Pug Liberation (UVP - Campaign 1 - Session 8)

PCs:

Bron - Goetic; wielder of a Pale iron dagger

Naiya - Weaver; wielder of Lust, Alleyways, and The Tower

Adella - Maker; expert in gyroscopes

Balenor Castafiel - Vance; brooker of no frivolous haircuts

As Adella and Gallin pondered how they were ever going to catch up to the Spectrum Satrap raiding party and rescue their supplies (oh, and also Vorgo), they were joined at the top of the mountain by Balenor and Naiya. Apparently they had regained their magic, and were eager to assist with the retaliation efforts against the raiding party. Arc and Adna, unprotected from the arcane discharge unleashed when the others returned from the time trap, were still languishing without their powers. Gallin offered to protect them while the others went to pursue the raiding party, and excused himself to go attend to them. Shortly after he departed, Bron arrived at the peak, having ascended from the North side.

"Ugh, paradox angels. Let's lay off screwing with the spacetime continuum for a while. I nearly got very crispy there. I've never seen something breathe so much fire. What are we looking at here?"

Bron took stock of the simmering, bifurcated vision above their heads. In the top half, his own face stared back at him.

"Are you... scrying me?"

"You and Vorgo, yes" replied Adella. "A mule and some supplies were missing, and we needed to figure out who took them. We scryed all the missing party members in case one of them was taken as well... or one of them was the thief."

"So I leave to make sure an angel of vengeance doesn't clean up our mess by roasting us all alive and you immediately assume I ditched you all?"

Naiya stepped between them.

"Bron, don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same. Aren't Goetics like, the most suspicious Order of betrayal? You guys have don't exactly take people at their word. Plus, we can't swoop in and save your life if we have no idea where you are. Adella and Gallin were trying to keep us together."

"Fair enough." Bron gestured to the lower vision. "Who are the space suit creeps running off with our dog?"

"Looks like Spectrum Satraps" Balenor chimed in. "We covered them in my Western Peoples class. They're a para-human cult dedicated to crystal technology, fond of illusions and radiant magic. It is rumored there are no bodies within their suits, just trapped light. I would relish the chance to confirm this hypothesis"

"I don't need the excuse of a research project to crack these fools open. So, how are we going to catch up to them? Looks like they've got a bit of a head start" replied Bron.

"Working on that now." Adella reached towards the floating vision with one hand, her other planted on her armored spellbook. "If we did this ritual right, we should be able to..."

Lightning flashed in the lower vision and the Satraps pulled their mechanical mounts up short, looking up at the sky in alarm. An instant downpour began to drench the raiding party, and they were having obvious difficulty resuming their pace in the rapidly forming mud. The slender legs of the clockwork steeds were poorly adapted to the wet conditions.

"Aha! Well that confirms it, we can target them with spells through vision. I always get a kick out of Summon Weather."

"Very subtle. Let me see what I can do with a weave." Naiya focused on the Satraps and called on Lust and Thunder. The aspects of attraction and movement presented themselves to her. "I can work with this..."

The vislae watched as the Satraps turned their mounts around and began slogging in the other direction.

"They're drawn to this mountain now, at least until that weave wears off. Hopefully that will cause them to backtrack for a few hours and mitigate some of that head start."

Not to be outdone, Bron stepped up to assist.

"I'll summon an angel to harry them while we catch up!"

The others watched as he prepared his summoning circle and called forth... nothing? Bron reached into his pocket and pulled out an obsidian arrowhead.

"Apparently this is the angel."

The arrowhead chimed with Silver tones, speaking to Bron in the language of the first Sun.

"It can... detect the nearest newborn. Riveting. Well that was a bust. I was hoping for, you know, something that breathes fire maybe. Like the angel that tried to kill me earlier."

"Best not to waste any more time. We should be able to catch them before they reach the Porcelain Citadel if we travel light and leave right now" said Balenor.

And so the vislae headed out, hunting down their filched supplied and kidnapped hireling. I ruled that their attempts to delay the raiders would be enough that they could catch up before they reached the citadel, but I drew a Sooth Card to suggest where they caught up with them and what the situation was. I drew the Blind Guardian, which represents safety, impartiality, serenity, blindness, and challenges. The Blind Guardian made me think of the ring of massive stone heads which protects the Porcelain Citadel, and safety/impartiality/serenity suggested that the Satraps were nearly there, where they would be protected by the Porcelain Prince's laws which would count what they stole as their rightful property. Blindness suggested they were not aware the PCs had caught up to them. Challenge suggested the PCs would have only one shot at stopping them before they made it to the citadel. I thought for a moment and then set the scene.

Bron, Balenor, Naiya, and Adella crested a grassy ridge and looked down at the expanse below them. There! Just ahead and below, maybe 50 yards off, were five dome helmeted satraps riding hard, stolen mule in tow. This was their chance at an ambush! On the horizon they could see the massive stone heads that marked the edge of the Porcelain Princes' territory. This was their last chance to stop them...

Adella kicked things off with a Sleep spell, hoping to knock a few of the raiders off their mounts. Three swayed, but only one fell. It seemed their suits served as a ward against magic. These Satraps were no pushovers. Bron took a more flashy approach, casting Elemental Barrier to throw a sheet of fire through the raiding party. He placed it such that it divided the Satraps. On the side nearer to the vislae was the mule with the stolen supplies and pug-Vorgo in a little cage, along with one Satrap on their mount. The rest of the Satraps were on the far side. The Satrap on the near side dismounted and used their mount as cover, taking pot shots from behind the metal steed's flank.

What ensued next was a blistering combo attack combining the efforts of several vislae. Balenor cast a Vancian spell called Rajimal's Reckless Haste on themselves which as one might expect, made them move quite a bit faster (and take extra actions in a round). Naiya wove protection and stone (both from The Tower) to cover Balenor in stone armor, which slowed him down a bit. Someone (I don't recall who) cast another haste spell on Balenor, bringing him back up to ludicrous speed. Now a living wrecking ball of stone and Vancian discipline, Balenor strode down the hill at what to him was a brisk pace, and shoved the mechanical horse as hard as he could with his shoulder. From the perspective of everyone else, this looked like a living stone man barreling down the hill like a wrecking ball and body checking both horse and cowering rider through a sheet of flame and into their fellows like bowling pins.

A morale save was made. The Satraps failed.

The remaining conscious Satraps reached up to their helmets and adjusted some sort of knob or control. Each of them issued a prismatic pulse of light into the sky and then fell over limply. They had... escaped? Committed suicide? Unclear. When checked, all the suits were empty.

Two of the mechanical steeds remained functional, so the party claimed them and transferred the stolen supplies from the mule onto one of them, to be sent back to the vislae who stayed behind and equip them to follow. Then at last, after making him endure a few minutes of shame, Vorgo was let out of his little cage and allowed to return to human form. He did so immediately, stretching and relishing the sensation of once again having opposable thumbs.

"Oh thank you blessed vislae! You splendid wonder workers, I just knew you would come for me! I knew you, in your surpassing kindness, would not consign old Vorgo to slavery and Porcelain cruelty! Oh my lovely vislae..." and so on.

The party pressed on. The Porcelain Citadel awaited.

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This was a short but enjoyable session mostly spend setting up, and then executing, an ambush. It was fun to see the group try (and succeed!) to resolve a combat in one strong burst, especially after some of them felt the sting of drawn out engagements during the Chronos/Dr. Hog boss encounter and the relative fragility of their PCs once magical resources have been expended.

My main goals (not that I really planned anything) were to encourage party cooperation and show off a bit of a new grasslands faction, and I think both were fulfilled.