(Savage Pulp) #3.12 You Say You Want an Insurrection

Months into the rule of Lt. Col Thaddeus Ovaltine, life had returned to normal the town of Sohai.  Sure, the dear Lt Colonel usually demanded a cut of someone's ill-gotten (or properly gotten) gains, but it was a small percentage.  Plus, Ovaltine's standing order to shoot troublemaker, and particularly anyone firing a gun within the walls of the town, kept the usual riff-raff out, and the tower was beginning to cover.  

Beginning was the key word. As order was restored, complacency fell upon Ovaltine, and ultimately his men.  Corruption and bribery were regular occurrences, and when it affected the locals' business plans, it became an issue.  With a concerted effort by all the other gangs, tribes, and interests, Ovaltine could be removed, or at least the corruption spread amongst all the groups.  They only needed one group, or even one person to incite the town, and a full-blown insurrection should occur within minutes.

Forces:

Lt Colonel Thaddeus Ovaltine and the Rough 'n Ready Riders - 

The Russians - Collusion with Ovaltine was just long enough for Keptin Kaputin to replace his depleted ranks and pose a threat to stability in the region

"Doktor"Klockenspiel and the German Archeologists - With the famed archaeologists/heroes missing, the Germans had found great success in the surrounding ruins. however they tired of Ovaltine taking his cut, and sometimes even stealing early leads outright.  Ovaltine in power was fine, but the business arrangements needed to be re-negotiated, by force, if necessary.

The Valiant Citizens Brigade - The common citizens of Sohai tired of the state-run vice.  They much preferred a bit more danger for more immoral choices.  They may team up with another group, or they might decide that someone from their own ranks deserved to be mayor, perhaps the MIA James J. Jimmerson or the charismatic newcomer, Larry of Arabica

The Sohai Askaris - The police were oddly above most of the corruption and graft, serving the town rather the the personas trying to run things.  Ovaltine's arrival meant guaranteed their unemployment, but one man got them back together... the famed Bob Njano.  With his friends safe on another continent, it was time to correct the wrongs in his adopted home.  He also recruited Kagiso a tribesman from the far south, to help reclaim their rightful place in town.

Of course, other surprises might lay within the back alleys of Sohai.  Only time would tell.

Sohai, at 3:35 in the afternoon

Turn One:  The Germans had snuck behind the stables to the "Mayor's Mansion."  The plan had been for them to bide their time and seize the mansion at the right moment.  Most agreed, save the three stragglers who decided to take pot shots at Ovaltine's men in a tower.  They missed, Ovaltine's men missed their return fire, and with that ineffectualness, the insurrection was begun.

Hey, are those guys actually shooting at us?

Ovaltine's men rush to the commotion.

With the gunshots, most of Ovaltine's crew moved to the sounds, albeit slowly.  This made a great time for Keptin Kaptuin and his crew to slowly wander the streets, and take the advantage wherever they could find it.

It is time to emerge, comrades...

Meanwhile Bob Njano and the Sohai Police had settled in a building equidistant from the marketplace and the police station.   The police were ineffective against Ovaltine's men station, but Njano blew away the lone remaining patrolman in the marketplace.

Shooting gallery in the center of town.

Turn Two:  Kagiso had been brazen in the first few seconds after the gunshots.  He stormed down the steps and tried to waylay one of Ovaltine's men, only to be met by an equal resistance.  Njano needed to come down from his firing position to knock out the guard with the butt of his shotgun.

The butt of the shotgun is far more effective than those flimsy spears.

With that, the Sohai police in hiding finally emerged.

The Askaris emerge to seize what is rightfully theirs.

With only a few remaining men guarding the the station, the askaris/police used mass fire to dislodge the defenders.

The empty police plaza...

TURN THREE:

With most of the action occurring in buildings and back alleys, the Russians casually strolled down the main thoroughfare.  

Bob Njano spies those dastardly Russians.

In the mayor's mansion, Lt Col Ovaltine was surrounded by a squad of heavily armed but exhausted archeologists.  He did what any self-respecting politician/villain would do: 

The out of breath Germans have Thaddeus Ovaltine cornered.

 He took a pot-shot at them and dove down to the street.  He performed both items quite poorly.

...unless he jumps out of a window... poorly.

TURN FOUR:

In the biggest surprise of evening the Valiant Citizens Brigade (VCB), bid their time inside their headquarters, drew a Joker, and unleashed their new special guest.   Larry of Arabica gave order to attack the Russian stragglers, but the last person to come out the door was non other than Haley O'Killery, former mayor, and bitter rival to the despicable (and dead) Roland Tower, but Keptin Kaputin!

The VCB, with O'Killery, jump the Russians.

Despite having tactical and motivational advantage that would be laughable in fiction, the four failed to even land a glancing blow on the Russians, and Keptin Kaputin was now aware and moving closer.

The Germans, shooting from all directions, couldn't hit the ground, much less Ovaltine.

More incompetence can from Ovaltine's men and the Germans.  The men in the tower killed two of the Germans firing at them, but the rest of the action was in or behind buildings.  The Germans chasing Lt Col Ovaltine, fired down from the second story, but nothing hit, by then his men had arrived to make covering fire, and to pull him to safety.  

Reinforcements for Ovaltine arrive from another neighborhood.

As his forces from the police station and mayor's mansion prepared to board trucks and withdraw from the city, reinforcements came from another part of town.  This crew was indiscriminate, shooting any civilians that could pose as a threat.  

Turn FIVE: 

Keptin Kaputin and his Russian 'bot turned around to face Haley,  Kaputin encountered Larry first and within seconds the VCB member had his brains splattered across the walls in the neighborhood.  

Ovaltine was dragged to the safety of a truck, and with gunfire in all directions, it was decided a retreat was in order. 

Ovaltine is loaded into the truck, and most of the Rough 'n Ready Riders make a hasty retreat.

... except for the reinforcements who fired through the marketplace to hit the brawl beyond it.  Haley was worried.  Despite her grand entrance, she had yet to successfully strike her foe.  

Ovaltine's reinforcements, firing through the marketplace crowd.

TURN SIX:  Kaptuin possibly shot, fazed, staggered away from melee and into Bob Njano's shotgun.

Kaputin staggers in front of Bob Njano

Bob levelled his shotgun, but the Russian's erratic movement proved too much to score a point blank hit.  

For his police friends, things were going much smoother.  They seized the police station with limited casualties to any side.  

TURN SEVEN: 

Another Joker for the VCB, and that allowed Haley O'Killery to take out the Russian 'bot with power and precision!

The VCB finish the fight with fists and katanas.

In Kaputin's daze he got within melee range of Bob Njano and began relentlessly beating him with his bat.  It was a viscous display that stopped most people in their tracks. Bob put up no defense of any sort, and the Russian was covered in his blood and he ended the assault.

RIP Bob Njano

The VCB's victories were quite short-lived as the only folks not interested in the brutal murder of Bob Njano were Ovaltine's merciless reinforcements.  The hired guns slaughtered the surviving VCB in the street, leaving only Haley O'Killery. 

Ovaltine's men don't fancy the VCB and they are gunned down. 

Turn Eight/Nine:  While Bob Njano's death drew a crowd, Haley O'Killery's attack on Keptin Kaputin drew a sizable audience, and the pair did not disappoint.  Dipping, jumping, and parrying blows,  each got a shot in on the over before Haley ran her Katana through the Russian.  

A crowd forms to see Hillary finish Kaptuin.

With that, the violence in the streets ended.  

Bob Njano's death provided the Sohai police no reason to keep the hot-headed Kasigo around.  He left the town with a few trophies, but cursing at every inhabitant left in the town. 

The Askaris are back at home in the police, and no longer need some primitive's help.

"Doktor" Klockenspiel had no time to worry the affairs of a governed people, so with the weight of his militia of archeologists behind him, threw in his lot with Haley O'Killery.  The returning Sohai police agreed, and with that, a corrupt peace fell upon the desert town once again.  

So about revising those outrageous "digging fees..."

With eleven episodes in the bag, and three rough storylines, it was time to put some things to bed.   I decided early that it would be a free-for-all for all the power in Sohai.  It just took awhile to set up the forces and finally run the game.  

Savage Worlds/Showdown is known for some exciting dice rolls, but many of the "mooks" couldn't hit the broad side of a pyramid... and the few heroes on the board weren't much better.  

When the dice warmed up, they got way too hot.   Kaputin's death blow to Njano and O'Killery's on Kaputin were so explosive, there were simply not enough bennies (re-rolls/wound soaking) to offset the ferocity.  

Like a show switching networks, anticipate some changes for Season 4.  Start date: TBD.

(Savage Pulp) #3.11 The Sacrifice

It was supposed to be Cold Wars this weekend, down in Ocean City, Maryland.  I have my time off approved since it was originally announced, but COVID continues to overstay its welcome and the convention was wisely cancelled.  

I had planned a Cold Wars at Home weekend, but I'm double grateful for the cancellation.  My girls' AAU schedule was released late and we had a local tournament in Scranton for most of Saturday and Sunday.  I bristled the idea of friends skipping the cons for yet another kid's travel sport, but it appears that I'm in that trajectory for all least the next 6-7 years.  

As a consolation, my eldest daughter, Maja agreed to play the penultimate episode of our long-running Pulp campaign's third season. 

When we last left our heroes, famed archaeologist Maja Millie had been kidnapped, and her loyal friends were dedicated to finding, and rescuing her.  Swedish adventurer Nils Lingonberry led a team who found clues leading to a hidden grove behind a tourist trap.  There, Maja Millie had been strung up by the cultists in some strange ritual circle.  Speed and stealth would need to be in great commodity if the group wanted to save their friend.

Maja Millie and the Hight Priest of Rådjurens Herre

Nils had brought two friends, retired English explore, Lord Jon Cuppenbrush,  Ted Mosby, Aviator, and had enlisted the proprietor of the tourist trap, one Stinky Sven, to try to help rescue Maja Millie.  

Our heroes: (Front) Lord Jon Cuppenbrush, Nils Lingonberry
(Back) Ted Mosby, Aviator, Stinky Sven.

The secret grove

The rescue operation started without much complication.  Inside of splitting up, or flanking the ritual, the group all dashed off to the left of the monoliths.

Nils was the first one to reach the monoliths, and unfortunately must have snapped a branch on the group by accident, alerting the cultists nearby of his presence. 

Nils got the jump on the cultists and got into a better position, to unload his pistol onto the still-unsuspecting cultist, and negating the further element of surprise.

*BANG* One cultist down. 

Ted Mosby and Lord Cuppenbrush arrived shortly thereafter, and their combine firepower took out a second cultist.

The other startled cultists slowly finally moved towards the attacks, save the High Priest, who was still trying to complete the unknown ritual.

Stinky Sven had managed to sneak around undetected and reached the captured archeologist.  Even with his trusty shovel, he couldn't find an easy way to shred her ropes.

Two cultists, armed only with clubs and knives, jumped onto Ted.   Two other cultists with shotguns, got into position to protect the High Priest, and blow the interlopers away.  

Nils helped Sven out with the ropes, and turned his attention with the High Priest, at close range.

Nils unloaded his revolvers into the High Priest, but apparently his dark arts kept his alive from such grievous wounds.  

While the gunfire was ineffective on all sides, the two cultists on Ted finally overwhelmed the pilot, and he crumpled to the ground.  

RIP Ted Mosby, Aviator.

Many turns into the battle, the High Priest was already prepared to sacrifice his prize and summon something from the great beyond.  

Hey, where'd she go?

With Maja Millie vanished, the ritual continued unabated, but the summoning of a dark eldritch creatures from the unnamable corner of the universe needed a sacrifice to satiate its blood loss for a little while longer.  

The Unspeakable Horror decided the priest was a fine alternative.

The priest tried to subjugate the creature into his control, using an eldritch blast, but it missed, nailing Stinky Sven instead.  He flew off the circle and lay completely motionless, possibly dead.

RIP Sven, we barely knew ye.

Knowing his own cultists would quickly run in fear from the abomination, the High Priest chose the next best alternative:  He high-tailed it out of there before the survivors  realized what was happening.  The old bear tale rang true:  If a bear attacks, you don't have to be the fastest, just not the slowest.

Run away!  Run away!

At this point we had hit Turn Six and we played through two more turns before the game rolls dictated the end of the game.  The cultists clumsily tripped up each other to avoid being devoured by the fell beast, while our heroes, led by the speedy Maja Millie, took a circuitous but safer route to keep the cultists between them and the mythos creature.  

The High Priest tripped up his own man to ensure his own survival.  Evil is truly evil. 

GM Notes:  With this episode the stories of Maja Millie and company come to an end.  We may revisit them from time to time, but the season finale, (#3.12) will return to all the chaos in Sohai, and Season Four sets up a new ensemble cast.  

Inspiration for the scenario came from Mysterious Bill and Jozi's Tin Man.  

I'm just happy enough my kid gamed with me (and both kids did great at the tournament, that's for a non-gaming post.)  The idea of multiple games for the con weekend was a bust, and with multiple Kickstarters ready to close, I'm still pondering the virtual dealer hall options.  

Next: The Rockin' Season Finale!

(Savage Pulp) Savage #3.10 Nils Lingonberry and the Dalen av Guld

After their run-in with Norwegian cultists at the Swedish Museum of Antiquities, Our Heroes were in a bit of a pickle.  

"I'm a bit baffled," said Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush, "The scroll says the ritual to sacrifice Maja Millie needs to take place in the Valley of Gold, but that's in the midst of the Sudan.  There's no way they smuggled her out of the country this quickly...

Swedish adventurer Nils Lingonberry put a single finger up to his lips, stopping the English gentleman's reasoning,  "It might not be THE Valley of Gold.  When I was a boy, my parents would take me to this horrible roadside attraction, were people could pay to dig in the ground and pull up tiny diamonds and gold flecks.  It was all a set-up, run by some looney fellow named Stinky Sven."

"Sounds like what we call in the States, a tourist trap," retorted Ted Mosby. 

"Indeed it was, Ted, but Stinky Sven's tourist trap was called the Valley of Gold, and it's just right down the road from us."

Our Heroes (L-R) Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush, Nils Lingonberry, and Ted Mosby, Aviator.

Our Heroes arrived at the Valley of Gold after hours.  A number of large rocks shone gold in the moonlight, thanks to layers upon layers of paint.  No one seemed to be around.  

The "Valley of Gold"

Unbeknowst to Nils and Company, another group of men were wandering the grounds as well.  Unsure if they were casing the propety, local drunks, or some mercenaries in the employ of the Norwegians, or worse yet, the Russians, they too knew something was amiss on the property.

Respectable Swedish Hooligans

Our Heroes jumped out of their borrowed truck, surveyed the property, and dashed off.

Nils decided to climb atop a storage building to get a better view.   He notice a collection of supplies on the far corner of the roof, but when he went to investigate, he tripped and fell into the supplies!

Nils falls into a clue!

Meanwhile, the hooligans split up into two pairs.  The first duo ventured closer to the supply building, while the others invesigated a peculiar pile of dead brush.  Well, at least part of that part went forward.  Tim, a middle-aged manager with claims of knowledge but no proof of ability, decided it best if he hung back.

"You're doing a fine job.  I'll stay over here."

While crossing the property, one of the other hooligans was brutally gunned down by the hot hand of Ted Mosby, Aviator.  His partner hid in the rocks and futility returned fire.

One hooligan down....

The gunfire seemed to frazzle the hooligan searching in the brush.  He had uncovered a crate of some sort, but it was too heavy to carry and he could not get it open.  Tim sighed loudly and came up to chastise the man, but found out he could not open it either!

Lift with your knees, not with your back....

Meanwhile, on the roof, Nils was surprised to find a man under a blanket amongst the supplies!  He was even more surprised when the frightened man hit him in the head with a shovel! The biggest surprise, though, was that the man was Stinky Sven himself, sleeping in his miner's costume!

The Odiferous Stinky Sven

With gunfire, stuck locks, and flying shovels across the Valley of Gold,  Lord Jon-Smythe Cuppenbrush returned to the truck and started it up. Ensuring the doors were locked, he drove into the site proper, pistol in his left, steering with his right.

Nils finally had a moment to make Stinky Sven pause, "We're here to look over other strange individuals who might be sneaking onto the property."  

"Besides those other fellers beyond the way?" Sven asked.

"I think they're trouble too, but we're looking for worse trouble," Nils replied, still ignoring the gunfight right below them between Ted and a hooligan.  

It was a brazen Lord Jon, pistol blazing, that caught the hooligan out of position, and he was quickly dispatched.

The Lord was in the truck for the action.

Ted climbed up on top of the supply building, and he and Nils opened fire on the two surviving hooligans.  Again, the random hooligan made great effort to get away, while Tim's laziness led to his death by a hail of bullets.

With that, Our Heroes, and their new friend, Stinky Sven, were able to scour the property.  The difficult was finally opened (it always was...) to reveal a few cultists robes.  Another hiding spot uncovered a half crate of torches, the other half filled with small bills of various international currencies.  A thorough search also uncovered path through some freshly planted trees.  The path led to a gate that Stinky Sven had no recollection of. 

"I need to go back and doing my own landscaping, less some more secret portals show up."

The Valley of Gold held secrets, and if they weren't too late, hopefully their friend, still alive.

GM Notes: The third "season" of our Pulp Campaign has moved horribly slow.  We've only had one game since last Easter.  With completion and story paramount to balance, I set up a one-on-one game with my daughter, Millie.  Playing the heroes, she only deviated from "acceptable" actions when Lord Cuppenbrush returned to the car for protection (He literally ignores penalties from his first wound, so a guy that tough usually meets adversity head on.)

I played the hooligans and they were true mooks in every sense of the word.  They could not even get a lucky shot off that wounded any of the heroes.

Trail of Clues is a standard scenario right out of the rulebook.  There's a bit of irony that the AAR that inspired me to use this scenario was The Land of Counterpane, as his scenario was played with his ten-year old daughter,  Millie (aged 10). 

Next:  #3.11 - The Rescue!  If not, then a Sacrifice!