The 9th Eye of the Leviathan Cult had it’s second session last night and it was … well … suprising, weird and very cool. I will skip a looooot of weird details and give you the short version of what happend. Just one small teaser up front: Want to sway a demon? Just bring some silver-tongued friends an a lot of fire protection lotion.
The cult realized that on their way to Leviathan god’s world dominion they need a bit of support and resources. Therefor they want to be on the good side of Ojak, vice purveyer of the crew’s Leech Tinkerbello and patron of the Rooftop Market. They found out that his interest is in occult objects (suprise!) and after a chaotic visit to the university’s library of Charterhall they found not only a reference to the Hellwhisper Ring (Thanks to Andrew Shields Deck) but also a lead that this artefact may be found in the Lost District (later, we will have a lot of flashbacks to this point to get additional information about the location with the help of the Spider’s blueprints of the district).
But how to cross the lightning barriers without attracting the attention of the Spirit Wardens? Stealing another idea from Andrew they found that there’s a “ghost district” long lost to the physical world but still present in the ghost field. This district crosses the barrier and the Cult wanted to use it for their passage.
Why don’t the Spirit Wardens know about this? We’ll find out later, maybe they already know…
Why don’t the Spirts use this passage into the city? We’ll find that out too. (Great leads for future scores)
At this point the Cult got support by not only one but two new members: A Whisper from Iruvia and A Slide from Akoros. With 4 members they’re well staffed for the score and with the right skill set, too, but read on…
So, they walked into Brightstone and tried to find the ghost field gate into the Ghost District. They found a trace in a high class merchant area right next to a very stylisch jeweler. The Spider starts to sway the merchant into looking the other way while the Whisper and the Leech did the searching. Well, the Spider had some problems with it: He sent the jeweler to the storage just to make the security guard appear. The Slide tried to help and they did a group sway which went well until a Blue Coat appears to pick up his wedding rings. It was fun to see the players sweat and brought some desperate rolls 🙂
In the meantime the whisper killed time investigating the alley which turned out as the backside of a very expensive Iruvian restaurant. He spotted a crate with rare and expensive spice and feeling a bit homesick and short of coin he took it (that will turn out very important). And yes, this wasn’t a flash back.
Finally the gate was opened with full success and the group was able to go. Group Action Attune (with some stress for the leader) and they arrived on the other side. Attacked by a ghost as a welcome, the Whisper managed to control him and interrogate him. They already knew roughly where to go but didn’t want spend days to find the exact spot. A lucky fortune roll (6!) and the ghost knew a place avoided by all ghosts because demons were spotted there frequently. They went to that place to find an abondonded building left standing in an otherwise clear field of debris.
The task to enter the building was given to the Whipser (Hey, you’re the only one with demonbane, so?). Surprisingly he didn’t want to enter with (astral) guns blazing but politely knocking at the door. The physical door was gone so again it was attuning the former astral door knocking with major complication:
The fire Demon guarding this place (and the ring) showed up and was not amused but didn’t want to fight right now, either.
So the whisper tried to sway him (yes, really!) offering the iruvian spice as barter trade to get the ring. The Spider and the Slide joined this group action and after resisting extreme fire damange (the spider planned for it and everbody was covered in fire protection lotion = armor vs. fire damage) they managed to roll a critical success. Awesome! AWESOME!
So, they have the ring and went back to the city before the demon changed its mind.
Next: Will the demon take it lightly that he was swayed? Will Ojak work with this strange cult? We will find out in the next session.
It was really stressful for me as GM but oh, so much fun, too. Well played!
That…is…awesome…
Question, is your Ghost District just a shadowed, spooky version of the real world alone, or are there past places and things that have left an echo? Such as a building that was burned to its foundation in the living world being present on the spectral side.
Ben Liepis Thanks! In my game it’s the echo of past places. I understood that Doskvol is extreme old, dating even before the cataclysm and it’s more fun to speak with the “old ones”. Mmmm, had not though about “normal” buildings having such an echo up til now. But that is really cool, too! Maybe a different branch of the Spirits Wardens is resonspible for buildings which are too anoying for the public? Pet Cemetery anyone? Haunted Houses? Cool!
Thanks for the idea! 🙂
Oh, by the way: Next plan of the Cult is to build a cohort auf squids to command. First, they wanted to transform humans into squids. I said, that it may be easier to transfer human ghosts into squid bodies and they will try that! Needless to say that this cohort already has a silly name: “Squid Squad, to the rescue!” Did I mention that they are a Cult with reputation “strange”. No problem with giving xp for this one 🙂
As silly (but appropriate) as that name is, think about how terrifying it would be to see a bunch of large squids breach ink-black waters to grab you and your mates. The one survivor of the attack swears they had a man’s eyes…