In the
grand finale of the first season of our family's Pulp game, our heroes obtained a map to a rumored ancient Egyptian settlement far south of anything archeologists had previously discovered. The translation was sketchy at best, but the site might just be the final resting place of certain artifacts that had yet to been unearthed by archeologists: The Sword of Soken, the Shield of Ma-nu-fa, and the Damar J'hai, an extraordinary gem of immense size and rumored to have magic powers to affect the future.
Reknowned archeologist Maja Millie had assembled a team for the expedition:
Maja Millie: fleet footed archeologist with an aversion to guns (run by my daughter, Maja)
Kacey Barbara: photographer for the Daily Outlook of Detweiler, Maine (Maja)
Bob Njano: native bearer turned hero, his contacts got them plenty of bearers and guards (Maja)\
Nils Lingonberry: famed Swedish adventurer and sidekick for Maja Millie (run by Millie)
Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush: wealthy English gentleman with a penchant for adventure (Millie)
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| Our Heroes: Bob Njano, Maja Millie, Kacey Barbara, Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush, and Nils Lingonberry |
Along with three native guards and four native bearers, the expedition travelled upriver. All appeared normal until they reached the final tributary on the map. Instead of seeing two smaller rivers forking off, they encountered a large river splitting off into two separate directions. One formed the river that they had travelled from Sohai, the second dove back into the jungle.
They first saw the ruins of Mchawi Mfalme by the large obelisk blasting out of the tree line. Upon closer look, they could see ruins that were obviously Egyptian in nature. In fact, Maja Millie's keen eyes spied the Shield of Ma-Nu-Fa, just sitting there against a wall!
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| The Egyptian outpost clashes against the surrounding jungle |
The party quickly threw caution to the wind and sprinted through the jungle. However, as they passed the half-covered sphinx head, a horrible howl cut through the air. Perhaps there was truth to the reason natives called this area Mchawi Mfalme, land of the Witch-King.
Although they could not see their foes, skeleton warriors scurried across an ancient, half-rotten bridge.
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| The Witch King's forces cross the river |
The party scrambled onto the site, but Maja Millie spied a new item off to the side... was that jade???
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| Maja Millie dashes forth to scout out the site. |
That allowed Nils Lingonberry to reach the first item, a perfectly maintained Egyptian sword stuck in the wall. It took a great deal of strength, but the Sword of Soken was his!
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| Pi Yimminy! Nils lifts the Sword of Soken! |
The leisurely pace of the Witch-King's forces was corrected by the ferocity of the mythical Jungle Yeti charging to the front of the attack...
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| The Jungle Yeti ignores the Jewel of Chance and begins its hunt. |
Maja Millie's keen eye rewarded her as she uncovered a huge jade statue. A quick Archeology roll and she determined that it was the fabled Jade Heffer of Hathor!
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| Holy Cow! |
The Jungle Yeti swung into the temple ruins and let out a fearsome roar. Nils was not normally brave man, and with a supernatural beast in front of him, he dropped his prized sword and high tailed it back to the sphinx head.
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| The Jungle Yeti scares of Nills, and the Sword of Soken is ripe for the taking. |
The Witch-King had tried to take over the minds of Lord Cuppenbrush, but his will was much too strong. As a parting gift, he took possession of the Damar J'hai
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| The Witch-King grabs the Jewel of Chance! |
Bob Njano herded the native help (and the photographer Kacey) behind the pyramid and out of sight of the monsters.
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| The native guards and bearers scramble to safety as Lord Cuppenbrush vyes for the Shield of Targeting. |
Lord Cuppenbrush decided to take the Shield of Ma-Nu-Fa, but as he grabbed the artifact, lightning arced from it and knocked him to the ground.
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| The Shield's power is just too much for the English gentleman. |
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| The Jungle Yeti roars, and the bearers cower in fear.... |
Maja Millie stayed in the jungle as long as she could, but with the Jungle Yeti picking up the Sword, she bolted out as fast as she could. With it's long gait, the monster simply stepped over the ruins and blocked her path to freedom.
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| Yeti vs Maja Millie. Sword of Soken vs the Sacred Cow |
Back at the Shield, Lord Cuppenbrush was face to face with two skeleton warriors. Still kneeling on the ground, he knocked one back with his fists and had a healthy chunk of his sun helmet taken off by the other, he stumbled towards the natives, and with a voice that seemed familiar with numerous British Colonial campaigns, he barked orders for the riflemen to come forward and fire at the undead.
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| Lord Cuppenbrush rallies the native rifles... |
Maja Millie also managed to evade her opponent, the Jungle Yeti's gigantic fists crashing down to cause two or three foot craters in the soft jungle earth.
With Maja and Nils reaching the apparent safety beyond the sphinx head, Kacey decided that discretion was the better part of photojournalism and dashed across the temple, unfortunately catching the eye of the Jungle Yeti.
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| .... and saves Kacey from the Jungle Yetis pursuit. |
Chivalry was not dead that day was Lord Cuppenbrush spotted the distressed damsel, and intercepted the creature's pursuit. Despite the Jungle Yeti's incredible skull-crushing strength, the gentleman's guile (and saber training) kept the monster's rending claws away from vital organs. Even with the arrival of two skeleton warriors, the surrounded nobleman held his ground and deflected blows from all directions.
Bob Njano caught the attention of the Witch King as he managed to grab the shield. Despite holding an item that translated to the Shield of Targeting, neither magical bolts or entrancing spells had an effect on the man, as he stood between the magic-wielder and the hired help.
Watching the financier of the expedition locked in battle must have inspired Nils, because the Swede emerged from the safe confines beyond the temple and begin firing into the backside of the Jungle Yeti. With the Yeti distracted, Lord Cuppenbrush burst past the skeletons, shattering one and knocking the other back, so he could get to safety.
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| Lord Cuppenbrush and Nils manage to bewilder the Jungle Yeti and skeletons, allowing everyone to escape. |
The Yeti let out another terrible howl, scaring off Bob and the bearers. No longer affected by its scream, Nils decided to retreat back on his own...
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| Bob Njano and the bearers flee.... |
Realizing that the Witch-King's power only held sway around the temple and somewhere beyond the river. The party kept a wide berth as they searched for Bob and the bearers.
Upon their discovery, it was decided that the artifacts should be packaged and sent back with the native bearers, with Bob Njano and two of the guards protecting it. The four adventurers and Akello, the remaining guard would work around the temple to document and sketch everything they could.
Maja Millie decided a nearby small mountain was the perfect angle to view the temple. Once on the mountain, the archeologist finished her report, and made two shocking discoveries. From the safety of her vantage point, she could see the Witch King return to the temple and reassemble the bones of his fallen skeleton warriors with some dark magicks. She also discovered that the river, which appeared to turn into a narrow canyon, actually flowed directly into the mountain itself. More investigation was in order...
As we expand into more of the fantastical using Savage Showdown/Worlds, I discovered that skeletons are not the one Hit Die pushovers of their D&D counterparts. Fast, tough, and able shake of any stunning blow with ease, add a shield for extra defense, and they were worse of a threat than the scary, lumbering yeti, or the very cautious Witch-King.
The girls decided not to keep their new treasures (i.e. magic items) on their expedition. Unfortunately, they also decided to send their best shot (Bob), most of their back-up, and all of their bearers back to civilization. We'll have a short role-playing/book keeping session to figure out some logistics and make some character advances. Only one character (Maja Millie) is seasoned enough to handle what's coming. I'm going to expect a few more spectacular moves like Lord Cuppenbrush performed to keep the story going.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I basically took everything for this game from
Toy Soldiers and Dining Room Tables.
Next:
Episode #2.2 - The River of Suspense!
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