, which was filled to the brim with treasures untold, which they had to walk past without touching, testing their temperance. At the end they had to place something of value in the empty chest in front of the door, testing their charity. The last room was a gigantic library of scrolls; this, a test of their faith, simply meant they had to select one scroll without looking at it and continue on. Here, at last, they messed it up, and while they retrieved the ritual they were forced to leave Birdbot behind. They rescued Emilie and the story ended there.

Finally arriving at Fort Rast in Kalteheim, the team signed on as crewmembers of the Viaggiatore so that their names could be withheld from the ships manifest and then quietly came ashore, seeking out a local inn named the Frozen Hearth. There they asked around with the locals to see if anyone had seen Ma Wei, and they were directed to a local Bard who had been away for a while and recently returned. Av and Jimothy interrogated the boy, and found that he had indeed come through on the ship Illusion of Choice, where he had been friends with Ma Wei. He directed them to the hunting paths north of the fort, and the group decided to see what they could find. While this was happening, Nerra thought she saw someone following the group, but said nothing.

On heading out for a look around, the team became acquainted with the peculiarity of the local fauna of Kalteheim; largely, that everything was giant. Proximity to high magical fields had caused all natural creatures to take on colossal sizes, with rabbits the size of lions and wolves as big as mountains. Also at around this time, Celia appeared with bad news; Robert, Jimothy’s husband and member of the B team, had been badly injured on a mission. Jimothy left to be with his husband while he recovered, and the team were joined by Kitt Delkatt (Human, Hunter Ranger, Consort, Imperial), a new recruit. 

While out on the Hine Plain, a frozen wasteland north of the fort and the apparent direction Ma Wei had travelled, the group encountered an Ice Titan, a snow fox three or four times the size of an elephant. They tried everything, from hiding to running to fighting, but the creature seemed to barely notice their attacks. In the end, the group were saved by an unlikely ally; another Ice Titan, a wolf so large that its head was a mere shadow in the sky, which crashed out through the snow and snapped up the fox in its jaws like it was nothing. 

The team continued on until they reached a gorge, where they found evidence of someone having climbed down inside. Following the trail, the team was attacked by a hail of magical arrows, and they might have been in danger had Celia not revealed that they were there on behalf of the Intelligence services, not the police. Ma Wei, nervous but now curious, allowed them inside the old Stealth Corps. fox-hole she was hiding in. The two groups discussed their positions and came to the conclusion that someone was setting Wei up; the best bet would be to take her into EIS protective custody while they looked into the frame job.

While they were discussing things, however, they were attacked by pursuer that Nerra had almost seen; a Chaotin (homebrew elvish subtype) assassin with powerful psychic abilities. The team were all, barring Avoyelles, paralysed by the assassin and would have died, were it not for Zero possessing an Ice Titan and eating him. 

On the way back to the Fort, half the team fell into a fresh ravine and discovered an ancient, abandoned temple, where a gauntlet of necromantic power was killing any wandering traveller and turning them into skeletons. One such skeleton had retained his mind, Mac Bonney (Awakened Undead Skeleton, Marksman Rogue, Archeologist, Imperial) and he assisted the team in fighting off the hordes of skeletised bugbears, minotaurs, ogres and a powerful bone naga. In return, Mac was brought back with them to the EIS camp.

After this lengthy trip the party were paid their salary and given the chance to come stay in the Imperial Capital city of Tyria for a while, which would give them the ability to visit Robert and catch up with Jimothy. While in town they got to know their fellow spies, including getting better acquainted with Errol, Farren, Warren and Glymmer on a personal level, as well as go shopping and generally explore the metropolitan excesses on display. Jimothy, who had begun to develop a reverence for Kord, found a temple to the thunder god and explored the possibility of becoming a paladin. He also got into an underground boxing match with Relic and handed the fighter’s ass to him.

Their leave was cut short however when Warren received word that the two cultists who had been captured after the attack that had left Robert injured had revealed something in their interrogation; something terrible was going to happen in the small town of Brattenhome, east/south-east of Faelmarch. The team were dispatched there as quickly as possible.

When they arrived, Relic detached himself from the group; Avoyelles, who had been flirting heavily with the fighter, took this as an opportunity to sulk following the recent revelation that he had a wife, and so no-one questioned it. In truth, he was spending his time on a separate mission for Warren, looking for an old equipment cache hidden somewhere in Brattenhome which contained some documents Warren needed retrieved in secret.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team filled his spot by befriending another traveller passing through the town, a copper dragonborn named Alketh (Dragonborn, Evokation Wizard, Sage, Imperial). They began their investigation, and quickly discovered that a young elvish storehand, Yushiro Nakai, had disappeared. As it was late when they arrived they turned in shortly after, but the next morning Yushiro reappeared, shortly before mutating into a horrifying spider creature. The team dispatched her, and then spoke with the sheriff of the town to discuss what had happened. He asked them to keep the investigation quiet, but that he would help them out if they needed it. 

The team then took a quick trip into the forest to follow up a lead (dead-end; the Walshes were not cultists at all but vryloka isolationists, and while they were antagonistic towards the team intruding onto their land they were not investigated further). On their return to town, however, they found that five more townsfolk had been kidnapped in the night, and the town was now in uproar. Getting a meeting with the mayor, the team identified what they were in town to do and the mayor gave them access to whatever resources they wanted. The group split up to conduct parallel investigations into a number of leads, including the homestead of one of the disappeared folks, the fishing boat of another, and a creepy warehouse at the edge of town. The group in the warehouse were attacked by another mutated villager, a trio of giant spiders and a swarm of regular spiders, and they barely escaped with their lives.

Which brings us, at last, to the most recent session...

[slaughter-books]

Day 1: JOMPBPC: February Goals

My immediate TBR for February, 2024! 💜