URDR - Multiverse Defense
Aug. 18th, 2014 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eveglassEpisode 15 and the cards are laid on the table. When Nidhogg extends the hand of hospitality to us, it’s only fitting that we circle around and stab him in the back. It’s for the good of the multiverse, after all. And involves big explosions, which has gotta count for something, right?
[The way you know the GM may not be entirely on the up-and-up.]
Stuart: “So, any combat tonight?”
Eric the GM: “Nope.”
Julie: “…He said with a smirk.”
Eric the GM: “Yup.”
[Indeed, we begin the session in the middle of combat, as part of an increasingly-hot war being fought against Nidhogg’s forces.]
Eric the GM: “URDR has been coming in to… interfere if possible.”
[This session featured special guest player Kevin, all the way from Japan, playing Samoth, a lizardfolk psi blade. He kicks off the first big combat of the game.]
Eric the GM: “Roll to hit.”
Kevin: *rolls* “Naturally… 1.”
Eric the GM: “I missed you, Kevin.”
[Anton has summoned his demon support, as always.]
Stuart: “Once you sacrifice a bunch of babies, the demon gets much stronger. They were kobold babies, so it’s okay.”
[More about the demon.]
Stuart: “I started paying a ridiculous amount so my demons have their intelligence increased by three. So now instead of being as intelligent as a small dog, they’re as intelligent as a standard gym teacher.”
[And yet more.]
Stuart: “Have you noticed my demons rarely have a survival rate of more than a session?”
Sabina: “Less than a session, actually.”
Eric the GM: “Give that they’re designed to be expendable.”
[We take stock of the combat situation.]
Kevin: “I’m feeling outnumbered.”
Stuart: “That’s because we are outnumbered.”
[One of the creatures in the combat is a giant ogre-type creature. Between Anton’s debuff and Yalia’s ability to plane-shift unwilling creatures, we manage to send it to the elemental plane of fire.]
Kevin: “One big thing down, one to go.”
Stuart: “The other big thing will be problematic.”
[The other ‘big thing’ is an ice wyrm.]
Keving: “So it’s me against the wyrm, eh?”
Julie: “I have faith in you.”
Kevin: (deadpan) “Great.”
Eric the GM: “It will be a glorious death!”
[Samoth deals effectively with the ice wyrm.]
Eric the GM: “The body of the ice wyrm is now a terrain obstacle.”
[While Samoth takes on the ice wyrm, Axcevent decides to deal with a bunch of the smaller troops.]
Stuart: “Did you bring your toy?”
Robert: “Which one?”
Stuart: “The one that sets people on fire and makes them scream.”
Robert: “Yes!”
Stuart: “I love that toy!”
[Still on the battlefield is an android with some pretty heavy firepower.]
Kevin: “I cleave him in half.”
Julie: “In twain. Please, if you’re gonna do it, do it right.”
[A goblin is fleeing the scene. We have already discovered it has freedom of movement activated.]
Stuart: “Can you cut his legs off? Freedom of movement won’t prevent that.”
[Axcevent stuns the goblin.]
Eric the GM: “The minute the goblin hits the ground, you year a crack, a crinkle, and a whoosh.”
[The only creature left on the battlefield is a Nidhogg soldier with a large gun. He has been rather effectively debuffed in previous rounds. And then Axcevent dealt a critical hit.]
Eric the GM: “Deal your double-damage against the blind, confused, panicked man.”
Robert: “Wait – I forgot my knife is vorpal!”
Eric the GM: “The gods of overkill are pleased.”
[With the combat over, we lick our wounds for a moment.]
Anton: “I can’t heal as well as Vek’n…”
Yalia: “I’m sure he’d appreciate that you did it well enough.”
[As the battle around us dies down, Kayla Ash reveals that the team has received an invitation to Náströnd, Nidhogg’s base of operations.]
Fox: (deadpan) “There’s no possible way this could be a trap.”
[Kayla reveals her plan.]
Kayla Ash: “We want you to cause a distraction. The biggest, loudest distraction you can.”
[We discuss what is likely to happen at Náströnd.]
Anton: “Nidhogg knows this invitation is enough to make us arrogant and go in thinking we can control the situation.”
Yalia: “But we are going, right?”
Anton: “Well, yes. And we’re gonna control the situation. So we’re fine.”
[The means of reach Náströnd is via a paper invitation, one for each of the PCs. Some of us are hesitant about travelling separately.]
Eric the GM: “Do you really think I would have arranged to drop you all into customized, personalized death traps? Is that the sort of thing I would do?”
Julie: “Yes.”
[We’re taking Vek’n with us. We inform him that we’re going to a party.]
Anton: “Parties don’t usually involve murder.”
Fox: “You and I have been going to the wrong parties.”
Eric the GM: “Because they do or don’t involve murder?”
[We arrive at Náströnd, in a valley beneath a massive fortress. We take stock of the universe we’re in.]
Sabina: “How do we feel about the laws of physics?”
Stuart: “We’re generally fond of them?”
[There are plenty of Nidhogg soldiers around, including several guarding the main door.]
Stuart: “Ooh! Bucket list!”
Everyone Else: “…”
Anton: “Gentlemen, take us to your leader!”
[We meet with Nidhogg, who reveals his master plan.]
Anton: “What’s the goal?”
Nidhogg: “Everything.”
Fox: “…Can you be a little more precise?”
[Nidhogg reveals his motivations.]
Nidhogg: “All of the universes in the multiverse come from the last multiverse. And I’m not happy about that.”
[It turns out that all the multiverse ultimately derived from one single, pristine universe. The Orb of the Stargazer wants that universe restored.]
Anton: “You are the orb, aren’t you?”
Nidhogg: “…Close enough as makes no difference, yes.”
[Nidhogg explains what will happen to people who stand against him.]
Nidhogg: “Those who oppose the orb… will not be there to cause further problems.”
[Nidhogg wants us to join his side and help him. He’s willing to offer incentives.]
Nidhogg: “Whatever you wish will be yours. And whatever I wish will be everything.”
[More of the same.]
Anton: “You want our help?”
Nidhogg: “Yes, very much.”
Anton: “And you’re willing to offer us things?”
Nidhogg: “Yes, literally everything.”
[One of the things we want to know is what happens to the soldiers in Nidhogg’s armor.]
Anton: “Let us know the hosts aren’t harmed in the bonding process.”
Nidhogg: “Define ‘harm.’”
Anton: “Well, that’s what we’d have to discuss.”
[Some random questions regarding Nidhogg.]
Anton: “Why the Norse theme?”
Nidhogg: “You have that backwards. The myths spring from the orb.”
[We know that Garalaine Morgaustan is somewhere on site.]
Nidhogg: “I’m hoping you’ll work for me, but I’m a realist. He and the others are around in case this doesn’t go as I hope.”
[Nidhogg’s plan is to collapse the multiverse into a single universe, winking out the superfluous verses so that they never existed.]
Julie: “Is it really killing them if they just never existed?”
Stuart: “Yes.”
Eric the GM: “Yes.”
[Anton points out that the single universe that Nidhogg hopes to create is unlikely to be a utopia, given that very few utopias exist.]
Nidhogg: “There are universes without conflict. They’re mostly heavens.”
Yalia: “I can take you there, but they may not like you.”
Anton: “What?! Everyone likes me! I’m that sorta guy!”
Yalia: “You’re really not, though.”
[Keep in mind that Vek’n is still with us. He’s unhappy that we appear to be at least considering Nidhogg’s offer.]
Eric the GM: “It’s kind of hard watching wood and metal tensing up, but Vek’n looks like he’s reaching his breaking point.”
[More about Vek’n.]
Vek’n of Plaugg: “You have a habit of leading me bravely into discomfort.”
Anton: “It’s what we do best.”
[We offer to take Vek’n back to our home base, but he instead decides to stay with us.]
Vek’n of Plaugg: “I will not abandon you in your hour of moderate need!”
[We know that the witches have inserted a mole into Nidhogg’s organization. We need to ensure that we’ll be able to talk to her without Nidhogg being aware of it.]
Anton: “I assume you have this whole place wired, scried…”
Nidhogg: “It’s unnecessary. If you act against me, I will destroy you. Why would I need to scry on you?”
[The mole’s name is Emilia. She has been tasked by Nidhogg with giving us a tour of the fortress.]
Anton: “Lead the way, evil minion!”
Emilia: *scowls*
Yalia: “See, when I say people tend not to like you, this is what I mean.”
[Emilia notes the sites of interest.]
Emilia: “There are several armories, the vehicle depot, the reactor core…”
Anton: “Did anyone else hear the magic words?!”
[We contemplate what we might do with the reactor core.]
Stuart: “There’s nothing I like more than causing wide scale destruction except annoying our enemies.”
Julie: “Why not do both at the same time?”
Stuart: “Exactly!”
[We think about how we might cause a distraction.]
Kevin: “Blowing up the reactor core is traditional.”
Stuart: “And I do like tradition!”
[More ideas.]
Emilia: “In my experience, the best way to deal with an enemy is to get someone to kill them for you.”
[Before causing our distraction, we decide to take the tour. First up, a barracks, in which we interrogate one of the soldiers.]
Anton: “You have desires?”
Nidhogg Soldier: “Yes.”
Anton: “What are they?”
Nidhogg Soldier: “Serve. Obliterate my enemies.”
[Just a true statement.]
Anton: “If I only did stuff I understood, I’d be a lot more limited.”
[Also on the tour, the parade ground.]
Eric the GM: “There are 100 suits of armor, drilling with heavy weapons.”
Anton: “That worries me.”
Yalia: “Why?”
Anton: “We don’t usually face 100 of them at a time.”
Yalia: “Are we facing 100 of them now?”
Anton: “I hope not.”
Yalia: “There you go, then.”
[Vek’n is still with us. Anton invites him formally to be a member of our team. Vek’n agrees.]
Anton: “I’ll talk to the witches when we get back, assuming we survive.”
Robert: “I think you just caused the death of Vek’n.”
[We plan our next course of action.]
Anton: “Samoth, since your life hangs in the balance, we should at least pretend to listen to your opinion.”
Samoth: “Let’s break things.”
[We contemplate the potential targets for our large distraction.]
Stuart: “Is the reactor defended by more than 100 troops?”
Eric the GM: “You don’t know.”
Stuart: “The parade ground may be better defended than the reactor core.”
Eric the GM: “Differently defended.”
[We decide to cause a distraction that will ultimately – we hope – lead to Nidhogg’s destruction.]
Anton: “We’ve done our due diligence…”
Yalia: “And decided to go with the path of recklessness anyway?”
Fox: “When do we ever do otherwise?”
[We prepare to wage war against Nidhogg.]
Anton: “Does anyone wish to compose a letter to their loved ones?”
Axcevent: “To who?”
[Emilia brings us as far as the fuel depot, then retreats back into the main fortress.]
Eric the GM: “You get the sense that the slamming of the door is immediately followed by the rapid pitter-patter of running feet.”
[The fuel depot is guarded by a pair of Nidhogg soldiers.]
Nidhogg Soldier: “If you do not leave, it will be taken as a violation of hospitality. You have 30 seconds to comply.”
Anton/Stuart: “We’re complying! We walk away…”
Julie: “And then turn around and shoot them?”
Stuart: “Well, it wasn’t originally my plan, but I like it. Has a nice subtlety to it.”
[Samoth throws a fireball at the two guards.]
Stuart: “If they don’t go down, I cock my fingers at them.”
[Anton cocking his fingers is more dangerous than other people cocking their fingers.]
Stuart: “Do you think 17d8 is enough?”
[We take out the guards and approach the door of the fuel depot.]
Anton: “You want me to detect wards?”
Yalia: “Sure.”
Anton: *walks into door and takes massive damage*
[We bypass the warded door through the expedient of blasting a hole in the wall.]
Eric the GM: “You see many, many barrels marked ‘flammable.’”
Kevin: “Should I throw my fireballs?”
Stuart: “What else are you gonna do with them?”
[Samoth throws his fireballs.]
Eric the GM: “I’m doing the math – this is gonna be a big distraction.”
[We inform the witches that we have set up the distraction and it’s time for reinforcements.]
Anton: “This would be a bad time for the witches to betray us in some elaborate plot.”
[Yalia had originally been considering joining Nidhogg’s side, but ultimately went with the group consensus to blow up the fuel depot.]
Yalia: “So, should we cause more distractions?”
Samoth: “Now she’s into it.”
Yalia: “Well, we already cast our vote. There’s no going back now.”
[Reinforcements begin to arrive.]
Eric the GM: “You hear the sound of something… big.”
[Among the reinforcements is a cruise-ship-sized mecha with a military base mounted on the top and a cat’s head for the prow.]
Robert: “I love that the title is ‘Titanicat.’”
Eric the GM: “She was having trouble deciding between that and ‘Kittanic.’”
[The witches themselves appear, planning to cause further destruction to Náströnd.]
Eric the GM: “Who do you want to go with?”
Robert: “Lilith, obviously.”
Eric the GM: “Okay, she’s going after the reactor.”
Julie: (to Stuart) “It’s your birthday.”
[In the end, we go with Kayla Ash to the vault, in the hopes of finding the Orb of the Stargazer. First problem: how do we get in? Robert suggests using a magic item that creates a 60-foot tree.]
Anton: “We’re not sure the tree thing will work, but we have to try it for one reason: it’s awesome.”
[We open the door to the vault. But things are not yet over.]
Eric the GM: *plays the sound of a lightsaber whooshing to life*
Stuart: “Ooh, that’d make an awesome souvenir!”
[We consider who is probably closest to the lightsaber.]
Kevin: “I’m about to lose my head.”
Stuart: “Let’s be clear: you’ll lose a head, but we’ll gain a handbag.”
[It turns out the lightsaber is being wielded by our old friend, Garalaine Morgaustan.]
Garalaine Morgaustan: “I think we have some unfinished business.”
Yalia: “Y’know, I liked you.”
Fox: “You were the only one.”
Yalia: “That’s probably true.”
[Moragustan begins monologuing.]
Garalaine Morgaustan: “Anyone who wants to can step out of the vault now. This doesn’t have to go badly for you. [beat, looks at Anton] Except you. It’s already gone badly for you.”
[Samoth interrupts the monologue with a fireball.]
Anton: “You can kill someone, you can mock their dead loved ones, but you can’t interrupt their monologue!”
[Combat ensues. It turns out that not only has Morgaustan come to kill us, he’s brought a team.]
Kevin: “So many things I want to kill…”
Stuart: “It’s a target-rich environment.”
[Combat continues to ensue.]
Eric the GM: “Kayla charges Morgaustan.”
Stuart: “Is this the part where he kills her to make it more dramatic?”
Eric the GM: *rolls* “No, this is the part where she deals a significant amount of damage.”
[Things are going less-well for some of the rest of us.]
Kevin: “Guys, I’ve gone from 163 hp to 76 hp in one round.”
Julie: “You will be mourned.”
[One of our enemies is a space marine who has been dealing lots of damage with a minigun. But why do everything from a ranged position?]
Robert: “He hits me with his gun?”
Sabina: “He doesn’t shoot us with bullets?”
Eric the GM: “It wouldn’t be satisfying.”
[Though Kayla was able to massively injure Morgaustan, he managed to teleport before we killed him.]
Stuart: “So Morgaustan got away?”
Julie: “Again. As always.”
Stuart: “I’m okay with that. We’ll get him next time.”
[Fox is also dealing a lot of damage against some of our enemies, to much better effect.]
Eric the GM: “He’s not only dead, his ancestors felt it.”
[One of the people Axcevent killed with his vorpal knife turned out to be rather different than we expected.]
Eric the GM: “I didn’t think this would come up , but her body floats up, lightning crashes, and then it floats down again.”
Stuart: “She’s a Highlander?!”
[Sadly, there is nothing in the vault, and there is little time to explore it before Lilith decides to go with the most expeditious means of harming Nidhogg.]
Stuart: “Note to self: learn orbital strike.”
Eric the GM: “The spell’s actual name is ‘The only way to be sure.’”
[In the combat, we suffered a number of fatalities, including Samoth, Vek’n, and Kayla Ash.]
Eric the GM: “You can bring Samoth back.”
Kevin: “Yay!”
Stuart: “I care because Kevin is here.”
[We reflect on what we were able to accomplish.]
Stuart: “We can only do this two more times – then we run out of witches.”
[We also realize another consequence of our actions.]
Eric the GM: “Morgaustan’s gone after Anton’s apprentices.”
Stuart: “They’re all gone?”
Eric the GM: “That city is gone.”
That’s it for this time! Next time: continued war! Retaliation! Retribution! And the knowledge that we may have messed up paradise forever! …But hey, it’s no big deal. At least we got to blow stuff up.
[The way you know the GM may not be entirely on the up-and-up.]
Stuart: “So, any combat tonight?”
Eric the GM: “Nope.”
Julie: “…He said with a smirk.”
Eric the GM: “Yup.”
[Indeed, we begin the session in the middle of combat, as part of an increasingly-hot war being fought against Nidhogg’s forces.]
Eric the GM: “URDR has been coming in to… interfere if possible.”
[This session featured special guest player Kevin, all the way from Japan, playing Samoth, a lizardfolk psi blade. He kicks off the first big combat of the game.]
Eric the GM: “Roll to hit.”
Kevin: *rolls* “Naturally… 1.”
Eric the GM: “I missed you, Kevin.”
[Anton has summoned his demon support, as always.]
Stuart: “Once you sacrifice a bunch of babies, the demon gets much stronger. They were kobold babies, so it’s okay.”
[More about the demon.]
Stuart: “I started paying a ridiculous amount so my demons have their intelligence increased by three. So now instead of being as intelligent as a small dog, they’re as intelligent as a standard gym teacher.”
[And yet more.]
Stuart: “Have you noticed my demons rarely have a survival rate of more than a session?”
Sabina: “Less than a session, actually.”
Eric the GM: “Give that they’re designed to be expendable.”
[We take stock of the combat situation.]
Kevin: “I’m feeling outnumbered.”
Stuart: “That’s because we are outnumbered.”
[One of the creatures in the combat is a giant ogre-type creature. Between Anton’s debuff and Yalia’s ability to plane-shift unwilling creatures, we manage to send it to the elemental plane of fire.]
Kevin: “One big thing down, one to go.”
Stuart: “The other big thing will be problematic.”
[The other ‘big thing’ is an ice wyrm.]
Keving: “So it’s me against the wyrm, eh?”
Julie: “I have faith in you.”
Kevin: (deadpan) “Great.”
Eric the GM: “It will be a glorious death!”
[Samoth deals effectively with the ice wyrm.]
Eric the GM: “The body of the ice wyrm is now a terrain obstacle.”
[While Samoth takes on the ice wyrm, Axcevent decides to deal with a bunch of the smaller troops.]
Stuart: “Did you bring your toy?”
Robert: “Which one?”
Stuart: “The one that sets people on fire and makes them scream.”
Robert: “Yes!”
Stuart: “I love that toy!”
[Still on the battlefield is an android with some pretty heavy firepower.]
Kevin: “I cleave him in half.”
Julie: “In twain. Please, if you’re gonna do it, do it right.”
[A goblin is fleeing the scene. We have already discovered it has freedom of movement activated.]
Stuart: “Can you cut his legs off? Freedom of movement won’t prevent that.”
[Axcevent stuns the goblin.]
Eric the GM: “The minute the goblin hits the ground, you year a crack, a crinkle, and a whoosh.”
[The only creature left on the battlefield is a Nidhogg soldier with a large gun. He has been rather effectively debuffed in previous rounds. And then Axcevent dealt a critical hit.]
Eric the GM: “Deal your double-damage against the blind, confused, panicked man.”
Robert: “Wait – I forgot my knife is vorpal!”
Eric the GM: “The gods of overkill are pleased.”
[With the combat over, we lick our wounds for a moment.]
Anton: “I can’t heal as well as Vek’n…”
Yalia: “I’m sure he’d appreciate that you did it well enough.”
[As the battle around us dies down, Kayla Ash reveals that the team has received an invitation to Náströnd, Nidhogg’s base of operations.]
Fox: (deadpan) “There’s no possible way this could be a trap.”
[Kayla reveals her plan.]
Kayla Ash: “We want you to cause a distraction. The biggest, loudest distraction you can.”
[We discuss what is likely to happen at Náströnd.]
Anton: “Nidhogg knows this invitation is enough to make us arrogant and go in thinking we can control the situation.”
Yalia: “But we are going, right?”
Anton: “Well, yes. And we’re gonna control the situation. So we’re fine.”
[The means of reach Náströnd is via a paper invitation, one for each of the PCs. Some of us are hesitant about travelling separately.]
Eric the GM: “Do you really think I would have arranged to drop you all into customized, personalized death traps? Is that the sort of thing I would do?”
Julie: “Yes.”
[We’re taking Vek’n with us. We inform him that we’re going to a party.]
Anton: “Parties don’t usually involve murder.”
Fox: “You and I have been going to the wrong parties.”
Eric the GM: “Because they do or don’t involve murder?”
[We arrive at Náströnd, in a valley beneath a massive fortress. We take stock of the universe we’re in.]
Sabina: “How do we feel about the laws of physics?”
Stuart: “We’re generally fond of them?”
[There are plenty of Nidhogg soldiers around, including several guarding the main door.]
Stuart: “Ooh! Bucket list!”
Everyone Else: “…”
Anton: “Gentlemen, take us to your leader!”
[We meet with Nidhogg, who reveals his master plan.]
Anton: “What’s the goal?”
Nidhogg: “Everything.”
Fox: “…Can you be a little more precise?”
[Nidhogg reveals his motivations.]
Nidhogg: “All of the universes in the multiverse come from the last multiverse. And I’m not happy about that.”
[It turns out that all the multiverse ultimately derived from one single, pristine universe. The Orb of the Stargazer wants that universe restored.]
Anton: “You are the orb, aren’t you?”
Nidhogg: “…Close enough as makes no difference, yes.”
[Nidhogg explains what will happen to people who stand against him.]
Nidhogg: “Those who oppose the orb… will not be there to cause further problems.”
[Nidhogg wants us to join his side and help him. He’s willing to offer incentives.]
Nidhogg: “Whatever you wish will be yours. And whatever I wish will be everything.”
[More of the same.]
Anton: “You want our help?”
Nidhogg: “Yes, very much.”
Anton: “And you’re willing to offer us things?”
Nidhogg: “Yes, literally everything.”
[One of the things we want to know is what happens to the soldiers in Nidhogg’s armor.]
Anton: “Let us know the hosts aren’t harmed in the bonding process.”
Nidhogg: “Define ‘harm.’”
Anton: “Well, that’s what we’d have to discuss.”
[Some random questions regarding Nidhogg.]
Anton: “Why the Norse theme?”
Nidhogg: “You have that backwards. The myths spring from the orb.”
[We know that Garalaine Morgaustan is somewhere on site.]
Nidhogg: “I’m hoping you’ll work for me, but I’m a realist. He and the others are around in case this doesn’t go as I hope.”
[Nidhogg’s plan is to collapse the multiverse into a single universe, winking out the superfluous verses so that they never existed.]
Julie: “Is it really killing them if they just never existed?”
Stuart: “Yes.”
Eric the GM: “Yes.”
[Anton points out that the single universe that Nidhogg hopes to create is unlikely to be a utopia, given that very few utopias exist.]
Nidhogg: “There are universes without conflict. They’re mostly heavens.”
Yalia: “I can take you there, but they may not like you.”
Anton: “What?! Everyone likes me! I’m that sorta guy!”
Yalia: “You’re really not, though.”
[Keep in mind that Vek’n is still with us. He’s unhappy that we appear to be at least considering Nidhogg’s offer.]
Eric the GM: “It’s kind of hard watching wood and metal tensing up, but Vek’n looks like he’s reaching his breaking point.”
[More about Vek’n.]
Vek’n of Plaugg: “You have a habit of leading me bravely into discomfort.”
Anton: “It’s what we do best.”
[We offer to take Vek’n back to our home base, but he instead decides to stay with us.]
Vek’n of Plaugg: “I will not abandon you in your hour of moderate need!”
[We know that the witches have inserted a mole into Nidhogg’s organization. We need to ensure that we’ll be able to talk to her without Nidhogg being aware of it.]
Anton: “I assume you have this whole place wired, scried…”
Nidhogg: “It’s unnecessary. If you act against me, I will destroy you. Why would I need to scry on you?”
[The mole’s name is Emilia. She has been tasked by Nidhogg with giving us a tour of the fortress.]
Anton: “Lead the way, evil minion!”
Emilia: *scowls*
Yalia: “See, when I say people tend not to like you, this is what I mean.”
[Emilia notes the sites of interest.]
Emilia: “There are several armories, the vehicle depot, the reactor core…”
Anton: “Did anyone else hear the magic words?!”
[We contemplate what we might do with the reactor core.]
Stuart: “There’s nothing I like more than causing wide scale destruction except annoying our enemies.”
Julie: “Why not do both at the same time?”
Stuart: “Exactly!”
[We think about how we might cause a distraction.]
Kevin: “Blowing up the reactor core is traditional.”
Stuart: “And I do like tradition!”
[More ideas.]
Emilia: “In my experience, the best way to deal with an enemy is to get someone to kill them for you.”
[Before causing our distraction, we decide to take the tour. First up, a barracks, in which we interrogate one of the soldiers.]
Anton: “You have desires?”
Nidhogg Soldier: “Yes.”
Anton: “What are they?”
Nidhogg Soldier: “Serve. Obliterate my enemies.”
[Just a true statement.]
Anton: “If I only did stuff I understood, I’d be a lot more limited.”
[Also on the tour, the parade ground.]
Eric the GM: “There are 100 suits of armor, drilling with heavy weapons.”
Anton: “That worries me.”
Yalia: “Why?”
Anton: “We don’t usually face 100 of them at a time.”
Yalia: “Are we facing 100 of them now?”
Anton: “I hope not.”
Yalia: “There you go, then.”
[Vek’n is still with us. Anton invites him formally to be a member of our team. Vek’n agrees.]
Anton: “I’ll talk to the witches when we get back, assuming we survive.”
Robert: “I think you just caused the death of Vek’n.”
[We plan our next course of action.]
Anton: “Samoth, since your life hangs in the balance, we should at least pretend to listen to your opinion.”
Samoth: “Let’s break things.”
[We contemplate the potential targets for our large distraction.]
Stuart: “Is the reactor defended by more than 100 troops?”
Eric the GM: “You don’t know.”
Stuart: “The parade ground may be better defended than the reactor core.”
Eric the GM: “Differently defended.”
[We decide to cause a distraction that will ultimately – we hope – lead to Nidhogg’s destruction.]
Anton: “We’ve done our due diligence…”
Yalia: “And decided to go with the path of recklessness anyway?”
Fox: “When do we ever do otherwise?”
[We prepare to wage war against Nidhogg.]
Anton: “Does anyone wish to compose a letter to their loved ones?”
Axcevent: “To who?”
[Emilia brings us as far as the fuel depot, then retreats back into the main fortress.]
Eric the GM: “You get the sense that the slamming of the door is immediately followed by the rapid pitter-patter of running feet.”
[The fuel depot is guarded by a pair of Nidhogg soldiers.]
Nidhogg Soldier: “If you do not leave, it will be taken as a violation of hospitality. You have 30 seconds to comply.”
Anton/Stuart: “We’re complying! We walk away…”
Julie: “And then turn around and shoot them?”
Stuart: “Well, it wasn’t originally my plan, but I like it. Has a nice subtlety to it.”
[Samoth throws a fireball at the two guards.]
Stuart: “If they don’t go down, I cock my fingers at them.”
[Anton cocking his fingers is more dangerous than other people cocking their fingers.]
Stuart: “Do you think 17d8 is enough?”
[We take out the guards and approach the door of the fuel depot.]
Anton: “You want me to detect wards?”
Yalia: “Sure.”
Anton: *walks into door and takes massive damage*
[We bypass the warded door through the expedient of blasting a hole in the wall.]
Eric the GM: “You see many, many barrels marked ‘flammable.’”
Kevin: “Should I throw my fireballs?”
Stuart: “What else are you gonna do with them?”
[Samoth throws his fireballs.]
Eric the GM: “I’m doing the math – this is gonna be a big distraction.”
[We inform the witches that we have set up the distraction and it’s time for reinforcements.]
Anton: “This would be a bad time for the witches to betray us in some elaborate plot.”
[Yalia had originally been considering joining Nidhogg’s side, but ultimately went with the group consensus to blow up the fuel depot.]
Yalia: “So, should we cause more distractions?”
Samoth: “Now she’s into it.”
Yalia: “Well, we already cast our vote. There’s no going back now.”
[Reinforcements begin to arrive.]
Eric the GM: “You hear the sound of something… big.”
[Among the reinforcements is a cruise-ship-sized mecha with a military base mounted on the top and a cat’s head for the prow.]
Robert: “I love that the title is ‘Titanicat.’”
Eric the GM: “She was having trouble deciding between that and ‘Kittanic.’”
[The witches themselves appear, planning to cause further destruction to Náströnd.]
Eric the GM: “Who do you want to go with?”
Robert: “Lilith, obviously.”
Eric the GM: “Okay, she’s going after the reactor.”
Julie: (to Stuart) “It’s your birthday.”
[In the end, we go with Kayla Ash to the vault, in the hopes of finding the Orb of the Stargazer. First problem: how do we get in? Robert suggests using a magic item that creates a 60-foot tree.]
Anton: “We’re not sure the tree thing will work, but we have to try it for one reason: it’s awesome.”
[We open the door to the vault. But things are not yet over.]
Eric the GM: *plays the sound of a lightsaber whooshing to life*
Stuart: “Ooh, that’d make an awesome souvenir!”
[We consider who is probably closest to the lightsaber.]
Kevin: “I’m about to lose my head.”
Stuart: “Let’s be clear: you’ll lose a head, but we’ll gain a handbag.”
[It turns out the lightsaber is being wielded by our old friend, Garalaine Morgaustan.]
Garalaine Morgaustan: “I think we have some unfinished business.”
Yalia: “Y’know, I liked you.”
Fox: “You were the only one.”
Yalia: “That’s probably true.”
[Moragustan begins monologuing.]
Garalaine Morgaustan: “Anyone who wants to can step out of the vault now. This doesn’t have to go badly for you. [beat, looks at Anton] Except you. It’s already gone badly for you.”
[Samoth interrupts the monologue with a fireball.]
Anton: “You can kill someone, you can mock their dead loved ones, but you can’t interrupt their monologue!”
[Combat ensues. It turns out that not only has Morgaustan come to kill us, he’s brought a team.]
Kevin: “So many things I want to kill…”
Stuart: “It’s a target-rich environment.”
[Combat continues to ensue.]
Eric the GM: “Kayla charges Morgaustan.”
Stuart: “Is this the part where he kills her to make it more dramatic?”
Eric the GM: *rolls* “No, this is the part where she deals a significant amount of damage.”
[Things are going less-well for some of the rest of us.]
Kevin: “Guys, I’ve gone from 163 hp to 76 hp in one round.”
Julie: “You will be mourned.”
[One of our enemies is a space marine who has been dealing lots of damage with a minigun. But why do everything from a ranged position?]
Robert: “He hits me with his gun?”
Sabina: “He doesn’t shoot us with bullets?”
Eric the GM: “It wouldn’t be satisfying.”
[Though Kayla was able to massively injure Morgaustan, he managed to teleport before we killed him.]
Stuart: “So Morgaustan got away?”
Julie: “Again. As always.”
Stuart: “I’m okay with that. We’ll get him next time.”
[Fox is also dealing a lot of damage against some of our enemies, to much better effect.]
Eric the GM: “He’s not only dead, his ancestors felt it.”
[One of the people Axcevent killed with his vorpal knife turned out to be rather different than we expected.]
Eric the GM: “I didn’t think this would come up , but her body floats up, lightning crashes, and then it floats down again.”
Stuart: “She’s a Highlander?!”
[Sadly, there is nothing in the vault, and there is little time to explore it before Lilith decides to go with the most expeditious means of harming Nidhogg.]
Stuart: “Note to self: learn orbital strike.”
Eric the GM: “The spell’s actual name is ‘The only way to be sure.’”
[In the combat, we suffered a number of fatalities, including Samoth, Vek’n, and Kayla Ash.]
Eric the GM: “You can bring Samoth back.”
Kevin: “Yay!”
Stuart: “I care because Kevin is here.”
[We reflect on what we were able to accomplish.]
Stuart: “We can only do this two more times – then we run out of witches.”
[We also realize another consequence of our actions.]
Eric the GM: “Morgaustan’s gone after Anton’s apprentices.”
Stuart: “They’re all gone?”
Eric the GM: “That city is gone.”
That’s it for this time! Next time: continued war! Retaliation! Retribution! And the knowledge that we may have messed up paradise forever! …But hey, it’s no big deal. At least we got to blow stuff up.
