New Thief Abilities: Con Artist, Assassin, and In Plain Sight

Con Artist [5/lvl]

This new talent gives +1/level (max 4 levels) to Acting, Disguise, Fast-Talk, Gambling, and Merchant.  Con Artist is meant to emphasise the "social" aspect of Thieves, and to replace Craftiness/Street-Smart, both of which already have skill overlap with Skulker.

Reaction Bonus: Street urchins, scammers, forgers, and the like.

Alternate Benefit: +1/level in Contests against somebody trying to fool you.

Assassin [5/lvl]

This talent gives +1/level (max 4 levels) to Garrote, Knife, Poisons, Fast-Draw (Potion), and Fast-Draw (Knife).  Assassin is meant to replace the Assassin template from DF12: Ninja, which makes the same mistakes the Thief did (that is, inefficiently spending points on skills).

Reaction Bonus: Other assassins.

Alternative Benefit: +1/level to avoid self-inflicted poisons.

In Plain Sight [1]

In Plain Sight is a perk that allows a Thief to try to sneak in areas where this would normally be impossible: guarded well-lit hallways, open fields, and the like.  They suffer a base -10 to Stealth to do so.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 16: Help, I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (260 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (262 points)
"The" Lukas Zombanyi - Human Cleric of Bahamut, god of justice and protection (260 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (272 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (271 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (201 points)

Amothius 37th 2546, Outside Kral Aklaz
Lukas showed back up, having changed his name (and religion).  The party asked if he knew anything about "Giant Law", but he came up blank.  They headed to the Observatory chute, looping north around the valley with the stone bridge.  Masha was lowered first with the Lantern of Continual Light and confirmed the room was empty, save for the now-dead tree that Vaelcor had created last session.  The others made it down without issue (though Lukas had to use Luck after failing a roll); Puddin' rediscovered her Laziness and demanded a 1cp ($1) fee to tie people off.

The party decided they wanted to investigate the crypts, now that they had a cleric with True Faith, and followed their map to loop around back to the staircase where the floor had been smashed away.  Puddin' remembered that they'd never told Celebor that they had cancelled their plan from last night, so he was probably annoyed.  They headed south, Puddin' scouting ahead (after removing her medium plate sabatons), and made it back to the 4-way intersection by the door down without seeing any giants.  The giants had smashed the floor here in their last encounter, so they'd have to jump across a small gap above the floor below to actually get to the stairs.

They decided to check out some unexplored doors in the "fey" sector first instead, but the first two fairly large rooms, made of natural stone with crude wooden doors, both turned up empty except for some mundane vines and ferns.  The next door had a 2' door built into the bottom of it, including a tiny doorknob.  Puddin' opened that one, and looked through to see another plant-choked room, but with a pot of gold!  She ran through (after failing a Will roll) and started shoving coins into her pockets, though the number in the pot never seemed to drop.  Masha, hearing this, took a look through the door and (after also failing her roll) somehow managed to squeeze through it, and started filling her pockets too.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 15: Giant Law

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (250 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (262 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (272 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Uncle Ruckus - Human Wizard (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (271 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (201 points)

Amothius 36th 2546, Kral Aklaz, Upper Floor (Cont.)
Puddin' showed up beside the rest of the party and started to lead them down the unlit hall with her Dark Vision, when one of the giants shouted that he was the Thane Ingmar, and that they were accused of Trespassing, Theft, and Murder.  They were to come to court, and face trial by a jury of their peers.  Instead of that, the party continued down the hall.  After rounding a corner, Masha turned the lantern of Continual Light back on, and, following a Cartography roll and a look at their map to get their bearings, they made their way back to the displacer beast room to rest and plan.

After much conjecture, they decided the best course of action was to assemble a team of "Superfriends", and went to talk to Celebor.  There were a pair of guards outside the fey court, and blocked the party's way with their glaives.  When Ruckus asked to be let past, one of the guards let him know that the Princess of Snowflakes was still upset with their presentation, and it would probably be best if they didn't go back into the court.  One of them guards went and fetched Celebor for them instead.  They thanked the guards, and, once he returned with their friend and his five hounds, they went out of earshot to discuss their plans.

The party informed Celebor that the giant thane had the fourth key to the vault on his necklace.  Celebor was on board to attack them and take it, though he requested that the party come up with some sort of plan other than "full frontal attack" first.  When asked what resources he could contribute, Celebor said that he was a skilled archer, and, though he was not a wizard, knew some spells like Dark Vision and Hush.  Ruckus pored over his maps for a while, and figured out that the room in the "wizard area" where they'd found the fancy robes should line up with the throne room on the floor below.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 14: Uncle Ruckus' Finest Hour

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (250 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (262 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (272 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Uncle Ruckus - Human Wizard (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (271 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (201 points)

Amothius 36th 2546, Kral Aklaz, Upper Floor (Cont.)
The friendly (that is, Control Animal'd) displacer beast was blocking the door, so those outside the room couldn't do much.  Jahn and Masha continued to fight the three remaining displacer beasts in close combat inside the room; Masha managed to dodge everything, but Jahn got hit a couple times by tentacles.  Elana, thanks to her Holy Might boosting her to Spear-30 and 1d+9 impaling, took out one beast with an eye stab, and a second a moment later with a stab to the vitals.  The rest of the displacer beasts were dispatched without further injury.

Vaelcor ordered the friendly displacer beast to head to the wilderness, but Jahn failed a Bad Temper and bashed it in the skull before snapping its neck.  The party settled in to rest, and Archer once again skinned the pelts, which Mahk just had to hold, as his backpack was full.  Puddin', meanwhile, searched the corpse and found that it was a badly mauled elf with a potion belt containing two potions, a jar of dust/sand, and some kind of herb (insert weed joke here), as well as a coinpurse with 5 silver pieces.

Ruckus smacked his lips and tasted the potions and dust, which were discovered to be potions of Flight and Perception, and Luminous Dust.  While Ruckus tried to get the sand out of his teeth, Vaelcor determined that the herb was wolfsbane, and repelled wolves and werewolves, but not displacer beasts.  They then started back to the library, to stash the pelts.  At the hole that overlooked the farm, Ruckus was sent forwards in the dark at a crawl to cast an illusion to "loop the cameras" on their hallway again.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 13: The Dark Sorcerer

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (250 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (262 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (272 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Uncle Ruckus - Human Wizard (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (271 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (201 points)

Amothius 36th 2546, Outside Kral Aklaz
In the morning, the party headed around the valley and up the mountain to the chimneys and then spent two hours searching for the observatory entrance shaft, but nobody was able to find it.  Vaelcor cast Pathfinder, which revealed that it was in an open clearing 20' from where they were standing.  Mahk tied a rope to a tree and Puddin' ran it down the sloping shaft, so they'd be able to climb down into the room proper.

Archer went down first, and found that the constellations on the domed ceiling weren't shining, though the white orb still glowed.  Vaelcor slipped and fell, but his harness saved him from taking any damage; Elana also lost her footing and took some damage from slamming into the wall.  Mahk tripped halfway down the shaft and tumbled down into the observatory, on fire and melting from potions that had shattered in his pack.  Vaelcor cast Extinguish Fire and then got to healing the wounded, while the last people made it down.

The party decided to rest for a while, and Puddin' made sure to pick the door shut, but after a while they heard the sound of hooves on stone in the hallway outside again.  It came and went a few more times, before a giant boar, its tusks crackling with lightning, charged straight through the door.  Vaelcor identified it as a thunderfury dire boar, an extraplanar animal; he tried to calm it with Beast Soother, but it charged Archer anyway.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 12: New Friends and Angry Giants

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (250 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (272 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Uncle Ruckus - Human Wizard (250 points)

Amothius 35th 2546, Outside Kral Aklaz
Before heading out to the dungeon, Uncle Ruckus tasted the white potion and identified it as a potion of sleep, then cast Analyze Magic on the bulls-eye shield and found that it was enchanted with Deflect +3 and at least one more spell.  They gave the shield to Masha for now (boosting her to Parry-20 and Dodge-16), rested until Ruckus had regained his FP, and headed to the chimney entrance and were lowered down/climbed; though Mahk fell, Puddin's Knot-Tying harness saved him and he took only 2 damage.

From the broom closet, they headed towards the "wizard door".  Puddin' scouted ahead and saw that the female and child giants were both in the room across the hall, so Uncle Ruckus cast Simple Illusion across the hole in the wall to "loop the cameras".  Puddin' found no traps and opened it, revealing a small chamber before a second door, with a large orb and lightning bolt insignia and an indented 1" circular mechanism in the center.  Ruckus took a look at it, determined that the door was magical, and they remembered that Thrunvir had told them that the door blasted people who tried to open it with lightning.

They decided to take the hour to cast Analyze Magic, and Ruckus identified the door as being enchanted with a 2d Lightning Jet.  Puddin' took a closer look at the mechanism and figured that it could be activated by a ring or amulet or something with the orb and lightning bolt insignia; it could still be picked, though it would be difficult.  There was some discussion of alternate methods: casting Shape Earth to bypass it, or using a lightning rod ("Like a gnome in plate armour?" "Fair point"), but these proved fruitless.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 11: Spooky Scary Skeletons

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (250 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (262 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (266 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (258 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (193 points)

Celebor the Huntsman - NPC High Elf Hunter (??? points)

Amothius 34th, 2546, Kral Aklaz
Masha and Uncle Ruckus decided they were tired and headed back to camp (their player wasn't present), ending the party's plans to cast Dispel Magic on the trapped door leading to the wizards' area.  They decided to backtrack to the temple and use the Glasswall tapestry to scout the main hall that, according to Thrunvir's map, should be just past the south wall.  Puddin' had to lockpick their way back in, as Thrunvir keeps the doors locked, and then went to the south wall.

The tapestry showed a 6m chasm on the other side of the wall, with ruined anchor points for a bridge on either side.  2 giants were playing some sort of dice to the west, and 3 were talking to the east; engaging either would likely result in the other group throwing boulders during the fight.  Past the giants on either side, the giants had smashed out the second floor to make a passage that went further south, and likely looped around the ruined bridge.

Puddin' was also able to spot a small, rough opening 15' down the east side of the chasm, which Vaelcor suggested might have been made by acid lizards; Thrunvir had no idea about it, but pointed out that the bridge would have been in the way his entire life, so that hole could have been there forever.  The party decided to check out the barracks to the west, where they'd hopefully find a staircase up.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 10: Chimney Sweeps

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (250 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (262 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (250 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (252 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Uncle Ruckus - Human Wizard (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (258 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (193 points)

Amothius 31st, 2546, Dirhin Mountains Outside Kral Aklaz
Masha, Argua, Elana, and Jahn all attacked at the prone giants' legs, Argua and Jahn each crippling one, while Archer put an arrow in the eye of the closer one still standing and sent him to the ground.  The further giant was still unable to snap out of his surprise and just stood, gazing in terror as his friends were slowly murdered and filled full of arrows, and one of the prone ones crit failed his "stay conscious" roll and passed out while trying to stand up.

Vaelcor healed Argua some more, though she was still well into the negatives, and Masha ran over to the surprised giant to try to bring him down before he could act.  Archer shot another arrow at a prone giant's eye, leaving him prone, stunned, blinded, and disarmed.  Argua crippled the other leg of the prone giant she had attacked last, and he retaliated with a prone All-Out Attack swing of his massive axe, which severed her left leg at the hip.

The surprised giant finally recovered and started running along the edge of the cliff towards the tree where Archer was hiding, almost trampling Masha on the way.  Elana, still under the effects of Holy Might, crit one part of a tip-slash Rapid Strike on the giant that had just removed Argua's leg, forcing him to drop his great axe, and Vaelcor moved up to swing his axe at the same giant's foot, inflicting far less damage.  Jahn continued gnawing at the blind giant's foot, and inflicted just enough injury to finally kill him.

New Holy Warrior Ability: Holy Smite

Holy Warriors don't get enough options, in my opinion.  They're all going to take Blessed (Heroic Feats), and then maybe Resistant (Evil Supernatural Powers).  Turning and Faith Healing are good, but very expensive, and better in the hands of a Cleric anyway.  I figure that Holy Warriors, as holy warriors, should get at least one other combat option, and here it is, definitely not ripped off from D&D: Holy Smite.

Holy Smite [7/lvl]

Prerequisite: One level of Holiness/Power Investiture per level of Holy Smite

When making an attack, you can imbue your weapon (or fists, or arrows) with burning divine light which is even more effective against true enemies of the faith.  For each FP spent before rolling to attack, up to your level of Holy Smite, add 2 burn damage to any successful attack, or 4 against enemies of the faith.  This bonus damage can affect insubstantial targets, even if the normal attack wouldn't.

Advantages:

Innate Attack (Burning) 4 (Follow-Up (Any Attack), +50%; Affects Insubstantial, +20%; Not Incendiary, -10%; Variable, +5%; Costs Fatigue, -15%; Accessibility (Enemies of the Faith Only), -30%; Holy, -10%) [5.5/lvl]

Innate Attack (Burning) 2 (Follow-Up (Any Attack), +50%; Affects Insubstantial, +20%; Not Incendiary, -10%; Variable, +5%; Costs Fatigue, -15%; Holy, -10%) [3.5/lvl], [0.7/lvl] as an Alternate Ability

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 9: They're in the Trees, Man!

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (250 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (262 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (250 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (252 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (258 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (193 points)

Amothius 30th, 2546, Dirhin Mountains
Continuing on their journey through the mountains, the party came upon a road carved into the mountainside, and (after a surprising amount of deliberation) decided to head up.  In the afternoon, the road crested a hill to reveal a small valley with a stone bridge spanning the middle.  On the far side, in front of a massive set of bashed-in bronze double doors, were four 21' tall, pale blue-skinned, bearded giants dressed in furs and leaning on giant great axes.

They tried to figure out what kind of giant they were for a while ("Probably frost?" "They could be storm or cloud too." "Or blueberry!"), thought about trying to ambush them, and then left to set up base camp, which Argua Camouflaged.  After a short break to rest, they returned (except for Mahk, who was no good in a fight) to the hill to observe the giants, hoping to get a sense of their patrol/shift schedule, and just before sunset, a fifth giant leading three leashed giant hounds came to join the others.

Shortly, he and the hounds crossed the bridge and started up the hill, towards the party's hiding place.  Archer and Puddin' climbed up a tree, while the others crouched behind shrubs in ambush.  Once the hounds topped the hill, they started barking (having crit their smell roll), and, as the giant unleashed them, charged towards the hidden party, who stood with their weapons ready.  Just before the hounds closed, Archer fired an 11-damage arrow into the eye of the giant, knocking him to the ground and leaving him stunned.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 8: Wyvern Ambush

Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (254 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (250 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (252 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (62 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (258 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (193 points)
Zephyra - Half-Elf Wizard (250 points)

Amothius 24th, 2546, Swamp
Masha woke everybody else up as the mounds of vegetation shambled towards the shack, and picked up Argua's Lantern of Continual Light before opening the door.  Everybody else managed to stand up and Puddin' Disappeared just as the mounds split up; one went towards the door, while the other started trying to batter the shack's walls down.  Masha stepped out the front door and landed a kick, finding that their bodies did have some sort of central mass under the piles of rotting vegetation.

Zephyra readied a Flame Jet, and Argua charged out to help Masha while Elana got ready to attack the one bashing the walls if it broke through.  Vaelcor was able to confirm that these were shambling mounds, sentient plants that are homogenous, immune to body control spells (Zephyra: "Damn it"), resistant to cold and fire (Zephyra: "GOD DAMN IT"), and healed by lightning.  He also informed the others of its central mass, which was vulnerable to impaling attacks.

A pair of crits from Masha and Argua, as well as a claw and bite from Jahn the bear, dispatched the mound at the door without further issue.  The other one finished smashing its way through the wall, and Elana speared it for minimal damage.  Masha, Argua, and Jahn all rushed to flank, but were beat there by Puddin' who had been there the whole time!  Unfortunately, her katar just kind of "schlorped" into the plant mass covering it.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 7: The Plot Thickens

Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (251 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (250 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (250 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (252 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (250 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (187 points)
Zephyra - Half-Elf Wizard (250 points)

NPCs:
Emrich "The Lawbringer" - Human Cleric of Erathis, goddess of law and civilization (??? points)
Isabelle of Thrace - Human Holy Warrior of Erathis, goddess of law and civilization (??? points)

Amothius 9th, 2546
Masha ran at the necromancer, but missed a flying kick, and the spider-fiend biting Emrich's now unconscious body let go to get a mouthful of Puddin' "for dessert", while the other one continued to rip and tear at Jahn.  Puddin', now well below 0, decided to Do Nothing rather than risk passing out, while Zephyra lightly toasted the spider biting her with a 3d Flame Jet.

The rat ogre ("It has HT14, there's no way it will pass out!") raised a fist to squash Argua, but then succumbed to its wounds and passed out, so she just re-readied her great axe with her remaining, un-crippled hand.  Elana stabbed Puddin's spider in the vitals, and Vaelcor cast Major Healing on Jahn again, just as the bear broke free from the spider's fangs and tore it up some more with his own.

Isabelle used her boosted DX from Holy Might to make an AoA (Double), with the first as a feint; she won the quick contest by 14 degrees and then landed a savage blow (16 damage) to the skull with her flail, mashing his head into red paste.  The zombie behind Jahn continued to carve out some bear steaks with its hatchet, and Masha landed a pair of All-Out Attack kicks on the spider wrasslin' with Jahn.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 6: The Necromancer

Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (251 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (250 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Unarmed Martial Artist (250 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (252 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (250 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (187 points)
Zephyra - Half-Elf  Wizard (250 points)

NPCs:
Emrich "The Lawbringer" - Human Cleric of Erathis, goddess of law and civilization (??? points)
Isabelle of Thrace - Human Holy Warrior of Erathis, goddess of law and civilization (??? points)

New Characters
While in Isserno, Elana heard about the wolf-headed men cropping up in the wilderness, and ran into Grükuk and Lucas during her investigations.  The pair told her that the likely source was in Shadowmantle Manor, and that she could join up with their compatriots there.  Along the way, she met Vaelcor and his bear companion, Jahn, who decided to join her.

Amothius 9th, 2546
The party decided to rest in the altar room after finishing off the golem, and while they did, Elana, Vaelcor, and Jahn showed up.  Both sides introduced themselves, and Elana and Vaelcor were brought up to speed on the situation and cut in on any profits from here on.  Once they were done resting, Puddin' was sent to scout the blasted out hole (using her Dark Vision to maintain stealth) ahead of the rest of the party, who followed far behind.

The hole was roughly cut, but mostly straight, and even from extreme distance, Puddin' could see the party's Continual Lights clearly.  Further down the tunnel, Puddin' noticed a dull green light, and continued on to find that it was emitting from the cracks on all sides of the blasted stone tunnel; she also noticed that there was a large group of wolf-headed zombies wielding hatchets and sickles, and a pair of rat ogres standing at the end of the tunnel, beside a crude wooden door built into the rock on their left, with a half-dozen fleshy "doors" on either side leading up to them.

GURPS Cyberpunk: Androids On The Run Session 2: With Extreme Prejudice

Characters:
Cleverbot (Face Man with Mind Control)
Gundroid-16 (Cowboy Shooter)
Inspectron (Investigator with a Drone)

00:03 November 7th 2077, Streets of Renton - Pursuit
The party sped through the neon-lit streets in the Murderwagon, escorting Mr. Adams and Dr. Barkley in Adams' Mazda 16 and pursued by a pair of TriOpticon pursuit police cruisers, which were shortly joined by a bright green Lamborghini.  Gundroid missed with a hilariously inaccurate burst from his rifle while driving, but the others held their fire, not trusting their pistols against the heavily-armoured pursuit vehicles, which were quickly gaining ground.

Inspectron tried to convince Cleverbot to Mind Control some other driver on the road to slam into the TriOpticon goons, but he refused to risk harming any innocents.  Gundroid started aggressively weaving in and out of traffic, which kept the TriOpticon cruisers at distance, but the driver of the Lambo was skilled enough to continue to close the gap.  This proved to be his undoing, however, as, thanks to the reduced range penalties, Cleverbot was now able to Mind Control the driver of the Lambo, though Gundroid then shot out one of its tires, and it was T-boned while running a red light.

Despite the pileup, and Gundroid pulling a hard right down an alley, the TriOp cruisers were able to keep the Murderwagon in sight.  Inspectron pulled up a map of the city on his internal computer and plotted an escape route through some construction areas, and, with some skilled driving, they were able to finally shake their pursuers.  Gundroid signalled Adams by flashing his hazards (they'd never been given his commlink number), and they pulled into a parking garage where they discussed their next move.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 5: The Lawbringer

Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (251+10 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human One-Handed Martial Artist (250+12 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (252+6 points)
Zephyra - Half-Elf Wizard (250+9 points)

Amothius 8th, 2546, Isserno
The party sold their potion of flight and the silver flask with a demon inside, recharged power items, renewed Continual Light on Masha, paid to have Grükuk's arm and Masha's hand Regenerated, and then set out down the road to Haverbrook on their way back to the manor.  They made it to the Bloody Raven inn slightly before nightfall, checked in with Jeeves, who apparently lived there, and noticed a pair of hooded travellers sitting in a corner; one an armoured woman, the other a cherubic young man.

Zephyra bought them some drinks and tried to be friendly, but the woman broke off conversation as quickly as possible, claiming that they were traders (odd, given they had no merchandise, and there were no animals in the stable).  By midnight, all but Argua and the travellers retired to their rooms, the former drinking heavily and the latter having only purchased access to the common room for the night, when a robed man trailed by two men in hoods entered the Bloody Raven.

Argua's keen nose recognized the familiar scent of rot and she turned to see that two of the men had pallid, deathly skin.  The leader started to shout "You will d-", but was interrupted by the barbarian, who cleft him nearly in twain with her great axe, taking the whole room by surprise.  He shouted out "KILL THEM!", and the two others leapt forward, their hoods coming off and revealing them to be more of the wolf-headed zombies, their poor weapons bouncing off of Argua's thick hide.

GURPS Cyberpunk: Androids On The Run Session 1: On The Clock

00:00 January 1 1970, A White Room - Escape
Three androids booted up on tables in a stark white lab, with a man in a labcoat standing over them, with a message reading "WARNING - LOW POWER - 6 DAYS REMAINING" flashing in the corners of their HUDs.  They ran their introductory protocols, which announced their designation, purpose, and noted "flaws" in their programming.

The first to speak, a man a trenchcoat and trilby hat, was Inspectron, an ill-tempered and curious investigation and interrogation unit with basic electronic warfare suite and remote operated recon drone.

The second, clad in a getup that screamed "cowboy", complete with ten-gallon hat, was Gundroid-16, a combat unit most capable with concealed small arms, which had issues with following orders and leaving targets alive.

The third, a rather attractive business man in a modern suit, was Cleverbot, social infiltration and coercion specialist with a lust for wealth and jealous streak.

Now that the three androids were online, the man in the labcoat introduced himself as Dr. Isaac Barkley, and told them that they needed to go through the door across the lab, take the card from the security guard standing watch, and then leave the facility.  He then turned and left via an elevator recessed in the wall.  Inspectron headed towards a terminal to look up building plans, but Gundroid decided on immediate action (failed Impulsiveness) and walked towards the door, which slid open vertically to reveal a surprised looking human man, who Gundroid immediately punched in the face.

Urban Scout Lens

The idea for this lens came while reworking the Thief.  As of now, there's not really a good (non-Wizard) alternative to having a Thief; a Scout can find Traps, sure, but no template can take Lockpicking or Pickpocket, for instance.  The obvious solution is to take the Scout, an already functional high-Per template, and switch out its "nature" side role for an "urban" one.

Urban Scout          +0 Points

Secondary Characteristics

Per 15 [5]

Advantages:

Replace
Outdoorsman 2 [20] with Skulker* 2 [16]

Add to options
Flexible [5]
High Manual Dexterity 1-2 [5-10]

Perfect Balance [15]
Skulker 3-4 [8-16]

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 4: Fundraising

Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (250+10 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human One-Handed Martial Artist (250+11 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (250+7 points)
Zephyra - Half-Elf Wizard (250+8 points)

Player Absent:
Grükuk Kzaash - Half-Orc One-Armed Flail and Shield Knight (250+11 points)
Lucas Zombini - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (250+10 points)

Amothius 2nd, 2546
The party rested in the hallway, leaving the suit of armour in its locked room, and Lucas healed Argua and Masha's wounds once he had enough FP and ER back.  Puddin' went down the hallway through the arch and found a pair of orange-y metal double doors engraved with dozens of screaming faces, which had gemstones as eyes.  Zephyra confirmed that they were non-magical, and Puddin', after ensuring there were no traps, threw a Gizmo'd loop of rope around one of the handles, stylized as the tongues of one of the faces.

She pulled it open, and looked through to see a square, barren room with some scorch marks, pitting, and bits of shattered glass scattered about the floor.  On the far side was an archway leading to a narrow flight of stairs up, and Puddin' could feel a faint breeze coming out of the room.  She opened the other door, and the party moved up to the threshold to take a look, but nobody could see anything out of the ordinary.

The party walked towards the staircase, and as they crossed the mid-point, four living shadows manifested in the corners and charged towards them, reaching out with their arms; most of them missed, but one reached into Lucas' torso and stole some of his life force.  Once she had a moment to think, Zephyra realized that these were Demons from Beyond the Stars, and informed the others that, despite their appearance, they were vulnerable to normal attacks and would be banished after taking only a moderate amount of damage.

Delta Green: Convergence Session 5: It All Comes Together

Dr. Agent David Trentmen - FBI Agent and former Medical Doctor
Juan Estevez - DEA Agent and former Undercover Cop
Victor Blue - FBI Intelligence Analyst and Hacker

12/08/18 Recon
The lights seemed to be congregating several thousand feet over the barn, and the agents decided to park the SUV behind a "surveillance bush" and observe the situation before making a move.  Both the farmhouse and barn appeared to be abandoned, but a light within the barn flashed as the flying lights passed over it, and then disappeared.  Juan proposed using their last incendiary grenade to burn everything down, and went in alone to do recon, as neither David nor Victor were trained at infiltration.

Up close, Juan noticed that the ground floor windows and doors appeared to be blocked with something, but the hay loft was open.  Through the loft doors, the top floor looked empty.  There were no ladders or rope around, and, after some internal debate over whether or not to just firebomb the barn without more recon, radioed back to the others to meet up with him at the farmhouse about one hundred meters away, where they'd hopefully find something.

The agents checked around and found an old shack with a rusted lock, which they forced open.  The dim light of their smartphone screens revealed a ladder and several gas cans.  Juan took the ladder and headed back to the barn, alone, while the others went back to the surveillance bush.  He set up the ladder, and went into the hay loft.

Delta Green: Convergence Session 4: Another Tragic Electrical Fire

Dr. Agent David Trentmen - FBI Agent and former Medical Doctor
Juan Estevez - DEA Agent and former Undercover Cop
Victor Blue - FBI Intelligence Analyst and Hacker

11/08/18 Green Box
While the agents were figuring out what equipment they would need for the raid on town hall, David brought up something that Agent Yung had told him a while ago: the program had secret caches of equipment all over the country, and there was one only a couple hours away.  Figuring they might as well take a chance, the agents loaded up in the SUV and went to take a look.  On the way, Victor contacted somebody selling a used pick-up on craigslist (to be used during the raid, so that the SUV wouldn't be involved), and the agents went by their place and paid cash.

The green box was hidden in a hollowed out tree stump off the side of a country road, and contained the following:

• A copy of "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" by Dr. Benjamin Spock
• 1x Glock 17 9mm pistol, wrapped in an oil-stained blanket
• 4x Orion 12-Guage HP Red aerial flares
• A wicker picnic basket containing a maggot-riddled, half-eaten cat
• 1x STHIL 440 Magnum chainsaw + 10x bottles of fuel, with 34 tally marks and the phrase "Papulu protect you" on the bar
• 3x WWII-era #76 Special Incendiary Grenades

The agents tossed the picnic basket, grabbed the grenades, promised to stock another green box when they had the time, and headed back to Waynesboro, stashing the pick-up truck 10-minutes off-road outside of town.  They finished getting their gear ready, making sure to wear balaclavas and plainclothes, and waited until midnight before driving out to get the pick-up, and then drove back to town hall.

Delta Green: Convergence Session 3: Indicators

Dr. Agent David Trentmen - FBI Agent and former Medical Doctor
Juan Estevez - DEA Agent and former Undercover Cop
Victor Blue - FBI Intelligence Analyst and Hacker

10/08/18 Contamination

The agents read the instructions for the indicator fluid/"bleach", which told them to spray the suspected target liberally, and that it was mildly caustic ("Do Not Ingest").  Juan grabbed a spray bottle out of the bathroom, cleaned it, filled it with some of the indicator fluid, and then sprayed everybody on the forearm.  The fluid burned a bit and then turned slightly pink, causing 1 SAN loss each.  A test on the tapwater revealed it to be more pink, justifying their decision to buy bottled water.

Somebody remembered that Scott was supposed to be checking out today, so the party got a different room for Jane for a couple more days, again paying cash and continuing to use the "gay lovers" cover.  The agents then moved Jane and all of the supplies in Scott's room to the new one with no issues (though they did make sure to loop the cameras while doing it), and then they headed off to their meeting with Joseph Allen, making sure to bring a handful of audio bugs with them.

Joseph Allen

A different young man was working reception, listening to headphones and not paying attention (Juan: "Millenials, the worst of all monsters"), but got the Alderman for them once they got his attention.  Everybody took a look around for surveillance equipment, and found a single camera watching the reception area.  Joseph, an older man in a suit, came out and introductions were made before he led them back into a meeting room (a smaller side room, not the main one where people had been making noise the night before).

Delta Green: Convergence Session 2: Contact

Dr. Agent David Trentmen - FBI Agent and former Medical Doctor
Juan Estevez - DEA Agent and former Undercover Cop
Victor Blue - FBI Intelligence Analyst and Hacker

09/08/18 Room 109

Juan was able to calm Jane down, and they ushered her back into Room 109 before she could make more of a scene.  A brief interview ensued, followed by a medical examination by David, where they gained the following information:

• Jane had experienced missing time, but was unsure of how long.  She left the house one day and was immediately back at her front door some time later.
• She was eating about 3 times more than normal.
• She had the same glazed look as her mother when asked about her family and why she tried to hide the pregnancy.
• Billy-Rae Spivey was the father.
• The pregnancy was proceeding far faster than normal (6 months in 1).
• She healed at an accelerated rate (the hole from a needle used to take a blood sample closed instantly).
• Scott had offered to help her and find a doctor.  He hadn't been back in two days.

Honeymoon Suite

While David performing his examination, Juan and Victor suited up in gloves, booties, and face masks, and headed up to the honeymoon suite and unlocked the front door with a lockpick gun.  The door was jammed closed by a towel along the floor, and had to be forced open.  The unit was dark, as blankets had been taped up against the windows, and smelled strongly of death.  The lights didn't work, the bulbs having been removed, so Juan brought out his tac light, and they searched the place.

In the bedroom, they found two piles of clothes, one folded neatly, the other messily thrown together.  Victor grabbed a laptop and shoved it in an evidence bag, to be cracked later.  Juan headed towards the bathroom, where the stench was stronger, and opened the door to reveal a dark-haired man in his mid-30's sitting in a blood-filled tub, his wrists slit and a hairless, white bulge of flesh on the right side of his skull.  His appearance matched Scott, and Juan and Victor headed back to grab David to do an autopsy.

Delta Green: Convergence Session 1: The Spivey Case

Dr. Agent David Trentmen - FBI Agent and former Medical Doctor
A family doctor until his father died in suspicious circumstances.  When the police failed to come up with anything more concrete, he decided to change careers and became an FBI field agent operating out of Virginia.  For several years, he was partnered with Agent Yung, who was secretly a member of the program, until he, too, was recruited.

Juan Estevez - DEA Agent and former Undercover Cop
After several years as an undercover agent planted in a gang in San Antonio to catch a cartel higher-up known as "El Tiburon", Juan opted for the "more stable" life of a DEA field agent, got married, and had a kid.  During a raid on a cartel warehouse, he uncovered a group of cultists performing a human sacrifice using a crystal dagger, and burned the place down by faking a meth lab explosion.

Juan thought he had covered his tracks, but somehow, someone had noticed what he had done.  Instead of being arrested, however, they offered him a place in their organisation, which he foolishly accepted.

Victor Blue - FBI Intelligence Analyst and Hacker
A hacker who never moved out of his mom's house in San Francisco (totally only for financial reasons, the market's crazy), Victor is an aficionado in UFOs, new age magic, and all kinds of other internet conspiracies.  One day, he stumbled onto the "Turkey Organization", a cult that seemed to be actually kidnapping people, and called out to his older brother, Charlie, for help.

The cult turned out to have kidnapped a dozen people, and had conjured some sort of otherworldly avian monster.  Charlie was able to destroy the monster, and the cultists were arrested for their crimes.  "Luckily", the cult had scraped out their captives' eyes and tongues, so nobody other than Charlie or the cultists had seen the turkey monster.  Charlie was recruited to the program first, and Victor soon followed, after receiving his brother's recommendation.

07/08/18 Cover

Victor found a sealed letter on his desk towards the end of the day, and found that it was an invitation to a "birthday party" in Knoxville at the FBI field office at 8AM the next day.  The card told him to bring "lots of presents", so he picked up a stuffed bear on the way to the airport after saying goodbye to his mom and typing off a bogus e-mail about his "grandmother's funeral" to his boss.

David got a call from Agent Yung, who asked him to attend a retirement party in his stead for "Bob" at the FBI field office in Knoxville, Tennessee, the next morning at 8AM sharp.  He left a message for his boss that relayed the exact same story, and headed on his way.

Juan's boss came into his office late in the afternoon and informed him that he'd been assigned to a task force working out of Knoxville under somebody called Delilah Gordon, who had apparently worked with him before and had pulled a lot of strings to get him transferred.  The Administration had already booked him a flight leaving that night, and, after a quick goodbye to his wife and son, he was on his way to Tennessee.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 10A: The Safe Zone

Benedict Con - Humourless Repairman
Geordi Hawking - Callous Rifleman
Kaktis - Super-Strong Cactus Mutant
The Automocar - AI-Driven Armoured Car NPC

The Chase
Dr. Smiley followed after the party and jumped over to the other causeway, leaving the Automocar alone, but Ben gunned it over some dirt ramps and managed to gain even more distance.  Ahead, the causeway was broken, but a pile of wrecked cars formed a coincidental ramp, and Ben took the Doom Buggy over it and jumped to the other side.  Dr. Smiley's monster truck was too heavy, and deformed the cars as he went over, ruining his jump; only one wheel touched the other side of the causeway before the monster truck fell into the ocean and exploded.

The Safe Zone
The party and the Automocar continued uninterrupted down the rest of the causeway to the scorch-marked sloped concrete walls of the safe zone, and past a heavy metal outer gate.  A trio of high-tech turrets locked onto both the Doom Buggy and the Automocar for a moment, but turned away just as quickly.  Geordi noticed that a handful of small flying machines with cameras were hovering overhead, when two vertical sliding doors opened on the walls in front of them and green indicators above them lit up.

Inside was a narrow tunnel, lit dimly by small lights along the spotless concrete floor.  Kaktis and the Automocar "high-fived" with their turrets, and the two vehicles went inside.  After 5 minutes driving through a series of winding tunnels and intersections with other, closed and unlit, doors, they arrived at the end of the line: a one-car garage with a doorway far too small for the Doom Buggy.  The same feminine robotic voice they had heard in Orlando now instructed them to strip, leave their gear in the provided receptacles, and proceed into the decontamination chamber.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 10: The Neon Demons

Benedict Con - Humourless Repairman
Geordi Hawking - Callous Rifleman
Kaktis - Super-Strong Cactus Mutant
Krin - Bald, Numb Mechanic NPC

Prep Time
Ben and Geordi spent the first couple days repairing some of the water-logged gear from the flooded armoury, and then sold the rest for NanoBoost and car parts, which they used to upgrade the Doom Buggy's armour at the cost of speed and handling.  Kaktis, meanwhile, went about looking for a recruit to fill their fourth seat; unfortunately, Ben, between Bully, Callous, Jealousy, and Hates Nerds managed to chase off Prim and Newton, both skilled gunmen.  In the end, though, the party managed to recruit Krin, a bald female mechanic, who installed a spare blood drive grinder from the wreck of her old crew's ride.

Kaktis spent a day asking around, and found out that the gang that patrolled the outskirts of the Safe Zone were known as the Neon Demons, and were led by a madman in a giant truck named Mr. Smiley.  He then managed to recruit two more crews to form a convoy of sorts; three mutants (through kind words and aid), and four teens whose families had been killed by the Neon Demons (through violence and threats).

The First Leg
Early in the morning on the 8th day since their arrival, an announcement came from loudspeakers located all around Orlando.  A smooth, robotic feminine voice declared that the gates of the Safe Zone were open for the next 5 hours.  The party, and Krin, got suited up in their armour, loaded up all their guns, NanoBoost, and car parts, and set out, along with 30 or so other vehicles.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 3: How Not to Deal With Heavily-Armoured Foes

Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (250+9 points)
Grükuk Kzaash - Half-Orc Knight (250+10 points)
Lucas Zombini - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (250+9 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human One-Handed Martial Artist (250+10 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (250+6 points)
Zephyra - Half-Elf Wizard (250+6 points)

Amothius 2nd, 2546
While waiting for Puddin' to wake up and for Lucas to recover FP, Zephyra cast Shape Earth on the stone beneath the pedestal with the black book on it, and formed it into a narrow layer which moved towards the door, bringing the pedestal with it.  As it got closer, the book storm started again, but stayed within the room, and soon enough the pedestal and black book emerged into the hallway.

Zephyra took a look at it, and, thanks to Thaumatology, realized that it was a magical security system (similar to the Dehydrate runes) that would end if the book itself was destroyed.  A closer look at the book revealed its cover to be letters found in Common, but arranged in random gibberish, and that the pages inside were all blank.  She crit casting Dispel Magic, which upgraded it to Dispel Enchantment and ended the book storm, leaving the books (most of which were found to be hollow and filled with rocks) strewn all around the library's floor.

Now that hundreds of flapping pages weren't ruining visibility, however, the party noted that a dozen or so books were still on the shelves, and seemed to have stayed there the whole time.  Zephyra waited for Puddin' to wake up, and then sent her in to Search the shelves, where she found two spellbooks: Elrem's Curses and The Lesser Kunsian Book of the Dead.  They were deemed too heavy to carry, so Zephyra concealed them behind other scraps of torn-apart books before moving on.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 9: The Jackpot

Benedict Con - Humourless Repairman
Geordi Hawking - Callous Rifleman
Kaktis - Super-Strong Cactus Mutant

The Reactor
Having just killed a bunch of zombies and given Geordi a NanoBoost to recover, the party decided to check the halls the zombies had came from, to make sure they didn't get ambushed again.  They found metal shrapnel, "burnt" walls, which Geordi determined were actually exposed to extreme cold, as well as a couple of improvised traps designed to cripple legs with a hammer attached to a lever, but thankfully no zombies.

Before continuing on through a set of metal double doors with narrow glass windows, they decided to scavenge the area, and found only useless, broken pumps and hoses.  In the room past the doubles doors were some two-story pressurized gas tanks labelled He3, connected to hoses and nozzles as well as smaller, movable gas cylinders.  There was also a table with some tools, and some thermoses with fittings and regulators installed.  Geordi couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on here, so the party continued across the room to another set of metal double doors, and looked through the windows.

Beyond was a cavernous, open room with flickering lights and a bunch of zombies milling around; Benedict noticed that one of them was wearing a ceramic combat vest and helmet with visor.  A large, metal, warped ring-shaped device built in to the far wall was humming and attached to 4 of the smaller pressurized gas cylinders.  Rather than charging in, the party decided to have Kaktis hold the doors shut while Ben and Geordi shoot through the windows.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 2: Baffled by the Bad Book Blizzard

Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (250+3 points)
Grükuk Kzaash - Half-Orc Knight (250+3 points)
Lucas Zombini - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (250+3 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human One-Handed Martial Artist (250+4 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Halfling Thief (250 points)
Zephyra - Half-Elf Wizard (250 points)

New Characters
Zephyra had received a letter naming her Lord Esterad Shadowmantle's heir, but it had been addressed to her old lodgings, and she did not receive it for several months.  She, too, ventured to Isserno, hired Puddin' on because she figured she'd need some (disposable) help to find out what was wrong in her estate, and met with Jeeves at the Bloody Raven in Haverbrook.

The butler was rather embarrassed to tell Zephyra that he had already sent another group of adventurers, led by the noble Lady Argua, to the estate.  Zephyra and Puddin' continued on to the manor at the top of the hill, and followed the tracks in the mud leading to the cellar, where they found the other party.  Zephyra and Argua agreed to settle the issue of the estate after clearing out the rest of the cellar.

Amothius 2nd, 2546
The party showed the newcomers through the hole above the pile of rubble and down the muddy corridor floored with planks to the locked door across the pool of stagnant water, and they stopped to think of a way to get across without going in the water.  After a few minutes of discussion, a handful of leeches jumped out of the water and latched on to Puddin', who panicked and tried to run back down the narrow tunnel (past 5 other adventurers), but slipped and fell.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 8: Military Base

Benedict Con - Humourless Repairman
Geordi Hawking - Callous Rifleman
Kaktis - Super-Strong Cactus Mutant

The Base
The party continued southeast, and passed through the small town of Gainesville, which was surprisingly unruined, and found out some more about the Safe Zone.  They were heading in the right direction, as most people started their journey to the Zone from Orlando to the south, hoping that all the other refugees would provide cover from the raiders that controlled the region.

They left, and as they drove down the highway, a man with a bleeding stump on the end of one arm and a fancy ceramic vest ran out of the swamps to the right screaming for help.  Kaktis asked Ben to stop so they could see what was up, but Ben just floored it because he was Callous, and getting tired of constantly helping those in need.  After a while, they noticed a highway sign for ------ Military Base, and took the next exit to check for military hardware.

After getting lost a few times, the party finally arrived at a paved compound inside a chainlink fence topped with razorwire, and, going by the heavily worn "DANGER - DO NOT ENTER" signs, figured they must have found the place.  The gate was open, so they drove in, and found that there were only three small one-story buildings on the base, which had been nearly overtaken by the swamps.  Benedict took a look around, and found car tracks that approached the same way they did, before erratically heading off straight through the fence and into the swamp.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 1: I Smell a Wolf-Rat

Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (250 points)
Grükuk Kzaash - Half-Orc Knight (250 points)
Lucas Zombini - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (250 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Unarmed Martial Artist (250 points)

Premise
While bumming around the Free Cities looking for things to murder for money, Argua received a letter informing her that her distant relative, Lord Esterad Shadowmantle, had passed away, and that she was due to inherit his manor and lands.  To receive the deed, she would have to meet with Jeeves, Esterad's butler, in the Bloody Raven inn, in the village of Haverbrook, southeast of the Free City of Isserno.

Masha, an old friend of Argua's, agreed to help her claim the estate, and on the way, they met Grükuk and Lucas.  Grükuk agreed to help Argua in exchange for a cut of the swag, while Lucas was happy to dive into danger in order to repent for... something.  They confirmed that the seal on the letter was legit, and boarded a ship to Isserno.

Amothius 1st, 2546
All somewhat-broke, the party left Isserno on foot immediately, the sunshine boosting their spirits.  Several hours down the main road, they came across a man in the distance, his back to them.  He had long, unkempt hair, and his clothes were tattered.  Masha approached to ask if he needed assistance, and the "man" turned, revealing that he had a wolf's head.  The beast seemed startled, and ran off into the forest on all fours.  Though they were lacking in knowledge skills, Lucas confirmed that the creature was not a werewolf, as they are either all wolf or all man.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 7: The Reactor, The Grey City, and The Thief

Benedict Con - Humourless Repairman
Geordi Hawking - Callous Rifleman
Kaktis - Super-Strong Cactus Mutant

The Bunker
The party tried the other door from the entertainment room, which led into an overgrown farm with a group of fire beetles eating/gathering some of the various crops growing within.  Both sides attacked, and the beetles were exterminated, though at the cost of severe burns to Geordi's leg, which were repaired using a syringe of NanoBoost.

The door on the far side of the farm was covered in icicles and frozen shut, but Kaktis was able to force it open to reveal another ice-covered room filled with a mist of freezing nanobots, this one holding several partly-assembled plastic robot shells formed from nozzles connected to vats containing something black, and computers to control them.  Geordi donned the intact environment suit and went to examine the computers, but found a group of fire beetles hiding out.

Fortunately, he noticed the beetles due to their tell-tale glow, and he avoided being ambushed, though two of the beetles bit onto his thigh through the suit and pulled him down.  The other two went after Ben and Kaktis, but were exploded by Ben's plasma rifle before they could do much.  Kaktis charged at the beetles on Geordi, and stabbed one, which exploded and caused the other to explode as well, sending shards of shell through the suit, ruining it and injuring Geordi, who passed out.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 6: Bandits and Beetles

Benedict Con - Humourless Repairman
Geordi Hawking - Callous Rifleman
Kaktis - Super-Strong Cactus Mutant

The Dragon Slayers
Early next morning, the party headed out with about two dozen knights and the wizard Merle to a wide, four-lane street in bandit country.  The journey was fairly short, quickly bringing them to a dense ruin of multi-story buildings, but they were uninterrupted though Geordi and Ben saw people watching them from the ruins. They came to a stop at a T intersection, about 1km away from the dragon's "mountain", which they could see was actually three buildings that had collapsed into each other, covered in rubble.

Merle started setting up the rocket launcher on a tri-pod, and the party were instructed to watch the buildings to the right, as the motorcycle-mounted knights couldn't maneouver at close quarters without dismounting.  Once Merle gave the ready signal, Giles and a squad of four knights rode off towards the mountain to rile up the dragon, and shortly after they left, the bandits attacked.

Three floors above the party, they opened fire on Kaktis, who was standing in the Doom Buggy's turret mount, but their bullets just bounced off the armoured vehicle.  Ben got out on the far side of the car, while Geordi run up to the building's front door to storm it with his shotgun, and Kaktis hosed down the area three floors up, only chipping away bits of building due to the sharp angle.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 5: The Duke and The Dragon

Benedict Con - Humourless Repairman
Geordi Hawking - Callous Rifleman
Kaktis - Super-Strong Cactus Mutant

The Duke
The giant albino killigator lunged out of the darkness at Kaktis' neck, and brought him down down under the knee-deep water where it started to deathroll him.  Ben dropped his flashlight to ready his rifle and yelled at Geordi to get his light on the Duke, and fired off a quick burst once the beast was illuminated.  Somehow, the gargantuan lizard dodged the gunfire, landing and spinning around to swipe at Geordi with its tail, but missing.

Kaktis held his breath and struggled, trying to punch the Duke, but to no avail, all while it continued to worry ferociously at his neck.  Ben took another shot, this time hitting the beast square in the face, damaging its jaw, freeing Kaktis, and... knocking the killigator right out.  They remarked on how lucky they were that it hadn't gone for Ben or Geordi, as either of them would likely have been killed.

After Geordi bandaged Kaktis up, the mutant extended his arm spines and sawed off the Duke's head.  The party trudged back through the swamp to the old man, wary of ambush from the other group hunting the Duke, or possibly more killigators.  They were uninterrupted, however, and the old man thanked them for saving his pigs and told them that the star had fallen across yonder lake, behind hangman's hill, down by the ol' nucular plant.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 4: Welding Robots and Falling Stars

Benedict Con - Humourless Repairman
Geordi Hawking - Callous Rifleman
Kaktis - Super-Strong Cactus Mutant

Having heard of the Safe Zone on the east coast, the party decided to leave the small village of Rona, on the outskirts of the ruins of LA.  They scavenged a car from the ruins, repaired it, and headed northeast...

Scavenging
During their first couple days on the road, Benedict and Geordi repaired their car as best they could.  In an abandoned survivalist shelter, Geordi found a large ammo cache, and an electronically locked vault that probably contained riot armour, but couldn't open it.  Kaktis found a single frag grenade, and Benedict grabbed a syringe of Nano-Boost, a type of healing nanobot.

Junction
The party drove down a raised highway until they discovered that part of it had collapsed, so they retreated and found another way to the south of a city, driving slowly around the rusted hulls of abandoned cars.  Geordi heard what sounded like welding, and warned the others just as a pair of primitive robots emerged from the wreckage.

They were made of a single trunk mounted on treads, with two welding arms hanging off the side.  There were sensors on the trunk, a large antenna on top, and many loose hydraulic lines running down the arms.  Ben tried to evade them as best he could, but in the close confines of the scrapped cars, the slow robots kept pace, and started welding their car apart, while Geordi and Kaktis unsuccessfully shot and punched them.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 3: High Noon at the Bandit Camp

JabbaJeff - Unfit, Very Fat Scavenger
Jack Jackson - Cowboy Hunter
Lan Williams - Mechanic Trader

Storm the Gates
The party piled into their car and sped down the dirt road after Scar, to stop the raiders before they fired the artillery at the town, and came to a stop once they saw the walled pre-war estate the raiders were using as a camp in the distance.  The walls were 8' high concrete, and the old wrought-iron gate had been reinforced with scrap metal, so just ramming through wouldn't be a good idea.  They could make out a mansion at the top of a slight hill, and a long driveway, but no more detail.

Realizing that surprise was not an option due to the dust cloud that their car had kicked up, Lan decided to try to talk their way inside the gate to spring an ambush.  As they got closer, they could see that there were two guards keeping watch, just their heads and upper torsos visible over the wall, and, after pulling up in their windshield-less, bullet-hole riddled car, he convinced the guards that they wanted to join the gang.  One of them ran off to go get somebody in charge while the other kept watch.

Several minutes later, a woman in a cowboy hat showed up and told them to come through, but with their weapons down. The gate was pushed open by a group of slaves in tattered clothing, and Lan drove inside, revealing another four raiders, for seven total, all with rifles ready, watching them.  His Danger Sense went off, so he ran one of them over while Jack and Jabba opened fire but missed because of the "bumpy road".  The woman drew a pair of revolvers while running to cover, while the goons opened fire with their rifles.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 2: Kicking the Ultra-Hornet's Nest

JabbaJeff - Unfit, Very Fat Scavenger
Jack Jackson - Cowboy Hunter
Lan Williams - Mechanic Trader

On the Road Again
Lan patched up Jabba's rat wounds as best he could, while Jack repaired his gun, and Jabba lay down in the back seat of the car because his foot was still crippled. Once that was done, they drained rat blood through some tubing they'd picked up at Home Depot, and Lan started up the engine.  Lan was a capable navigator, and was able to easily find a way through the ruined city.

They had to detour around a large horde of zombies, and later shot at a gasplant in their way until it exploded, but made it back onto Highway 91 with little actual trouble.  Eventually, they arrived back at the place where they had fought the Hunters, and Lan decided against driving off-road, as he would have to take the car into a shallow ravine and he wasn't confident in his skills.  As he and Jack got out to see what they could do about the ruined cars, however, Jack took an arrow to the chest and again, a group of Hunters charged down the hill.

Jack and Lan took up positions behind their car and gunned down one of the Hunters, while Jabba tried to take aim from the backseat of the car.  A pair of Hunters, one with a length of chain, the other a 2x4 with a bunch of nails pounded through it, rushed Jack and Lan, who dropped their guns and switched to melee, only for Jabba to kill both with his sawed-off, just before taking an arrow intended for Jack.

Again, the Hunters retreated, and Lan healed the wounded, while Jack was able to move the ruined cars out of the way without too much trouble, and the party set off down the highway, and towards the safe zone.

Fixing the DF Thief

The Thief Template from Dungeon Fantasy 1 (and DFRPG) is one of the worst available options.  In a game that's largely about getting into big fights, the Thief gets only 1 point for their primary melee weapon (2 if they don't want a shield), which puts them at the same skill level as Templates like the Bard, Cleric, and Druid.  The Thief also gets one point in a ranged weapon, and that's it.  Considering that most Bards/Clerics/Druids use melee only as a last resort, this makes the Thief essentially worthless in combat.

The main issue with the Thief is, to quote DF1, that "they're broad-based experts at mundane skills".  They're the only class with nothing to do in combat, by design, which is a huge misstep.  Well, before we get started, lets take a brief look at what roles the various Templates fill:

Barbarian: Melee Combat, Nature Knowledge
Bard: Face, Utility/Support Magic
Cleric: Healing/Support Magic, Holy Knowledge
Druid: Utility/Support Magic, Nature Knowledge
Holy Warrior: Melee Combat, Holy Knowledge, Healing/Support Magic
Knight: Melee Combat
Martial Artist: Light Melee Combat, Parkour/Climbing, Chi
Scout: Ranged Combat, Nature Knowledge
Swashbuckler: Light Melee Combat, Parkour/Climbing
Thief: Parkour/Climbing, Thief Skills
Wizard: All Non-Healing Magic, Magic Knowledge

Notably, the Thief is the only Template with an emphasis on Thief Skills (mainly Stealth, Lockpicking, and Traps).  This leads to an in-game problem where, depending on the game/GM, either you need to take a Thief (eg because there are locked doors or traps), or you would never bother (eg because you can smash down locked doors and run through traps).  This can be sort of solved by giving the Scout access to Thief Skills as an alternative to their Nature Knowledge, or the Bard in exchange for some Face skills.

GURPS Blood Drive Session 1: "Death" of a Hero

JabbaJeff - Very Fat, Unfit Scavenger
Jack Jackson - Cowboy Hunter
Lan Williams - Mechanic Trader

Having heard of the Safe Zone on the east coast, the party has decided to leave the small village of Rona, on the outskirts of the ruins of LA.  First things first they'll need to get a car, and the only place where everything hasn't already been looted, is the radioactive ruins...

On the Road
The party set off down Highway 91 and started the half-day trek towards the ruins, proceeding without note until they arrived at a cluster of scorched and wrecked cars that had been trying to leave the city, but hadn't made it out of range before the nukes hit.  Lan's Danger Sense went off, and JabbaJeff spotted a bunch of bear traps.  As they made their way through the wreckage while avoiding the bear traps, a pair of arrows flew from the southern hill, and one hit Jack in the chest.

Six men in rags, howling and screaming nonsense, charged down the hill from their hiding places in the tall grass, and the party returned fire, downing two before they made it to the highway.  As the men got closer, they realized that the raiders' brown clothes were actually made of human skin, and that their teeth were filed to points.  Jack yelled out to the party that they were the Hunters, a group of insane mutants, just before he took a second arrow and fell down.

Jabba's sawed-off shotgun made quick work of another two, and, after bashing Lan with a length of chain, the Hunters ran off screaming.  The party decided to save ammo and let them go, and Lan removed the barbed arrows from Jack and closed the cowboy's wounds good enough to get him walking again.

GURPS Waterworld Session 10: The Takahashi Machine

Ai - Experienced Tech
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper

Day 98:
In the morning, the Wizard gave Chang a panic button which would summon him in an emergency, and then disappeared.  The party asked around the village to find out about who was in charge of the Takahashi Machine and were directed to a small hut.  Nobody answered their knocking, so the party barged in to find an old man sleeping under a blanket on a chair.

He was woken up, and informed by Ai (via the hacked nannybot which could translate) that the "County Inspectors" were here to "transfer the Takahashi Machine to another facility", and he offered to lead them to it.  The old man stood up to a surprising height of 7' as the blanket fell away to reveal massive cybernetic limbs, before heading off to the factory with the "inspectors" in tow.

They made it with no problems, and arrived in an empty, dusty room on the ground floor of the factory, with the machine set into a wall, from which Ai and the old man, Wang Chun, removed the 30lb main chip.  As they finished and the old man turned to leave, Axe, Chang, and Vaolt smashed his head into a pulp from behind, and an alarm sounded.

GURPS Waterworld Session 9: The Factory

Ai - Experienced Tech
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper

Day 96:
In the morning, Axe discovered that all of his wounds had regenerated far faster than he had expected, which Ai chalked up to the berserker nanobots in his system.  The party got back on the road early, and came across 4 chrome, skeletal humanoid robots, still a long ways away.  Ai noticed that they seemed to have nozzles in their hands, and tanks in their lower torsos.  Axe advanced while Chang fired a slug at the lead robot's tank, which exploded and lit the robot on fire.

The flaming bot ran at Axe while the others used their flamethrowers as best they could; one was out of fuel, and another's pilot flame was out, but even the working flamethrower and flaming robot had little effect, and they were soon cut to bits.  Again, the Wizard noted that a signal had been sent to bombard the area, and the party ran down the road.

A few hours later, they saw a large cart holding a giant steel sumo robot, being towed by 4 small gnomes.  The party tried to pass without conflict, but the sumo shoved Ai backwards 10' and into a tree.  Axe cut it with his axe, but seemed to barely scratch its thick armour, while Chang ran around behind it, somehow turned on the oversized laser sword he had stolen from the steel samurai, and even managed to cut a deep gouge in the sumobot without disembowelling himself.

GURPS Waterworld Session 8: Japan

Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper

Player Absent:
Ai - Experienced Tech

Day 81:
The party waited four days while the Wizard constructed their gifts: anti-grav jump boots with a 50m range for Axe, hypervision goggles for Chang, and a backpack-mounted water cannon for Vaolt.  He also gave them back the demoleculizer, though had apparently done something incomprehensible to the battery.  After much conversation and long-winded explanations, the Wizard was convinced to transport them to Japan using a hovercraft, which he trained Chang to pilot.

Day 87:
Before going to Japan, the party headed back to their ship to grab Chung, who was still apparently fine thanks to Pandaborg putting him into a coma, their food, and the rest of their gear.

Day 95:
As they approached the Japanese coast, the party and the Wizard came up with a plan.  Apparently, any land vehicles would be bombarded and destroyed the second they touched land, as many of Japan's pre-war automated defenses were still functioning, so they resolved to leave the hovercraft slightly off-shore and wade in the rest of the way.  The Wizard was able to walk on the water thanks to hoverboots, and turned invisible once they were ashore.

GURPS Waterworld Session 7: The Satellite Array

Ai - Experienced Tech
Axe - Mutant Hulk
Cap'n Chang - Lucky Nomad
"Lieutenant" Vaolt - Mutant Trooper

Day ??? (Cont.):
Now that they had re-equipped, the party took a look around and noticed that the room they were in had several tables and shelves lining the walls, all practically overflowing with strange and incomprehensible devices.  There was a man in a white lab coat working on something in the corner, a cybernetic panda in the corner opposite, two normal doors, and one steel blast door.  Beside one of the normal doors was a coat rack, which held a robe and wizard hat.

Chang asked the "scientist" what was going on and, as he turned around, the party realized that this was the Wizard.  He explained over the next twenty-or-so minutes exactly what he had done, down to the smallest detail, to transport the party here, his speech so thick with technical jargon that only Ai had a remote hope of understanding him.  He gave similar exposition when asked where the experimental gun was, how the chalice had knocked them out, and why he was so interested in Ai's assistance (in order: scrapped for parts, nanobots, she was really smart).

The Wizard was apparently rather socially incapable, as he kept slipping up and mentioning things like how his former "helpers" who had been mind-controlled by nanobots were "no longer viable", and that Ai was the third smartest person he'd met, but "would do, as the other two hadn't worked out"