In case you missed the first part, click here for Sessions 1+2
Session 3
**Short session, as I played Blood on the Clocktower (after dark 21+ session) prior to running this session, and ended up too drunk to run the game for very long
The party takes the shorter hallway to the room, and then through the large heavy metal door that was in that room, reaching a massive multi storey tall chamber dominated by a circular opening in the floor. A metal walkway stretched over it, and blue light shimmered up from the depths of the clear water within. The white tiles of the room gleam, and great steel machinery hums on the far side.
Carefully looking around, they quickly all find themselves either on the metal walkway or standing on the edge of the pool looking down at the 36 gold rods standing on end at the bottom of the pool.
Greed getting the better of him, Balfasak jumps in, sinking down to the rods, the water getting hotter as he goes. He grabs a rod, and reaches up toward the elf for help. The elf wants no part of the gold death rod, but Ivermectin the dwarf follows his cousin down into the hot water. Not to be outdone, Maypole follows, and feels himself getting woozy as he approaches his fellow dwarves wrapped obscenely around the gold pole.
**Drink more water! Less Rum, whiskey, and beer!!
Session 4
**No silly notes this season, clearly I was too sober.
We return to find our 3 dwarves underwater, clutching a gold rod in a nuclear reactor pool, all beginning to seriously suffer the effects of radiation poisoning that even their dwarven constitution is having trouble handling. The fighters on the catwalk use a rope and grappling hook to drag their irradiated companions from the water. The dwarves have acquired a tan and a “healthy” faint green glow.
Deciding that the gold isn’t worth it, they press on, and try another door, this one taking them to a changing room with a large sunken circular shower in the middle. Suits similar to the ones worn by the zombies are stored in cubbies on the wall, along with some metallic tanks that look like they can be worn with a harness on the back. They play with the shower, but aside from a few clunking noises, they don’t get anything from it.
Continuing on to a room with a large double metal door without handles, one door slightly recessed from the other, and an impressive looking desk in the corner, the party is set upon by large rats bulging with tumors. Watermelon provides a running commentary on the fight, followed by a post-fight pep talk to the party on the virtues of not being eaten by giant radioactive cancerous rats.
The party circles around and comes to the control room of the facility, full of displays and blinking lights. A voice addresses them in a language none of them know, but one recognizes as an ancient human tongue from before the end of the world.
“Speak Dwarven!” Maypole yells! And the voice does.
“System damaged. Water level is critical. Immediate repairs required before core meltdown.”
“Who are you?”
“I am the Core Computer interface for this facility.”
“What happens if the core melts down?”
“All connected facilities will go offline. Damage to the local area within 5 miles, total. Radiation will cause a 50 mile area to become uninhabitable. Systems must be repaired. Emergency Authorization for repairs is granted to any personnel capable of performing necessary repairs.”
“What needs to be repaired?”
“Water levels must be restored in the main pool.”
“We can pee in it…. How much water?”
“22,000 gallons.”
“That’s a lot of pee… how long do we have?”
“Approximately 11 months until total system failure and core meltdown.”
“How do we get that much water into the tank?”
“Repair the main pump”
One of the displays flickers, and in Dwarven runes lists out the repair needed, and the parts to accomplish it.
What does it say? Asks a party member.
Maypole, prophet of the Core Computer, translates that Computer requires a pump to be repaired. We need a virgin to sacrifice.
Everyone looks at Watermelon.
Where do we find the parts?
The screen changes again, and a map of the facility’s 4 floors appears, highlighting different storage rooms.
The party sets off to collect the parts. They run into another group of Roachkin, and a heated debate between Maypole and Mojito the Cleric on the blasphemy of calling the Computer Core a god. This debate triggered an existential crisis among the Roachkin who had no concept of “god” or “soul” but now had to grapple with the concept.
They fight some more rad rats, and collect some of the needed parts. In another supply room they find a massive steel shelving unit running the length of the room, stacked with barrels. Mojito screws up and causes the entire shelving unit to collapse. The noise was deafening, and the heavy barrels caused some serious injury among the party members in the room. It also caused a large and lumpy mutant to investigate. Hoping to avoid any more mutants showing up, Wooo goes out to calm the mutant, and the pair of them bond over a wineskin full of the good stuff. The mutant leads Wooo back to his chambers, the party follows, and closes the door behind them, allowing them to collect the remaining parts while Wooo takes one for the team.
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| Session art created by Smaht Goblin |
Session 5
The party has everything they need, so off they go to fix the pump (no virgins were sacrificed to prime it). Returning to the control room, they talk with the computer core some more, and find out about the system that connects the different facilities via underground tunnels. Of course they head directly to the room labeled “motor pool” all the while wondering why you’d put a motor in a pool.
3 dusty old vehicles sit in the large chamber with a wide opening out into a dark tunnel. Most of the party searches the room, while a few poke around one of the open topped vehicles. Eventually they manage to activate it, and it begins to hover a good 6” off the ground. A bit of experimentation, and they get it moving toward the tunnel. There’s two rails running down the tunnel, and the vehicle forcibly shifts to the left one.
Everyone piles into the back, and off they go!
6 hours later, through dark passages with no idea which way they’re going, and randomly picking directions when turns or splits appear on the way, they enter into a room almost identical to the last one they left, the main differences being no other vehicles, and the 6 GIANT SCORPIONS!
They party scurried off the vehicle as the scorpions attacked the driver…
**I don’t remember who was driving
…tries to ram the scorpions, but they’re too quick, and he just crashes into the far wall. House Red takes a stinger right to the chest, and drops, foaming at the mouth. The rest of the party clambers over the crashed vehicle, and through a small doorway with stairs going up… and up… and up….
**Sorry House Red, you were too sane to live with this group. Also, sorry about stealing your drink, but to be fair, it was handed to me.
At the top of the stairs was a busted door, and a rocky mountain side with some scrubby bushes. The scorpions were following the party, but due to the small size of the stairwell, were moving slower than they normally would in the open. The party started throwing rocks down the stairs. For 15-20 minutes they chucked every liftable rock… and then stopped to listen. Their efforts were seemingly enough.
Taking stock, they knew they couldn’t go back down, and only had a vague idea of where home was.
And then the large red dragon appeared.
**Gotta love random encounter tables!
The party hid as best they could, and thankfully the dragon either didn’t see them, or didn’t care.
**It didn’t care
After dark, they started to make their way down the mountain.
**We were getting short on time, and everyone was very tired from the long nights of the convention
The party made it back home after a week of travel, much to the shock of the nearly waterless town. Another party had followed them down a few days ago, but had also not returned. After they report what happened, the town elders focused their questions of the underground stream that served the well.
“So what you’re saying is that you need to dig a little dirt and rock out from where the wall collapsed?”
“Uh… Yes?”
They’re sent back down the well with shovels and picks, and after some hours of work, restored the stream to its original flow, saving the town.
