death tribble

Onto the fourth book of the Hell's Rebels adventure path : While the Great and Good of Kintargo were about to be the stars of the Ruby Massacre, the bulk of Thrune’s forces were launching raids on the rest of the city. The entire city is on lockdown - every district with the exception of Old Kintargo has a heavy boot on its neck. Fortunately one of our safehouses is close enough for us to reach from the Opera House. And if the rebellion can hold Old Kintargo and keep money coming in, we can hold it indefinitely. 
 
Of course Thrune has put out his own version of events - he denies he was ever at the Opera House. And there might be some questions circulating regarding our version of Nox, if the real Nox was hauled out onto the stage on the night of the Masquerade. That, however, is easily dealt with.
 
Rebellion Rumourmongers: Really. The ‘real’ Nox. After Thrune had a small army of disguised fiends in the audience. AND a body double because he’s too much of a coward to show up in person. And we’re supposed to believe that was the ‘real’ Nox.
 
It’s hardly the best time to be bringing a child into the world, but Civilla’s friend Shimza is expecting. 
 
Ayva: Congratulations! Who’s the father?
Civilla: That would be me.
All: …
Ayva: I have questions.
Civilla: So do I - such as ‘What is a second generation Changeling going to be like?’
 
Thrune has released three new Proclamations onto the city. And a dragon. 
 
Ayva: I’m sorry, let’s focus on that one, shall we, because I couldn’t give a flying f*** about the proclamations.
 
Rivozair is a blue dragon who has menaced the Chelish city of Kintargo off and on for decades. She is most famous for losing the last battle against the city's Silver Ravens before House Thrune reclaimed the city in 4640 AR. in fact everybody was pretty sure she was dead.
 
Civilla suggests we find out whatever the dragon wants most, and bribe her loyalty away from Thrune. It’s a known problem when you try and use a weapon that’s also superintelligent. Unfortunately Thrune has also thought of that and had Rivozair devil-bound. That confirms the rumour that a blue dragon with a pentagram carved into its chest was seen on the roof of the Opera House.
 
Rajira: So we just have to remove her flight capabilities and kill her.
Ayva: I don’t think I have a net big enough.
 
Proclamation the Eleventh—Bleakbridge Closure:
“With the uprise in rebel activity, it pains my heart to issue the closure of Bleakbridge to all but official traffic, yet such steps are necessary to ensure your protection! The Silver Ravens must not be allowed free access across the Yolubilis, and until you aid in their defeat, Bleakbridge shall remain closed and under guard.” 

Proclamation the Twelfth—Public Religion: 
“Public worship of any deity other than Lord Asmodeus, Savior of Cheliax, Master of Humanity, is hereby forbidden. All works of art and artifice bearing the likenesses or symbols of the lesser faiths must be turned over to the dottari. Worship of Zon-Kuthon, Abadar, and Shelyn may continue only within the walls of their respective temples. Noncompliance shall be met with the strictest of correctional steps.” 

Proclamation the Thirteenth—Outlawing of the Silver Ravens: 
“The destructive and ruinous anarchists known as the Silver Ravens are hereby proscribed, and until their leaders surrender or are captured, all Silver Raven sympathizers must disavow support of this extremist group, lest they be faced with fines, imprisonment, and excruciation!”
 
Of course the Wanted Posters are mostly blank, since he has no idea who has actually been causing him all these problems - for that matter we’re the Ghosts of Kintargo not the Silver Ravens - and even if they try to ID us from our costumes at the Masquerade they’re not going to get anywhere since most of the costumes were magical creations anyway. At least we have options. Such as ensuring any blackshirts or Dottari that come into Old Kintargo don’t get out alive. Retaking the Bleakbridge would also prove a point, although Thrune does have air superiority in the form of that bloody dragon. 
 
Ayva’s player: At least we didn’t kill the main bad guy in the first week - we’ve done that before.
Civilla’s player: True.
Terzo’s player: At least Barzillai Thrune is a competent villain.
Civilla’s player: That’s a low bar. It’s such a low bar that it’s a tripping hazard in Hell. 
 
Every day Thrune sends out his troops and minions to terrorise the citizenry. If we’re going to defang him we’d better retake the rest of the city as quickly as possible, before he can organise additional reprisals. There’s only so many people in Kintargo and we can’t afford to lose many. 
 
Molly Mayapple, one of our contacts on Vyre Island, arrived in Kintargo on the night of the Masquerade, and was on her way to find us when one of Thrune’s Erinyes identified her as someone sufficiently Good to be a target. It’s fortunate for the 81-year-old halfling that she’s absolutely lethal with her hand crossbow. 
 
The ‘rebel sympathizers’ that get doghoused the next day are less fortunate, although we managed to get a warning to half of them before the Dottari kicked their doors in. And the day after that the barricades around Old Kintargo get stormed. The militia get kicked back, but there are still casualties. Worse, the blue dragon torches a building full of suspected sympathizers. On the other hand, we completely thwart one of Thrune’s attempted reprisals. He responds by keeping more blackshirts out on the streets, not that it matters to us because half his blackshirts are secretly on our side.
 
And that respite gives us time to get Shensen de-petrified. She’s certainly a welcome face at the next meeting of the Ghosts of Kintargo. She’s brought along a friend - Chuko 'Sharp Beak and Hooks' a tengu who runs a weapon shop for adventurers. The Rose of Kintargo, actual professional rebel and cultist of Milani, was supposed to be at the meeting, but never arrived. Worrying. Also worrying is the news Molly Mayapple brought us - Thrune has hired the Skinsaw Cult, murderously insane one and all, to keep people off the streets. 
 
There’s also some surprise reveals that wouldn’t be out of place in one of Kintargo’s more histrionic operas - three of the real Silver Ravens are still alive. Jackdaw is a prisoner of Thrune. The other two are Shensen and Jilia Bainilus.
 
Terzo: THe F***?!?!?!
 
But now that the rebellion has gone overt, we suddenly have a whole bunch of new problems requiring our immediate attention. This includes Shensen’s urgent request that we secure the Opera House. Because there’s a ritual the Silver Ravens invented - a Song of Silver that infuses potent magical effects into both the city and the Silver Ravens themselves. The sheet music and material ritual components for the spell are contained within the opera house, within a vault that even Barzillai could not penetrate. However, to stop the House of Thrune from gaining control over the spell when Kintargo finally fell to Chelaxian forces, all members bar Jackdaw had the lyrics of the song, a key component of the spell, magically wiped from their minds before going underground. The other Silver Ravens assumed Jackdaw had died in 4640AR, but Jilia and Shensen's discovery of Jackdaw's survival gave them short-lived hope - which Barzillai crushed with vampirism and petrification, respectively.
 
And, of course, we should find out what happened to Hetamon Haace, the Rose of Kintargo. Some tactical advice from a devotee of the Goddess of Rebellion wouldn’t go astray right now.
 
At least we know there’s a back entrance to the Kintargo Records Hall where his inquisitors toil to rewrite Kintargo’s history, and where many important public records have presumably been hidden - we might finally figure out why Thrune has gone to this incredible amount of effort to control what is honestly a not very important city on the edge of the Chellish empire.
 
And of course there’s the Skinsaw Cult. And rescuing Jackdaw from beneath Kintargo Keep. And the Bleakbridge Blockade. At least we have an ‘in’ there - Chuko’s younger brother Ravzee and Ravzee’s gang, the River Talons have been hired by the soldiers there as enforcers. They should be much easier to turn to our side than Rivozair the Blue Dragon.
 
Speaking of whom, we have a potential way to deny Thrune air superiority - have Civilla summon an Air Elemental or a Couatl to keep the dragon constantly engaged in dogfights over the city - the more time Rivozair wastes on that, the fewer buildings (and their occupants) are going to be burned to the ground. We can probably afford to summon either, although Couatls tend to be cheaper since they’re Good-aligned and less likely to charge a ‘help help help save us from this dragon’ premium.
 
Terzo: And since we have actual Silver Ravens here, we can ask them how they beat her last time. 
Civilla: Probably because they had all the Silver Ravens. It’s not that difficult to defeat a dragon, if you can get enough destructive potential in one spot.
 

Eddison has built his new riverside eatery ‘The Drowned Carp’, incorporating enough living timber into the building to assuage the local druids. 
 
Eddison: I’ll have this paid off in about 1 and a half years.
Gonno OoC: Or we can just go mug an adventurer.
 
Other construction around town includes greenhouses to provide fresh greens out of season, and a second story on Gonno’s cottage. Of course, as a master carpenter he prefabricated everything he’d need and assembled most of it during a spell of nice weather. His rival, no doubt sick with jealousy every time he looks out his window, is unlikely to be that well-prepared. Especially since the winter, when it comes, is a harsh one.
 
Nobody goes outside if they can help it, which makes the alarm bell at the town gate quite a surprise for everybody.
 
Skave: I’m going to go stop whatever is making that noise - I have sensitive ears you know.
 
The bell is still swinging when we get to the gate, but there's nobody on the palisade. And there’s screaming coming from the nearest house. A misshapen and hideous humanoid with an overly large arm and halberd is trying to cart off one of Arram’s students. That one we curbstomp promptly, but the one in the next room has a crossbow. The bolt lodges in the wall, but only after it’s gone right through Gonno’s chest and out the other side. And there are two further Ogrekin in the building. The man of the house has been comprehensively butchered - the woman of the house is not that lucky. At least these monsters are stupid enough to be staying in town long enough to attempt that rather than immediately retreating with their captives. Hopefully we can exterminate them all promptly. Arram incinerates two of them.
 
Skave: Young, Dumb, and Full of Mutations.
 
Gonno uses some of his growing monk powers (that he does not, in fact, realise he has) to race around the building to the back door - and discovers there’s a two-story tall ogre outside Selversgard’s gate. Gonno might not be the most loquatious of people, but happily this can be summed up with two sylables.
 
Gonno: GIANT!!!!
 
The remaining Ogrekin is annoyed that it can’t escape with the little girl it has seized, and runs Gonno through the chest AGAIN. Skave throws him a healing potion and Gonno knees the Ogrekin in the fork.
 
Luckily for us, the really big ogre is heading away from the village. Miya and Arram deal with it, while Skave and Gonno whittle the Ogrekin down to Dead. Unfortunately the Istven brothers in the next building are dead, and their wives are missing.
 
Miya: Where the hell are the militia?
 
The militia on the palisade are probably dead, given the amount of blood dripping down the wall. The missing heads are certainly a factor in that conclusion. We inform the next lot of villagers what’s happened and head off in pursuit of the orgekin’s raiding party. Hopefully Kragor and the rest of the militia can deal with any other monsters still lingering around town. Miya transforms into her fox form and scouts ahead of us - the giant ogre has shrunk back to normal ogre size. Further on, the ogre camp is disgustingly slovenly - at least they’re theoretically easy to follow in the snow. But it appears they had improvised a bridge across a ravine and destroyed it as they retreated. The raging winter torrent is going to be a problem too. Arram improvises a bridge using Web and random debris. 
 
The ogres seem to have gathered on top of a hill, following a spiral path up to a grotto. Their captives are alive, but one of the ogrekin is dead and hanging mutilated from chains. Gonno has some alarming thoughts about that Kyton we sent off into the Cinderlands. The Ogre priest (no doubt the same one that Enlarged the orge earlier) is sitting bloody-handed on a rough-hewn throne. Skave provides a Blur potion for the party’s melee specialist (if Gonno was a spell caster his favorite spell would be Fist) and the rest of the party provide ranged support. Happily, Arram Blinds the priest and another with his first spell. That’s good news for Gonno, who otherwise might have to run forward into combat with four ogres, one of them a magic-user. 
 
The priest uses his own throne as cover and starts casting spells on himself, and the third fumbles blindly for a potion, as the fourth Ogre nearly impales Gonno AGAIN.  It then attacks in person, and gets Arram To The Face. Gonno doesn’t even need to counterattack as it’s reduced to a flaming skeleton. 
 
Skave(OOC): I love the sound of someone rolling 8d4.
Arram(OOC): *9*d4. 
 
The one fumbling for a potion takes a deep swig and keels over dead, since it grabbed the flask of Poison instead of Cure Moderate Wounds. We converge on the priest, while Skave continues to snipe from well back. 
 
Miya OoC: PLEASE DON’T CRIT FAIL. Shooting your friends in the back is only funny in anime and slapstick cartoons.

The priest had been casting Divine Favour, and nearly cuts Gonno in half with a great sword. Our own attacks are much less efficient. At least they add up to enough to finish it off, eventually.
 
GM: One of these days you’ll do some real damage. One of these days you’ll be a Real Boy!
 
It would appear the priest HAD given orders that the ogres were to grab captives and immediately return - the mutilated ogre is one that wasted time amusing himself with a captive militiawoman. She is in a bad way, and will require a lot of counseling once we get her back to town. At least that ogre, and the others, won’t be harming anybody else again. And our immediate pursuit of the monsters means we got all the captives home alive. 
 
The next incident that will require our intervention won’t be until the height of summer, in the month of Erastus. Quite an important month around Selversgard, given how many worshippers of the Elk Father live in the area. But until then there are only minor personal issues to worry about - the oddest of which is one of Eddison’s cousins apparently trying to track him down. At least Gonno should be more effective in combat the next time he has to be - a Monk of Irori that was passing through town to inspect Miya's dojo heard about some of the excitement, watched Gonno sanding and planing timber, and talked him into trading his padded armour for some old monk robes. This, apparently, was the height of comedy, but the monk didn't explain the joke.
 

It's certainly been a very eventful evening at the Kintargo Opera House, what with Lord-Mayor Barzillai Thrune's attempt to murder hundreds of civilians and blame the Ghosts of Kintargo. To our profound relief, we've actually managed to kill most of the devils he was going to use, and the civilians trying to flee can all turn around and watch as we finish off the ones we now outnumber. Although it's probably just as well we're all still in our Masquerade costumes - we don't want to make it TOO easy for the authorities to hunt us down when they inevitably retaliate.
 
The Bone Devil dives to the relative safety of the floor, despite the fact it’s crawling with highly motivated adventurers - and cops Ankylosaur To The Face AGAIN as the dinosaur cosplays as Anguirus. Ayva makes a mental note for the future opera’s stage directions, to suitably represent a Bone Devil’s head getting exploded like a watermelon and its remains crashing into the orchestra pit. For that matter the small part of Terzo’s brain that wasn’t preoccupied by terror and the fact he nearly just died in the last five minutes is certainly complaining that the opera about the rebellion needs some original arias, not whatever old ones he came up with on the fly. Obviously, the opera will have to have Nox as the main character. An entire (completely fictional) redemption arc, invented scenes between her and Thrune, and dramatic reveals. Plus half of it is already set at the opera house.
 
Terzo: I imagine the authorities in Cheliax will be rather confused as they study the libretto. I look forward to it being banned - Just means more sales elsewhere. Might need to consult a cleric of Sarenrae to make the character redemption believable.
 
Painted Nox finishes off the intoxicated Dotarri.
 
Dotarri: Is that Nox? She looks …. Attractive?
Painted Nox: *poleaxe*
Dotarri: ****!
 
Rajira slashes up the already dazed, prone and bleeding Erinyes, and adds a few more Status Effects to give her a Very Bad Day. Chough ensures it’s the devil’s last day by tearing her open like a cheap dog toy and wearing her lungs as a hat. 
 
Looking around we discover to our surprise that we’re all still alive, albeit rather battered. Ayva is in the odd position of wanting to hug the ball of fire, but then Shimza’s healing flames are rather odd. At least that, and the flying ankylosaur, will ensure some rumours that the Ghosts of Kintargo have a dragon on their side. It’s true, too, although Vendelfek is hardly as deadly as the rapidly spinning Ornithischian.
 
We have Painted Nox carry ‘Thrune’s’ body to the Opera House doors, after Terzo hurriedly feeds her speech based on the final scene of The Red Tyrant. He’ll have to rewrite that for his eventual opera about recent events in Kintargo - he doesn’t want to be accused of plagiarism.
 
Rajira uses the window we threw the real Nox through to sing her aria from Huntress of Heroes, a piece she was due to perform prior to Thrune closing the opera house (and, additionally, petrified Shensen, star of Kintargo opera). Her roll comes out to 41. It’s quite possibly the most sublime performance the Opera House has ever seen. Everybody within earshot, probably including some of the Dotarri, are now dedicated to the rebellion. As news spreads, we’ll have well over 10% of Kintargo on our side.
 
Civilla’s inhumanly sneaky homunculus Luster explores the Opera House basement while Ayva hurries off to deal with the petrified Shensen while all this is going on - the rest of us can fly off on the Ankylosaur if we have to, although that might be rather conspicuous. Luster finds a vault, and a very creepy coffin.  If we move the coffin and Shensen to the bottom of the pond in Aria Park using the grotto connecting the two, we can have one of our teams move them to one of our safehouses later. If that coffin DOES contain the vampire we speculated was feeding on Thrune, there’s quite a few precautions we’ll need to take, but we do have some options to turn it human again regardless.
 
Painted Nox returns with Thrune’s body. 
 
Painted Nox: It’s a fake.
Civilla: … it’s Cizmerkis, isn’t it.
Avya: What, really?
Terzo: I’m sorry, who’s Cizmerkis?
Civilla: …Ah… er… I’ll explain later. Business Associate.
 
There are certainly some aspects of the contract that Civilla will have to consider, if Cizmerkis actually suffered True Death. Another thing she might want to consult an actual lawyer about - preferably one of the Inevitables, immortal creatures of pure Law. If Cizmerkis was Summoned as a Greater Planar Ally and Polymorphed for this entire trap, then he’s stuck as a corpse until the spells wear off.
 
Avya: Shimza saved our lives today. Cure Moderate Wounds would not have cut it.
Civilla: I’ll say. “Where’s your healer?’ ‘Up in the rafters’ “Oh dear’ ‘Directing the Flaming Ball of Healing’ ‘ I'm sorry, what?”.
 
We’ve also earned enough XP from this evening to level up TWICE.
 
Once we get that casket somewhere safe, we unseal it - after Civilla casts Daylight. Inside is a very surprised Jilia Bainilus, and she is, indeed, a vampire. So that’s what happened to the missing former Mayor.
 
Civilla: *holds up a Elixir of True Resurrection* I have a cure.
 
Jilia seems very much in favour of that even as her new vampire abilities try to Dominate us. We seal her up again, move her out into the sunlight, open it up to burn her to dust, and pour on the potion. The restored Mayor is understandably rather annoyed with Thrune and his allies. She’s not the only one - hundreds of the most influential people in Kintargo now want Thrune’s head on a spike.
 
Rajira: They probably wanted his head on a spike already, just on general principles. Now they REALLY want it.
 

Pathfinder : Chronicles  of Selversgard pt.16
 
In which the party encounter their most vicious opponent yet - small town politics
 
We never actually confirm WHY that werewolf woman in the isolated cottage was involved in giving that Hellknight unwanted body-hair. Maybe she was lonely. But the involvement of that Kyton was enough reason for us to get home as fast as possible and barricade the doors. But the next six months are uneventful, at least in terms of artistic dismemberment.
 
Eddison enjoys the peace and quiet. Arram, on the other hand, needs to make some marriage arrangements in a hurry. Apparently the apothecary was out of prophylactic tea - but then, given the epidemic that ran through the Ysoki warren, Skave was probably busy with that. Too late to save one of his infant children, alas. The new sewer system the Ysoki have installed under Selversgard should have helped to prevent a more severe outbreak, at least.
 
Galiante has arranged a two-week get-away at Shev’s hunting lodge way outside Selversgard, mostly as a break from their own kids.
 
On the other hand, yet more tunnels have been discovered under the town. They’re flooded, which is unsurprising given the local water table, but you do have to wonder exactly how much is buried under the town. Eddison hopes nobody remembers he’s an aquatic elf. The next council meeting discusses the issue, among more mundane matters. As usual, the current mayor hasn’t actually bothered to show up, but his second is up to the task. Some of the issues have been brought up at every meeting for the last five years, but that wouldn’t surprise anybody who has ever been on a committee.
 
Eddison, Miya and Arram are actually in attendance when Halvari Ajeri, the representative of the Fishermens Guild, keels over dead.  Nobody seems to be leaving the room surreptitiously. Admittedly he wasn’t a young man, but Miya notes that one of the late councilmember’s eyes has a wildly blown-out pupil. Mother Maybell diagnoses a stroke.
 
Mother Maybell: What can I say? It was his time - he’s with the Goddess now.
Miya: I take it the meeting is adjourned?
 
They fetch some linen, and Eddison transports the body on a Floating Disc. At least the funeral will be tomorrow.
 
Eddison: So we don't have to put him in the river to keep.
 
Eddison takes the opportunity to talk to the head of the Militia, who’s been pushing for an expanded militia for years. Eddison sympathises - he wants to expand the entire town. 
 
Eddison: Why not establish a Town Guard? Only a few people, but that’ll be a separate budget item!
 
Plus there’s a vacancy on the council now. There’s going to have to be an election. Of course, only current members of the council can actually approve new members. No wonder nothing significant has changed in Selversgard for the last few decades.
 
Eddison: Speaking as an elf, this is a recipe for stagnation.
 
The Council can be divided more or less into two factions, traditionalists and progressives. Gelvert  (usually represented by his son Gelbert), the late Helvari Ajeri, and Killane Shellsdotter are solidly traditionalist and see little advantage in changing a winning formula. Blake and Kregor both want to see more manufacturing and artificing come to Selversgard, enabling the sale of more finished goods and not just raw lumber, and they have the support of Vandruber and the Eastlake Company. Kregor also wants to upgrade his men's kit - get proper longbows and better armour, maybe even some of those newfangled gunpowder weapons, but he never gets the budget. Knobroc, when present, tends to side with them, but he was elected to counter the Fishermen’s Guild. Silas of the Green has surprised a few people by supporting some of the progressive proposals, though never when it comes to the possibility of expanding the town.
 
Helvari’s son Aldo naturally assumes he’ll inherit the position as guildmaster and councilmember. He’s a good man in an emergency, but when given the luxury of time tends to agree with whoever talked to him last. But Skiri Olafsdottir, head of Olaf and Family Boatwrights, also put her hand up, and has significant support. She’s certainly more determined than Aldo.
 
Miya: Willing to compromise, but would prefer not to.
 
Miya’s husband Falx is not on the council already, and this situation has him quite excited. And the Ysoki warren approaches Shev and Skave - they want representation on the council too.
 
Shev: Once I stop laughing I’m going to introduce you to our cousin the healer, because there’s clearly something wrong with you.
Ysoki: But you’ve dealt with the council before?
Shev: And look how quickly they accepted the proposal I leave town. I recommend our cousin Romilda - she actually lives in town and is less likely to blow the place up.
 
And then Arram receives a delegation too - Roger, Knobroc and Sennsa-Auel the elven madam - they want more representation for small businesses. Roger, in fact, is willing to stand down if Arram will take his place. They might not OBJECT to the Fisherman’s Guild having a voice of the council - they just hope it’s not Aldo.
 
Knobroc: Although there have been some grumblings about your relationship with one of your students.
Arram: A FORMER student. A fair proportion of the town are my former students by now.
Knobroc: Fair point.
Arram: … I’m going to have THREE jobs and a new kid.
 
His religious education classes have some objectors too.
 
Arram OoC: I took a freaking level in Religion for those classes! They’re just looking for something to complain about.
Miya: ‘Gods exist. Thus endeth the lesson’
 
But then being an atheist in Golarion is a losing proposition, unless your position is that the gods neither require nor deserve your worship. You might fit in in the nation of Rahadoum, though - they banned all religion. 
 
Arram canvases some of the other business owners, such as Gonno. He assures the Oread that since the council only meets monthly, and he won’t be Mayor for at least 5 years, he can handle the double-duty as schoolmaster. He also asks how Gonno’s children are doing - which, if the carpenter was more talkative, would lead to hours of happy boasting. Clearly his daughter is going to be a carpenter - look at how much hammer damage she’s done to the wall. Arram makes his excuses, and is sent on his way with a cold beer and goat cheese. He gets more refreshments at Miya and Falx’s place, while talking with them and the forestry rep Blake, but as he is heading to the Warren doubles over with agonizing gut cramps. Miya and Falx are suddenly taken ill as well. The three reach Mother Maybell’s place at the same time, seeking medical aid. She diagnoses poison. 
 
Arram: Thought so. (OOC: That’s usually why I need to make mysterious CON saves.)
 
Blake is not at home. Hopefully he hasn’t keeled over somewhere. Kragor and the militia find him, eventually, between two of the houses. Alive, but not well. It seems certain the poison was in the bottle of wine they shared. None of the servants recall even serving wine. 
 
Arram: Genuine Magnimaran Leaded Wine.
Miya: Extra sweet.
 
Skave analyzes the residue - it’s a mineral poison, usually used as a slow poison. The four victims just got an acute dose of arsenic. He prepares antidotes, while Arram checks on the other candidates. Skiri is busy at work on a Pinnace.
 
Shev OoC: It’s the finest Pinnace I’ve ever seen. Huge.
Skave’s player: You’re doing that deliberately.
 
Skiri Olafsdottir: Poison? I didn’t think the politics around here was THAT bad.
Arram: Honestly, neither did I.
 
She’s already worked through lunch, and nobody has left a plate of food anywhere for her to snack on. Arram moves on to check on Aldo. He’s out on the river.
 
Miya: A perfect alibi.
 
Skiri is certainly a more popular candidate than Aldo, although Aldo does have more influence. But Arram has made more impact on town, and influential friends besides. So it’ll be the boatwright and the teacher assuming places on the council. It’s ironic that Arram has always thought himself a conservative figure, but he might be responsible for some real change in Selversgard.
 
Skave: I buy Arram a bottle of wine to congratulate him and to apologise for all the times I’ve set him on fire.
Miya: He was just poisoned by a bottle of wine.
Skave: I checked it first!
 
Eddison has business for the new council - he requires permission for a new inn in town.
 
Eddison: I either work at the place some people avoid because the Yellow House is next door, or the place that smells of fish guts!
 
Eddison: I want to focus on the eating side of things.
Miya: Then we come to the important question, what are you going to call it?
Eddison: …..
Gonno: Hello?
Eddison: I’m thinking!
GM: The Crickets Chirping?
Eddison: I’m sure I’ll think of something before we open.
 
If he builds it on a jetty, or incorporates a living tree into the building somehow, Eddison can avoid most of Silas the Green’s objections. Especially if we do the druids some kind of favour first. And if he leans on his charisma half the people in town will give him discounts on everything else he needs to build his new inn.
 
Eddison: I’m fabulous, just ask me.
 
But the ‘servant’ that placed the poisoned wine is never identified. And part of the Ysoki warren collapses into more of those mystery tunnels. And while scouting the riverbed after a boat collision, Eddison finds an ominous dome protruding from the mud. It once had a statue on top - that’s what the boat hit.
 
And, alas, Arram does not become a father. A sad start to his new career, and the eighth year of the campaign.

(Thank you Quackhell for picking a New York team. And welcome back)
 
'Tec
 
The investigator of the group is Saul Cranley. Unlike some of the investigating crowd he can take a bit of a hit and still keep going. He knows police procedure and how to deal with a crime scene, what clues are relevant and which might be red herrings. The name is short for Detective although some people think it relates to technological devices and try to hit him with EMPs or similar with little to no effect. He was part of a team before hand and can teach the youngsters a few things like proper liaison with the police and other authorities, team work and beware of your contacts and allies as they could turn on you at a moment's notice. You see Paul is under a curse. He cannot leave New York City. That is the price he pays for crossing The Sybll like his friend The Flying Dutchman. Trying to leave the city leaves him feeling ill and actual removal leaves him comatose. Returning to the city will restore him but it takes time.
 
(In 2011 I did the Flying Dutchman and only when putting the team in a document did I realise that I had not done any of the other members of the team although I had outline the curse effects on some of them like never being able to go to the States again, never leaving the water for more than an hour, never being able to leave New York and losing their powers. That is why I wanted to do a New York team)

The Flying Net !
Whose heroic efforts made sure that all those turkeys that were dropped in Cincinnati landed safely.
Hurrah for the Flying Net !

The Flying Net !
Whose heroic efforts made sure that all those turkeys that were dropped in Cincinnati landed safely.
Hurrah for the Flying Net !

I would love at this juncture to bow and modestly claim that you are right. However until you mentioned it I was blindly oblivious. Maybe my subconscious did it.
 
Meantime.
 
Let this be a salutary lesson to you all. never give a supervillain or a Mad Scientist a board game. The Mad Intellectual Think Tank was given Kingdom of Tokyo and were playing a few rounds when inevitably someone mentioned that they could design one of the monsters with ease.
'The one problem is that the law enforcement people would know that one of us was responsible' said Professor Mayhem, 'No-one else could build anything that large'
'Nor equip it with such weaponry'. added Professor Steraica,'Although we would be limited in attacking either New York or Tokyo'
Both then saw an BB looking at something and paused to follow her gaze. She was looking at The Designer who was holding the dice in his hands and studying it intently.
'Maybe' he began, 'Maybe we are looking at this the wrong way. What if we used the symbols from the dice to cause an effect from someone'
'How so ? asked BB
'Well, the claw is easy you take damage from it. The heart will heal damage you took and the lightning would power you up. I just don't know what we could do with the numbers 1, 2 or 3' replied The Designer.
'We could have that mean that one, two or three powers activate', said The Assistant.
'Hmm' said The Designer 'We imbue a subject with the ability to do this and that would throw the authorities off. It would have to be somebody that is alive because the law would know Dr Corpening's work easily. And we can't transplant claws onto them as again that would tie it to us'
 
'So Dr Boumont and Dr Nymax! make the subject and imbue them with the ability to generate or call the effects into being. The rest of us work on a way to make the effects reality.' replied the Assistant.
'Excuse me, I'll go find Spirit in the Sky and get to work' replied BB. The group had taking to calling Dr Nymax! Spirit in the Sky as a reference to the good doctor being away with the fairies and the cover version being by Doctor and the Medics.
 
Thus was born Queen of Tokyo who has to roll dice before something happens. She can summon claws that can shred through tanks, so battlesuits, armour wearers and forcefields/forcewall users beware. She can energise herself and this is dangerous if someone tries to jump her when she tries to do it as they can be electrocuted. She can heal herself. And lastly she can use one of three effects which varies week to week. The authorities are baffled by whomever gave her powers but she can be taken down quickly during dice rolling so she is not considered a major threat.
 
(I have King of Tokyo and it is great fun. Also available as King of New York)

Colin Briarley, Master of Monopoly !
 
Colin is an oddity in the world of paranormals in that his power depends on either location or money or something about you. You see if the fight takes place anywhere that has been represented on a Monopoly board he can somehow subvert the environment against the heroes. But that is not all. If there is anything that represents a token from the game, he can use that against people.so Top Hat, Iron, Dog, Boat, Thimble and Car have all been employed much to the aggrivation of law enforcement and heroes. It was only latterly that they realised that Houses and Hotels were also game pieces which made him a pain. Then there are the two utilities and Car Parking. But also Jail and Go To Jail. Sending police officers or heroes into incarceration is funny. The first time, But springing people from Jail is just out of order.
But how on earth did he get such powers ? What kind of fiend would empowers someone to do this ? Conspiracy theorists point to that exclamation mark as absolute proof but as yet he has not confirmed it and no-one has managed any conclusive proof.  

congrats to Steraica as this is team 600

Roast.
 
Sunday dinner particularly and it does not matter if it is beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey or whatever

Finished the hero thread with two or three missing as one was to do with pictures that we lost.
 
I need to get all the names from the Lists into a spreadsheet to work out where we clashing on names. Sadly there are several examples where we are duplicating the same names.
 
And an apology to Steraica. Yes you clearly have spelling mistakes in some of your entries but there are others as well who we should have spoken to about this issue.
 
If anyone wants a particular team you can ask me as they are now documented without the actual people who posted the entry credited as yet. They are in document form but I may export to pdf next. 

Eggnog

Rack
 
Martin Dugdale had yet to get a proper name as a supervillain but was appallingly strong. When he was brought along to the see Von Droom and a number of people suggested changing IDs to death traps people asked 'what does he do ?' Martin was strong but his grip seemed stronger all but inescapable. He could grab hold of someone and stretch them just like a rack, the old torture device. Ordinarily this would not be a death trap but because Martin would be holding on to them it was as good as. Martin was delighted. He's not the smartest tool in the box, more a point and do sort of guy but when he does it, it will be done. 

Woman charged with murder in poison mushroom case. I would say 'Only in Australia' but death cap mushroom are found in Britain as well.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-67293752

Maiden In Ironland
 
Know how many Iron Maidens there are ? Or Iron Ladies ? Or Iron Girls ? Iron Women ? The list goes on and on..
So when Iron Maid was hired and saw old death traps and the Vincent Price film, The Pit and the Pendulum she saw the Iron Maiden as a trap for the first time. And thus the awful pun Maiden in Ironland was born. She is a medium level brick in an armoured suit who ends to use a polearm or staff in Hand to Hand combat.

19a ?

Meerkats that try to sell you car insurance.

Another man whose life was going nowhere was Paul Grady. He had an ordinary office job and it was mundane until he was made redundant. Stuck in the apartment trying to work out what jobs to apply for and how he would have to pay rent, the chemicals and mutagens got to work while the subliminal messages turned him to the course of evil. He dreamed of another existence and when he woke he looked into the mirror and saw a stranger, a corpulent moustached fellow with a bulbous nose and large horn rimmed glasses. Startled he shook and resumed his own appearance. Puzzled he looked into the mirror again and slowly pictured himself as the stranger again. Lo and behold he changed gradually. And he had power, power over the lesser beings, power over their minds for he had developed mental powers. He found these powers only came with the new form and over a few days he experimented as he could now hear peoples thoughts, make them believe they saw things they did not, temporarily paralyse their minds and cause them pain. Then working on the basis 'Go Big or Go Home' he walked into his former employment and went after the bosses causing them to transfer money to him and some of their possessions before making them unsure of what they had done and to whom. As he returned to the apartment he let the others know he was aware of them and was prepared to be their leader. For like other mentalists before him he has an entire chip shop on his shoulder. He is Magnum Opus
 
an odd effect of the transformation is that Paul can be read by a telepath in his own ID and it will show nothing of his criminal career. However as Magnum Opus IF someone got through his ego and mental defences all would be revealed including the others. But how powerful would you have to be to do that ?

Just completed writing up documents pulling the villain teams together. 586 so far. Missing the last two.
 
Onto the Hero thread.

A K-Pop group seem to have had a shirt mix up while performing in Texas. Instead of wearing Texas Rangers tops they were wearing Glasgow Rangers tops. The cynic in me thinks someone knew and did it deliberately.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67204915

A Series of Unfortunate Explosions
 
for anyone having difficulty with names look up Iain Gibson's Culture books and ship names for ideas

The Vikings beat San Francisco.
 
Yay !

Another man whose life was going nowhere was Paul Grady. He had an ordinary office job and it was mundane until he was made redundant. Stuck in the apartment trying to work out what jobs to apply for and how he would have to pay rent, the chemicals and mutagens got to work while the subliminal messages turned him to the course of evil. He dreamed of another existence and when he woke he looked into the mirror and saw a stranger, a corpulent moustached fellow with a bulbous nose and large horn rimmed glasses. Startled he shook and resumed his own appearance. Puzzled he looked into the mirror again and slowly pictured himself as the stranger again. Lo and behold he changed gradually. And he had power, power over the lesser beings, power over their minds for he had developed mental powers. He found these powers only came with the new form and over a few days he experimented as he could now hear peoples thoughts, make them believe they saw things they did not, temporarily paralyse their minds and cause them pain. Then working on the basis 'Go Big or Go Home' he walked into his former employment and went after the bosses causing them to transfer money to him and some of their possessions before making them unsure of what they had done and to whom. As he returned to the apartment he let the others know he was aware of them and was prepared to be their leader. For like other mentalists before him he has an entire chip shop on his shoulder. He is Magnum Opus
 
an odd effect of the transformation is that Paul can be read by a telepath in his own ID and it will show nothing of his criminal career. However as Magnum Opus IF someone got through his ego and mental defences all would be revealed including the others. But how powerful would you have to be to do that ?

Another man whose life was going nowhere was Paul Grady. He had an ordinary office job and it was mundane until he was made redundant. Stuck in the apartment trying to work out what jobs to apply for and how he would have to pay rent, the chemicals and mutagens got to work while the subliminal messages turned him to the course of evil. He dreamed of another existence and when he woke he looked into the mirror and saw a stranger, a corpulent moustached fellow with a bulbous nose and large horn rimmed glasses. Startled he shook and resumed his own appearance. Puzzled he looked into the mirror again and slowly pictured himself as the stranger again. Lo and behold he changed gradually. And he had power, power over the lesser beings, power over their minds for he had developed mental powers. He found these powers only came with the new form and over a few days he experimented as he could now hear peoples thoughts, make them believe they saw things they did not, temporarily paralyse their minds and cause them pain. Then working on the basis 'Go Big or Go Home' he walked into his former employment and went after the bosses causing them to transfer money to him and some of their possessions before making them unsure of what they had done and to whom. As he returned to the apartment he let the others know he was aware of them and was prepared to be their leader. For like other mentalists before him he has an entire chip shop on his shoulder. He is Magnum Opus
 
an odd effect of the transformation is that Paul can be read by a telepath in his own ID and it will show nothing of his criminal career. However as Magnum Opus IF someone got through his ego and mental defences all would be revealed including the others. But how powerful would you have to be to do that ?