(Savage Lost) #2.12 Finale "THOSE WERE THE REAL CONQUESTS"

Lost in some mysterious valley for days, our heroes had just eluded danger to enter the "Forbidden City" of the native Akala. 

While most of the city was a mixture of ancient architecture, one tower did defy explanation.  It was a gleaming metal structure, ascending into the fog.

Upon reaching it's front door, the heroes were confronted with a keypad and touchscreen, a strange apparatus for our folks from the 1920's, much more so for primitive monkey people.

Entering the Metal Citadel

Our Heroes:

Maja Millie - Noted archeologist and currently cradling a strange Crystal Skull, obtained from the wicked Ape God, Atil-a-Kong. 

Nils Lingonberry - Swedish Adventurer.  Holding the Crown of Kamula from the encounter with Atil-a-Kong.

Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush - British Gentlemen, Big Game Hunter, and ex-soldier. 

Barbara Kacey:  Newspaper photographer out of film and her element.

But Maja Millie notice a strange light coming from her satchel.  The crystal skull she had discovered during their fight with Atil-A-Kong, the Ape God, was now glowing brightly.  She positioned it closer to the controls o the wall and doors opened with an effortless *swoosh*. 

Looking at the countless buttons with strange symbols inside the elevator car, Maja looked for a pattern on them and guessed the highest "number" in the pattern.

The elevator shot up like a rocket, cycling through all the symbols until finally slowly down, hopefully at the top. 

The doors opened up to a hallway with concrete floors and metal walls.  Stepping out of the car, small fluorescent lights came to life along the edges of the floor and ceiling. 

Nils walked up to door, pistol in hand, and hit the electronic panel besides it.  As the door *swooshed* to the side lights came to life, and a lone figure stood in the back of the room.  A robot head looked up and was immediately hit by a bullet, exploding in a fireball. 

"What was that!"  Lord Cuppenbrush inquired.

"I don't know, but eet blows up gut!"

Nils incinerates the first encounter.

Not seeing any exits or loot, Maja Millie shut to the door to block off the fire and smoke and chose a different direction.

A short trip down a different hall and they got a full view of cousins of the first encounter.  Again, the lights flickered on and two robotic creatures with some form of gun attached to their arms slowly came to life. 

Lord John slid over to allow the rest to move in and get a shot at the robots.  He missed with his revolver and Maja Millie attempted to use the Crystal Skull to shoot energy bolts.  She couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, and each shot make the Skull glow brighter. 

More robots...

Lord Cuppebrush managed to disable the further robot, but another emerged from the walls!  Nils then boldly charged into room, shooting the near 'bot in the head before kicking it away! 

Nils to the Rescue!

Deciding to save his limited ammunition, Lord Cuppenbrush drew his cavalry saber and charged the mechanical construct.  It could only defend itself by parrying the blow with its gun, but upon impact, the saber snapped off the hilt. 

A quick energy bolt from Maja Millie dispatched the final robot.

The next room was huge, taking a full ten seconds for all the lights lining it to come to life, revealing a huge mechanical spider! 

Oh boy!!!

Lord John and Maja Millie managed to hit the horror, knocking out some of its mechanical eyes and some sort of weapon mounted on its head.  When Nils had the chance, he could only aim his pistol and answer with a resounding *click*.

Completely out of ammo, the Swede chucked the pistol at the creature, and the spider returned fire with some form of energy blast.  Nils, barely got of the way from getting vaporized. 

A Close Call By Nils

Kacey Barbara had already bolted towards the only other door in the room.  Lord Cuppenbrush grabbed the Swede and stumbled towards the door, a few of shot hitting something essential on the beast. 

Maja Millie tried to create some sort of covering fire using the Crystal Skull, but each shot missed and the skull grew to a blinding light... and began to vibrate. She threw to the artifact and the spider-robot seconds before it exploded. 

The Crystal Skull Explodes!

As the boom from the explosion finally subsided, Lord John crouched in the doorway, trying to shield his comrades with great futility.  Both Maja Millie and Nils were knocked out and bleeding badly, he was holding on my true grit and the photographer was at her wits end.  Most of the lights had been knocked out, and the few that remained showed the mechanical "spider" was still alive, albeit with only five of it's six legs.  But something  was on top of the creature, almost riding it. 

"Good Lord, that mad shaman Mettiaus is on the spider!  Quick, Barbara, grab Maja."  We must  leave immediately." 

The photographer grabbed her friend and they stumbled down the hallway.   The Akala shaman had difficulty controlling the machine, its lone weapon firing wildly into walls and collapsing parts of the ceiling.    The hallway was a long run which terminated into another door.  Lord Cuppenbrush hit the panel with his elbow and the door slowly *swooooooshed* open, revealing warm fetid jungle air, but the outside blocked with rocks and vines.  The gentleman and photographer slashed the vines and pushed their compatriots over the rocks, all the while dodging the explosive blasts of the spider.  Lord Jon rolled over the rocks last, as a shot hit the entrance, forcing things to collapse on themselves. 

Back in the African Jungle, but Still Lost!

Lord Cuppenbrush took a moment to rest and proceeded to patch up his friends.   The odds didn't look too good for four injured Westerners, lost in the jungle with barely any food, no clean water, and three bullets for a single revolver, but they persisted in finding a way out of the jungle and back to civilization. 

A little more than two days into their trek, they heard human voices coming closer.  Throwing caution to the wind, they made as much noise as they could muster, and soon were surrounded by a well-armed party of natives.... led by their good friend Bob Njano! 

Bob Njano had travelled back with the Shield of Ma-Nu-Fa and the Jade Heifer of Hathor from their earlier expedition, secured them in the Royal Museum, and immediately headed back with extra native hirelings to look for his friends.  It took three days, but they arrived back at the river and quickly met up with the gunboat to take them back home. 

The Shield, Jade Statue, and Crown of Kamula, earned them enough to rest in peace and tranquility as long as they wished. 

There your have it, Season Two of the Pulp Campaign is in the books.   This season was a lot more consistent than Season One, but it also may have been it's downfall.  The girls loved the Akala, hated the Ahdo, and simply could not understand why the dinosaurs got frightened by their over-eagerness to pet them.  Upon further review with the cast, we will return for Season Three, although it will be (a) back in Egypt and (b) probably in the January 2018.  Our attention will be turned to Mousling Fantasy Role-Play and the My Little Pony RPG (with some playtesting for Rat-na-Rock).  Most of the palm trees need a break (and thorough refurbishment) before we go further. 

Campaign Pros:  The jungle cloth from Jo-Ann Fabrics worked great.  The "Blue Martians" got some use plus I got to use the weird bug mini Mike got for me back during Cold Wars.  Using a Beanie Baby monkey for the "Ape God" scenario was genius and guarantees I use that scenario for conventions.

Campaign Cons:  The jungle cloth was a big dark for some of the pictures.  Kacey Barbara was a one-trick pony with little use except extra dice for lucky rolls.

The finale was inspired by part of a scenario from The Land of Counterpane.

And finally, most of the scenario titles (and basic plotting) for the second season were derived from chapters from The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

(Savage Lost) #2.11 The Outlying Pickets of the New World

After helping defeat the Ape God, our heroes had little time to rest.  A trial by combat for the leadership of their allies, the Akala (aka Blue Monkey Men) was cut short by news that scouts had discovered their elder Mettiaus, thought dead, trudging through the jungle with a mixture of badly wounded and obviously dead Akala. 

That was enough to worry the war-weary monkeymen, but the direction their former leader was going was disconcerting.... past the tar pits and into Yetekelekele Ketema.

The Forbidden City.

"Wait one minute," English gentleman and sportsman Lord John-Smythe Cuppenbrush snorted to his friend and translator, Swedish Adventurer, Nils Lingonberry.  "You folks have some mystical forbidden city, probably with the secrets we need to get out of you lovely, but god-awful valley?  Why didn't you tell us?"

After conferring with the Akala, the Swede could only retort.  "We never asked..."

SETUP: 
Mettiaus the Elder and his Akala followers of variable lifeforce (x5), in the middle of the board, between the entrance to the Forbidden City and the Heroes/Akala in pursuit.

Heroes: Archeologist Maja Millie, Nils Lingonberry, Lord John-Smythe Cuppenbrush, and photographer Kacey Barbara were all tired, wounded, and very low on ammo.  Still they had persisted.

Akala, Friend of the Heroes: (x6)

Guardians of the Forbidden City: (x5)

Turns 1-3
Mettiaus and his legion cautiously moved towards the entrance to the city, and for good reason.   Undead guardians of the entrance came to life and moved forward. 

With the tomb guardians moving in, Mettiaus senses someone was following them?

The good Akala slowly crept behind, while the heroes spread out and tried to find a tactical advantage.  Unfortunately, Mettiaus noticed her sprinting through the brush, and cast an entangle spell at her, the vegetation she was hurdling over sprung to life and held her down! 

The underbrush moves and captures Maja Millie!

Turns 4-6
Mettiaus and the Guardians finally, immediately slaying two Akala and destroying a skeleton, but otherwise fighting to a standstill.

Lord Cuppenbrush got near Maja Millie, and with a few slashes of his saber, loosened the living vines enough to allow the archaeologist to escape. 

Maja Millie sneaks around the melee

Turns 7-9
The good Akala, with some motivation from Lord Cuppenbrush finally reached the combat fell into the fray.  Unfortunately, they largely succumbed to the ineptitude of the other combatants. 

The heroes took advantage of the scrum of mediocrity and shuffled through the ruins towards the entrance.  Only Lord Cuppenbrush remained in the fight.  One of Mettiaus' henchmen ambled towards the explorer, with a dislocated jaw and a hobbled leg with a nasty wound.  He raised his revolver at the creature's head, only to see a spear tip come out it's eye.    The friendly Akala were finally hitting things, by Jove!  It was time to follow his friends in the city. 

Maja Millie leads her friends into the city....

 The team worked their way into the city a few blocks, until they saw a single building completely out of place.  While there were examples of Roman, Greek, and even Egyptian architecture among the buildings, one tower defied explanation.  It was a gleaming metal structure, ascending into the fog. 

Upon reaching it's front door, the heroes were confronted with a keypad and touchscreen, a strange apparatus for our folks from the 1920's, much more so for primitive monkey people.  But Maja Millie notice a strange light coming from her satchel.  The crystal skull she had discovered during their fight with Atil-A-Kong, the Ape God, was now glowing brightly.  She positioned it closer to the controls o the wall and doors opened with an effortless *swoosh*.

Perhaps there were some answers inside.

.... with Mettiaus the Elder following them.

NEXT:  #2.12 "That Was the Real Conquest!"

(Savage Lost) #2.10 Against the Ape God

After rescuing their friend Nils Lingonberry from the horrible Ahdo tribe, our heroes were themselves rescued by one of the Akala tribesmen, who warned them that the rest of the tribe wanted them dead for the death of the Akala tribal elder. To make matters worse, the Ahdo had successfully summoned their Ape God from wherever he was slumbering and he was now rampaging across the valley.  If the  heroes ever wanted time to get home from where ever they were, they would have to deal with these crazy predicaments.

At the same time, Blauen was leading the heroes to the Ape God, the Akala  were attempting a preemptive strike on the Ahdo and Atil-a-Kong. The nature of the sacrifice didn't allow their high priestess to control the Ape God.  The Ahdo were desperate not having their God under their sway, for he would cause havoc, starvation,  and even more general chaos, more so than the high priestess was willing to except

Set up:

The lair of Atil-a-Kong was an ancient ruin.  Through his various incarnations that appeared over thousands of years,  the Ape God had dug out and torn apart the surrounding ruins, so treasures were strewn across the area.  When the war parties couldn't engage in combat against Atil-a-Kong or a rival party, they could investigate an area (the blue chips) and draw a chit out of a cup.  Sometimes it would be the lost treasures, other times a monster attack, killing a party member, or quicksand, forcing them to lose a turn.   Each treasure was worth between five and twenty victory points. landing the killing/subduing blow on Atil-a-Kong was thirty.

Rules are Valley of the Ape, and the war parties have the following special rules.

The War Parties - 
The Akala (10) - By using the trees, they may retreat though the Ape-God, rathing than fleeing away from him.

The Ahdo (10) - They are able to go through rough terrain that other characters must move around.

The Heroes (Nils Ligonberry, Kacey Barbara, Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush, Maja Millie, and the Akala Blauen) - Allowed to shoot up to 18 inches.  All heroes, save Blauen, have two hits.

Turn One-Three:
The Akala dashed out and yet another disorganized formation, and after a lone warrior threw a spear at the Ape-God, Atil-a-Kong moved over and turned the monkey-man into a fine blue and red paste. The others fled in terror and somehow regrouped.

Atil-a-Kong on the move. 

The Ahdo tried a flanking attack, only landed one spear, and all five tribesmen were crushed by an ape backhand.  To make matter worse, the remaining Ahdo, fell into quicksand, but Atil-a-Kong was distracted by the Heroes nearing the ruins.  .

Turn: 4-6
The Ahdo escaped from the quicksand and found a strange treasure, an infernal contraption which whirled to life, cut off a man's head, and went dead again.  Even the treasures in the area were deadly.
The heroes managed to hide from the Ape-God, find a treasure...

and also got trapped in a quicksand bog right next to where the Ahdo had been trapped.

The Ahdo continue to flee...

The Akala continued to spread out, uncovering treasures, but also failing prey to the Deep Ones!

Gahhhh!

Turns 7-9
A portion of the Akala flanked the Ape-God, and another quick wave of the arm, eliminated them from existence.    The heroes superior range allowed them to fire on the monster and retreat far enough to keep him out of range, until, of course, they backed into a table edge!

Oh no!  Not poor Blauen!

When Atil-a-Kong managed to reach the heroes, the beast was too winded to properly attack, and he could only step on Blauen.

Turns 10+

The Ahdo regrouped and attacked beast from the rear, significantly  wounding/subduing the Ape God on back-to-back turns.   That grabbed the giant primate's attention, and the result was not pretty....

The Ahdo get knocked out...

The Akala lost more men to exploration and when it came time to attack, the Ape-God brushed aside the first wave.

Oooh!  A surprise under the tree!

With the Akala down to two, the heroes decided to join forces to take out the beast in hand-to-hand combat

The Joint Akala-Hero Task Force

Together, the die rolls were high enough to wound the monster significantly, while it's counter attack was weakened, spreading wound among all of the heroes.

Kornblum, one of the two final Akala, delivered the killing blow on the beast.

It wasn't beauty that killed the beast, it was short spears and gunfire.

With this incarnation of the Ape God dead, and the Ahdo weakened, the Akala and the Heroes made up.  Kornblum would challenge Cyan for Warchief of the Akala and a giant ape was worth more prestige than a measly dinosaur.

Returning to the Akala village, Kornblum accosted Cyan, and quickly dropped his challenge.  The Elder Mettiaus was alive and forcing stampedes of dinosaurs were quite disconcerting.  Even more so was the direction the shaman was heading... towards "Yetekelekele Ketema."

The forbidden city.

GM Note:  Valley of the Ape is a quick and easy game.  I do plan on using it for some of the kid's games this Fall on the con circuit.   Even with the fall of the Ahdo (20 victory points), we needed to kill the Ape to get enough victory points to win.  The heroes will get to use the Crytal Skull and the Crown of Kamula on the adventurers (if they do anything).  The Akala recovered an ancient scepter from a long-dead Akala elder.  They might need that to combat the apparent madness that Mettiaus succumbed to.

RIP:  Blauen

Next: #2.11 The Outlying Pickets of the New World

(Savage Lost) #2.9 "Who Could Have Foreseen It"

After rescuing Nils and reuniting with Kacey Barbara, our heroes tried to work their way back the treehouse village of the blue monkey men (Akala).  Thunderous roars could be heard across the valley. The priestess of the rival Ahdo tribe had successfully pulled off some type of ritual and something large and terrifying was out there.

Just within the outskirts of the Akala's territory, they heard a very human "Pssst.... pssst" coming from the bushes.  It was Blauen, the very first Akala they had encountered in the Lost Valley.   Maja Millie and Lord Cuppenbrush rolled their eyes at another opportunity to showcase their pitiful charade skills, but Nils pushed them aside and with some crack linguistic skills, got the following information out of the scared little blue creature:

*Defensive scouts watching the rescue saw the death of Mettiaus and the Akala he commanded
*The war party leaders believe the pale ones (our hereos) are responsible for their deaths.
*Revenge on the pale ones is more important that fighting the Ahdo or fighting Atil-a-Kong
*The heroes must leave the Akala's domain immediately, under penalty.
*Blauen was willing to escort them to a "safe house"  (safe tree?) from both the Akala and Ahdo.

Set-Up

Three random encounter minor objectives are on the board.  The major objective is for the heroes to escape off the opposite side of the boar/prevent the escape.

Our Heroes (* = Wild Card)
Maja Millie* - Crack Archeologist - Large knife and throwing knives.
Nils Lingonberry* - Famed Swedish Adventurer and linguist.  - Pistol
Kacey Barbara* - Regionally famous photojournalist - Large Knife
Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush* - ex-British adventurer, full-time British gentleman
Blauen - Rogue Akala

The Akala
Akala x8 - Short spears

Turn 1:  The Heroes sneak towards better cover, fail their roll for the objective and awaken a sabretooth tiger!

Another sabre-tooth tiger?

Turn 2 - The Akala continue to move up, not seeing anything.  Then a terrified Kacey Barbara dashed past them and dove into the underbrush.  The Akala were quite confused, but had no chance to react.

Turn 3 -The sabretooth tiger was surrounded and could do little than stun one of the heroes each turn. With the men acting as giant cat toys, Maja Millie stepped back to look around for Kacey.

Half the Akala  war party reached one of the minor objective (hoping for reinforcements) but a completely botched roll allowed a drunk Ankylosaurus to stumble onto the board.

Oh, this is not good at all!

The second half of the war party spotted Maja Millie and threw some of their short spears at her. Most futilely missed but one seemed to hit her in her side doing tremendous damage.  Through an inspiring act of courage, Maja pulled the spear out of her, wounded but determined to get out of there alive.

Maja Millie goes down... for now!

Turn 4 - Maja Millie drew a Joker and charged the Akala, two knives in hand.  The Akala fumbled for more spears, but realized they must have dropped/lost them somewhere in the jungle! (Enemy runs out of ammo). 

Maja Millie flung herself at one of the monkey men, stabbing them in heart, then chucking her other knife at his ally, taking him out.

Maja Millie gets Medieval in the Lost World

The remaining Akala trained on the archeologist were ready to pull bone knives, but a confused dinosaur came crashing through the trees, having already taken out the other four war party members.

Turn 5 - Maja Millie reaches Kacey Barbara at the main objective.   The two surviving Akala Make one last attack on the rampaging dino, and one manages to muster enough courage to aim true and enough strength to piece the beast's hide and kill it!!!!!!   A great amount of Ankylosaur soup would be made back at the Akala village... and perhaps a new War Chief named....

And somewhere off in the distance, an occasional gun shot rang out as two Humans and an Akala tried to outrun a still sleepy sabretooth tiger.

A quick game with either tremendous rolls (such as the Akala's 5 wound on Maja Millie.. and her subsequent 4 wound recovery) or horrible botches which distracted each party from the tasks at hand.
The surviving monkey men may have let the hated pale men escape, but only the strongest can slay a dinosaur... and become a leader of the tribe.

And where is the grievously wounded Mettiaus?   Or the the terrifying Atil-a-Kong?

Next:  Episode #2.10 - "The Valley of the Ape God"

(Savage Lost) #2.8 - Rescue From the Pit!

Deep within the Lost Valley of Dinosaurs, our heroes have not only befriended the blue monkey men known as the Akala, but they have discovered their lost friend Nils Lingonberry is probably under the control of the arch-enemy Ahdo "BeastMen"

... and the Ahdo are planning a human sacrifice.

Our Heroes (All Wild Cards)

Maja Millie - crack archeologist 

Kacey Barbara - newspaper photographer on assignment a LONG way from home.  Running low on patience and film.

Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush - ex-British adventurer, full-time British gentleman whose ammo was running thin. 

The Akala (Blue Monkey Men)
Mettiaus (Wild Card) 
Akala tribesmen (Mooks) x8 

Versus...

The Ahdo in Ritual
Kaja (Wild Card) - High Priestess
Ahdo Cultists (Mooks) x8

Ahdo Reinforcements
Klug (Wild Card) - War Chief
Ahdo Reinforcements (Mooks) x8

The Set-up
The Ahdo participating in the ritual are circling the pit.

The ritual has just begun....

There are three minor objectives, marked by white chips: a gem of unusual size, an apparently mute and impervious Witch Doctor, and a strange stone marker.   The one major objective is Nils Lingonberry, currently tied up to the sacrificial post.

Nils Lingonberry, Swedish Adventurer, is the Guest of Honor... or Horror.

After safely travelling across the valley, Mettiaus, the Akala elder, finally allowed his tribesmen to let loose a war cry, which they let out... and promptly let out a louder one as they uncovered the gem of unusual size without any opposition!

The Akala discover the giant gem!

The Ahdo on the near side of the pit took notice and tried to scare the monkey men with their size and decorative grass skirts...  One of the other Ahdo moved closer to protect the Priestess, who had just started her nefarious ritual.

The Ahdo try to repel the attack...

Armed only with knives, Lord Jon-Smythe's shotgun, and Kacey Barbara's magical camera flash, our heroes moved stealthily towards their captured friend.

Our heroes look for an opening to rescue Nils...

The sheer volume of the Akala's bows proved enough to fell most of the Ahdo.  Strange magical bolts of jungle energy from Mettiaus certainly helped

The Ahdo are withered by Akala bows

But Ahdo War Chief Klug and his warband rushed through the jungle to meet the Akala in vicious hand-to-hand.  The weaker monkey men barely stood a chance.

But Ahdo reinforcements slaughter the Akala

Mettiaus, the most competent fighter in the entire battle, despite his advanced age, was simply overwhelmed by three Ahdo Warriors, a grievous spear wound in the gut finally dropping him.

Mettiaus takes one Ahdo with him.

With most of the Ahdo now pre-occupied with mopping up the fleeing Akala, our heroes jumped at the chance to rescue Nils.   Maja Millie chucked a knife at one of the remaining Ahdo warriors, sending him to a silent death.

Lord Jon-Smythe jumped out of the brushed and fired his shotgun at the other nearby tribesman, only to be met with a quiet *click*.  His last two shotgun shells finally succumbed to the elements.  Oh Bloody Hell!   The Ahdo was alarmed by the light-skinned man with the clicking stick and charged him, only for him to take three steps before Lord Jon-Smythe dropped the shotgun, pulled out his trusty pistol and shot him through the heart.

Maja Millie raced towards Nils, and with another knife, sliced through his bonds.  Nils was relieved to see his dear friend.  "Pi Yimminy! Dees fellahs are oop to no gud!  But they didn't take my gun, " as he whipped out his revolver and took out a tribesman returning from the fight with the Akala.

Nils is freed... and still armed!

With the war-cries of the Akala no longer filling the air, and Klug arriving at the ritual pit, things seemed a bit ominous, yet no one tried to make the first move.  When the lone bodyguard of the Priestess finally tried to move forward menacingly, the Priestess put her hand on his shoulder to hold him back, then proceeded to plunge her sacrificial dagger into his back.   Their dark god would be appeased today, one way or the other.

Things looked bleak, then the Priestess literally stabbed her bodyguard in the back to complete the ritual

With the the Priestess and Mug standing their in stoic defiance, our heroes took their cue and retreated back into the jungle.

But where the heck has Kacey Barbara been this whole time?

She was nearing the Akala when the counter-attack slaughtered them, in fact she took one picture of the last retreating monkey man was run down by two Ahdo.  They searched the Akala and discarded the gem deeper into the jungle.  The Ahdo, it seemed, only valued death,

The Ahdo hunt down the last of the Akala with the gem.

The camera flash surprised, but did not scare the Ahdo, and they began to pursue her in proper Pulp style.

Kacey Barbara attracts a bit too much attention....

Soon enough, she managed to elude the war party and reunite with friends.

Although they had yet to procure any treasures or artifacts, Nils was a fount of knowledge on his captors.  Unlike the Akala, who appear to have evolved into their primitive culture, the Ahdo were certainly humans who devolved into pure savagery and cannibalism.  Their language was primitive and archaic, but Nils scholarship in linguistics allowed him to quickly pick up essential info.  Despite them calling the Swede essentially a "well-fattened pig... or dinosaur" for a great feast the Priestess Kaja wanted to use him to summon Attil-a-Kong, their dark god of jungle.  He wasn't sure if it was a symbolic sacrifice, or the Ahdo were placating another entity, perhaps a Tyrannosaurus Rex?

Back at the pit, the Priestess Kaja looked out at her savage warriors, cutting out the hearts of the Akala and eating them on the spot, with grim satisfaction.  The pale strangers had nearly interrupted the ritual to a ruinous end.  Sacrificing her own bodyguard was acceptable to her god, but it did not grant her the favor sacrificing a non-Ahdo would.   Her people must now be vigilant at all times.

Kaja, like her warriors, were already failing in their vigilance, for among the fallen Akala that were being devoured, there was a missing one body, of an elder.  If they weren't pre-occupied they might have noticed the trail of blood leading into the forest...

But someone else did notice...

Attil-a-Kong has awoken!

GM Notes:  A triumphant return to miniatures after two role-playing dominated stretches!   Nils has finally been rescued, the Akala actually fared pretty well against superior numbers, but a new threat has been unleashed upon the valley... and our heroes are no closer to getting home than when they arrived....

This scenario was heavily inspired by Hook Island Gaming

Next:  Episode #2.9 - "Who Could Have Foreseen It?"

(Savage Lost) #2.7 - Tomorrow We Journey Into the Danger

As the storm clouds abated over the lost jungle, our heroes were being escorted to an unfamiliar sector my the strange blue monkey men.  They seemed friendly...

Maja Millie - crack archeologist who had just rescued and healed on the blue monkey men she had encountered 

Barbara Kacey - newspaper photographer on assignment a LONG way from home.  Running low on patience and film.

Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush - ex-British adventurer, full-time British gentleman whose patience was running thin.

The blue monkey men took them to a strange clearing with a large rock in the center.  More of the these creatures, all of them armed, formed a circle around the heroes.  

This may bode poorly for our heroes...

No one could understand anything from the opposite group, and Kacey Barbara was first to snap. With the monkey men encroaching on her, she used one of her last flash bulbs to scare them back to the circle.  More monkey men with spear came crawling out of the trees, posed menacingly, but did nothing else.

Drums could be heard up in the trees and the monkey men opened up the circle to allow an aged and highly decorated elder to enter.

He stared at Maja Millie, sheathed his metal sword, held his fist to his chest and shouted "Met-i-us!"

"Oh my God, Maja, he's saying "Kill Them!"  Kacey hollered, arms outstretched towards the archeologist.

Maja pointed back at her "Aye-yi-yi! Will you be quiet!  They're trying to communicate with use."

It took most of the evening but a rapport could be formed with elder, even with the language barrier. They later learned that the monkey men, who called themselves the Akala, though Maja was "Kil-dem" and Kacey "Aye-yi-yi."

Lord Cuppenbrush seemed of little help, having relied on translators for all his adventures.  It took most of the evening to convince the Akala that our heroes needed food and weren't strange beings who wished to be cooked.

Mettiaus and Maja Millie play a bad game of charades...

On the second day, the heroes knew enough basic language that the elder's charades were easier to understand.   They were forced to climb ropes and discovered and entire village hiding in the canopy of the jungle, safe from most predators.

After a great feast of fruits and small game, Mettiaus led them to a perch of sorts that viewed most of the mysterious valley that they had ended up in.  He pointed towards a cliff face across the valley.  Against the white stone, our heroes could see wisps of smoke climbing in to the low hanging clouds.  Mettiaus spoke at link, sometimes assisted by the gesticulations of Blauen, the Akala that Maja had rescued.  The women were quite confused as to their performance, but the stoic and annoyed Cuppenbrush finally spoke up.

"Ladies, their feared enemies, the Ahdo, live on the other side of this valley.  They hunt the Akala to eat them.  Those drums you can barely hear off in the distance?  Those drums signal a sacrifice to their Monster God.  Unlike many primitive cultures on Earth, the Ahdo don't sacrifice food, animals, or wealth to their god, rather using intelligent beasts, like the Akala.  Mettiaus is worried.  He believes all his kind are accounted for, and we are the only "intelligent" beings left.

Maja Millie gasped, "We are.... and NILS!  We need to rescue him!"

GM Notes:  Another strictly role-playing session using Rory's Story Cubes and Savage Worlds to resolve skill checks.  No one was prepared to try to communicate with the Akala, so we almost came to blows a few times.  

I discovered I needed to play a new game with the girls, charades.  Maja stood up and tried to tell a story about them losing their supplies and how hungry they were.  I believe I now understand how the Hawaiians created the hula to tell stories, because that's what it looked like. 

Next:  Episode #2.8: A Rescue!