Saturday, February 15, 2014

Numenera: Disenchanted Tales - Session 7

Numenera: Disenchanted Tales - Session 7

Like Moths to a Game

Elsa, a Graceful Nano who Wears a Sheen of Ice
Anna, a Swift Jack who Entertains
Tonto, a Mystical Jack who Lives in the Wilderness
Milo, a Learned Nano who Talks to Machines

Summary

A billion years beyond "once upon a time" Elsa and Anna were chatting with their new friend Bel, who was still head over heals with Olaf the cryo-mutant.  It seemed that Bel had a friend who had a problem, and she was hoping that her new friends could be of some assistance.  His name was Commodore Jek Sperro, and he was a corsair that made his home in Ancuan, a sea-faring nation that existed on the southern edge of the Steadfast.  The Commodore was seeking the Oracle in a Pool, along the western coast of Ancuan, but he was shipless and alone, stuck in a place called Pike's Head. He sent word to Nihliesh, and to his friend Bel for help… which is where Anna and Elsa come in.  Agreeing to assist, Anna and Elsa packed up their snow lopers Cutey Pants and Sven and sought out two "guides" who could help them across Matheunis, into Milave, and then into southern Ancuan.  The first was Tonto, a wilder who called the region around the Sadara river his home, and the second was Milo, a bookworm who was often the brains to Tonto's brawn.  Using the snow lopers as a team, they hitched a small cart to the back and set out like a bunch of settlers across the Cold Desert.

It was several days into their trip and the party had crossed into the chaotic nation of Milave via a passage through the hills.  There were great farms located here and there, where leaves of ganch were harvested, rolled, and then sold for the consumption of smokers all across the Steadfast.  The quartet was nearing one particular farm, when they saw an odd sight: a single bearded man, clad in robes, running at them screaming "get down, get down!"  Once the party was on their bellies, they huddled around the man.  He called himself "Merlin", and he was an Aeon Priest and an expert at all things regarding the Numenera.  Merlin claimed that the farm that lay just in front of the party's path was infested with horrific creatures that were flying all about.  Tonto and Elsa looked around and didn't see anything flying, but they all saw a giant cocoon that lay in the center of one of the ganch fields.  Merlin asked the party to investigate, and offered some bits of Numenera if they were able to assist the farm.

Tonto led the team forward into the ganch field, but before they were able to inspect the cocoon, a whole flight of Stratharian War Moth's appeared in the skies above them, and began swooping down on the princesses and their guides.  The first few passes of the insects were harmless enough, as the creatures were not able to break the skilled defenses of the Numenera hunters.  But then the moths reared back and the lights from under their wings shone down and started to sear the flesh of the characters.  The energy caused wicked damage to everyone in the team, especially Anna who took the brunt of the attack.  This caused panic within the party, who began to scatter.  Milo ran towards a large field-working automaton in order to get it to assist the party.  Tonto ran off and away from the princesses hoping to draw some attacks his way, but this left Elsa and Anna together, back to back, desperately trying to blast away at the creatures with piercing crossbow strikes and wicked icy onslaughts.  Milo managed to get the machine working, and slowly the ponderous automaton rolled towards the large unhatched cocoon on the ground while the nano used a cypher to slowly sink into the ground away from the reach of the remaining moths.  Actually all of the crew used as many cyphers as possible, from ray emitters to restoration nodules, anything that could help in a fight where the hunters had become the hunted.

The large automaton was successful in knocking into the cocoon, but this only dislodged the giant moth that was inside, freeing it from the silk.  Before the deadly creature could take to the skies, however, Milo fired a giant web onto the beast from another one of his cyphers, which completely pinned it long enough for the concentrated fire from Anna and Elsa to do the trick and send it to the afterlife.  The remaining smaller moths were still causing the team some difficulty.  One of the cruel insects even managed to tackle Anna, and knock her out of commission but her sister was nearby with a well timed ice blast.  Tonto, who had lost his spear to one of the moths, had previously been doing a half-decent job on the offensive as well, but he was spared having to use his lowly knife on the last creature when Milo commanded the automaton to run it through with a giant fork.  With the war moths dispatched, Merlin came forward and handed out some precious bits of Numenera for the party to share.

Quotes:

"Does anyone have TNT?" - Dylan (playing Tonto) was trying to think up the right solution to the giant cocoon.

"The weird thing is they look kind!" - Evie was realizing that the cute little "butterflies" that daddy asked her to cut out earlier in the day were being turned against her and her sister.

"Can someone help me!?!  I mean, I really like this character!" - Evie was desperately begging other players to assist her character Anna who had just been knocked down and tackled due to a poorly rolled die and a GM intrusion.


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