Marvel: The Power Broker

Last night was played some Marvel, entering Act II of this phase of Magnus' Multiversal Journey. Here's last time.

Our heroes are on a quinjet, heading for the island nation of Madripoor. Maria Hill takes the jet into Madripoorian airspace without a problem, and finds the skeleton of a mall that was never completed that has enough room to land (there's a rusted sign on the chain-link fence that says "COMING SOON - AVONGERS MALL!"). 

The heroes take a moment to breathe and make a plan. They need a base of operations, but they also need to find Wanda without her finding them. Maria notes that Madripoor is nominally a representative democracy, but in fact organized crime runs the country. In the last few years, the crime world in the country has been consolidated by an unseen figure known only as the Power Broker (Magnus: "Dumb name." Bucky: "Rack up enough of a body count and the name doesn't matter."). 

They decide that Peter, Magnus, and Bucky will go and try and find a place to camp and use as a base, while Maria will go and try and get a line on the Power Broker. They leave the mall site and find themselves in a pretty deserted area - streetlights are out, very little foot traffic, and it's pretty eerie. 

Maria heads into Low Town and looks for a business acting as a front. Her tradecraft serves her well; she finds a noodle restaurant whose clientele looks pretty exclusively "henchmen." She goes in to buy noodles, and everyone kind of stares at her. She asks the woman at the counter where she can find a guide for this city, someone who can get her to someone who can do business. The woman tells her to sit down and eat her noodles, and about an hour later a man with a long braid, broad shoulders, and lots of tats comes in and gets her.

Braid-guy puts her in the back of a car where another henchman is pointing a gun at her. He puts a hood on her, and they drive around for a while (they fail to get her lost, however). They lead her, still hooded, into a building near the bridge to High Town, up a flight of stairs, and sit her down on a couch. A woman's voice with a light British accent tells her that if she takes off the hood and things go badly, she isn't going to be leaving, but Maria accepts the risk. Braid pulls off the hood, and Maria finds herself looking at an older woman.

Maria tells her that she has information about an existential threat to the Power Broker and is willing to trade said info for some assistance. The woman, Selby, has Maria put her fingers on a tablet to run her prints, but nothing comes up - she's a cipher (recall that she wiped her info previously). That's enough to convince Selby that this person has something to say, and says that if she's going to put this up the chain she needs a little more detail. 

"Scarlet," says Maria. 

"Scarlet? Fever? O'Hara?"  

"Witch."

Selby says that the Scarlet Witch is dead, but Maria corrects her - Wanda Maximoff is very much alive and extremely dangerous. Selby says that she'll take this higher and gives Maria a burner, and her thugs take her back to the noodle shop (hooded, not that it matters).

Meanwhile, the other three head closer to the wharf; Bucky figures that's a good place to find a disused warehouse. There's more foot traffic here, some guys playing dice on the corner, other guys loading stuff into warehouses, but they find a medium-sized place with a rusty chain on the outer door. No lights, doesn't look in use, and getting closer they see why. A rusted sign on the door says "Hammer Industries." Justin Hammer is still in prison. 

Bucky breaks the lock and they make their way in. They find that the place is in pretty good repair. There's nothing in the warehouse proper, that's been picked clean, but there are interior rooms where they can use the lights without being noticed. The power works, there's a locker room with a shower, and there's even a vending machine with preservative-laden food. 

Spidey gets on a computer and tries to find information on the Power Broker, but the searches take him to some pretty dark places on the web and he backs out. He goes and takes a shower and pops some aspirin to help with his aching muscles, and Magnus conjures a little cartoon heart in a jar to fix up his injures. He also pulls out what he calls a "dimensional veil generator," a gadget that throws up magical static and should keep Wanda from finding them, at least while they're in the building. 

Maria returns and updates everyone, and they dig in and relax. The next day Bucky goes out to buy them some clothes. Maria gets on a computer and looks into what SHIELD is doing. She finds that they're dumping resources into finding Bucky, Spidey, and her. Spidey's aunt and a couple of his friends have been arrested (Maria decides not to tell him this just now). Magnus is mentioned, described as an "unknown enhanced individual," but it's clear that the dogs are out for all four of them. Also, there's mention of some kind of national address later today...

Maria relates most of this to the others. She also gets a call on the burner from Selby - there's a meeting tonight. Selby confirms how many are coming, and tells Maria to be at the noodle place. And then they all settle down to watch this address.

The address turns out to be from Steve Rogers ("Shit," says Bucky). He shows pictures of Bucky, Spidey, and Magnus, and informs the world that Bucky, the Winter Soldier, appears to have been reactivated as an enemy asset. He doesn't know if this "magician" is responsible, but seems to be involved. He doesn't know if Spider-Man is working with him deliberately or is being forced, but does note that he's familiar with Spidey's work and knows that New York thinks of him as a protector. He appeals to the world to stay away from Bucky, but to report any of these people. As the press conference ends, the heroes notice a red flicker in his eyes. "Damn, not Steve," says Bucky. "He hits hard."

Maria asks if Magnus can come up with a way to detect Wanda's magic, so as to know if someone is under her control. He says he probably could, but needs a sample of her magic so he can calibrate such a detector. She asks him to work on it, but for now they need to go to their meeting.

They go to the noodle shop and eat, and a while later two SUVs roll up. The heroes are separated, but not hooded, and driven across the bridge to High Town. They arrive at a high-rise and are put in an elevator, which opens at a very high floor, but with a barred grate in front of them. 

Braid appears with a cart and takes weapons from them - Maria's guns and taser rod, Bucky's guns and knives and his arm, and Magnus tosses in a gun just to fit in. The cage opens and they're shown into an opulent office. Someone sits in a high-backed chair with their back to them, but they're more interested in the tech.

There's a next-gen computer setup on the desk. Bucky looks for exits and only sees the one they came in, but with this kind of tech there's probably security he's not seeing. He's also somewhat concerned that, whoever this is, they don't feel the need for security. That means this "Power Broker" is either an idiot (unlikely) or a badass. 

They all sit down and Braid offers them drinks. At this point, the person in the chair swivels around and greets them. 

"Hi. My name is Aldrich Killian."

Character Creation: Heroes of Cerulea

And here it is the 8th of the month and I haven't done any characters. But really! I started reading Children of Eiru but it's freaking 500 pages and I've been busy. So instead, this:

The Game: Heroes of Cerulea
The Publisher: Blackfisk Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: None, but the system is pretty similar to Blades in the Dark
Books Required: Just the one 

As may be evident from the cover, Heroes of Cerulea is inspired by such video games as the older Legend of Zelda titles. Obviously, then, it's similar to Fight Item Run, which I have run. This one feels more intuitive on a quick read, though it's been several years since I ran Fight Item Run and I don't recall it being especially clunky in play. I might give this a whirl at some point, though I suspect it would like to be a short campaign rather than a one-shot. But who knows.

Anyway, the basic premise here is that for centuries, the Shadow King and the two Heroes of Cerulea (the Paragon and the Guardian) have died and been reborn, but this cycle, the Heroes are nowhere to be found, so it's your turn! (That is, the PCs.) The whole game runs on video game logic - monsters vanish when killed, keys work on any lock but immediately disappear, if you "die" you respawn at the beginning of the dungeon, stuff like that. It could be a very light little game, or it could be a game that ends with the PCs realizing they are in fact characters in an endless loop (at which point maybe we switch over to something like WILD and learn that they are real people trapped in a video game/dream loop!).  

Well, that's getting way ahead of ourselves. Let's make a character! A lot of this process can be done randomly, so I'll probably do that.

Starting off, we choose kin, basically our race or species or whatever you want to call it. This is something you actually don't roll, so I'll pick...seedling. I'm a treelike humanoid from the forest! I can spend an Energy to be invisible as long as I don't move. That also means I get a -1 to Might, but a +1 to Bravery when we get to stats.

I start with: 3 Hearts, 3 Energy, 15 gems (I can spend them for stuff later), a small pouch (with four item slots, which seems a pretty big pouch to me), a starting weapon (which for me as a seedling is a dagger), and a special item (for which I roll). I get... a boomerang! I can use it to stun monsters or retrieve stuff from a distance. Neat!

Attributes! I get 3, 2, 1 to distribute into Might, Bravery, and Insight, but of course I get a bonus to Bravery and a penalty to Might. Can I have 0 in a stat? I think I can (again, this works a little like Blades with d4s; if I have a 0 I roll 2 and take the worse), but I also think I'd rather not. Hm. 

Well, if I put my 3 into Might, my 1 into Bravery, and my 2 into Insight, I get 2s across the board. Do I wish to be an all-rounder sort of tree? Sure, why not. I'm a young sapling, just starting to stretch my leaves to the sun and open myself up to squirrels.

Determine appearance! I roll a d44 for hair (leaves, in my case) and clothes and I get...red leaves, brown clothes. That's fine. 

I can buy stuff if I wish. Do I wish? Sure, why not. I'll spend 10 and buy 2 Snacks, and save my other 5.

And that's pretty much it, but for a name. There's a random name table, and I've random'd everything else, so why not. My made-up animal's tree's name is...Sterrance! No, wait. Ethali! Perfect.

Starting off with all-round stats seems about right, that'd let Ethali develop into a warrior or a more thrown-focused character depending on what happens. I think his idle animation is a little squirrel poking it heads out of his leaves and looking around.  

Home By Dark: Dinosaur Camp!

Yesterday we played a game that's been on my one-shot list for a long time, Home by Dark! This is a GMless game in the "kids on bikes" genre, heavily inspired by E.T. and Harry and the Hendersons (and a bunch of others I don't feel like listing here). So let's get into it!

Our setting is Camp Okachobee, a summer camp (or "sleepaway camp," which is apparently a known term but not one I ever heard until I saw the movie of the same name, despite attending a bunch of these camps in my youth). Anyway, Camp Okachobee is mostly staffed by young counselors. You can attend as a camper until 13 or you enter 9th grade, whichever comes first, and then you can come back as a counselor-in-training for a year, and then you can be a counselor until you turn 18. There are adult staff, of course, but we don't see much of them in this story. 

Our characters are:

• Mel Olsen: Mel is 17, meaning this may be his last year as a counselor. Mel is a nice enough guy, but he spends a lot of his time smoking weed behind the camp office. 
• Sammie Olsen: Sammie is 10, and is Mel's little brother. Sammie is an outdoorsy sort, good at tracking and other Boy Scout related things, and shares an interest in archery with Christy (although he's not nearly as good as she is).
• Christy Stone: Christy is 11-and-a-half. She's got braces and pigtails and likes running and archery, and she's actually a good shot. She's the head camper in her cabin. She and Sammie are buddies.
• Henry Swora: Henry is 13, but a young 13. He's a little on a chunky side, he's got black hair and big glasses, and he's also the head camper in his cabin (which means he goes to special things with Christy and the other head campers sometimes). He shares an interest in bugs with Cassie. He goes by his last name, for some reason.
• Cassie [no surname given]: Cassie is 14, and this is her first year as a CIT, which means she's kind of under Mel's mentorship (except she actually read the manual!). She's a rule follower, and, like Henry, is into bugs.

A few days ago, these five folks were on a hike and got lost (probably because they let Mel navigate). They found themselves in a cave, and as they were debating exploring further, a wall collapsed! They ran out and were follow by...a baby ankylosaur!

They named him Franklin (because he looks like a big turtle), and he followed them back to the camp. They know they need to keep him a Secret, because if word gets out that there's a dinosaur in camp they're going to take him away and dissect him or something! 

The kids don't know it, but there's already a hunter after Franklin - Marcus Jowlsworth, the Pursuer. Jowlsworth is vaguely British and has a huge mustache and wants the prestige of being the only man alive to have a hunted a dinosaur! 

And, of course, we have our Danger. Franklin is baby. His mama hasn't notice him missing yet...but she will before long. 

Act I

We begin our movie in the mess hall at breakfast. It's pancake day! Sammie and Christy are eating together when they notice a familiar beak appear behind the pancake table. Franklin has found them! (We figured there was an establishing shot of Franklin walking through the kitchen and the staff just not noticing him.)

Sammie and Christy think quickly, and Sammie leads Franklin out of the mess hall by laying a trail of pancakes (which he really likes, especially the blueberry ones), while Christy distracts Mr. Shelborne, the camp owner, by asking a lot of really inane questions about today's activities verrrrry sloooowly. It works, and they get the little dinosaur out the back of the mess hall! 

Meanwhile, Mel and Cassie are in the Camp Office. They're meant to be working (cleaning, answering phones, whatever), but Cassie is straightening up while Mel jams on his walkman. She pokes him a little to try and get him to work; it doesn't much help. But then - a knock at the door! A man of indeterminate age but certainly not a camper or counselor enters, preceded by his immense mustache. 

He claims to be an employee of the Forestry Service (I want to note that I had not seen Harry and the Hendersons at this point, so while I was playing Jowlsworth I had no idea that David Suchet's character used the same ploy) and tells Cassie and Mel that he needs to inspect the forests. And there's quite a lot, so he'll be here a few days. They ask if Mr. Shelborne knows he's coming and he says that yes, he's spoken to Mr. Sheldon extensively ("Shelborne." "Yes, of course."), no need for alarm. They are immediately suspicious, possibly because this guy is a terrible liar, and finally Mel says they can't just let him on the property without permission. Cassie goes to get Mr. Shelborne ("Yes, go and get Mr. Shelsky-" "Shelborne." "Yes, of course.") while the man goes to his truck. But when Cassie gets there, he and his truck are nowhere to be found!

On her way back to the office, Cassie bumps into Sammie and Christy, who are still leading Franklin around - but they're out of pancakes and Franklin wants to play. Christy, fortunately, has some fruit roll-ups, and Franklin is very happy about that, so with some pulling and prodding they lead him to a shed to hide him for a while. 

Christy, following this, goes to the Waterfall (it's not very big, but it's pretty) to unwind and be alone for a moment. As she sits there, she hears something big moving in the brush, something with big thumpy footsteps and heavy, scary breathing. She holds her breath until it passes by - whatever it was, it's not looking for her. She runs back to camp and rejoins the day's activities.

A little later, she and Swora are at the nature cabin. Swora is looking at a bumblebee under a microscope and chattering about how cool it is, and Christy finally interrupts to tell him about Franklin and the pancakes and more importantly Franklin's mom. Swora initially doesn't believe it - it's weird enough that there's one dinosaur, but now you think there's a whole family? Sammie wanders in about then and lends his voice in support, and Swora reluctantly admits that it's possible. But then we pan the camera up and see Jowlsworth listening outside the window, and making notes. "Frankin. Mama? Fruit roll-ups? £!"

Meanwhile, Mel goes to his stash, hidden in a hollow log outside the Camp Office ("Dinosaurs and big mustache guys, I am way too sober for this!"). He discovers that Franklin apparently had the same idea, because the little dino is happily chomping down the last of Mel's weed. He walks a little unsteadily forward, just as Cassie arrives to tell Mel off for earlier. "What did you do?" 

"I didn't do anything! He ate my...stuff!" Franklin wobbles happily, and then sees the Camp Office and goes toddling towards it. The two of them try, but are unable to prevent him from smashing his way in, whereupon he turns around, gets a tarp caught on his shell-nubs, and blunders back into the woods. The office, however, is completely destroyed. 

Cassie and Mel follow Franklin, trying to lead him back to the cave because this is all getting out of hand. But Jowlsworth emerges and sees Franklin, and demands that the kids just go back to camp ("why are this dinosaur's pupils so big?"). They refuse, obviously, and Jowlsworth first tries to bribe them, and then threaten them. But they aren't having it and shove him down an embankment ("oof! oh! drat!"). 

Back at camp, Sammie and Swora have found the smashed-up office. They find not only Franklin's footprints leading off into the woods, but much larger but similar footprints ("OK, I admit it, there's a mama.") But the big footprints veer off away from camp, and the little ones lead into the woods - apparently no danger (yet) of the mama rolling into camp.

Later that day, the campers are at the lake. Most of the campers are swimming, but Swora, Christy, and Cassie are down the bank a little ways. Swora is looking at water striders and dragonflies, and Christy and Cassie are pretending to be interested (well, Cassie probably really is), but in truth, both of the girls are afraid of swimming in the lake. But just then, the raft out on the water tips up, a bunch of kids fall off and scream, and our three heroes perk up. Is Franklin's mama swimming? Is there another dinosaur!? The kids in the water think it was just Chip (an older counselor, and kind of a dick)...but no, Chip is right here on the beach!

The three of them swim for it, realizing they have to get the kids away from the raft if there's a dinosaur. Cassie and Christy both push themselves to overcome their fear and swim! But when they get there, they discover that it's just Dale, Chip's twin brother, who flipped the raft (Dale is also a dick). 

The kids get out of the lake and return toward camp. Christy is out of immediate sight, and Sammie is walking with her, talking about the day ("fruit roll-ups, who knew") when suddenly Jowlsworth appears from the brush and grabs Christy! He tells her that she's going to show him where this dinosaur is or else. Sammie demands that if he's taking Christy, he takes Sammie, too, and Jowlsworth scoffs and asks why he should. Sammie doesn't answer, but his deep red blush says it all. 

Christy, not ready to be a damsel in distress at such a tender age, stomps down on Jowlsworth's foot ("OW! Drat! Blast!") and the two of them run the heck away back to camp...just in time for tonight's festivities! 

Act II

The camp is having a big bonfire! There's a table laid out with marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars. Kids get to find sticks and toast the marshmallows for s'mores. As we open on the scene, our five protagonists are in a row by the fire, toasting. Sammie is sitting next to Christy, obviously. Mel has noticed this dynamic and smirks. 

The five of them talk about Franklin. Sammie's idea is that tomorrow they all get as many pancakes as they can at breakfast and lure Franklin back to the cave. His mama is looking for him, and it's just not safe anymore (no one mentions Jowlsworth, which becomes relevant later). Swora gets up at one point and goes to get more marshmallows, using a big branch with multiple points ("Ah, the antler method," says Mel), and a girl named Linda comes and sits down next to Cassie. Cassie blushes. She likes Linda. Like, likes her, likes her. She thinks. The Indigo Girls' cover of "Romeo and Juliet" starts playing on the radio.

Cassie and Linda banter awkwardly. At one point their elbows touch and they both pull back. They talk about the happenings in camp, about the office getting smashed up by a "bear" (Cassie: "Just make sure you aren't carrying any fruit roll-ups." Linda: "Bears like fruit roll-ups?" Cassie: "They love them."). They talk a bit about Mel, too, and Cassie reveals that he dropped out of high school. 

Meanwhile, Swora and Christy are by the snack table talking about the situation when they hear a cronching sound. They look over and see a package of graham crackers disappear under the table. "Guess he likes crackers, too." A bag of marshmallows disappears. "And marshmallows." 

But just then, Franklin spots Swora toasting multiple marshmallows, lowers himself like a border collie, and starts creeping toward the treats. As he gets closer, Mel notices, and in a desperate bid for a distract, nudges Cassie. She tips forward and winds up lip to lip with Linda! Everyone gasps and then starts laughing, and Linda gets up and runs off. Trouble is, that provides Franklin with a direct sightline to the fire...and he's afraid of fire.

Franklin turns tail and runs, plowing right through the snack table, but it's dark and all people see is the table flip over. The kids try and follow him, but both Swora and Mel are afraid of the woods at night and hesitate. But just then an earsplitting roar echoes over the camp. Mr. Shelborne tries to play it off as a coyote, but our heroes know that Franklin's mama is getting closer.

Sammie and Christy follow Franklin into the woods. He's still panicked from the fire, and probably not feeling very well (too many marshmallows). They hear something in the brush, some kind of low, threatening growl. If it's Franklin's mama, she is not happy with them. The kids panic and run, and Franklin follows them.

Cassie and Swora, meanwhile, are in another part of the woods trying to find the others. They have a brief conversation; Swora asks if Cassie likes Linda, and Cassie says she doesn't know. Swora mentions that his aunt has a girlfriend and his parents aren't cool with it, but he really likes his aunt and he likes her girlfriend so it's cool with him that Cassie likes girls. They come to a fork in the path and can't tell which way the footprints are going, so they pick left. They wind up near the lake, shrug, and head back toward camp. A distance away, Jowlsworth watches, twirling his mustache fiendishly.

Mel finds Sammie and Christy (and Franklin, still following them). They talk about what's happening and Mel is a goof, as usual, despite hopes from other folks that he'll straighten up and be a big brother to Sammie. In any case, they start heading toward the cave, trying in vain to direct Franklin, and in the distance they hear the thundering feet of mama...

But then Jowlsworth emerges, painted in camouflage, and carrying a rifle! He once again tells the kids to stay out of his way - the hunt is on! Mel flips open a butterfly knife and grabs the strap of the rifle, telling him to drop the gun and get out of here. Jowlsworth snarls and acquiesces, and Mel unloads the gun. Mel and Sammie stay with Franklin, and Christy goes running back to camp to tell Mr. Shelborne that there's a man with a gun out here!

When she gets back to the bonfire, Mr. Shelborne and the few other adults are still trying to get everyone calmed down. Christy sees Swora and tells him what happened, including about Jowlsworth (or "mustache guy", as Christy calls him). She runs up to Mr. Shelborne to tell him and starts with the man with the gun. Swora gets on his walkie-talkie to get in touch with Mel (who has the other one) for confirmation, but Mel jokes around too much and then they lose connection. Christy, flustered, spills the beans about Franklin and the mama dinosaur. Mr. Shelborne doesn't believe her about dinosaurs, obviously, but can see she's upset and a man with a gun is plausible, if horrifying. He sends her off to see the nurse ("I keep telling these kids not to lick the mushrooms") and calls the police.

Cassie returns and meets up with Swora, who informs her of what happened. Just then mama lets out another roar. Mr. Shelborne hears it, but stays with the kids rather than follow it. 

In the woods, Mel and Sammie are alone. Sammie is freaking out trying to figure out which way Franklin has gone (he wandered away while the brothers were arguing), and finally just picks a direction randomly. Mel finally stands up and acts like a big brother, calms Sammie down, and helps him figure out which way to go.

Back at camp, Christy has a brilliant idea. She and Cassie raid the mess hall and the Crafts Cabin, gets some supplies, and make a trail for Franklin to follow. They go deeper into the woods and lead Franklin (and his mama!) back toward the cave where this all started. The police are hear, sirens approach, there's even a helicopter. Things are getting serious.

Finally, the kids arrive at the cave. Franklin is there, bumbling around the entrance, following the trail of strawberries Christy left. Sammie grabbed a bow and arrow from the archery range, and Cassie points out a hornet's nest in a tree. "Polistes gallicus," says Swora. "Paper wasp. They won't bother you if you leave them alone but if you mess with their nest-" 

Just then, Jowlsworth emerges! He charges toward Franklin, mayhem in his eye. Sammie tries to hand the bow to Christy, as she's a better shot, but Christy smooches him on the cheek and tells him he can do it! He fires...the arrow arcs toward the nest as Jowlsworth runs beneath it...and he misses. 

Jowlsworth laughs in triumph and raises his gun...

Final Confrontation

...but Mel runs at him and kicks him in the nuts! Jowlsworth falls to the ground in pain, and Mel, Christy, and Cassie surround him and kick him. Franklin toddles into the cave, and from the brush there comes a deep growl. The mama stomps past all of them, Swora directing the dinos with his flashlight, and they enter the cave (which, in a moment of pure 90s discontinuity, is much bigger now). The mama's tail strikes the cave mouth and collapses it, sealing the dinosaurs off, and the police emerge and arrest Jowlsworth for being a creepy jerk with a gun!

Epilogues

The end of summer, the kids are going home. Linda and Cassie exchange numbers and friendship bracelets. Christy and Sammie exchange numbers and she gives him a smooch on the cheek. Mel decides he needs to go finish high school. Swora helps his parents load a big board with all of the bugs he's found and mounted. 

As everyone drives away, we pan back to the lake. A hadrosaur raises its head out, looks around, and goes back to eating. 

Closing credits. 

D&D: The Lute's Echo

The weather finally let up a bit, so we got to play D&D! Here's last time.

Our heroes venture north from wherever it was they emerged from the magic portal, and after a couple of days' travel wind up outside the city of Cian. They walk through the residences and villages outside the city, past the burned-down manor house where they fought the doppelgangers, and in the market row leading up to the city gates. They've been here before...only now they have a bunch of gold.

They buy some food, and look around at other folks running stalls. There's an elf selling potions, but the potions she's selling are pretty basic (mostly healing potions). Clara, having learned the value of quaffing a quick potion, goes to buy a couple, and tries to trade the gold bracelets she found in Madoc's Keep. The elf tries to take both for one potion, but Aisling pops up and haggles a bit, and they wind up with two potions for the bracelets ("I'm charming!" says Aisling). 

Zook looks for scrolls, but figures that he'll need to go into town for that. Likewise, Aisling wants to buy everyone new clothes, as theirs are getting worn (Zook: "I just cast prestidigitation, I look fresh as the day I started out"), but the clothing-sellers out here mostly just do spot repairs or resoling boots. You want new stuff, you need to go into the city. 

As they're heading in, a barker calls out to them, asking if they have accommodations ready. Aisling says that they don't, and the barker recommends the Lute's Echo, a tavern and inn catering to adventurers! It's even run by a former adventurer, Buach the Bard! The party thanks him, and they walk through the gates.

Aisling recalls a story she heard about Buach, that he played a harp strung with silver (somehow; Aisling is unsure how that would work). Zook says he heard it was mithral, because that's lighter. Clara notes that she heard he almost got eaten by a mermaid, but isn't sure if that's "eaten" as in "literally consumed" or "eaten" as "metaphorical sex thing." Aisling recalls that it was the latter; he lived among the merfolk for a while and then left after playing a song that they found offensive for some reason, and was driven out of the seas. In any case, he's an adventurer of note.

The heroes find an information kiosk with a bored-looking halfling. Zook asks about where to buy scrolls, and the halfling recommends a shop near the College of Wizards. They also ask about where to take Zook to get healed from a curse kind of thing, and the halfling flips through a book and tells them to try the College of Bards. They decide to handle that right away, and so the seven of them head into the city towards the Bard-House!

Aisling visited the last time she was here; there are several bards hanging around tuning instruments, practicing spells, and so on. They enter and talk to one of the instructors, informing him that Zook got jacked up by a night hag. The bard nods, and then grabs a flute off a rack, sits Zook down on a stool, and plays a tune.

Zook feels his physical body melt away, leaving only consciousness. He drifts, a pure soul, for a moment, and then returns to the corporeal world, his body intact, and feeling like a weight has been lifted from his heart. "Oh, that's so much better."

They pay the bard, and then decide to go and check out this Lute's Echo play. That takes them into a ritzier part of town than they were in last time. They pass by a small park, complete with some fairly big trees, and note a few druids in their wild shapes cavorting. And then down the block, they hear a tune being played on a harp, and come to a building with a shingle out front with a lute on it. 

The Lute's Echo is a sizeable building - it looks like it started as one two-story tavern and then absorbed the buildings on either side. The adventurers enter a great room, with a small crowd of people sitting near a fire while an elf plays a harp on a small stage. A man with silver-grey hair stands behind a desk, and Aisling goes up to ask about rooms.

They talk about pricing and room arrangements - Aisling and Fearg are going to share, of course, as are Keenan and Zook. Belle and Clara would both prefer to have their own space, and that means Dara gets her own as well (though she does pay extra to have a room with a bathtub). A groom comes in and asks about the donkey outside, and Dara accompanies him as he takes Carrots around to the stable.

She gets the donkey settled, and asks him if he's all right continuing to adventure. Carrots ponders this, and says that he's OK with it provided he doesn't have walk up walls again (Dara says that she will do her best to avoid that). 

Back in the inn, the group hears a familiar voice call "Hey, Zook!" They look over and see Silé, one of the Night Strikes they dealt with the last time they were here, now dressed in wizard's robes and hanging out with an elf in dark leathers. The elf introduces himself as Naoise (and kisses Aisling's hand; Fearg goes to get a beer). The party finds seats near the fire and looks around at the other folks here.

There's a gruff-looking halfling sitting by the fire, as well as a half-elf with her feet up on a table. The adventurers start sharing stories of their exploits.

Naoise starts: He, Silé, and their other party members (presently not in the inn) discovered a roadside tavern. Just a little thing, a place to get a mug of ale and some bread, but they had a bard named Connal playing music for the guests. Except that things kept going missing, and the innkeeper's son Tarlach was under suspicion! The party discovered that the bard was actually a doppelganger, playing music for guests, then drugging them and robbing them. The party killed the doppelganger ("turns out they die if you put enough daggers in them." Clara: "That's true of most things, actually"), their first real victory! 

The party notes that doppelgangers seem to have an insatiable need to fuck with people; they relate the story of Shiny Belles and once again point out that if the doppelgangers had just focused on running the place well, they'd have made out much better. 

The halfling turns around and introduces himself as Donn, and relates his story. He and his band were headed west, into the badlands. They were led by a wizard named Eachann, and Donn, not wanting to speak ill of the dead, says that he was kind of an arrogant sonofabitch. Anyway, says Donn, as they were headed west he saw a dragon silhouetted against the sun. He told the others, but they didn't believe him, and so he made the decision to turn back and head for Cian. It pained him, he said, as loyalty is important, but that doesn't mean marching into the jaws of a dragon. Aisling asks if he knows what became of them, and he says he doesn't. "I fled to the city, with so much discounted," he says. He also mentions that he saw lightning in the distance sometime later, from no storm clouds, so he's not optimistic about his friends. 

The half-elf pipes up and introduces herself as Síofra, and says that she and her party found a gateway to a place they called the Faoidroch (loosely, "under-shadow" or "under-dark"). There are people in this underground kingdom, elves and gnomes and even dwarves, but all different and, if not evil, then definitely with a malicious streak. She says that as they were exploring, they heard a rumble, and then an insectoid, bipedal creature burst from the stone, grabbed Caibre, their wizard, and dragged him back into the tunnels! They thing tore through rock and left rubble behind, and they couldn't catch up with it.  

Naoise asks for some more upbeat tales, and the party talks about some of their other experiences, very quickly mentioning a succubus and jackalweres and so on. Síofra notes that Dara seems to be from the south; she is, too, the child of a druid from the Enclave of Thorns and a human woodcutter from near Fiadh. Dara relates the story of Orcan, the druid that flew beyond the Thorn Wall and came back with a "god" in his head, demanding worship. Síofra is pretty floored by both of those things.

The stories wind down, and the party go their separate ways for the evening. Aisling takes Fearg to the bathhouse and rents a tub for two. Belle and Clara both go to their separate rooms to be alone for a bit. Dara, likewise, finds her room and gets in the tub. Zook and Keenan go in search of scrolls, and Silé asks to tag along if she's not imposing ("if you two are having a romantic evening, I didn't want to impose"). 

They find a shop near the College of Wizards. The elf there shows them what he has in stock - spells for utility (manipulating rope at a distance, the Tenser's floating disc that allows carrying heavy weights - Zook wonders if it would work to move a donkey around), offensive spells, such as sleet storm ("I know how to do that!" says Keenan. "I just never got a chance in the plateau, we were always too close together"), defensive spells, and so forth. Zook eventually buys a scroll of mending to transcribe into his spellbook, but makes a note to come back and buy a scroll for Silé, since she's just starting out. 

Dara finishes her bath, and decides to visit that park. She finds another druid in wolf form, just kind of rolling around happily, so she changes into a wolf and chases him around a bit. As she passes a big tree in the corner of the park, she hears a voice in her head: DIG. 

"Did you hear that tree talk?" she asks the other wolf. He didn't, but being a druid doesn't find that all that strange. Dara goes over and feels the urge to dig get stronger, so since she has these paws, starts digging.

She digs down into the roots of the tree, and finds an axe handle, attached to a battleaxe, buried in a skeletal rib cage. She changes back into elf form and picks up the axe, and it immediately shakes a bit and cleans itself. She also hears a voice very clearly in her head, thanking her for digging it up.

The axe says its name is Shol, and it was buried here many seasons ago. It was created by a man named Breasel, along with something it calls "my love." It asks Dara for help in finding said love, which of course she's happy to provide. 

About then one of the city Posted guards wanders up and points to the hole. "Why were you digging?" 

Dara explains, but the guard isn't really convinced, especially since there's a skeleton in that hole. Everything works out, but Dara gets stuck there for a while. She does get back to the Lute's Echoing that morning.

The others are already downstairs for breakfast - tea, bacon, sweet buns. Dara comes in with dirt on her hands and a battleaxe in them, and relates what happened. She hands the axe to Fearg, who immediately starts hearing the voice as well. "His love," he says, "Ros, is something like this." He holds up his war pick. "He says they were separated years ago, when Ros was sold. He can describe where and to whom." 

The party is willing to undertake this quest - Aisling, Dara, and Fearg prepare to start looking into it. They also have trinkets and treasures that they want to sell, they want to have an expert look at the contract with Orcus they found, and Aisling figures someone should have a look at this bronze crown, just in case it's got some historical significance. 

Secretly, too, Aisling plans to throw a party for everyone before they again head out of Cian. 

Character Creation: Paranormal Freelancing

Last character of January. Perhaps February will be a little less Arctic.

The Game: Paranormal Freelancing
The Publisher: Far Horizons Co-op
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one 

So, the copy of the book I have says "Paranormal Freelancing", while of course that says "Paranormal Freelancers". The character sheet does, too. I have no idea what the deal is there, and honestly it doesn't much matter, I just think it's weird.

Anyway, in Paranormal Freelancingers, you play a person in service to a supernatural Patron (vampire, witch, cambion, ghul). You're given a measure of supernatural power, and expected to take on tasks for your boss. There's a system for said Patron gaining and losing territory, which I admit I didn't look at much, but the game looks playable and it's a specific take on urban fantasy that I think is pretty cool. 

So, let's make a freelancing! 

First I must choose a Patron. Hmm. I think I'll say my guy is in service to a witch. That sets my Body and Soul at 1, my Mind at 3, and I have two more points to throw around. Guess I should conceptualize a little. Witches normally recruit people who can think fast, and have some magical talent. I think I'll lean into that and put my 2 points into Soul, and leave Body at 1. 

Serving a witch also sets Essence at 7 and Health at 5. By "Health" they actually mean "Stability," so they just must have changed that at some point and forgotten to change it in the chargen chart and in the patron write-ups, which, like, easy mistake. 

I get a free Blessing and Spell, too. Specifically, I get Essence Tap (I can suck up Essence after enemies are defeated) and Blood of the Covenant (I can duplicate an ally's Spell when they cast it). 

Now I get to pick 2 Blessings, 2 Spells, or one of each. There's a universal list and then each Patron type has a few. You know, I think I'll take Magic Armor and Magic Sense, which are both Blessings.

My concept, here, is that my character, Jeremiah Rankin, for 'tis his name, was recruited to be a kind of canary in a coal mine. My Patron is used to dealing with magical accidents and trouble spots, and it's nice to have someone to send in who's not only skilled at sensing magic, but naturally resistant to it, too.

Equipment! I get a light weapon. Let's just say Jeremiah has a butterfly knife. 

Just description/personality left. Jeremiah is 22, just out of college (sociology degree), not a lot of prospects, known around campus as being kind of spooky (that's the magic sense coming out). A witch name Leazu picked him up one night, things got a little weird, and she gave Jeremiah a job. The job's not exactly safe, but it's very interesting, and really it's not like Jeremiah was doing much else with his life. 

Jeremiah is about average height, little on the skinny side. He's got very little muscle mass - he got very ill his senior year in college and it was only by kindness from some professors and a couple of really intense cram sessions that he graduated at all. He's got stringy brown hair, brown eyes, and thick glasses. 

I think that'll do it! 

Character Creation: Goblin Quest

I will eventually have to go back to work, I'm sure.

The Game: Goblin Quest
The Publisher: Rowan, Rook & Decard
Degree of Familiarity: I mean, I've played Kobolds Ate My Baby
Books Required: Just the one 

As I alluded to up there, Goblin Quest bears more than a passing resemblance to Kobolds Ate My Baby, but also to other games that have you taking on the roles of a troupe of doomed goblins or similar creatures (Goblinville, No Country for Old Kobolds, even Wicked Ones, kinda, although that one takes itself a little more seriously and isn't necessarily about little monsters). At the end of the day, the premise is similar: You're playing goblins, which are widely known to be cannon fodder, so just be silly and enjoy your eventual demise.

And like...I dig it. The game has enough structure to be usable, it has a bunch of variants (including one where you play a troupe of extradimensional Sean Beans), and it seems like it's explained well enough to be easy to pick up and play. The author is the same genius behind Honey Heist, so that makes sense.

The only real criticisms I have are that every so often something that is decidedly not funny is just kind of tossed in there and it feels jarring, though I freely admit that this might just be my sensibilities. Like, there's a big war going on between the forces of Good (humans, elves, etc.), and the forces of the Dark Wizards (who may or may not be octopus-like Elder Things in robes), and that's cool, but then there'll be this throwaway mention of slaves or dog-fighting, and it just kind of brings down the mood. Would that prevent playing and enjoying the game? Not hardly, that's what safety tools are for (and frankly since my players almost never read the games we're playing it probably wouldn't even go that far). 

In any case: Chargen. Like I said, you play a family of five goblins (goblins emerge from the spawning pit every day or so, often in groups) who join up with others and go on (probably doomed) quests. You only play one goblin at a time, though, and if (when) it dies, you bring in the next one, Paranoia style. So let's make a clutch and a first goblin! 

Actually, y'know what, first I'm gonna make an egg smammich. 

OK, then. First thing we do is give our clutch an Honorific (basically a family name or descriptor). I'm gonna call my clutch "Agar-Agar." (They got that name because they make water thicker and slimy when they get dunked in it.)

Expertise is what my goblins are especially good at. It's tempting to say "swimming," but I actually think it's funnier if we can't swim at all. No, we're good at Climbing. Just scampering right up trees or rocks or orcs or whatever.

Quirk is some, well, quirk that all of the Agar-Agar goblins share. I think our Quirk is "tufts of hair in random places."

And then I need a Dream - what is the overarching goal of this clutch? Clearly it's Beast Friend; they wish to make friends with animals (the Agar-Agar family crest would read "if not fren then why fren-shaped").

I get an Ancestral Heirloom, and I think in our case it's the Whistle of Awooing. You blow it, it makes nearby canines howl with joy! Or anger. It's hard to know. 

Now I need a name and a description for my first goblin. My first goblin is named Bert. His defining feature is that he never wears a shirt (am I basing this goblin on comedian Bert Kreischer, since he tells a story about getting choked out by a bear? Yes I am). 

The last step would be to practice my goblin voice, but people are still asleep around here and you wouldn't hear it anyway, so that's me done!

Character Creation: Modern AGE

It's been AGEs. Ha ha not really. Cabin fever setting in. Gonna eat the dogs soon. 

Geez, Noodle, I'm kidding. 

The Game: Modern AGE
The Publisher: Green Ronin
Degree of Familiarity: Never run or played this version of AGE, but I know Blue Rose very well
Books Required: Just the one

So yeah! This is, much like Fantasy AGE, a generic system that I quite like. This version has been tweaked somewhat, though without doing a deep dive into it I'm not sure exactly where the finer tweaks are. I know there's no classes in this version, it looks like there have been some minor changes to the Stunt system, and of course magic and whatnot is optional and therefore not quite as robust in the mechanics.

Is there a setting?! Kind of. Rather, yes, there is a setting, it's called Threefold, but that setting is 186 pages and I don't feel like reading it. There's a sample adventure in the core book that starts at a high-class party, a bunch of mercs break in to steal an invention, shit swiftly gets fucky, as they say. The adventure seems to thread the needle between "open-ended enough to fit into a number of sub-genres" and "still worth running," which, like, nicely done, whoever wrote it. 

Anyway, all that means is that I'm making a character who would a) plausibly be at such a party and b) have a reason to get involved when shit gets fucky. Since I don't have much of a concept for how to do that, and since I accidentally opened iTunes when I was trying to open a different program, let's assume the "make a character with a random theme song" gods are trying to speak with me today. (I know that's a very specific deity, but who am I to judge divinity.)

That's "Everlasting Friend," by Blue October. While I'm sure there's probably more to it, at a very basic level it's about missing someone important to you. Since part of the setup for this adventure is that the inventor of its MacGuffin, Jenna Ramírez, died in a tragic accident a year ago, I think I'll say that my character is a close friend of hers (depending on what the GM does with the adventure, she's not really dead, but my character wouldn't know that). 

Jenna was a tech genius and inventor, but we don't know much about her other than that. So let's make a little up and say that she's of Mexican extraction and grew up in Los Angeles, and that my character is a friend of hers from the same area. While Jenna was always a tech genius and miles ahead of everyone around her, my guy was more physical and athletic. They had more in common when they were little kids and their interests diverged as they grew up, but my guy - let's call him Angel Guiterrez - and Jenna always had some good chemistry. Not romantic, but they vibe off each other, partially because he'd never call her a nerd or make fun of her sciencey shit, and she'd never call him a jock. 

They saw less of each other as she got famous, but she'd still come home sometimes and they'd always catch up. And then she sent him an email with an attachment right before she died, but it's gibberish to him (a hook, you see, for my nonexistent GM). 

There, good start. Next step would be Abilities. I roll 3d6 for each one, and rules-as-written I'd assign them in order, but since I have a rough concept for Angel as an athlete I think I'll roll them and then assign them as I see fit (which is one of the options). So, roll nine times (and checking the table, since we just convert these rolls directly into modifiers), we get: 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0. Decent spread. 

Well, clearly my 2s need to go into Constitution and one of the other physical ones. Guess I should decide what exactly "athlete" means in Angel's case. What the hell, we'll say baseball, it's not like he's a major league player or anything. I think more likely he went to college on a scholarship and majored into something boring like business. That'd be so dull to play, though. Hmm. Let me noodle that a little more. For the moment, I'll put the other 2 into Accuracy. I'll put his 0s into Fighting, Communication, and Intelligence, and that means everything else gets 1. 

Next step is Background. First we roll for social class, then for a background within that. Well, sure, I didn't specify Angel (and thus Jenna's) background as far as the kind of neighborhood they grew up in, so let's see what we get. A 2 gives me Lower Class, and a 3 gives me Laborer. Sounds good. That by no means precludes athletic talent. 

I get a +1 to Constitution, taking me to 3, and I get either Dexterity (Crafting) or Strength (Might). The latter, please. I also get either an Unarmed Combat talent or Party Animal. Hmm. Don't love either of those, but I'll take a look. I also roll 2d6 for another benefit. A 6 gives me Focus: Willpower (Self-Discipline), that's pretty appropriate.

I actually think Party Animal makes more sense than a fighting thing, but it requires Communication and Constitution of 1 or better. So I think what I'll do is switch Perception and Communication so I can take that. Oh, wait, actually, you don't have to meet the requirements at level 1. Eh, that's fine, I'll keep that switch.

Nifty, moving on. Profession! That's easy, Athlete. That gives me a focus in Constitution (Running), Health of 20 + Con (23), Resources 2, and a choice of either Freerunning or Quick Reflexes Talents. I don't have to meet the requirements, which is good because I don't meet them for either one. 

As much as I love parkour, I think I gotta go with Quick Reflexes here. 

Next up, Drive! This is what inspires me to take risks and, like, be a PC. I think Angel is an Achiever. That might actually be something he had in common with Jenna - they're both driven to keep doing shit. That gives me either the Expertise or Inspire Talent. Hmm. Expertise gives me a bigger bonus from a Focus, while Inspire gives people on my team a bonus to Willpower rolls. I think we'll do the latter, Angel is a team player. 

I also get an Improvement. I could give myself more Health, a Relationship, a Membership, or a Reputation. Tempting to say that Angel is or was some kind of well-known athlete, since that does seem to be where I'm leaning with him. Sure, let's give him the MVP honorific. 

Resources & equipment. I have Resources 2, which is described as "Struggling," so apparently Angel's not pulling down any big contracts yet. For this particular scenario, he's not gonna have much on him - nice tux, cell phone, wallet, stuff like that. 

Derived traits! Health is 23, Defense is 10 + Dexterity (so 11), Toughness is 3, Speed is 11 (same formula as Defense).

I get one Relationship slot, but I think I'd want to use it for a PC? Or, wait, can I have a Relationship with a dead person (ew, not like that)? Yes I can! Perfect. We'll say that Angel has a Relationship with Jenna, and we'll express it as "I miss my friend." 

I'm asked to think about goals, too. I think Angel is mostly trying to move up in the world of sports, get noticed, get some good endorsements, shit like that. Jenna's death hit him harder than he thought, and he's a little weirded out by the fact that he got invited to this shindig, but there are absolutely people here that he would like to know to know. 

Last thing is just name and description. Angel is half-Mexican, half-Black, lighter skin, black hair, brown eyes. I don't know how old Jenna is (it's not mentioned in the adventure), but based on her description she's gotta be late 20s. Let's say Angel is 28, then (which might be old for a baseball player, I wouldn't know).

That'll do it!