adventure Arc 3: A Trick of the Night

[Durzan Malakim]

Here are some out-of-context teasers:

• Jack didn't bring enough to share with the rest of us
• "I'll leave my rifle in the car."
• "Reverse Malibu and Venice."
• "Killroy mentioned something about a gunfight."
• "Roll to see what would have happened."
• "90 miles an hour!"
• "I think I made him angry, Drew."
• "Why did he even bother with a shotgun?"

 

 

[King Red]

Yeah, I should have carried my sniper rifle with me because I am a sniper. My bad.

[Killer Shrike]

I thought it made sense and was justified in the situation. Don't let the haters get you down.

[Killer Shrike]

The Hunters:

         

 

Part 3: 

 

We resumed in the middle of the battle between the hunters and the three yuppy vampires from the end of Part 2.

 

  

 

• At the van, the dexterous vampire lunged across Jack in the driver's seat, reaching for Killroy in the passenger seat, in an attempt to get his dagger back. 
  • Killroy shot him in the forehead with his pistol, but as it was loaded with mundane bullets it failed to cause any harm, the bullet ricocheting harmlessly away. The vamp did not get the dagger, however.
  • Jack had stealthily palmed a holy water globule earlier in the fight, and took the opportunity to awkwardly cram it into the face of the vampire reaching across him. The globule burst and resulted in an immediate catalytic reaction, burning and melting the vampire's neck and face like hydrochloric acid would a human. 
  • With a shriek of rage and pain, badly disfigured and with one eye severely damaged, the dexterous vamp leapt backwards out of the van and ran away from the fight.
• Off to the side, though laid out on his back with Joey standing on his chest crowing and showing off, the superstrong vamp was not out of the fight yet.
  • He quickly grabbed Joey's ankles and flung himself upright with brute force, tossing Joey off to land on his back a few feet away, all in one abrupt moment. Joey's bragging cut off with a surprised squawk. 
  • Joey got up and took a big swing at his foe, but missed. 
  • The superstrong vamp stepped in with a boxer's confidence and unloaded a punishing triphammer jab to Joey's stomach, doubling the teen over with an "ooof!" of escaping air.
• In the wrecked government SUV, the tough vamp crouched on the passenger seat facing backwards towards the rear of the vehicle attempted to shoot Murgatroyd (who was in the back seat) in the face at basically point blank range.
  • Drew, still a little off-kilter from getting shot in his armored vest, managed to throw a beefy arm out to push the gun aside and deflect the shot into the passenger's seat headrest instead of Murgy's nonplussed face. Improbably, in the kerfuffle the magazine release of the pistol was also depressed and the clip slid out, bounced off the seat and ended up somewhere between the seat and the center console, out of reach.
  • The vamp was heard to say, "What the #*@! ", while attempting to pistol whip Drew with his now unloaded pistol.
  • Murgy attempted to return the point blank favor, aiming his arcane ring at the vamp, but still shaken from his near-death experience the wizard was unable to focus the necessary magical forces...the ring momentarily began to subtly glow but then flickered out. 
  • Despite the awkward firing position created by the ergonomics of the small space in the cabin of the SUV, him facing forward and seatbelted in, his target crouching facing backwards on the seat next to him, Drew still managed to shift his bulk sufficiently to get his pistol out and put a bullet into the vamp's noggin. It didn't penetrate, but it whiplashed the vamp's head and neck with the audible popping of vertebrae and caused some obvious discomfort. 
• Meanwhile, Joey continued to swing and miss his superstrong opponent, while in turn the vamp landed heavy golden gloves worthy hits...buying time for his regen to slowly begin to repair his damaged chest;
  • Killroy got out of the van. Not having enough time to unlimber his sniper rifle, he snapped a shot off at the superstrong vamp beating up Joey, but the bullet bounced.
  • After a couple of exchanges Joey got KO'd and dropped to the pavement.
  • Superstrong vamp picked up Joey, probably intent on kidnapping the unexpectedly powerful youth and perhaps take him back to his master for study. 
  • Killroy concentrated and shot the vamp again in the head, and though his mundane round again had little effect, the kinetic energy of Killroy's shot did manage to knock the vampire backwards and off his feet, causing the vamp to drop Joey's unconscious form. But, undeterred the vamp stood again and moved to pick up Joey once more.

• Jack calmly drew his pistol and swapped from mundane ammo to something a little more effective vs bloodsuckers, unbuckled himself, and exited the van.
• Seeing that Joey was in danger of being carted off, Murgy displayed a rare moment of selfless heroism, focusing his will and concentrating intensely he projected an intense beam of UV-enhanced eldritch energy out the window of the gov SUV...striking the superstrong vampire directly in the chest. At first a moment of unnatural silence seemed to descend on the battlefield as a subliminal tension mounted and a pulse of power visible to those with supernatural awareness surged from the agitated Murgatroyd down the path of his arcane beam, culminating in a massive eruption of heat as the surprised vampire rapidly overheated and burst into intense white-hot flame from within...in moments nothing was left but a man-sized pile of fine ash which collapsed into a charcoal effigy of a man, streamers of ash drifting away on the wind.
• The tough vampire, seeing the writing on the wall, bailed from the gov suv and leaped to Joey's unconscious form, apparently intent on completing his dead ally's attempt to steal away with the boy.
  • The vamp picked up Joey, but was pelted by a hail of bullets and an eldritch bolt. In the end Drew, having exited the ruined gov SUV, executed a flying tackle, taking the vamp out at the knees. 
• The vamp decided to cut and run, and extricating himself from Drew ran away. The fight ended.
• Joey regained consciousness while the "adults" stood around over him taking stock of the situation and deciding what to do next...
  • Drew wanted to split up and chase down both vampires, who had run away in different directions. The other Hunters were not keen on that idea.
  • There was some indecision about which vamp to have Joey track down. While the discussion was developing, the rapidly recovered Joey got bored so Jack told the young man to pick up the very badly burned remains of the super strong vampire and put them into the back of Jack's armored van.
  • Joey easily carried the corpse over to the van while the grown ups continued to argue in the middle of the street, opened the sliding side door and tossed the body in...then his sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a helicopter approaching.
  • Soon most of the other Hunters could hear the helicopter as well. Drew said "It's just Harker again" and kept trying to convince the rest of the group to go after the super tough vamp instead of the holy water scorched dodgy vamp.
• A military surplus helicopter with a decidedly illegal nose mounted minigun cleared some buildings and did an attack run down the middle of the street, tearing holes in the pavement as its nose gat spat bullets.
  • "WTF!" and similar exclamations of surprise were flung upon the wind as the Hunters all desperately dove for cover.
  • The oversized Killroy was unable to get out of the way and was stitched by several rounds; a combination of his armored trenchcoat and his stubborn durability saved him from certain death, but left him with several flesh wounds.
  • Jack took a glancing shot as well, leaving a bloody streak across one cheek.
  • Drew and Murgatroyd were unscathed.
  • Joey, still by the van, dove into the van and was unharmed...but the bullets probably would have bounced off his supernaturally resilient body anyway
• Joey jumped into the van's driver's seat and restarted the engine; moments later the van surged forward to close the distance to the Hunters picking themselves off the ground, as the helicopter was heard to be circling for another gun run.
  • "GET IN!!!", Joey shouted. Drew, Killroy, Murgatroyd, and Jack did not have to be told twice; they all piled in to the van wily nilly.
  • Joey stomped on the gas, and recklessly barrelled forward down the deserted side street...
  • The helicopter executed a strafing run from behind, the armored shell of the van barely managing to stop the bullets pelting the rear and roof of the heavy vehicle with pings and pops, leaving bullet shaped dents visible within the cabin. "She can't take much more of this!", Jack yelled, trying to hold himself steady by gripping a utility rack mounted to the van's inner wall.
  • "LET ME DRIVE!", Drew yelled over the din, and Joey slammed on the brakes...sending everyone lurching but having the benefit of causing the helicopter overhead to overshoot.
  • Joey and Drew changed places rapidly while Killroy finished breaking out his big rifle and boldly took up a firing position by leaning far out of the passenger's side window, his blood dripping down the door panels. "Hold my legs steady, kid", Killroy told Joey.
  • Drew snapped in and the van resumed its forward travel but in a much more confident fashion. The helicopter had managed to flip back around and started another gun run head on, basically playing chicken with the van down the long empty street.
  • Before the helicopter could open fire, Killroy...hanging half out the window very precariously, with Joey the only thing keeping him from falling out, scoped in and put a bullet unerringly through the windshield of the approaching helicopter and into the forehead of the pilot...instant killshot.
  • Unfortunately, this caused the helicopter to nose down and begin to crash...it would surely hit the van head on!
  • "HOLD ON!", Drew shouted, and pressed the gas pedal down as far as it would go. Joey forcibly yanked Killroy back into the vehicle, and everyone braced for impact.
  • But Drew's driving proved to be impressive once again, and he just managed to get under and past the helicopter as it crashed a few feet behind the van....the explosion knocked the back tires off the pavement and pushed the van forward abruptly and nearly flipped it, but Drew managed to steer out of it and get the vehicle stable again, then skidded off to resume pursuit of the runaway vampire...sparing only a single glance at the flaming pile of helicopter wreckage in the rearview mirror.
  • "Since when do vampires have attack helicopters?", Drew asked Jack over his shoulder. Jack shrugged.
• That was exciting, but a Hunter's job is never done. The gang resumed their search for the super tough vampire that had fled the scene, Drew still driving Jack's van, Joey tracking by scent by standing behind Drew in the back of the van, sliding door locked open, head stuck out the side of the van.
  • Via a series of zigs and zags, Joey navigated Drew around the maze of industrial and office buildings...and a few minutes later the van careened around a corner to illuminate the fleeing vampire limping down the street trying to get to a rare, lonely pay phone attached to the side of a brick building midway up the road (the vamp's cell phone had gotten smashed during the earlier battle).
  • Wasting no time, Drew propelled the van hurtling forward and whipped it around into a vicious drifting sideswipe that sent the vamp flying off the sidewalk and into a pile of trash stacked up by an overflowing dipsy dumpster.
  • Drew halted the van, and Hunters poured out to assault the hapless vampire in the shredded designer suit. Jack ended it by driving a stake through the vamp's heart, causing the undead to lock up into a rigid statue-like stasis. "YES! I DID IT! TAKE THAT BLOODSUCKER!!!" Jack crowed, taking out a cell phone and taking a selfie of himself posing in front of the vamp and emailing it to Harker.
    • "Um...I thought you were a veteran vampire slayer?", Drew commented.
    • "Oh, uh, yeah, I am. This is totally not my first staking.", Jack assured him.
    • "...k..."
  • Harker responded to Jack's text with a terse "good job...rtb"...i.e. return to base...the facility near Riverside.
  • Joey tossed the staked vamp into the back of the van next to the crispy vamp's corpse, and the crew piled back into the van to resume their journey.

 

The team relaxed as best they could for about an hour, as Drew continued to "drive with a purpose", making good time in the relatively light early A.M. traffic of L.A. County. Some side conversation between Hunters occurred, but for the most part people settled in for a drive.

 

• Jack's phone rang...it was Harker. Answering, Jack heard the distinct sound of automatic weapons fire and screaming in the background.
• "We're under attack!", Harker shouted into the phone so loudly almost all the Hunter's could hear it despite the phone not being on speaker. "The #$@$ing vamps and a bunch of mercs have penetrated the facility. Get here A.S.A.P.!"
• Jack said "OK!", and Harker hung up in the middle of a much louder series of gun reports.
• Drew grimaced and hauled ass, but knew there was no way they would get to riverside in time...they were still at least 45 minutes out. Drew glanced up and made eye contact with Murgatroyd in the back via the rearview mirror. "Fix this, wizard.", Drew commanded.
• Murgatroyd looked surprised to be directly tasked like that but got over it, nodded, and started digging through his travel notes trying to figure out away. He was coming up short, but then had a flash of insight...the teleportation room in the facility itself! He could attempt to open a portal using the teleportation room as the anchor for the other end! Looking back up he ordered, "Get off the freeway...find some place out of sight!".
• Drew wasted no time, and took the first exit. Finding an abandoned area beneath the overpass, he pulled over.
• Murgatroyd shared his plan, to open a gate to the t-port chamber in the facility, and everyone to cross through quickly, and then he'd let the gate collapse behind them. The van would have to be left behind...too big. Jack pulled everything useful out of the back and geared up. Joey grabbed the staked and barbecued vamp bodies, and everyone grouped up while Murgatroy'd sketched out a rough circle and star on the ground while mumbling various stanza's of a spell, making on the fly adjustments to suit the unusual circumstances. He directed everyone to stand in the middle of the circle.
• Murgatroyd's spell was true, and with a snap of eldritch energy, a shimmer formed around them and as quickly disappeared...leaving the team in the t-port chamber of the Riverside base! It worked!
• The sound of automatic weapons fire could be heard elsewhere in the building. Standing in front of the closed double doors exiting the chamber, was a surprised Special Agent Brooks...Harker's gofer. His pistol in his hand. Also in the room were the fresh corpses of two SWAT-geared tactical agents...both shot in the back of the head.

 

 

• Brooks got over his shock and said..."Thank goodness you're here! I was just about to teleport to Vegas for reinforcements!", he said.
• "What's going on here? We were told vamps are attacking? Where is Harker?", Drew pelted out.
• Brooks gave the exposition that a team of "a bunch of vamps" and "former sec force mercenaries" had assaulted the facility, somehow evading all the security protocols, and that the last time he had seen Harker was in the underground motor pool garage. "He sent me to teleport for back up", Brooks claimed.
• Jack took Brooks at face value, but Joey smelled the scent of fear and heard Brooks' heart skipping a beat...which made him intuitively think Brooks was lying. Drew, always suspicious, spotted subtle inconsistencies in Brooks' tale. Killroy's expert ballistic awareness had puzzled out that the two headshot corpses were likely shot from at or near Brooks' position. Murgatroyd was suspicious that Brooks, who gave no indication of being a spellcaster, would be able to operate the t-port circle in the first place.
• Collectively realizing that Brooks is a traitor, Joey, Killroy, and Drew surged forward to incapacitate Brooks. Drew got his gun away, Killroy and Joey battered him. Not understanding what was going on, Jack lurched forward and punched Drew in the face. "Brooks is a traitor, idiot!", Murgatroyd called out, holding well back from the altercation.
• To the Hunters' surprise, it turned out that Brooks was not a normie...he's a "special talent", as Section M refers to its supernatural Agents. Possessed of some kind of weird bio-energy field, he proved to be extremely difficult to injure and even pulsed out a bubble of disruptive energy at one point that numbed and briefly semi-paralyzed most of the Hunters. But despite this curveball he was badly outmatched by the Hunters and was soon wrestled down.
• At some point in the altercation with the traitorous Brooks, the sounds of a firefight outside of the room escalated. Killroy opened up one of the doors to peek out and do a threat assessment...outside the room a clutch of tactical agents were fighting a losing battle with a team of heavily armed mercenaries and several vampires...including two particularly monstrous looking ones. 

 

 

• Getting a quick tactical read on the situation, Killroy dropped back from the doorway, sprawled out prone in the middle of the room, and set up his sniper rifle to project shots into the corridor beyond the t-port chamber. 
• One of the mercs with an assault rifle noticed the opened door and fired a burst through it into Joey, who was still helping to subdue Brooks. The bullets ricocheted harmlessly off of the supernatural teen, but got his attention.
• Another merc threw a grenade, which bounced around and landed roughly in the middle of the Hunters...a nice little kill radius.
  • Thinking fast, Drew snapped a shot off with his pistol and improbably rather than explode the grenade was deflected by the bullet like a billiard ball and bounced down the hallway to land at the feet of one of the monstrous vampires menacing the last few surviving tactical agents. The grenade detonated, injuring, aggravating, and getting the undivided attention of the frightening vampire.
• "Go deal with those mercs!", Drew barked at Joey, still wrasslin with Brooks.
  • Joey unslung his shotgun and boldly strode out into the middle of the corridor, fully exposed to the mercs and vamps; he shotgunned the merc who had shot him, shredding flesh and ragdolling the human back into a wall to slump broken and bloodied. 
  • The other mercs, seeing this apparently suicidal young man pull such a stunt, turned their attention to him and a unloaded a lot of ammo into Joey's slim frame, but other than shredding his already badly abused clothing their mundane weapons had no effect.
  • Joey returned fire, shotgunning one merc after another. 
• Killroy took a shot past Joey down the long corridor, splattering one of the lesser vamps before it could finish off one of the FBI tactical agents. 
• The monstrous vampire who had gotten grenaded hurled himself down the corridor at Joey but somehow missed and was carried into the t-port chamber by her own momentum. 
• Murgatroyd, hovering somewhat anxiously towards the rear of the t-port chamber, was somewhat alarmed by the frightening vamp that was now in close proximity to him, but held himself together and unleashed a lance of energy from his blasting ring, which singed the vamp and angered her further...great, another extra durable vamp.
• Meanwhile Special Agent Matthews and the Hunter Baretta Colt had holed up in room further into the facility after intense fighting during the earlier stages of the assault; Matthews had gotten shot in the thigh, and Baretta had applied first aid to keep him in the fight. Hearing the boom of Killroy's big gun and guessing her allies from earlier in the night had joined the fight, Baretta made a tactical decision to leave the temporary safety of the room they were hiding in and press onward. Matthews agreed but insisted on coming with her...she helped him to his feet and provided a strong shoulder to help him limp along. Guns at the ready, the ad hoc duo crept through the hallways in search of things to shoot.

 

 

• The main fight had turned into a wild melee at this point, Jack got into the fight in earnest, demonstrating that he is indeed good at fighting vampires. Joey demonstrated that he's good at killing normal humans who lack the means to hurt him, Murgatroyd demonstrated he's good at mincing around and taking pot shots, Killroy demonstrated that he's good at killing things from far away, and Drew demonstrated that he's able to adapt to nearly any situation and do what is necessary in the moment. 
• Baretta and Matthews, having dealt with a couple of minor vampires, rounded a corner and entered the main fight from the far side from the t-port chamber. Matthews moved to assist the last two surviving tactical agents, one of which was being fed on by a lesser vamps. 
• Baretta took aim and exploded the head of the female scary vamp with a volley of highly accurate pistol shots. The other scary vamp, seeing this, lost their sanity and rushed Baretta at high speed, crossing the length of the corridor in a blur; latching on the vamp began to feed on her.
• A couple new lesser vamps joined the fight and jumped Matthews who was trying to finish off the lesser vamp he had attacked...the trio of lesser vamps bore him to the ground and began to feed on him. 
• Finally getting Brooks under control, Drew cuffed the traitorous agent arm and leg to the two corpses of the dead agents Brooks had shot in the head. "You don't understand! They MADE me do it!", Brooks pleaded. Drew stuffed a dirty sock from one of the corpses in the traitor's mouth to shut him up.
• An invisible (or just very sneaky?) vampire materialized in the t-port chamber and menaced Murgatroyd and Killroy, but the sniper revealed that he also is pretty good in a brawl, and with Jack's assistance he fended off the vamp. 

 

 

• Joey was finishing up the mercs, and Drew joined in. Jack, seeing Baretta and Matthews getting fed on, bravely ran down the hall and was just about to stake the vamp feeding on Baretta when another big boom of Killroy's rifle was heard and the vampire's torso simply exploded in a gooey burst of blood and viscera. Baretta and Jack worked together to save Special Agent Matthews, who was still getting fed upon.
• Seeing how that the fight was lost, the sneaky vamp disappeared and (apparently) fled the scene.
• The Hunters regrouped. Special Agent Matthews was in bad shape, but alive. He and Baretta provided some exposition on the current situation, and confirmed that as far as they knew Harker was last seen in the underground motor pool. 

 

The store was closing so we had to stop before closing out Act 2. Steve got 5 XP to apply to Baretta for his combined work of piloting Joey (Scything was unable to play) and Baretta and helping me track some of the combat details over the course of the night (I was operating on almost no sleep and not at full mental capacity, particularly as the evening wore on).

 

Killroy got 3 XP; everyone else got 4 XP.  Murgatroyd was voted MVP. No XP can be spent between this session and the next.

 

@Steve@Durzan Malakim@WilyQ@Scything@L0rd_Magg0t@King Red

 

 

<< Part 2 ... Part 4 >>

[Scything]

Awesome session, wish I was there.

[Killer Shrike]

Dramatis Personae   SAIC Harker Section M Badass GM Baretta Colt Hunter (Professional) Steve Special Agent Matthews Section M Steve Agent Ethan Brooks Section M Scything Marcus Elder Vampire GM Julietta Elder Vampire Durzan Julian Elder Vampire King Red Marian McKrael Redcap Lord Maggot Rollo Fjor Trollkin WilyQ Antonio Aguilar Black Wizard WilyQ

 

Part 4: 

 

We went a bit backwards in time and played out the assault on the Section M Riverside facility prior to the other Hunters timely arrival from the perspective of the bad guys and Baretta Colt. Steve played Baretta (his player character) and each of the players took on one or two NPC's.

 

The scene opens with Agent Ethan Brooks opening a hidden escape hatch connected to the facility and allowing the elder vampires Marcus, Julietta, and Julian along with several fireteams of mercenaries to enter the base. It is revealed, via Marcus handing Agent Brooks one of his mother's fingers wrapped in a handkerchief as a goad, that the hapless Agent Brooks was being coerced into betraying Section M.

 

Agent Brooks took Marcus and company through the escape hatch and down a long corridor and into the base proper. Most of the mercs began to infiltrate the base, but Brooks, the vampires, and one of the mercs took an elevator down to the cellblock floor where dangerous supernaturals are held pending disposition. 

 

An tactical agent at a guard station hailed the Agent Brooks when the elevator door opened and demanded an explanation. Brooks drew his pistol and shot the man dead. 

 

Marcus had a list of prisoners he wanted to free...the Redcap Marian McKrael, the Black Wizard Antonio Aguilar, and the infamous Kommer Aska terrorist (and Trollkin) Rollo Fjor. He made the same offer to them in turn...each wants / needs something locked up in the facilities Vault and so does he...he would free them if they agreed to help bust into the Vault...each would get what they want and then go their own way. All three took him up on the offer (though Marian can't recall what might be in the Vault that would matter to her, the idea of getting out of jail was a good enough reason to go along with the scheme). 

 

Julian and Julietta had a slightly different agenda than Marcus, and roamed the cellblock looking for Slip, whom they believe to be held somewhere in the base as they were fooled by SAIC Harker's ruse. Slip, actually being dead, was of course not in any of the cells.

 

On the way out, Rollo field stripped the dead guard, taking his vest and armaments. Marian decided to make a light snack out of the corpse, chomping the poor guys arm off...Marcus rushed them to the elevator before she could really dig in. 

 

Meanwhile, Baretta arrived at the base in Slip's luxury electrical vehicle, and was met in the underground motor pool / garage by Special Agent Matthews who informed her that SAIC Harker was en route via helicopter and would arrive soon. The too decided to remain in the garage making small talk, awaiting Harker's return.

 

Matthews found it necessary to speak sternly to one of the tactical officers (Larry), who had suffered a lapse in professional bearing in the presence of the titillating appearance of Baretta Colt. Harker arrived shortly thereafter. Upon joining the conversation, Harker immediately started giving Matthews a hard time and insisted that he call up his mechanics despite it being almost 4am and get them to work stripping Slip's car down. With Matthews off trying to wake up the relevant people via phone, Harker had a uncharacteristically jolly conversation with Baretta. 

 

Meanwhile, deeper in the base, the villains of the piece ....

 

< more to come as time allows >

 

 

<< Part 3