XAXA RIVER VALLEY 4: NIGHT ANGEL

Welcome back to Xaxa River Valley. Right before we played session 4, I sent this to the party discord:

1. Bashir the one-eyed offered you a golden time traveling orb in exchange for the princess Quintessa
2. She is heiress and rightful queen to the throne of Capricose, her uncle has rallied her bannermen under false claims so he can trade her in Torance for something more valuable than a golden time traveling orb

Last session, the party, under the guise of machine prospectors, lied to Bashir and told him Quintessa was seen joining the solar host east of Xaxa River. She was, after all, a self-proclaimed follower of Nucleos. Bashir sent outriders into the foothills to verify the PCs claims while taking the party into his camp so they could show him the way to the churchly procession.

Let’s drop in.

That morning, a guttering sun staggered into it’s place in the sky. Great patches of darkness splotched across that fiery face like spilled ink upon parchment. Dog-Hide Kobek, Murazir the Alchemist, and the thief Altair awoke in Capricosian battle tents— they were here on a lie, but were committed no less and could no longer effectively leave.

As they stepped into the dim red glow of morning, their breath came in fog; the air was chilled, gooseflesh bit at their skin. Seeing them emerge, Bashir quickly roused them to action, leaving no time to dwell on the obvious temperature drop & darkening of the sun. Onward they rode, chaperoned (they may as well be prisoners) by one-eyed Bashir and his 70 camel riders, eastward towards Xaxa River to meet the solar host.

Bestrode upon their own mounts (some mixture of camel & riding lizard), our party whispered worriedly of unsure plans to get out of this mess. They spoke of somehow turning the Capricosians against the Solar Church so they could slip away. Regardless, they were shackled and in a tight spot.

After a day and a night of travel, the two factions met. Bashir’s camel riders formed two ranks that stretched the western banks of Xaxa River to some effect. Eastward, the vast solar host assembled itself into battle-groups, 10 groups of 10 acolytes, each 10-group led by an ecclesiarch. They themselves had many dozens of tents pitched and of cumbersome quality; though they were great in number, this church traveled at a snail’s pace.

Now that they were in visual range, the party finally got eyes on the vast machine the solar priests dragged all the way here through the sand. It was the entire sun shrine, the very laser that unearthed their titan! It appeared disassembled, and with careful scrutinization, Murazir gathered this machine could be plugged directly into the head of their own titan as a second weapon. Surely this was the church’s intention.

Bashir summoned them forth and approached the western bank of Xaxa River with a group of camel-guard. The head priest of the church met him on the eastern bank, and so began a back and forth bickering. They shouted at each other from across the river for awhile before someone suggested they go into the camp and see for themselves that Quintessa was not there. The camel-guard detachment, with Bashir and the party, crossed the river and did just that. Obviously Quintessa was being kept in the titan, but the party played along peeking into tents and speaking with acolytes in a false search.

The head priest repeatedly ensured Bashir the princess was not here. Bashir’s eye saw it to be true. “Bah! I have no patience for petty games. Kill these fools!” he screamed, spittle flying. The Capricose outriders formed a circle of camels ‘round the party, slowly advancing with their spears in killing position. The party was done for.

Then came the Night Angel.

It first began with an earth-shaking horn reverberating from the sky, paralyzing everyone present. The heavens swirled with unearthly darkness as a series of rotating rings began to take geometric shape, blotting out the stars. One by one, darksome eyes flickered open upon the icy bands of unearthly metal, and the Night Angel saw them all upon the ground. Its dark core rippled unnaturally, suggesting the blackness on the other side was not of earthly skies.

The thing descended from above to hang over Xaxa River Valley, and everywhere it passed, rapidly forming glaciers froze over, covering the land in black ice. Unnatural darkness hung over the aberrant rime and troublesome things writhed in the shadow.

Transfigured as every man was, gazing upon the Night Angel caused terrible headaches, as human eyes weren’t meant to perceive lower dimensional entities. Each in the party had to Save VS. Paralysis; Murazir and Kobek sunk back upon their mounts in inaction, transfixed as they were; only Altair was free to flee. Panic, of course, had overtaken both armies. People from both factions were fleeing in all directions as the Night Angel came. In the fright of terror, a bloody melee broke out as the crowds blocked each other off from crossing the river safely.

Rather than roll initiative, we just started with Altair since he made his save. First, I had him roll 1d4 to determine how many rounds ‘til the thing swept over their position and it was game over for everyone still “on-screen”. The gods were good and he got a 4. Springing into action, he quickly shook Kobek from his stupor. Bashir made his Save and aptly fled upon his bleating camel. The thief shook Murazir awake, who attempted to blind Bashir with conjured light, but was resisted in the chaos. Luckily, Kobek retrieved an acolyte’s burning spear and hurled it through the camel. Bashir fell to the sand before he made it to the river; Kobek’s dog Rosh leapt at his throat but received a blade wound in return, yelping in pain. Kobek ran up and finished Bashir with a spear through the gut. He retrieved the second golden orb and a little scroll message in a pouch at Bashir’s waist as men fled all around.

Meanwhile, Altair and Murazir were looting the priestly caravan, nervously watching the approaching Night Angel. Altair tried to find a way to move the great sun shrine, but the 12 camels lashed sled-like were panicked and uncoordinated. Instead, he found the corpse of an ecclesiarch. Rather than spend time rifling through his pockets, he cut the priest’s entire belt free and took all his pouches. He asked me what kind of stuff was in there but I wasn’t sure. I told him it was some undefined holy symbols and jewelry, but that we’d flesh it out between sessions.

DM TIP: If players loot somebody but you’re not sure what exactly that person had, you can give them vague items like, “priestly treasures bundled up in regal silks” and straight up tell them you’re not sure on the details of that item yet, but between sessions you’ll work out the exactitudes. It’s OK to be up front with players. The game is always living, you can go in and twiddle and tweak the switches, especially for the first few sessions. We’re still getting a feel for the group, too.

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Anyways, Murazir ducked inside a tent and found a priestly chest containing another battery for their boarding axe! The solar church was bearing gifts for the titan after all. There wasn’t much time now; the Night Angel was nearly upon them, so the party mounted up and ran westward across the river, back into the foothills.

At this point, we did a scene shift. Endri Mortas was with us during the session for this whole time. You may recall his lost eyes. We cut to Endri Mortas’ perspective inside the orange jelly. His body was resting in one of those “save state” cryopods mentioned in XRV3: CONVERGENCE. When in this dreamlike-state, he was at one with the machine, and felt the silvered hull as though it were his own skin.

The war machine was standing in a great pit now, but ultimately freed— Solamon’s mirror and the laborers of Pern were used to great effect. Speaking of Solamon, he and his acolytes lay dead outside the buried titan. Their slayers were the 10 Capricosian camel-riders Bashir sent to scour the hills, alongside the sorcerer Alkemar. By now, they too saw the Night Angel descending from the heavens and were climbing up to the titan’s cave-headed entrance with haste, any lingering fear of the ancient machine dissolved.

Endri Mortas felt these interlopers climbing upon the metal and was roused from his meditative slumber. Blindly but by memory, he swam his way down through the orange jelly, dropping through the junction corridor and into the control room. Slowly, careful, sidling his way around the edge of control room pit, he made his way to the rose-shaped pilot seat. He pulled him into it; when comfortably seated, a pair of needles projected from the seat and interfaced with the back of his spinal column. He gained control.

The first two Capricosian riders to reach the top bickered between themselves who should go first before diving into the orange jelly together. Down they swam, eventually finding the hatch that led into the junction chamber. As they dropped down into the room, assisted by the gentle help of psuedopods, Endri Mortas locked all three doors leading from here. He then asks me, “Is there any way I can weaponize the jelly to burn them like acid?”

This was a completely awesome idea so I let him make improvised attacks using his own stats against the two invaders. They were, of course, freaking out in terror as the weird jelly tendrils lashed out like daggers to try and skewer them. One man fought back the orange goo while the other tried to pry open one of the doors, I believe the one leading to the blast ray halls.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party arrived in the hills outside. Kobek immediately charged in and trampled over Alkemar, breaking any spells he held and incapacitating him. Murazir summoned magical darkness to blind the Capricosians still outside trying to get in. Endri Mortas, sensing his friends outside, shifted the titan so it would be easier for them to jump inside. There was a crazy scene where the camel riders were all using grappling hooks to climb into the mouth of the machine and Kobek swung his sword like sinbad chopping ropes to send them tumbling into the rocky pit.

By hook and by crook the party got inside the machine. Altair and Murazir dropped down thru the jelly to help kill the invaders. After quickly dispatching them, they moved to take up position throughout the titan. Surely this was the only way they could possibly stand a chance against the Night Angel. Speaking of, at this point I had them roll another 1d4 to see how many rounds they’d have to prepare before its arrival. The gods had forsaken them… this time it was a 1.

Altair rushed into the blade of the boarding axe and strapped himself in.

Endri Mortas stayed plugged in to the pilot’s chair, seeing the blocky landscape through machine fuzz and “feeling” more than “seeing” through visual perception.

Kobek manned the computer that aimed the blast ray.

Murazir manned the computer that swung the boarding axe.

Quintessa stayed aboard the control center, ready to help where needed.

When everyone was in position, Endri Mortas willed the machine up and out of the pit. The titan pulled itself from the earth to sand strong and tall, nearly 100ft of silvered metal reflecting with the last rays of ruby red sunlight.

So begun the battle with the Night Angel.

I ended up running this thing as a scaled up low LVL DND battle. Here are a couple mech warrior titan battle homebrew rules I slapped together before the session:

TITAN HP: is like character HP but scaled up x10.

*** This is a rule I pulled from Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars RPG. Only Titan-sized weapons affect T-HP.

Their titan had 12 Titan HP (T-HP)

CREW STATIONS - what each PC can do on their turn

Pilot: Moves around normally, ultimately rolls the d20 attack for the blast ray.

Blast Ray Station: If someone uses their action to work this station, the pilot gets +5 to hit with the blast ray. The blast ray is only safe to fire once per day. Each time you fire the blast ray beyond the first, the critical failure range increases by 1. For example, if I shoot the blast ray a second time, it will be a critical failure on an d20 ATK roll of a natural 1 or 2.

*** This was inspired by DCC clerics disapproval rules.

After the blast ray is fired, someone must manually reset it by venturing inside the canon and pressing a switch. It takes an action to reset the blast ray from inside the cannon.

Boarding Axe Station: Someone has to use their action to swing the boarding axe. Whoever works this station roll 1d20+6 to hit with the boarding axe.

Boarding Axe Blade: Anyone who is strapped in here can board whatever they struck after the boarding axe lands a hit against physical targets.

Night Angel Wounds: 3; like HP, but just represents hits from titan weapons. If the party hits the Night Angel 3 times, they destroy it.

Night Angel: AC15

Night Angel cold ray: Pilot must Save VS Paralysis, slows servos and locks up titan, -2 to any action

Night Angel special move: Enter the same space as the titan, Pilot must Save VS Paralysis, titan takes d10 T-DMG on failure

With that in mind, here’s what happened. Right out the gate, Kobek locks in an attack vector for the blast ray and Endri Mortas lets it rip. 18.. a hit! A superheated wave of invisible fire rolls forth from the cannon with blinding fury. Sound is sucked away as the charge depressurizes the air surrounding the titan like jango fett dropping depth charges. Arcing energy tears through the Night Angel and blasts a rend into the rings. Where the wound shattered, reality leaked away like wispy smoke, swirling into cosmic miasma. The blast revealed a dark core in the depths of the Night Angel. 2 more wounds to go.

At this point, it retaliated with a withering beam of glacial frost. I had Endri Mortas Save VS Paralysis once more; he failed and the servos of the titan began to lock up. All their actions would have -2 until they dealt with the unearthly ice. The Night Angel then moved forward to overtake them. Kobek sent Quintessa into the blast ray to reset it, then they prepared to fire off another volley. This time, Endri Mortas rolled low and the blast ray went streaking off into the sky, harmlessly missing the Night Angel. We see this from the perspective of the great throng of pilgrims that are watching the cyclopean battle from the wastes, slack-jawed.

The Night Angel overtook the war-machine, moving into their space. From the outside, it looked as though the darksome gate was consuming the titan from the top down. Inside, they struggled to maintain a foothold in the material plane as the systems overloaded with massive damage. I had Endri Mortas Save VS Paralysis once more.. on a failure, they took a terrifying d10 T-DMG… luckily I rolled a 2.

Murazir fired off the boarding axe and it swung through lower dimensional matter, cleaving an even greater wound in the un-reality; by now the darksome core at the center of the Night Angel was unravelling with matter, revealing a vulnerable physicality inside. Only 1 more wound now! Unfortunately, the party took another automatic d10 T-DMG since the Night Angel was still in their space. I rolled an 8… they had 2 T-HP left.

Endri Mortas asked if he could somehow vent the blast ray’s superheated coolant in an effort to shove the Night Angel back and out of their space. He rolled high and it was so; the Night Angel was driven back as the spraying liquid melted ice from the blasted rings. I like to give players what they want in exchange for some setback; I ruled expelling this much coolant increased the critical failure range by +1 for the blast ray. Now it would explode causing critical DMG to everyone if they rolled a 1-3 on the next blast ray ATK.

This steaming spray from the blast ray also removed their -2 frosted servos penalty, freeing them up for the final blow. Murazir waited for the perfect moment, then released the boarding axe once more. This time, it struck at the dark core of the Night Angel and held fast into solid matter of alien origin.

We cut over to Altair. He’s in one of those ancient egg-shell astronaut armor suits, harnessed in the boarding axe. There’s a crazy go-pro shot looking over his shoulder as the blade swings like that crazy Centrifuge g-force training machine. The blast doors open and darksome antimatter leaks into the boarding axe. The harness releases and Altair stands up. Beyond the door is a small room.. well, more of a cavity, carven from black stone, rippling with static. Altair approaches and sees the stone forms a crude altar, atop which rests an obsidian object, menhir-like and loathsome as all hell. Of course he runs up and touches it. The second his gloved fingers meet the object, lightning flashes inside his skull and troubling voices fill his mind with foreboding things to come. He doesn’t remember stumbling back into the boarding axe.

As the final wound was struck, the Night Angel folded in upon itself, drawing all the warmth from the surroundings in its death throes. When the black hole had eaten itself, all that remained was the desolation of its passing and mile-wide sheets of steaming black ice. By then, the people of Pern had fled south to Torance or joined the throngs marching northward. Many had seen the battle, and rushed forth to lavish their saviors with praises of thanks.

Phew! At this point, we all took a breath. Then, I told them the Night Angel was a harbinger of the Earth-Eater, and that there were many more like it. This marked the beginning of the end. They’d have roughly one week before the Darkening, so now they must prepare for the final fight.

The titan was beat to hell with 2/12 T-HP, an over-loaded blast ray, and no more boarding axe swings (they used the original charge and the one Murazir found at the priest’s camp). Luckily, no PCs died in the chaos. Kobek also got a chance to read Bashir’s scroll: Altair’s old guild was offering Bashir three golden time orbs in exchange for Quintessa. Why was she so valuable? The party discussed this, especially delving into Altair’s past a bit. We came to find this guild burned Altair in a deal involving a golden orb, and he was left for dead.

That was where we ended this session. It was pretty wild for 2 and a half hours! I think they’ll probably head to Torance to get some answers from this mysterious and mighty guild, but there have been many talks of running over to Castle Crater and smashing it open to see what the tyrant king was experimenting on in his sandstone catacombs. Who knows what they’ll do?

This campaign has been a blast thusfar. I’ve learned a lot running in a minimal prep fashion. I didn’t have any notes or journal in front of me for this whole session. I referenced them once midway through, but I find in the middle of running a session I can barely read text on a page. It’s quite freeing running something straight from your head, so long as you have a solid foundation of the “stats” of the session. This is why running a simple session like OSE or Shadowdark is so great. You don’t have to think so hard about massively complex rules and can focus more on narrative.

I’m looking forward to the next session. They can cover quite a bit of ground now that the titan is out of the ground— 3 hexes per day, in fact. I suspect we’ll have two more sessions before the Earth Eater comes, though maybe we can cram the whole week into one big session.

I think I want to make these recaps into narrative “radio drama” youtube videos. The script and pictures are already here. Just need to throw a voice over and some cool music. I think this would fit nicely on my RPG channel, The Magician's Manse. It initially started off as a Dying Earth channel, anyways. If you think this would be cool, let me know.

This recap took awhile to get out; we actually played this session last month. Life continues to move in new directions, but I'll keep doing my best to post our updates. The next session will be sometime this month (February, 2024). As always, thanks for reading!