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Characters:

Gabriela Al-Alaq (Ghoul) – Evil Mike
Rizzo (Ratling) – Mike Byrd
Salim Durka-Durka (Kleshite) – Ben
Tarik (Human from Lankhmar) – Owen

Game 4 (15 XP) – Death to Zanzibar

I forgot to write up what happened, but I do remember there was a clever plan from Gabriela to kill Zanzibar in a graveyard in a Pirate town called Safe Harbor. It worked!

Game 5 (20 XP) – We flee…a lot.

Pirate’s Guild states Gabriela can join the Pirate’s council after a month on probation, proving her worth.

We took Zanzibar’s ship “The Antiqam” (“revenge” in Arabic) back to Lankhmar and were set upon by the Black Opal and 3 other ships. Rather than fight it out at 4 to 1 odds, we fled and just escaped into darkness and fog among some islands.

After slipping away, Captain Gabriela The Red (as she is now wearing Zanzibar’s iconic red cloak and hat) was attacked by a crew member looking to move up in the ranks. Her loyal friends defended her with Rizzo giving the killing stroke with a formidable magical bolt! Gabriela hung the slain man from the yard arm for all to see what happens to those who oppose her!

After getting back to Lankhmar, we find out our house was taken over by Hringorl. Later we “learned” (from a critical failure at streetwise) that Hringorl has women enslaved, ghouls bound in his basement, he’s a cannibal, and he’s killed his mother. So we decide this villain must go!  And we want our house back!

Sneaking into the mansion (the fool had not had time to change the locks so our keys worked perfectly), Durka-Durka failed his stealth roll. Should he Benny it? He decides no. Idiot. On cue, when he goes into the hallway, the guards are waiting for him!

Gabriela discovers the courtyard is filled with an 8′ giant, 2 ghouls, a rattling, and a couple of guards.  While fighting the 8′ giant, our damage was pathetic! We had all 1’s or majority 1’s on every attack. Every single time! Everyone moved No Mercy up on their list of advancements.

The Rattling in the courtyard turned out to be a mighty mage! She nearly killed Gabriella with a devastating attack on the door in front of her.

Durka-Durka was incapacitated by the Giant and the rest of us all ran away abandoning the fool that would not spend a Benny on a stealth roll. It was our first rousing defeat, and with careful planning for our revenge, it will be the LAST!

Crew (PCs)

Pilot: Trigger (Owen – Serran)
Science Officer and Second in Command of JC701: Emo (Steve – Deader)
Medical Officer: Ssanjan “Sam” (Ben – Saurian)
Engineer: Nolan Brilliant (Alex – Human) – Not appearing
New Security Officer: Boss Fayde (Mike B – Human)
Sniper: Zap (Ron – Saurian)
Heavy Hitter: Rico (Jim – Aurax)

Others (NPCs)

Colonel Jaeger (Kalian), Charter Head for Space Station JC701
Tovrin Cable (Human), President of the Omicron Colonies
Dr. Steven Ward (Human), JC701 Chief Medical Officer
Zhi Fang (Tazanian), Head of JC701 Merchants Association, Owner of Fangtasia
Dominic Newland (Serran), Prophet of the Techno-God
Martain Capella (Rigellian), Ambassador of the Rigellian Empire
Tennor Blackfinch (Saurian), Oneiades Pirate and Spaceport Owner


The station has been very active since the discovery of the treachery on Eden. Col. Jaeger calls them all in for a debriefing of the events on Eden. Patch is there to give the briefing, but it is mostly inaccurate. She is left to think that Patch must have suffered some brain damage during the events.

After his description, The Holy Binary is brought in to the briefing room. “Holy Binary, your assistance was very helpful in the last mission. I hear you have something new for us?”

“The HUB is disturbed by the actions of the Rigellians against us. In order to support JumpCorp in protecting the innocent Pilgrims, I am happy to share these improved, more reliable cybertech modules.”

He hands out more advanced tech. Boss Fayde and Sam took the Skill Upgrade tech, Rico and Trigger took the Autodoc tech, Emo took the Attribute Upgrade tech and Zap took the Combat Edge tech.

“Thank you, Holy Binary, as always I’ll see you in church on Sunday.” Jaeger says and shows him out.

Just then, Dr. Ward comes in with the Rigellian Ambassador. Although it’s hard to tell, the ambassador has clearly been attacked and suffered several grievous wounds. Dr. Ward says his patient insisted on seeing the Col. Immediately. The ambassador describes how he has been receiving death threats, how Pilgrims have been picketing his quarters and finally this morning he was attacked by masked humans. He could not tell if they were Pilgrims or not.

In addition, the Rigellian Alliance, the de facto government that is attempting to make peace with its neighbors and which he is a representative, has risked their political futures by warning them about the Eden trap. The Alliance is concerned that the Rigellian Cooperative, a powerful organization of slavers, are growing stronger due to attacks from the miners and now some of the Pilgrims have been attacking into Rigellian territory as well.

Col. Jaeger immediately calls for a lockdown on the station. No ships in or out until the assailants are identified and captured. In addition, she assigns Emo to make sure the ambassador is protected. The ambassador states that he is afraid for his life and more, that the sacrifices his government made to save the Pilgrims will cause a civil war, forcing Rigellians to choose between the Cooperative and the Alliance.


After the meeting, Boss Fayde runs an investigation to see if he can identify the assailant. Sam goes to Fangtasia to drink and work the crowd for any clues, and Emo assigns Trigger, Zap and Rico to security on the Ambassador.

Allison von Stellar meets Sam at Fangtasia and tells him she has heard of his reputation for doing his own thing and not being a JumpCorp company man. She tells him that her father is demanding that she return home. But she wants to stay in this sector with the HUB. She feels that her calling is to help usher in the One and she along with the other Pilgrims think that will happen here. She needs to get off station before her father’s handpicked JumpCorp crew can capture her and forcibly return her to him. But with the lockdown on station she needs help getting away. She asks him to not let anybody else know.

Separately, Ambassador Capella asks Emo to get him past the lockdown because he does not feel safe on the station. He wants to go to one of the moons just inside the Rigellian space where the Alliance has a base where he will be safe until the situation on JC-701 is settled. He asks that they not let anybody else know.

Unfortunately for Sam, he ran into trouble sneaking Allison off the station. Boss Fayde spots him sabotaging the systems to get her off the station and promptly arrests him, but too late to stop her escape.


Col. Jaeger calls them in for a briefing. When they enter her office, JumpCorp CEO Hans von Steller is on the screen. He is playing a transmission he received.

“Mr. von Steller, my name is Ankhar Shtang, and I am the head of the Rigellian Cooperative. I do not recognize your treaty with the Rigellian Alliance and I can assure you, your people in this sector will be working for me. I will not rest until the human scum are all subject to my whip! Anyone, be it humanoid or Rigellian, like that Ambassador, that tries to stand in my way will be destroyed. And understand, I will take great pleasure in recapturing your daughter and showing you just what these claws can do!”

The transmission ends, and van Steller looks at Jaeger, “Col. Jaeger, let me make myself very clear. Find my daughter and return her to me. I want that Rigellian scum of an ambassador in your brig. We are about to embark on an all-out war with the Rigellians!”

“Sir we have no reason to attack all Rigellians. The ambassador and his government…”

“ARE USELESS!” von Steller interrupts.

Just then, an urgent message comes in from Tennor Blackfinch stating that he is under attack by Rigellian’s just inside the Rigellian border. He fears for the safety of his passengers. “What passengers, Jaeger shouts.”

“Why the ambassador and Allison von Steller,” he replies just as the transmission is abruptly ended.


Jaeger sends the crew (even the prisoner Sam) to rescue them in the JCS Opportunity. When they arrive, three of Tennor’s ships are being attacked by three Rigellian ships. Tennor’s ship is being boarded. The crew take a shuttle over to Tennor’s ship to help.

The crew does not attempt to contact Tennor so when they attempt to enter the ship, they have to hack the doors to get in. Also, Tennor is not expecting them, so no one gives them an operational update. Trigger stays on Opportunity to keep the other Rigellian ships occupied and even manages to destroy one of them.

The crew on Tennor’s ship narrowly miss recapturing Allison and the ambassador as the Rigellian ship escapes to a nearby moon. The crew return to Opportunity to chase them down.


After landing they enter a subterranean chamber that Rico recollects looks a lot like the chamber below the temple on Eden. This appears to be a standard design of Rigellian buildings.

They fight their way to the chamber where the Ankhar is attempting a negotiation with Hans von Stellar. Meanwhile he has a large contingent of Bone spiders and Rigellians waiting for the Opportunity crew. After showing his seemingly in depth knowledge of the goings on of JC701, the crew manages to wound him and kill his bodyguards. He attempts to kill Allison before escaping but the ambassador sacrifices himself to block the blow (and luckily does not get killed). Ankhar escapes but Allison and the ambassador are saved.

The crew is now writing status reports back to Col. Jaeger where she will determine the consequences of Sam and Emo’s actions.

As usual we met at Jim’s house for JimCon. We started off with Outpost board game, then Evil Mike’s Last Parsec game on Friday. On Saturday we started with Owen’s World War 2 game, then Steve’s Savage Conan game. On Sunday we played Shadows Over Brimstone or something, I wasn’t there.  :P

Pictures!

Crew (PCs)

Skipper – Shane Hensley
Rico – Norm Hensley
Patch – Steve Todd
Kowalski – Al Bohannon

Others (NPCs)

Colonel Jaeger (Kalian), Charter Head for Space Station JC701
Tovrin Cable (Human), President of the Omicron Colonies
Dr. Steven Ward (Human), JC701 Chief Medical Officer
Zhi Fang (Tazanian), Head of JC701 Merchants Association, Owner of Fangtasia
Dominic Newland (Serran), Prophet of the Techno-God
Martain Capella (Rigellian), Ambassador of the Rigellian Empire
Tennor Blackfinch (Saurian), Oneiades Pirate and Spaceport Owner

The Bodyguard Brigade finally makes it to JC-701, only to find it filled with Pilgrims of the Holy Unifying Binary (HUB) church. The rumor going round with the Pilgrims is that “Binary Eden”, a planet where they can find pure peace with technology, is somewhere in this quadrant. The skeptical station crew call them “CHUBs”, putting Church in front of the acronym.

Col. Jaeger calls them into a meeting to discuss their next assignment. The Holy Binary, Dominic Newland, joins them to give them some special technology developed by the church that should help them if needed. He also states that the rumor of Binary Eden is not supported by the church but despite his efforts, it persists.

Col. Jaeger then brings Martain Capella in who explains that his high council has called him to a meeting on Rigel Hive V. Col. Jaeger has assigned the Bodyguard Brigade to transport the Ambassador and bring him back.

The Brigade makes the trip no problem, but while waiting on the station, they overhear some Rigellians talking about “Eden”, “Pilgrims” and “Gullible”. Thinking the worst, Skipper and Rico attack them. Soon after, Martain announces that he’s under attack near the ship and that they need to leave immediately.

After leaving the station, Martain explains that Eden is just a ruse by some Rigellian slavers to lure unsuspecting Pilgrims to their slavery. But before they can contact or return to the station, stowaway Pilgrims gas the crew and take the ship to “Eden”.

The crew wakes up and contact JC-701. Col. Jaeger tells them to protect the Pilgrims and sends the JCS Opportunity to help them out, but it will be 6-10 hours before they arrive. The Brigade enters the temple, discover hiding Rigellians, then take the elevator down to the brood chamber where they find a Rigellian torturing the daughter of the JumpCorp CEO.

Rescue attempts begin, then large Bone Spiders arrive, quickly followed by a Bone Spider Queen! After frantic fighting, the daughter is saved, all the Rigellians and spiders are killed and JCS Opportunity arrives to help transport the Pilgrims back to JC-701.

Characters of Note:

Brother Jon Mycal – Mike Byrd
Gabriela Al-Alaq – Evil Mike
Salim Durka-Durka – Ben
Tarik – Owen

As a reminder of Games 1 and 2…

The four of us met in Lankhmar and were asked by the Thieves Guild to get an orb (eye) from some temple…Gabriela killed and ate several people, Brother Jon spared a beggar and learned that no good deed goes unpunished as his banjo strumming visage was posted all over Lankhmar as the murderer most wanted, Salim and Tarik became obsessed with listening to the eye and led us into more trouble.

Later we were convinced by some strumpet that Tarik fell for to help her rescue her father, who was in fact, not in need of rescue and not her father. And as it turned out, not rich. We learned a valuable lesson in how Steve lies non stop! We did however, gain the residence of the woman’s “father” when we made a deal, he killed the girl, and we got the house, along with all the riches…that were an illusion. Also, Gabriela’s sworn enemy Zanzibar the Red, was dealing with the “father” through his second in command. Gabriela took a bite out of him and told him to tell Zanzibar she was coming for him.

In game 3, we just hired a security guy and a maid when there came a knock on the door. A man gave us an envelope, which Gabriela was sure was a summons to court for the Banjo Monk, but turned out to be an invitation to Lord Albion’s party at his mansion, which is only a short walk through the worst part of town away.

Soon, a beggar comes knocking at the door and tells us that the reward for the capture or death of the Banjo Monk and his compatriots would be rescinded if we swiped a ledger from Lord Albion’s office. It did not take much convincing for us to agree to the terms.

Travelling through town, we got ambushed by Zanzibar the Red himself! Plus about 20 of his crew. It was not enough. BUT it was enough to incapacitate the Banjo Monk. We sent him home to recuperate and run the house, while we tried to look for a friendly sort to take his place.

At the party Tarik snuck into the office while Gabriela stood guard and Salim caused a distraction. When the birthday cake was brought out for Lord Albion, the giant mirror in his ball room went black and skeletal being along with a couple of his henchman came through the mirror. The skeleton claimed to be collecting a debt from Lord Albion which seemed to be his life, along with interest, which seemed to be *our* lives!

Tarik found the ledger and a mysterious black opal necklace, Lord Albion declared a 500 gp reward to whoever struck the killing blow to the skeleton, and a strange small man at the party (Mike B’s new character a Ratling) joined our crew to kill the skeletons! Gabriela, of course, delivered the killing blow with a called shot to the head of the skeleton beast earning the 500 gp reward.

After giving 50 gp to the three others who had the balls to fight the evil creatures, Gabriela spent the remainder to gather intel on Zanzibar the Red, she should know everything about him including his favorite hide outs, where his treasure is buried, and what his weaknesses are (assuming they are different from when she was a slave on his ship).

All in all a very successful night! Except for Brother Jon…that was a tragedy.

Here is the summary of treasure from the VAST plundering of the cavern!

Potion [healing] (600)
Tome [puppet (Magic)] (2000)
Tome [stun (Magic)] (500)
Ring [light] Somebody has this…
Medium Shield [+2 improved dodge] – I don’t remember this ever coming up…
Container [danger sense] (2000)
Ring [healing] (4500) – Steve
Scabbard [tracking +1] (1000)
War Hammer [+2/+3] – Alex
Potion [boost spirit]
Scroll [bolt (Magic)] (300)
Dagger [+2/+2] (Mike B)
21,910 gp / 6 = 3,561gp

The townsfolk of Briar Ridge are clamoring for help in there battle against the Orc King!  Will our intrepid heroes answer their call!?

9/21 Game
Giant Centipede: $200, Warhammer (+2 dmg, $2240)
Event Spiders: $1800, Ring of Light ($2000 – Mike B.), Medium Shield (+2 Parry [imp. block], $2050 – E. Mike)

10/5 Game

 

Final Room:

$2,390 Gold

Lance (+3 fighting, +1 damage) worth $4,000

When return to the town, the townsfolk are very thankful, but are worried because it seems the cavern either was not completely cleared or there is another source of the creatures!

Gold: 8,080 : 2,020 each to buy stuff.  Mike B gets 10% more at stores stuff due to his Treasure hunter edge.

Ben: Medium Magic Shield [improved block]. Value 1025

E Mike: Chain hauberk [+1, intimidation, persuasion, stealth]. Average size

Owen: Potion of boost spirit [with raise]. Value 675

The Journal of Professor Connelly
Shan Fan, 1887

The good Captain Pennington-Smythe has hired a sturdy group of travelling companions. I am well pleased. My trip from Virginia City into the Maze went better than expected. I was able to get a first-hand view of the elusive chinensis dinopis or “Chinese Ogre”. A fearsome creature. I was even able to do some quick sketches before I was forced to draw my trusty revolver. Thanks to the efforts of my travelling companions, I was not hurt.

My sighting opportunity came during an attack on the train upon which I was travelling. I had only witnessed an auto-gyro once previously, and then only during a Morgan county fair exhibition given by my esteemed colleague, Prof. Vanderkook. During the attack, two of these contraption were used quite effectively. I’m quite impressed the train could travel afterwards, as the damage to the cars was extensive.

Several of my travelling companions were severely wounded during the attack. I was quite concerned that I may have to contact the captain and request replacements. It turned out that my fears were unfounded. The rather strange looking woman who is accompanying me turned out to be a skilled healer. I must congratulate the captain on his wise choice.

It was later revealed that the attack appears to have come from the forces of the Warlord Kang. Why he chose this train is a mystery, although I did note extra guards were apparent in the passenger car. I am curious just what they were guarding.

The late arrival into Shan Fan was uneventful. We eventually found the Heavenly Inn. I must now lay down my pen and get some rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day of seeing the sights and sounds of Shan Fan!

Things are looking bad for the posse as two Chinese Ogres attack.

Things are looking bad for the posse as two Chinese Ogres attack.

From bad to worse.

From bad to worse.