XAXA RIVER VALLEY 2: WAR-MACHINE

Welcome back to the valley! Last session, the party was sent to investigate an unearthed machine in the foothills north of Pern by the village elders. After retrieving bitter worm root from Crater Run, Murazir prepared a paste to protect everyone. Redhawk, wary of the sorcerous war-machine, departed, taking off to scout the wastes of the dying valley (his player couldn't join us).

That night as the party camped at the edge of the cursed land ‘round the war-machine, a procession of solar priests came in from the sun shrine to the east.

Lord Solamon, Sun Ecclesiarch, crested the foothills with a party of six solar acolytes, an old priest named Daem’an, and a nervous ash-eater ghoul trailing closely behind. On Solamon’s back hung a great mirror of carven ivory, etched with celestial depictions; it was lashed by chains to his body, dangling and dragging behind leaving trails in the sand. He and the rest of the procession wore red vestments of rubbery material with black visors to shield their skin from the accursed land surrounding the titan. Half holy robes half hazmat suits.

As this ponderous caravan crested the hill concealing the unearthed machine, they came face to face with the party camping just on the outskirts.

“Ho! You there, vagabonds! Begone from this place!” called Lord Solamon. “This is a holy site claimed by the solar church in the name of holy Nucleos Herself, She of Radiant Fire! Begone I say, lest my acolytes drive you out!”

As one, the six rubber-robed servants lowered their radiant spears into a fighting stance with a battle shout. The tips glowed with burning fire. Murazir attempted to talk them down but this Lord Solamon was not to be reasoned with. Not wishing to give up their prize, Kobek squared up to defy the sun priests. Sensing confrontation, Altair snuck up into the rocks near the war-machine for a higher vantage.

“You fools no nothing of the power bestowed. The machine is a boon from Nucleos herself! Only we can stand in the face of coming darkness. Only we can protect you from the Earth Eater, as fortold in the prophecy!” raved the Ecclesiarch. “Slay them all!”

We rolled initiative and the PCs won. Kobek quickly sprang to action, moving to heave and throw the ecclesiarch over his head. Lord Solamon crashed into the crowd of acolytes with all the force of his corpulence and reflective burden, crushing a young acolyte to death under sheer weight.

Daem’an quickly explained he had no interest in killing for the solar church, as it wasn’t the old way. This ecclesiarch was corrupt and no man worth following. He stood on the side of the party and turned his longsword on his fellow solar priests, sealing his blasphemy.

From his vantage in the rocks, Altair spotted the solar priests’ lone camel, lashed down but unguarded. As the melee swirled, he crossed the distance unnoticed with a few bounding strides.

Solamon swung a bulky brass mace in an arc down upon Kobek, who nimbly jumped back. The acolytes moved to engage the rest of the party.

At this point in the game, Endri Mortas joined the session. We quickly explained the nature of the battle, and that his conspiracy theories of the solar church were coming true.

He charged in, cleaving an acolyte in two. The fighting continued on until the party had killed three solar acolytes & subdued three more. Lord Solamon the ecclesiarch was stripped of his mirror and robes, bound in his own chains, and overcome with Murazir’s charm spells.

Altair gathered up the reigns of the priest’s sole camel. Their belongings were light. He pulled out icons of twinkling silver, brass trinkets, clattering gold chimes and other such reflective icons. The solar priests only had a day of water; apparently they didn’t think they’d need water once they reached the buried war-machine. Altair also found a wooden box containing three vials of ash labeled with the names of holy saints.

All in all, the party gained a new camel, a subservient solar ecclesiarch, three nervous acolytes, six spears of radiant torchfire, another camel, Daem’an (Cleric 1, Solar Priest), and the furtive ash-eater. Endri Mortas retrieved Solamon’s brass mace.

In exchange for one of Altair’s saintly ash-vials, the ghoul nervously explained, “the priest’s called it Gremlin, and it was happy to serve the riders of the titan, O’ scions of fire”. It now serves Altair the thief.

After resting for the night, the party decided to delve into the yawning entrance in the face of the war machine. With rope and grappling hook in hand, Altair clicked the heels of his boots of levitation and ascended to the lip of the cave in the machine’s head, 20ft up. Tossing the hook, he was able to secure a rope on the edge. Murazir passed up a lantern so the thief could gaze into the pit of the titan. Below, Altair saw a gelatinous mass of orange jelly, glistening pseudopods reaching out as if to pull him in.

Dog-Hide Kobek ascended the rope with Rosh lashed to his chest. He was hoisted up to the lip, and as Rosh was released, the hound comfortably jumped straight into the pit, landing with a wet plop. Kobek worriedly cried out and dove after him. As he submerged into the orange jelly, it flowed through his nose and mouth like liquid air, filling his lungs with oxygen. At the same time, the orange jelly swept through his insides, removing all diseases & poisons.

The cleansing jelly of the war machine functioned like an airlock of sorts to any pilots boarding. Murazir the alchemist was particularly interested in the viscous stuff and took up a several vials of it. Though warm and pleasant to swim through, prolonged exposure to the orange jelly would deteriorate flesh and likely bone. Regardless, Murazir dove in and also came across a scarab-shaped artifact floating in the goo. This charm allowed the holder to speak with insects. Interesting.

Daem’an and Altair swam to the end of this jelly-filled pit and found a bulkhead in the floor.

At the same time, a primordial worm swimming through the orange jelly latched onto Kobek’s arm, stinging painfully. He made quick work of it with a vicious bite.

Daem’an and Altair searched for any switches, but finding none, put their fingers between a slit in the bulkhead and pulled. When they pried it open, they could see the shimmering edge of a dry barrier below them. Passing through one-by-one, they descended into a barren metallic corridor.

Glistening pseudopods assisted their transition through the portal of orange jelly, setting them gently into the junction corridor. A grate in the floor drained any lingering slime.

Three silver doors labeled with runes were laid into the metal walls. Some successful INT tests revealed the door labels: EAST - Blast Ray, WEST - Boarding Axe, NORTH - Control Center. They chose to pursue the control center.

The walls of this circular room were covered in black screens of onyx glass. Obsidian buttons dazzling with colored lights danced upon the panels.

Another great pit descended down a metal tube to escape pods. A strange machine of wires hung from the ceiling, suspended over the pit.

On the north wall, a rose-shaped throne of silvered metal sat unoccupied. There was an circular cavity at the base of the machine. An ancient corpse in weird, eggshell armor sprawled out clutching a golden orb. It looked as though he was reaching out to insert the orb into the foot of the rose throne. Murazir inspected the mummified man’s wounds and determined a wide sword blade was driven through his torso.

Altair took the orb up in his hands and studied the markings inscribed upon it. An identical match to the one he stole for his guild in Torance not-long before! Altair held back painful memories and grimaced at his scars, a petty feud all over a similar artifact where he was left for dead.

Murazir recalled the lore of the golden orbs, explaining their function as vast power sources and time-traveling machines. The bearer of a golden orb could twist the hemispheres and set a time they wished to travel back to; on the night of the Earth-Eater’s arrival, the bearer would be spirited back to their chosen date. The party marveled at the treasure they’d found. A mighty boon!

Transfixed by the silvered throne, Kobek climbed up into it’s fold. It was this action that caused the machine over the pit to unfurl like a sickly flower. Wiry tendrils of steel, silver, and metals stranger still swayed back and forth like a cobra. The thing gazed about the party with machine intelligence, then moved to strike at Kobek who twisted out of the way. The Cable Snake then skipped like a sprinkler as it spit venom at the Ecclesiarch. He failed his save and was permanently blinded. He passed out from the shock of losing his eyes.

Everyone sprang to battle fighting fiercely. Rosh and Kobek damaged the beast, the canine jumping up to shatter clear tubes containing more orange liquid inside the thing. It sprayed Rosh, staining his fur. Kobek’s halberd smashed into pipes and tubes which hissed with released pressure. Murazir threw his knife with great effect, tearing a vital tube in the machine.

On the next round the Cable Snake blinded Endri who clutched his eyes screaming. It struck out at Kobek once more, wounding him in the arm. Nonetheless, the party was over to overcome the construct and a sweep from Kobek’s halberd sent slashed metal and cut cables clattering down into the pit below.

Endri Mortas’ screams continued to echo through the metallic chamber. Thinking quickly, Murazir and the others helped him back into the junction chamber and hoisted him up to the grasping orange tendrils. He was pulled up into the cleansing jelly and we rolled a 2-in-6 chance the jelly would heal his eyes. It did not. The blindness was permanent. The alchemist comforted the stricken warrior with tales of vat-magicians in the city who could grow him a new pair.

After failing to heal Endri Mortas’ eyes, the party returned to the control center and Kobek took to the rose throne. He settled into it as Altair placed the golden orb in the cavity; it snapped in with magnetic pull and a pulse of energy reverberated through the walls of the machine as it thrummed to life. The weird, living metal of the throne folded around his body. A quadrant of needles punctured the back of Kobek’s neck as his consciousness interfaced with the ancient titan.

His vision was projected up and out through the cavity they originally entered the tiran. Kobek could see all of Xaxa River Valley, wastelands stretching out for unknown miles. The bloated sun struggled into the sky, casting ruby rays as it peered over the southern mountain, and Kobek’s breath was taken in wonder as saw one of the final mornings through the eyes of the titan.

He tested locomotion and attmpted to turn his neck, looking behind him. Rock ground upon rock as the vast bulk of the silvered machine shifted, throwing the rest of the party from their feet. The war-titan was very much buried and would need some form of excavation.

As Kobek played with the pilot seat, Murazir studied the onyx screens filling the walls east and west. A diagnostic readout showed them a map layout of the buried machine. The other two corridors led to the weapon systems: a Blast Ray and Boarding Axe. The Blast Ray appeared to be in meltdown as a result of the solar priest’s fiery excavation. As such, the blast door was sealed.

The Boarding Axe appeared in functioning order. From the screen, Murazir also determined that to activate the weapons, a key had to be turned in both the control center and the weapon itself. Wishing to further explore the titan, the party took off down the Boarding Axe corridor. A long hall lined with power cells revealed the Boarding Axe only had enough remaining power for a single swing. More cells could replace the ones spent, but they couldn’t find any on board. In the head of the Axe, a rack of seats was accompanied by exotic, futuristic weapons on the walls. A blast door on the blade itself marked an entry point in titan-on-titan warfare. Those brave warriors who sat in the racks could then enter and slay the crew of enemy titans.

After briefly considering an attempt to dislodge the war-machine by swinging the Boarding Axe, a hoarse voice called for them on the outskirts of the cursed land. There was a wizened old man with scraggly white beard and hair who looked like he’d been running a hundred years to reach them.

The party climbed back to the ridge of their war machine’s head as the prophet Nicodema delivered to them a proclamation: “Takers of the nuclear machine! Riders of the titan, O’ ye radiant ones who wield fire and death! A vast darkness lies hungrily behind the dying sun! Harken to me! Gather thee the golden orbs. Find thee answers through time. The Earth-Eater comes!”

With that, the old prophet drew his last breath and collapsed dead in the sands. End of session 2.

Wow! I awarded the party 2,000 XP for recovering the war machine; this pushed everyone to 2nd LVL (and Altair to 3rd). I learned a lot running this session. Digital gaming has proved to be quite difficult, but I’ve been working on a system designed to run it smoother. I’ll talk about this more in a future post. For now, that’s our Xaxa River Valley session 2 recap. The party now has an unknown length of time before the sun goes out and several leads they can pursue in a “sandbox” style. We’re going to get into some Neon-Genesis-type play in only a few sessions, but they do need to figure out how to fully dislodge their war machine.

We’re scheduled to run the next session in two weeks. I can’t wait to see what happens!