Bloodmäter

[casualplayer]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

You could probably nab some interesting visuals for this game from the CrossGen comic, Meridien.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Haven't had a chance to game in the last couple of weeks due to the holidays, but here's some quotes from the game to tide y'all over.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Bloodmater Recap for 01-02-2010

The troubleshooters went deeper into the mine. Eventually they came into a large open chamber that looked like a living space. Apparently, the orcs that mine Drudge's coal made their homes in the mine itself, dug out into the stone here. The heroes found the entire tribe lined up to face them.

 

The leader of the orc tribe, a shaman who followed the orcish god Gruumsh, called out to them in broken common, demanding to know their business. The heroes said that they had come to kill Captain Grime, and if the orcs were smart they’d stay out of the heroes’ way.

 

The orc shaman laughed. “You lie!” he snarled. “This another of Grime’s tricks! We let you past, he punish us!”

 

“You let us past, or WE punish you!” Brontus snarled back.

 

“We’re not with Grime or his pirates,” Clio tried to reason with the savage orcs. “We’ve sworn an oath to kill him and rid the skies of his evil.”

 

The orc shaman noticed the symbol of the Raven Queen displayed prominently on Clio’s shield, and paused. “You with Raven Queen? She OK in our book. She take care of all souls that Gruumsh kill…” He seemed to be considering the heroes’ words.

 

“And I’m a priest of Kord,” Hakkoz bellowed. “So get out of our way before we send you up to meet the Raven Queen personally!”

 

The shaman laughed. “Ha ha! Little hairy one is feisty! But we not afraid to die! Better to die in battle than live as slaves.”

 

“Slaves?” Brontus asked, suddenly paying attention. He was a slave once, too, and the orc was right – nothing was worse than life in slavery.

 

“Ya, slaves,” the orc snorted. “Drudge capture us, take us here far away from our home. Make us work in mine. Beat us when we disobey. Kill us sometime.”

 

“Then you are free,” Alix said. “We killed the Overseer up above. If you wish, you can leave these mines and go back to your homes.”

 

“Then we can go past and kill Grime,” Justine finished. “And then you’ll really be free.”

 

The orc shaman pondered this for a bit, then grinned. “You free us?” he said. “Then we friends now! We drink!”

 

With that, the ragged orcs let out a cheer. From somewhere, they produced a barrel of a foul-smelling liquid; they told the heroes it was Orkbrau™ and invited them to drink.

 

Most everyone had a sip. It was the most horrible-tasting thing they’d ever had… but it was nutritious and very alcoholic, and it made some of the aches and pains from the previous battle fade away. Justine liked it so much that she had another… and another. She began feeling dizzy and started making passes at various party members (turns out, she’s a very friendly drunk!).

 

While they were drinking, the shaman told the heroes that there were more orcs working in the processing plant. “If you say I call them home, they not fight you,” he said. “But boss is Sludge, he very big and very mean. He kill you, so you kill him first.”

 

Thus forewarned, the heroes left the mine. They found a huge, smoke-belching factory, just as the shaman told them. They entered and found a large group of orcs working the processing machinery, turning the coal mined above into coke for Grime’s steamship. Supervising the process was a huge Ogre – who must’ve been none other than Sludge – and his two pet hounds!

 

The ogre saw the heroes enter, and shouted for his men to get them! Hakkoz yelled at the orcs that their shaman called them, and they should go back to the caves. A few of them heard him and began to flee, but the others continued in.

 

The heat and smoke in the room was nearly unbearable, but the heroes still had no choice but to fight! Sludge was huge and hard to hurt, and he hit like a freight train. The orcs that didn’t flee were berserkers – they got more and more worked up as they fought, and didn’t want to fall down either. However, the troubleshooters exhibited superior teamwork, and even the might of the pirate chieftain was not enough to stop them! The processing plant was theirs, which left the way clear for the dock, where Grime’s ship (The Brazen Whore) lay at berth…

 

TBC!

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Here's some photos from last week's climactic battle!

 

Our Heroes! From left to right, we've got Rody the elf rogue, Clio the teifling paladin, Alix the shifter druid, Brontus the human barbarian, Hakkoz the dwarf cleric, Justine the human warlock, Paxton the human fighter, and Aester the dragonborn warlord. Not pictured (because he's behind someone) is Berrian the gnome wizard. "I'm here!" "I'm here!"

 

This is what the battlefield looked like before the fight broke out. Our heroes are at the foot of a long staircase; the villains are arranged around the docks.

 

Alix lit a gang of dwarf and human pirates on fire!

 

Paxton, Hakkoz, and Aester get mixed up with a gang of pirates, while Berrian provides covering fire from a coal elevator suspended above the battlefield.

 

Rody, the resident rogue, does a lot of damage but also takes a lot of damage. He went down early in the game, but even death can't slow him down much!

 

Brontus runs through a gauntlet of villains to reach the annoyingly effective crossbowmen in the back.

 

Brontus, having fought his way through an army of pirates, confronts the evil warlock captain...

 

This shows the whole map I drew for the session...

[matrix3]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Wow! Looks good! Did it take you long to draw up that map?

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Wow! Looks good! Did it take you long to draw up that map?

 

About half an hour. I drew it before everyone showed up. When I draw a map on the fly, it doesn't look nearly so good.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Bloodmater Recap for 01-09-2010

The Brazen Whore sits berthed by the dock, a smallish cog powered by a massive steam engine. There were a large number of pirates lounging around on the dock, while slaves carry baskets of coal and barrels of supplies aboard the ship. The heroes crept down the staircase as quietly as they could, so as not to attract too much attention. Luckily, the pirates were too busy teasing their slaves to pay much attention to what was coming down the stairs for them…

Clio and Brontus stepped forward and called out, attracting the pirates’ attention. “All you orcs are free to go!” Brontus said. “Your shaman said to go up the stairs and join him. The rest of you, throw down your weapons or be destroyed!”

The teifling captain glared down at them, then ordered her men to kill the troubleshooters. Without hesitating, the seasoned buccaneers charged our heroes, and the fight was on!

It was a terrible battle. The Troubleshooters were still tired from all the other fights they had to get to this level, while the pirates were fresh. Rody, Brontus, Aester, and Alix all nearly died from their injuries. It was only thanks to the persistent efforts of Hakkoz, Clio, and the newest party member Aester that they managed to slay the defenders and board the ship.

On the ship, the evil Captain Tarnisia hurled curse after lethal curse at them, but still they kept coming. Alix tried to drive her off the edge of the ship. Brontus swiped at her with his mighty sword. Soon the evil pirate realized that discretion was the better part of valor, and fled the ship. The heroes tried to chase her, but she was too fast and she managed to lose them.

They knew they hadn’t seen the last of that evil bitch, though!

Once the pirates were dead, the heroes called out to the orcs, who were cringing behind whatever cover they could find. “You’re free to go,” Clio told them. “Your priest is waiting up above.” Most of the creatures hurried up the stairs, but a handful of them asked if they could continue to serve aboard the ship – as crewmen, not slaves. The heroes (lacking crew) readily agreed (and generously offered to pay the orcs twice what the pirates had been paying them!).

So the Brazen Whore was now theirs. They immediately re-christened it The Burning Log (after Hakkoz’ favorite battle tactic) and set about to search it.

They found that the captain had taken a load of exotic slaves, six in all, from various races and nationalities. One of the slaves, a beautiful young woman, immediately recognized Alix. “Olissa!” she said. “How did you get here?”

Alix was shocked. Olissa was the name of her mother. “I’m not Olissa,” she said. “I’m her daughter. How do you know my mother?”

“I met her when we were on a slave ship together,” she said. “She was a great comfort to us; no matter how bad things got, she always had hope. She said that she was going to Haven, where she would see her daughter again.”

“What was the name of the ship?” Alix demanded.

“It was called the Praying Mantis,” the girl said. Alix recognized that name – that was the ship that her mother had hired to take her across the Mist.

Alix questioned the girl further, but she didn’t know much else about Olissa’s whereabouts. They were separated several weeks ago. The girl’s name is Arianna, and she claims to be the daughter of a chieftain of the Sky-Clan, a tribe similar to the one that Brontus came from. She insisted that they take her along, because her people are famed for their piloting skills – although this smoke and ash-belching ship is nothing like the graceful flyers of her clan.

Alix took her to meet the other heroes. She took to them well enough, until she was introduced to Brontus. She immediately dropped to her knees, shaking like a leaf. “Forgive me, master Stegus!” she cried. “I wasn’t trying to escape, I swear it!”

“Stegus?” Brontus asked. “That’s my brother’s name! How do you know my brother?”

“Your brother?” Arianna asked, still trembling. “Could I be mistaken? You look exactly alike…”

“Yes, of course my brother looks like me!” Brontus snarled. “Is he alive? Where is he? How do you know Stegus?”

“Stegus was the slave-master aboard the Praying Mantis,” Arianna said. “Never was there a more cruel pirate to sail the sea of Mist!”

“YOU LIE!” Brontus yelled. “My brother is no slaver!” The poor girl cringed at the angry barbarian, but the rest of the heroes held him back. They managed to calm him down and lead him off.

“He has the same temper as Stegus,” the girl said meekly. Alix assured her that Brontus was a good guy, he was just tired and still hurt from the battle.

The heroes knew they needed to rest, so they weighed anchor and headed out away from the docks, and set sail back to the Tower of the Red Wizard where they could sleep soundly for a few hours…

TBC!

[Kristopher]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Sorry if this has already been answered, but do you record the sessions to make these summaries?

[ghost-angel]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

no, we don't record the sessions. Bunneh has a good gaming memory.

[matrix3]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

So, if the heroes are paying the orcs twice what the pirates paid them, and the pirates had been keeping them as slaves, the orcs are getting...carry the two...nothing?

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

no' date=' we don't record the sessions. Bunneh has a good gaming memory.[/quote']

 

I have a good memory, and my players have poor memories. So in my recap, I'll be like, "Oh, the evil captain's name is Tarnishia, like I told you during the game." And they'll be like, "Did you actually tell us that? I didn't think you did. Well, I guess..." And I'll be like, "Whew, now they think I'm a genius coming up with a name on the fly like that..."

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

So' date=' if the heroes are paying the orcs twice what the pirates paid them, and the pirates had been keeping them as slaves, the orcs are getting...carry the two...nothing?[/quote']

 

Did I mention that our heroes can be a little morally flexible, at times?

 

Actually, I'm not planning on running a game of Papers and Paycheques, so I'm just going to assume that the crew gets paid whatever the going rate is, and not make the players worry about accounting for every copper piece. Unless that's what they want, but I kinda doubt it...

[ghost-angel]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

I have a good memory' date=' and my players have poor memories. So in my recap, I'll be like, "Oh, the evil captain's name is Tarnishia, like I told you during the game." And they'll be like, "Did you actually tell us that? I didn't think you did. Well, I guess..." And I'll be like, "Whew, now they think I'm a genius coming up with a name on the fly like that..." [/quote']

 

Actually... you get all kinds of details wrong in the recaps (especially with who said what) - but you also have a great sense of story-flair, so it all works out in the end anyways.

[Cardinal]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Actually... you get all kinds of details wrong in the recaps (especially with who said what) - but you also have a great sense of story-flair' date=' so it all works out in the end anyways.[/quote']

 

Why let facts get in the way of a good story.

[Deadskinmask]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Why let facts get in the way of a good story.

 

So in other words, you will just make it sound better in the recap than what actually happened, and whatever we do in the game session doesn't matter? Can we get extra xp for doing better in the recap than we did in the session?

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

"Suddenly, Paxton fell off the edge of the cliff and died." Everyone else gets an extra 200 XPs.

 

Yeah, that works for me if it works for you.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Heh, most, if not all Bunneh's missed details are who said what, or who performed what specific action. All the appropriate and import in-session happenings are there.

 

He also adds in names during the write-ups, which is nice.

[Deadskinmask]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

First off, I am pretty sure I wasn't near that cliff, or I was at least at a reasonably safe distance with a least 2-3 party members between us. And besides if I am worth 1600 xp, you have just put a price on my head! (within my own party) However the only one I am really worried about is Brontus... and he is Good now.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

The Troubleshooters took their new ship out for a test run, hunting for the evil captain Drudge, and they got ambushed by a couple of pirate scout ships!

 

This is the setup at the beginning of the fight. Two small ships flanked the Burning Log and prepared to board her...

 

...But the Troubleshooters had other ideas! They turned it around and boarded one of the pirates ships! Here's Paxton, Rody, and Alix gettin' all up in the pirates' grizzills.

 

On the other side of the ship, the Ogre captain charged at Brontus (who was learning how to be a helmsman). Meanwhile, Justine has some unwanted company when a couple of pirate grunts thought she'd make excellent slave material. Turned out, they were mistaken.

 

Once the pirate captain was dead, Brontus boarded the other ship and taught the ship's wizard a lesson he would not soon forget!

 

Berrian tossed out an "Orbmaster's Incendiary Detonation" spell to clear the decks of the enemy ship.

 

The few surviving pirates surrendered about that point...

[matrix3]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Woo! More!

[Lonewalker]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

I had no idea you were taking pix of the combat, Wabbit.

 

Makes for a nice touch! Excellent!

 

 

Lonewalker

[ghost-angel]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

It appears he set the board up and took them later, as at least we'd be partially visible in the top shot. Which is a good idea, since it won't interrupt the flow - and that combat was uncharacteristically slow.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Yep, I actually re-setup the board after alls y'alls left and took the shots while the combat was still fresh in my noggin.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Recap for 02-06-2010

The heroes managed to recruit a number of sailors to crew the Burning Log, from a variety of places, and so they set out on their quest – to find and kill Cap’n Drudge of the Skallywag. Unfortunately, the “find” part of the mission was a little bit nebulous at the moment. Where is his fleet, and how could they get to it?

 

The heroes split up to do a little asking around, and they discovered something very interesting. They learned that the Addertongue pirates have a mobile “sky-base” somewhere in the area. The location is a guarded secret, but the Troubleshooters managed to suss out some pertinent facts. The first is that the sky-base is guarded by a fleet of smaller scout ships, who constantly patrol the area for intruders. The ship moves around from place to place, never staying for long in one area. The pirates follow the trade routes so they can prey on wealthy merchants.

 

They also learned that Drudge is not in the good graces of the leader of the pirates, because he has suffered a number of humiliating defeats recently. Drudge, in turn, is mad at his underling Tarnishia, who lost her ship to the heroes! She’s been trying to get back into his good graces by ambushing and killing the heroes, but that’s made more difficult because she’s trying to keep her head down so Drudge doesn’t find her.

 

Finally, Alix spoke with a drunken sailor who claimed to be on the crew of one of the Sky-Base’s scout ships. He stupidly revealed the current location of the ship, but told her that it wouldn’t be staying in that spot for very long. So the heroes didn’t have much time to act! They organized their crew and set sail over the sea of Mist!

 

The Troubleshooters flew through the clouds, searching for the elusive base. But due to the thick cloud cover, it was nearly impossible to see anything, so they kept trudging along hoping to get lucky.

 

…When all of a sudden, two small ships came alongside them. “Avast!” The captain of one of the ships called out. “Heave to and prepare to be boarded!”

 

The heroes had no intention of heaving to or being boarded – instead they turned the tables and boarded one of the other ships! Paxton and Rody leapt across the gap and engaged the ferocious Ogre captain of one ship, backed up by Alix and Berrian. The other ship’s crew was a bit quicker, and managed to get aboard the Flaming Log. Brontus, Aester, and Hakkoz stepped up to meet them, engaging in bloody battle on the aft deck, while Justine fired off curses at them (and Clio played bodyguard for the acid-tongued warlock).

 

It was a tough fight, but even the hardened pirates were no match for the heroes. Brontus took one of the enemy spellcasters prisoner, and Aester questioned him about the whereabouts of the Sky-Base. He confirmed that it was nearby, and gave them a heading.

 

The Troubleshooters then formulated a daring plan. Once they found the Sky-Base, they would crash the Burning Log straight into it! In the confusion, they would board the base, find Captain Drudge, and kill him. Then they would escape in one of the small scout ships that they had just captured. It was a crazy plan, but it just might work!

 

TBC!

[matrix3]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Sounds like a plan my group would come up with. Tell us how it turns out.