GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 11: Cattle Rustlers

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Sweetwater Train Station
Another Black Dragon gang member retreated out of the next train car over, followed by Big Po.  The old lady failed to recover from stun, and Mike and Dan kicked her to death before she could get up.  Roberto failed Bloodlust and stabbed her a bunch anyway.  Po tried to Judo throw the guy he was fighting, but missed, and was punched in return for no damage after Second Wind.  The old lady's right hand man made a Committed Attack kick against Roberto ("I can't believe you'd attack an innocent man who just killed your boss like that"), but he retreated, breaking Teamwork formation, and successfully parried anyway.

Dan and Mike both feinted and attacked the right hand man, but he saw through their feints and parried both attacks.  Po tried to grab the other thug, but he too was parried.  The right hand man retaliated with a Dragon Fist to Dan's Pressure Points ("It's okay, I don't need health anymore"), and he started to suffocate.  Despite shock, Dan managed to put the right hand man in a Choke Hold, and started choking him out.  Though Po urged them on ("Come on, put him out of his misery!" "I can't, I might hit Dan." "Come on, put Dan out of his misery!"), Mike and Roberto just Evaluated while moving slowly forward.

The right hand man made an All-Out Attack Uppercut at Dan to free himself from the hold, but he missed and continued to suffocate, while Dan recovered from the Pressure Points attack.  Mike and Roberto grievously wounded the right hand man with a kick and two knives to the neck, while Po grabbed the thug by his arm.  The right hand man, now desperate, made another All-Out Attack with Flurry of Blows to make three Uppercuts to Dan's face; one got through for 10 damage, and stunned Dan in spite of Luck.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 10: Battle with the Black Dragons

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori (Absent)
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Sweetwater Train Station
Dan declared to the Black Dragons that their mission had failed, as both the Jade Dragon and the governor were secure.  The old lady asked "Is it?", Mike said "Yes", and she answered "Well, we'll see about that".  The party moved into a Teamwork formation, and the old lady tsk'd and said "you Eagle-stylists are always getting in our way".  Roberto passed 3 disadvantage rolls and asked if there was some way of ending this without violence.

The old lady tried challenging Dan, but he resisted, and the party leapt towards their foes.  Roberto landed a Mighty Blow to a thug's neck, but Mike whiffed and Dan was parried.  The old lady's right hand man jumped at Roberto with a Deceptive Flying Jump Kick, and would have broken his leg were it not for Second Wind.  The wounded thug kicked Mike for only 1 damage after Roll with Blow, while the other one hit Dan with a Dragon Fist which almost knocked him over.  The old lady just piled into the combat, but didn't attack.

Dan struck back and landed a grazing blow on the fresh thug, reduced further by Roll with Blow; Mike took out the other one with a pair of kicks.  Roberto exchanged blows with the right hand man, and Dan defended against the mook and the old lady, then kicked the mook through the glass window of the ticket booth in retaliation, leaving only two enemies left.  Roberto and the right hand man continued their duel, each retreating before stepping back into close combat.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 9: Train Heist

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Waiting for the Train
The morning of the inaugural train journey had come, and the city of Three Trees was bustling in excitement as people crowded around the train station and a band got ready to play.  Mike went looking for someone in town who was selling sinchu roots, but found only "Dr. White's Cure-All for Tooth-Aches, Wandering Uterus, and Restless Leg", aka medical-grade cocaine.  Before the train showed up, the party rode south to the overlook they had scouted, and prepared to jump aboard the train in order to stop the Black Dragons from stealing the "Jade Dragon", whatever that was.

Several hours later, the steam engine whistled in the distance, and they got into position.  The train passed underneath, and they jumped down onto the second car, following Roberto's hunch that it would be hauling all the valuables.  Roberto stabbed his knives into the wooden train car to secure himself, while Dan and Mike gracefully landed on top.  Big Po, however, plummeted straight through the car's ceiling, and landed on a metal safe below; someone inside shouted "What in tarnation?"

Once Po recovered from his fall, he noticed that there were two cowboy hat wearing guards, tough-looking but not Trained by a Master.  He tried to Intimidate them into silence, but the guards insisted that he wasn't allowed to do that, and had to get off the train.  Po apologized, but the guards told him to "git out" and gestured to the door at the back of the car; Po followed their direction, and, followed by one of the guards, opened the door and crossed the gap to the next car.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 8: The Plot Thickens

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

The Railroad Outside Three Trees
Dan asked Wong what he was up to; Wong looked over his shoulder at him, turned to look at the party, and then started to sprint away.  Dan, with move 9, and Mike, who has Move 11, easily caught the runaway, and cut him off on a small hill above the railroad track.  Wong tried to do an Acrobatic Evade, but critically failed and fell on his face, ending the chase.  Mike casually offered to help him up, and explained that they just wanted to talk, but Wong refused and stood up on his own, taking a defensive stance.

As Roberto and Po walked over, Roberto analyzed Wong's stance and deteremined that he was Trained by a Master in Dragon-Style Kung Fu.  Wong locked eyes with Dan and tried to challenge him, but he resisted, and told the others (especially Roberto) that they needed to take this man alive.  Roberto Intimidated Wong, and convinced him to back down, which he did, falling out of his defensive stance.

Dan asked where Wong had gotten his tattoo, and he replied "China".  When pressed, he specified Guangdong Province.  Dan then asked if that was where he'd joined the Black Dragon Clan, accused him of killing Mr. Wilson, and asked for the lemonade recipe and the location of his clanmates.  Wong just said that they were nearby.  Roberto started to use Hypnotic Hands, but Wong looked away; Po moved in to grab him, but he parried the attempt.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 7: A Mystery in Three Trees

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Twinhorn Gold Mine
Willy grabbed "the kid who looked the most like a future player character", and Roberto tried using Hypnotic Hands to break the "mind control".  Though he had to take lots of extra time to offset his base skill of 8, it worked, and he went about curing the rest of the child soldiers over a couple hours.  Once he was finished, Roberto asked if any of these children had seen his daughter, and one said that she had been training with them, but was gone now.

The party decided to wait for "Lucia" and her men to show up at the mine, ambush them, make sure Roberto didn't kill them, and then interrogate them about Roberto's daughter.  They settled in to camp, and Mike drank a second sinchu root mixture without ill effects.  The freed slaves decided they'd just go back to town now, and bid the party farewell.  Willy got to work making an impromptu sledge using the mine cart so that he could transport the gold out of the mine.

1 day later, nobody had showed up, but the party had mostly recovered from their wounds (though Dan had to Luck a crit-fail) and decided to head to the Gilded Pony back in Sweetwater.  Willy had disappeared in the night, so that nobody could follow him to where he had buried the gold, but left an obvious trail from the sledge behind him.  As they entered town, the people of the town cheered their arrival, but they did not have congratulatory muffin baskets for them, much to Po's chagrin.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 6: The Man With The Golden Chains

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist
Whistlin' Willy - Gold-Crazed "Alcoholic-Style" Miner with Dynamite

Twinhorn Gold Mine, Slave Mining Pit
Po grabbed the knife thug who was leading the mooks against the freed slaves, and got stabbed in return.  The machete henchman tried to disarm Roberto, but he slipped forward into close combat, parrying on the way, and responded with a thrust to the neck.  Mike continued to stare down the knife guy on his terrace, Evaluating for a second time, while Dan failed to land either part of a Rapid Strike on his own thug.  Po broke out his Ooichou Nage secret technique again, throwing the thug to the ground before body slamming and stunning him.

One of the stick mooks smacked Po, but the others were taken out by the slaves.  Dan got stabbed twice more and fell back to Evaluate, while Mike stepped forwards, parried both thrusts from the thug on his level, slipped into close combat, and landed a kick.  Po pinned the thug he'd taken down, and he passed out while trying to break free.  Mike retreated when his thug tried to stab him again, and used Luck to avert a crit.

Roberto and the machete henchman continued their duel, steadily moving further onto the trestle bridge, but neither were able to land a hit on the other.  The henchman wielded his machetes with surprising grace, and was effectively using Fencing Retreats, while Roberto made sure to constantly stay in close combat to make the machetes' superior reach a liability.  Po All-Out Double grabbed the last stick mook and then bear hugged him hard enough to instantly knock him out.  Dan landed an Exotic Hand Strike on his thug, and parried the riposte.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 5: Sound The Alarm!

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Twinhorn Gold Mine, Slave Mining Pit
As the battle cries of the Ginto Boys echoed through the mines, the party argued whether to leave, stand and fight the reinforcements, or chase the boss.  Ultimately, they decided to hold the mining pit after a freed child asked them to save the other kidnapped children who were being brainwashed and trained to fight.  Mike fished one of the healing sinchu roots Apha had given them from his pocket, dropped it into Dan's canteen of lemonade, and force fed it to him; he immediately felt much better, and his left arm was no longer broken.

The first group of enemy reinforcements, two men with rattan sticks and a third with two knives, entered the chamber from the main entrance, and Mike ran up to meet them while Dan regained his footing; Roberto held his position at the mine cart track in case more came from there, while Po held his ground in the centre of the room, ready to defend the slaves, who still struggled to free themselves.  Mike took out a stick mook with a kick, then the knife guy stepped in and feinted with one knife then stabbed with the other, though Mike Luckily dodged.

Roberto spotted more enemies running in along the minecart track and Waited to stab one.  Mike retreated down the stairs, but the knife guy followed, and managed to get past his guard this time.  Dan ran to help him, but his triple Rapid Strike of Defensive Attacks were all parried or dodged.  Roberto surprised one mook with a knife to the ribs as they charged the room, then moved to attack a second but they somehow managed to defend against both thrusts.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 4: Twinhorn Gold Mine

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

The Gilded Pony Saloon
Mike asked the barkeep about the old miner that'd just been thrown out, and learned that that was Willy, a former miner at the ol' Twinhorn Gold Mine west of town.  The mine had collapsed years back, killing most of the miners, and the company running it had abandoned it.  Willie was a bum and an alcoholic, but mostly harmless; he occasionally tried to pay for his whiskey with painted rocks he claimed were gold.

The party figured that they should head to the gold mines, and went outside to find Willie passed out across the street.  Po tried shaking him awake, but it took a bucket of water to rouse him from his drunken slumber.  They quickly struck a deal: Willie would lead them to the haunted mine and he would get all the gold, while they would get all the ghosts.  He then asked if they wanted to use the front door, "which the ghosts knew about", or the secret way in?

Po expressed interest in the secret entrance, and Willie asked the party if they knew how to swim, and all but Po could not.  Willie told them that they'd want to make sure not to fall overboard, and told them that they'd be taking his dinghy through the diamondback rapids.  They headed south of town to the river and loaded into the dinghy, Po bringing it almost down to the waterline as he boarded.  Willie rowed them out into the center of the river and then laid back while the current carried them along.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 3: The Monster of a Man

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Preparations
The party walked out of the Happy Rancher Saloon, though Po made sure to gulp down his lunch first, and waited in the street, watching as the dust cloud grew bigger.  Three covered wagons came into view, driven by all large, shirtless, Japanese men.  As the first wagon pulled into town, he yelled for the party to get out of the way, and they did so, not wanting to be trampled by three teams of four horses.  Except for Michelangelo, who jumped up beside the driver.

The driver shouted for him to get off, and tried to shove him, but Mike nimbly dodged out of the way, and the driver accidentally pulled on the reins, turning the horses and causing them to speed up.  Mike tried to ask if the driver knew Tetsu, and apologized for so rudely jumping up before dodging another shove attempt, and jumping up onto the top of the covered wagon, out of reach.  The driver realized his mistake, and stopped the horses before they ran into a house.

The other two wagons came to a stop outside the jailhouse and sumos started to pile out of all three, most focused on Michelangelo and yelling for him to get off of their wagon, not listening to a word he said ("I just want to know if any of you know Tetsu, the-" "Get off our wagon!" "Why are you on the wagon?" "Stop being on the wagon!").  After another couple seconds, a heavy footstep interrupted the clamour as a mountain of a man, clearly Trained by a Master going by his sumo girdle and topknot, with chains wrapped around his arms stepped from the third wagon and shouted "TETSU!  Where are you?"

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 2: Fall of the Mountain Ape

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Sumo Struggle
Big Po made an All-Out (Double) Sweep, but missed both, and Tetsu Slammed into him, knocking Po out cold.  The two tougher thugs outside continued to Slam at Michelangelo, but he managed to dodge, and all the other gangsters except for them and Tetsu were out cold on the floor of the Happy Rancher Saloon.  Roberto gave into his Bloodlust and started stabbing the fallen, while Dan saw Po get knocked out and started moving towards the door.

Michelangelo kicked one of the thugs' feet, but failed to cripple it, Acrobatic Dodged one thug's grapple, and critically parried the other, sending him to the ground.  Dan continued shuffling away, but heard Tetsu's heavy footfalls behind him as the sumotori charged in for a Slam.  Michelangelo kicked at the prone thug's skull, but his foot only bounced off as the thug regained his knees, and the other dropped into a Wait.

Michelangelo broke away from the two thugs and jumped through one of the Happy Rancher's windows, while Dan, seeing Tetsu charging towards him, took an Evaluate.  Tetsu stopped his charge, and took a Wait, and Michelangelo kept his distance.  Dan moved in to kick at Tetsu, but he parried, and Tetsu used his Wait to grab him.  Michelangelo kept his distance with an Evaluate, while Dan grappled the sumotori back.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 1: Smackdown at the Happy Rancher Saloon

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Four Horsemen
By boat, train, and horseback, four martial artists made their way to the town of Gila Gulch, each looking for something different.  Roberto King sought his daughter, who had gone missing.  Michelangelo searched for the deadly Foot Clan, murderers of his mentor and brothers.  Big Po was looking for different cuisine to try.  And Dan da Ying was trying to find and recover the legendary lemonade recipe that Dragon-Stylists had killed his best friend for.

Gila Gulch
The four PCs arrived the frontier town of Gila Gulch at high noon, all approaching from the South, Big Po looking ridiculous atop a struggling donkey.  Po greeted the others warmly, and Michelangelo responded that he looked well-fed, while Roberto ignored them both.  They started towards the saloon at the center of the three streets that made up the town, when a white man was thrown through the swinging doors and bounced off the dusty ground several times before coming to a stop.

A hulking Japanese man, almost as big as Po, exited the saloon, ripping the swinging doors from their hinges as he did, and threatened the man he'd just thrown into the street.  He told the man on the ground, apparently the sheriff, to stop bothering him if he didn't want to get beaten even worse.  The fat man turned and walked back into the Happy Rancher Saloon, from which upbeat piano music emanated faintly.  Po got off of his donkey and, followed by Michelangelo, went to go help the sheriff to his feet.

The sheriff had taken a beating, but could still walk on his own. Po opined that he shouldn't go looking for trouble, but the sheriff replied that looking for trouble was part of the job.  Po said that there were better jobs available, like being a chef!  Michelangelo asked what the deal was with the big guy, and the sheriff said that "Tetsu" was in league with the Outlaw King, who lived on top of Hangman's Mesa to the north.  Tetsu and his boys liked to come down into town and get drunk and generally make a mess of the town.

GURPS Warhammer 30k: The 231st Session 4: Invasion

Ahzek Toth - Administratum Overseer and Sage
Gizmoticus Gearmus - Tech-Priest of Mars and Leader of Mechanicum Forces
Cmdr. Magnus Valerius - Leader of Ground Forces and Former Arbitrator
Lt. Solidius Anguis - Undercover Vindicaire Temple Assassin

On Hold
While they waited to hear back about the audience with the High Maestro, brother Al-Rayyed Ad-Hib voxed the bridge; the music they'd heard when contacting planet Lyrecia could still be heard faintly in the background of the call.  The space marine announced that he would take a shuttle to the space station, and from there gain passage to Prospero (eventually).  Magnus wished him luck, and told him that he could expect assistance from the 231st while they were still in-system, if he needed it, and heavily implied that they might want assistance from him.

The planetary representative hadn't contacted them after another 30 minutes, and Magnus asked the bridge crew to make sure the Lyrecians weren't aiming anti-ship cannons at them; for now, at least, his Paranoia seemed unfounded, as no such emplacements were visible through the Rogue Sniper's scanners.  Hours passed, and reports filtered in of soldiers getting headaches after using the vox network.  Magnus announced that vox usage was to be stopped, and, suspecting a "music virus", got Gizmoticus to check the ship's systems for some kind of infection.

The tech-priest's investigation turned up nothing, so, now suspecting a "mind-virus", the party went to Astropath Wong, who informed them that the barrier between their reality and the empyrean was thinner than usual around the planet.  Apparently, it was fine, unless there were untrained psykers in their ranks.  What about the headaches?  It was fine, don't worry about it.  What about prolonged exposure?  Nah, it was fine.  Should they get earplugs or something for their troops?  It was fine.  Solidius asked how big the hole was, and Wong replied "Okay, let me just look into hell and check how big it is... Pretty big.".

GURPS Warhammer 30k: The 231st Session 3: Purges

Ahzek Toth - Administratum Overseer and Sage
Gizmoticus Gearmus - Tech-Priest of Mars and Leader of Mechanicum Forces
Cmdr. Magnus Valerius - Leader of Ground Forces and Former Arbitrator
Lt. Solidius Anguis - Undercover Vindicaire Temple Assassin

The Assault
Magnus ordered "Tightlipped" Tommy to start assembling and arming the troops, so that they could mount an assault on the Ursus Maximus cult as quickly as possible, hopefully before they could organize.  In an effort to avoid combat, Ahzek took two guards and headed to the bridge, to warn Captain Lundgren about the Mechanicum insurrection, and drop out of the warp.  After an hour, around 800 soldiers were armed and ready to go, some with lascannons in case the experimental combat servitor showed up, and the assault began.

Initially, they met little serious resistance; a group of heavy gunners blocked the way at one point, but Solidius snuck around and killed them all before they managed to fire a shot.  Before long, though, their voxes started emitting a high-pitched squeal.  Gizmoticus took some measurements and confirmed that there were a trio of large jammers spread throughout the ship, blocking their comm network.  One was in the Mechanicum quarters, straight ahead, but the other two were in the cargo bay and the reactor.

The "battle" in the Mechanicum quarters was more like a slaughter, as the guardsmen outnumbered the treacherous tech-priests more than ten to one.  However, it soon became clear that the majority of the enemy were not in the quarters, and must have moved to other areas of the ship; in addition, the experimental combat servitor was gone.  Meanwhile, Ahzek had almost made it to the bridge when he heard the sound of lasgun fire coming from up ahead, and rounded a corner to see a pair of tech-priests shooting into the bridge.

GURPS Warhammer 30k: The 231st Session 2: Traitors

Ahzek Toth - Administratum Overseer and Sage
Gizmoticus Gearmus - Tech-Priest of Mars and Leader of Mechanicum Forces
Cmdr. Magnus Valerius - Leader of Ground Forces and Former Arbitrator
Lt. Solidius Anguis - Undercover Vindicaire Temple Assassin

Under Way
The last day of resupply went smoothly, and the 231st loaded up onto their small fleet, with the party on their flagship, the Rogue Sniper.  The fleet jumped into the warp without problems, and the party assembled with the other higher-ups for the traditional post-translation dinner.  Two seats, reserved for the Navigator and brother Al-Rayyed Ad-Hib, were empty, as the former was still busy setting the course, and the latter apparently preferred to keep to himself.

Chef Bronck was clearly still upset over Daniel's disappearance, and it showed in the overdone, bland fare he prepared.  Over the dull droning of his augmetic chain-teeth, Fleet Captain Lundgren made polite conversation with Ahzek, who shortly made a fool of himself by trying to discuss astropathy (which was prescribed knowledge) with the Sniper's Astropath Dave Ismane.  Solidius inquired as to the whereabouts of the space marine, and Lundgren replied that he'd not seen him since they'd came aboard on the shuttle.

Magnus tried to converse with Lundgren, but the captain was too busy shovelling food into his roaring maw.  Eventually, the Navigator showed up, but ate only a tiny portion before retiring to her chambers, clearly exhausted from the warp translation.  Ahzke tried to talk to her, but she ignored him; Magnus yelled at him afterwards for needlessly antagonizing one of the most important and notoriously ill-tempered people on the ship.

GURPS Warhammer 30k: The 231st Session 1: Dissension in the Ranks

Ahzek Toth - Administratum Overseer and Sage
Gizmoticus Gearmus - Tech-Priest of Mars and Leader of Mechanicum Forces
Cmdr. Magnus Valerius - Leader of Ground Forces and Former Arbitrator
Lt. Solidius Anguis - Undercover Vindicaire Temple Assassin

The Story This Far
It is the 31st Millenium.  Everything's pretty cool, and not grim or dark.  The Emperor is a swell guy, and he is leading the Empire of Man across the galaxy to unite humanity in his Great Crusade.  But alas, his glorious son Horus has rebelled, and the traitor is joined by three Astartes Legions: the Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children and World Eaters.  The Emperor has sent seven other legions lead by his sons, the Primarchs, off to Horus' stronghold-world of Istvaan V to end the rebellion.  But this is not their story.

This is the story of the 231st Expeditionary Fleet, also known as the "Two-Thirty-Worst".  To date, they have failed every mission they have been assigned.  On their last mission, most of the Fleet was destroyed, including the entire compliment of Mechanicum except for Gizmoticus.  And yet, they have survived, and limped back to the Imperial homeworld of Terra with their four surviving ships.  The leaders of the 231st, Fleet Captain Lundgren, Magnus, Gizmoticus, and Solidius, have gathered in a briefing room to receive their next assignment from a member of the Imperial Fists legion.

Briefing
Instead of a space marine, a twelve year old boy, in what Magnus recognized as initiate's robes, walked into the room, and introduced himself as Cyrus; clearly a slight against the 231st, who apparently weren't worth the time of a proper Astartes.  In a high-pitched, nasally voice, Cyrus gave them their orders: after four days of repair and resupply on Terra, they were to re-establish contact with Planet 2813, an outpost that had gone dark for six months.  Solidius raised his hand to ask a question, but Cyrus angrily announced that there would be no questions.  A new compliment of Mechanicum, under one Adept Brakkus, would be joining them.

Delta Green: The El Paso Case Session 3: A Small Favour

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

16/08/19 Spectres and Sensitives
Victor called Monique to check in (she was fine), and let her know they were coming by her apartment to run some tests.  Once there, Victor ran the two-hour psychic test, but failed the roll by one, and it came up negative.  He wanted to run it again, to be sure, but Monique was hesitant, though she caved when David asked her to (Very Handsome saves the day!).  The test came up negative again, so the party decided to move on to their next plan: the masking ritual that would hide a psychic from Tintiasay, in case the test had just been wrong.

Victor checked the photos he'd taken from the Monterrero's library, but found that the text in the pictures was now in some weird incomprehensible language!  Luckily, his Eidetic Memory let him recall the ritual; most of the ingredients for the totem were common enough, but they'd need palo santo incense, which might be tricky to find.  Despite the party's best efforts, they couldn't track down any local suppliers, so Victor ordered some online, but it would take 5 days to get delivered.  David decided to double-check Monique's vital signs, which she was more than okay with, and she was perfectly healthy, meaning "Tintin" probably wasn't eating her life force.

The agents decided not to just wait for 5 days, and instead headed to the Providence Children's Hospital morgue to look for a dead child who matched their ghost.  Juan talked their way past the only employee on duty with a flash of his badge, but Victor was unable to find a match in the database.  He edited the photo to look less like a ghost, and then showed the morgue employee, asking if he remembered seeing her.  He remembered that he had seen her around the hospital, but not specifically where.

Delta Green: The El Paso Case Session 2: The Monterrero Organization

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

15/08/19 Desert Rose Hotel, El Paso Texas
After a 20 minute real-time argument between David and Victor over what kind of fast food to get (they ended up getting Subway, but Juan stuck to MREs and jerky after their last mission), the agents headed back to their hotel and discussed what to do with the South American Fear Totem.  Juan wanted to burn it, while Victor wanted to use it as bait for the demon (Juan: "We already have bait, and her name is Monique").

They decided to spend the rest of the day doing more research into the totem, Tintiasay (aka Tintin aka Tzitzi-Ya Ku), and the Monterro Organization.  Juan looked into the Monterros with Criminology and found that their south american smuggling operation was a new and strange thing for the organization, and put two and two together to realize that Angel was going to go state's witness and get them locked up.

Victor got 9 degrees on Occultism while researching "Tintin" and found a wealth of intel:

• It has been around since recorded history started, but disappears for long periods of time
• It appears as formless black smoke (so not a ghostly girl)
• It has never been permanently "killed"
• It came to its victims at night and took their life force, killing them in days
• Somebody always curses the victim
• There were no mentions of any totems (???)
• Once cursed, nobody has ever escaped it (though one British man made it back to England and may have survived)
• There is a ritual that may be able to get rid of it, but it has never worked.

Delta Green: The El Paso Case Session 1: A Late Night Chat

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

14/08/19 Late Night Chat
In the early hours of the morning, Victor's phone rang somewhere in his mom's basement.  Fortunately, he was awake.  Unfortunately, he was mid-raid in World of Warcraft.  Upon seeing the caller ID light up as Monique Hawkins, a doctor from El Paso he'd met on another Delta Green op, and known friendly of the "program", he muted his in-game mic and answered the phone.  For a moment there was only heavy breathing, then a woman's frantic voice starting ranting about a girl dressed in flowing white, followed by sobbing.

Victor was stunned, and Monique continued; the girl was around whenever she closed her eyes and haunted her dreams.  Victor tried to reassure her, but Monique cut him off, hissing "I think she's listening!", followed by a crack, a thud, and then the line went dead.  Victor apologized to his guild and logged off, then took a look at Monique's social media to see if she'd been going crazy for a long time.  It all looked normal, but she hadn't posted anything in the last several days.

He picked his phone up again and informed the rest of the team that they had a job to do, and bought a ticket for a flight to El Paso, first thing tomorrow.  Err, today.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 30: Bribery and Bureaucracy

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Masha "Speed of Light" Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)

NPCs:
Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)
Jenny - Human Cook (62 points)

Player Absent (In the Nega-Zone (Mostly)):
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

Melos 2nd 2546, Sunset: Hot Springs City Ruins, The Ruined Bathhouse
The party headed back out through the change rooms; Masha gave Mahk the magic lantern, as Archer was loathe to give up hers, and regrouped in the overgrown gardens at the entrance to the bathhouse.  They decided to retrace their steps and leave the city the way they had come in.  As they crossed the plaza to the grand staircase, the spires of the lower terraces glittering in the sunset, Archer heard a commotion in the park to the west, which closer investigation revealed to be about ten adventurers arguing.

The party took cover behind a fountain while Archer snuck up to eavesdrop without being noticed.  It turned out that a pair of wounded adventurers were being robbed by the far larger group, and were begging to be allowed to keep a gold statue, so that they could make it off the islands.  Archer returned to the party to bring them up to speed, and despite her suggestion of leaving the others alone, Masha ran over to intervene, eager to help.

Sadly, Masha's attempts at peacefully resolving the situation failed, so she gave up in the face of superior numbers and walked away.  As the party walked down the grand staircase, they heard the sounds of combat breaking out followed shortly by screams of pain.  The party continued back to the lower terraces, but came to a stop when they realized that they might not be able to navigate the warren of alleys without Puddin'.  Instead, they took a side-street that ran to the edge of the city; Archer spotted a patch of rainbow mould in an adjoining street, and they were careful to give it a wide berth.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 29: Time Is Running Out

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (299 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

NPCs:
Jenny - Human Cook (62 points)

Melos 2nd 2546, Dawn: Hot Springs City Ruins, The Ruined Bathhouse
After the surviving green and black lizardmen did not return, Archer suggested that the party should use lizardman entrails to leave a message for Argua, Masha, and Puddin' and then leave the city, but they decided to stay until the others made it out of the "shadow realm".  Frustrated at having to stay in the bathhouse, Archer went and stabbed the lizardmen in the eyes to "make sure", and then looted their bodies; each had a pouch made of human ski holding several each of silver coins and clear crystal beads.

Vaelcor rested for long enough to heal Jahn, then used First Aid to heal the single point of injury he'd taken.  With their lamp oil running low, Archer decided that they should get firewood from the garden, and she and Quintin headed out with one of the lizardmen's axes.  At the gendered entrances, they had to split up, and in the women's, Archer found that a pair of the large vines they'd encountered in the main chamber had emerged from drains.  She fired an arrow at one, and it retreated, but as she tried to sneak past, the second tried to grab her.

Archer dodged and retreated, and the vine likewise retracted down into the drain.  Archer snuck past, and on the other side, Quintin asked what had taken her so long.  The two got to work cutting down a small tree, though they couldn't carry much back, as they both had one hand already holding a torch.  Once they were back with the rest of the party, Archer started a campfire, and another uneventful trip with Mahk left them with enough firewood for another day.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 28: A Needle in a Sexy Haystack

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (299 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

NPCs:
Jenny - Human Cook (62 points)

The Resplendent Bathhouse
Argua, Masha, and Puddin' started searching for the artwork of themselves that would get them out of this alternate dimension; Puddin' went alone to the second floor, but Argua and Masha stayed together on the ground floor in case of patrolling monsters.  Puddin' took closer looks at the theatre where she'd noticed Quintin's fresco, but though there were dozens, if not hundreds of paintings, frescoes, and sculptures, all were of nude elves.  Argua and Masha's exploration of the ground floor found a chamber where elves lined up to go up a backwards waterslide and into the ceiling, but again, none of the art pieces they were looking for. 

Due to the poor timing of their entering this dimension, the party was now forced to forgo sleep, and exhaustion started to take its toll (-1FP per 2 hours).  Still, the search continued on through several resets of the "time loop"; the various areas they searched slowly emptied out as elves went to the concert stage, then they faintly heard the beautiful singing of the in the distance, followed after a time by the screams of the slaughter of the elves.  Argua and Masha combed through a spa complex and sauna, while Puddin' checked through what looked to be a set of hotel suites and a gambling hall, but their goal eluded them.  All the while, they slowly but surely continued to fade away.

Melos 1st 2546, Night: Hot Springs City Ruins, The Ruined Bathhouse
On Quintin's watch, he heard a splashing noise in the water, and though he didn't move closer to investigate, he could faintly see ripples on the surface of the pool 4m away.  A short while later, he heard a clanking off to the left, as though something metal had been knocked off a table.  While Quintin peered off into the darkness past the edge of their feeble lamplight, a decorative gong that Archer had rigged as a noisemaker sounded from behind him, waking everyone but Jenny, and alerting them to its source.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 27: Bathhouse Time Machine

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (299 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

NPCs:
Jenny - Human Cook (62 points)

Melos 1st 2546, Sunset: Hot Spring City Ruins, The Highest Terrace
Quintin tried to see if the park with the spiders and their webs was under some sort of enchantment, but it didn't look magical to him (a theme which would continue).  Trying to make the most of the remaining time before night truly fell, the party headed towards the colossal sparkling building with the shining dome at the very top of the city.

The 30' front arch opened to an overgrown garden courtyard of flowering tropical plants in a variety of shapes and colours, but the party stopped their advance when Puddin's Danger Sense activated.  Vaelcor went in to take a look at the plants, but only found out that the dark blue sunflowers were dangerous when one of them opened slightly and emitted a wave of maple-flavoured pollen which instantly knocked him out.

Puddin' held her breath, ran into the garden, and tied a rope around Vaelcor so that Argua could drag him out.  Vaelcor was slapped awake, and tried to cast Identify Plant but crit failed, and just before he finished casting it, his hands burst into flame for a single point of injury.  The party looked for alternate entrances on the front, and Puddin' spotted some balconies 30' up.  Argua declared this to be a waste of time and ran in, cut the plant down, spreading its pollen everywhere, then went and killed a second one as well.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 26: The Ruins of Hot Springs City

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (299 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)

NPCs:
Jenny - Human Cook (62 points)

Player Absent (In the Nega-Zone (Mostly)):
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

Melos 1st 2546, Dawn: The Rusted Hydra, Hot Springs Island
The party woke in the shadow of the rusted iron hydra statue, having been undisturbed overnight.  They decided to explore new ground on the way to the ruins, and began their trek towards the mountain to their west.  Argua used Weather Sense and realized there wasn't a cloud in the sky; it was going to get very hot, very fast.

Morning: The Old Volcano
As they neared the "mountain", the party realized that it was actually a dormant volcano, going by the jagged rim of the caldera that looked like a broken tooth.  Archer decided that she wanted to try to look for more strange tracks which might lead them to the rod segment, and so the party traipsed around the volcano for the next several hours.

Afternoon
After 4 hours, Archer had found several sets of humanoid tracks, a pair of larger humanoid tracks (ogres, probably), and many, many animal tracks.  All of the non-animal tracks seemed to lead towards the ruined city to the southwest, so the party continued towards it as some animals made qwop qwop qwop sounds in the distance (Argua: "This island goes by Pokemon rules, so they must be Qwopbirds").

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 25: More Gold Than Anyone Can Carry

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (299 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)

NPCs:
Jenny - Human Cook (62 points)

Player Absent (In the Nega-Zone (Mostly)):
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

Avandry 46th 2546, Night: Hot Springs Island, Kujibird "Island"
On Archer's watch, the sound of combat broke out nearby, and when she investigated, she saw a group of 20 fire imps strafing a patrol of a dozen ogres with fireballs a half-dozen meters past the lava river.  The ogres were throwing what weapons they had at the imps, but were clearly incapable of dealing with the airborne threat.  She returned to the camp and woke up the rest of the party, who decided to assist the ogres.

They readied the crossbows they had taken from the bodies in the jerky fields first, but by the time they got back to the fight, the ogres were starting to retreat, yelling at the imps in a strange language, which was neither the Common tongue nor Giant.  While sneaking into a concealed firing position, Masha crit-failed Stealth and knocked a small tree into the lava river, giving their position away.  Archer fired an arrow at one of the imps and hit, but it passed through its fiery body inflicting only minimal damage ("Riiiiight" "Full retreat!").

The party retreated back to the camp, which Argua had Camouflaged when setting it up, and heard another ogre shout after they'd turned their backs.  They waited, weapons ready, for the imps to show up, but none did.  After twenty minutes at high alert, the party went back to sleep.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 24: Got Your Nose!

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (299 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

NPCs:
Jenny - Human Cook (62 points)

Avandry 43rd 2546, Swordfish Bay, Rand's Retreat
The party took a well-deserved day off to relax (and, from a meta perspective, to spend points).

Avandry 44th 2546, Swordfish Bay, Rand's Retreat
Now that Vaelcor had learned Permanent Shapeshifting (Golden Kujibird), the party concocted a scheme to bamboozle Old Will.  Vaelcor, in bird form, would be given to Old Will in exchange for the intel on the rod segment.  Once they knew where it was, Vaelcor would turn back into a human.  They'd also make sure to set up the meet in a secluded spot, so they could kill Old Will if worst came to worst.

Puddin' and Masha tracked down Old Will at Rand's Place, and made the offer, but the plan immediately encountered a hitch: Will was unwilling to go to a dark alley to make the deal, and told her that the meet would happen in his room, north wall, second floor, instead.  Puddin' objected, pointing out that parading a solid gold bird past a bunch of greedy adventurers wouldn't go well, but Will just gave her a sack to muffle it and told her that the tavern was loud enough that noone would notice, and they returned to the party.

After some debate, Argua stuffed Kuji-Vaelcor in the sack, and the party (minus Jahn, who was left outdoors) headed to the meet; unbeknownst to them, the sack had Delayed Sleep and Numb spells on it, and Vaelcor was knocked out, oblivious to the world.  Puddin' knocked on the door, Will opened it a crack, Puddin' held up a feather as proof, and he invited them in.  The windows were shuttered, though the ramshackle walls didn't filter out the light or noise from outside.  Puddin' took a look around and noticed that there was a fancy armoire which seemed rather out of place in one corner, but nothing suspicious.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 23: Across Hot Springs Island

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (299 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (76 points)
Quintin Nenno - Dragonborn Swordmage (250 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

Avandry 39th 2546, Swordfish Bay, Rand's Retreat
Quintin met the party while drinking in Rand's Place, and was brought on to the team thanks to his experience in the ruins, where he'd lost a team to shadows, and his martial and magical abilities.  He told them that the next ship to Hot Springs Island was leaving tomorrow at dawn, and would be landing on the western shore.  They made plans to head to the center of the island, where Vaelcor would be able to cast Beast Summoning with the least penalties and find the golden kujibirds (if they existed).

Avandry 40th 2546, Dawn: Swordfish Bay
The party stocked up on enough rations for a week and a canteen with some holes in it (to hold a poison dart frog, if they could find one) and headed out to the shore, where the Siren's Folly was waiting to ferry adventurers over to Hot Springs Island.  A group of adventurers bypassed the boat entirely with a Fly spell, which gave the party some ideas.  The tent city had emptied out, as dozens of foolhardy treasure-seekers without groups lined up and tried to get somebody else to take them along, but the party decided they didn't need anybody.

Morning: Southwest Coast, Hot Springs Island
After disembarking on a black sand beach, and checking which ways other adventurers went (Argua's "boyfriend" seemed to be going towards the ruins), the party started their way into the jungle and towards the central volcano, with Argua Navigating.  Several hours later, the party arrived at a lake at the base of a colossal waterfall, over 1km tall.  While they circled it, gouts of steam intermittently burst out from the cliff behind the falls.  Argua was interested in investigating it further, but they ignored it instead.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 22: Journey to the Swordfish Islands

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (272 points)
Argua - Half-Orc Barbarian (271 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (299 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (72 points)
Uncle Ruckus - Human Wizard (250 points)

NPCs:
AA Ron Rogers - Human Agent (??? points)

Avandry 1st-19th 2546, Isserno
The party placed some orders for gear and hung out in and around town; Archer was forced to hire a henchman because shopkeepers kept kicking her out, and got extremely ripped off when AA Ron Rogers, Agent extraordinaire, rolled negative on his Loyalty.  Masha got a Cloak of Blur from the displacer beast pelts she brought back, and picked up the Amulet of Haste that she'd commissioned about a month ago.

Argua headed back to the now rebuilt Shadowmantle Manor to find that a small village had sprung up.  Having no ties to the Shadowmantle name, she renamed it Ashina, and paid more money to expand the village and erect a small keep to guard the lands.  Cost of living is $0 in a domain that PC controls, so Argua stayed around Ashina and made sure that new heraldry was made up: a great axe on a field of ... leopard print.

Puddin' went back to Brunnhilda Bronzespire to find out more specifics about the contracts they'd have to make to get to the Swordfish Islands.  A week later, she was told that they'd be indebted to the Martel Company for $10k each, and would have to pay it off before being brought back to the mainland.  Apparently, several people had made it back with vast riches, but it wasn't clear if they were genuine or just Martel plants.

GURPS Galactic Merchants Session 2: The Best Laid Plans

Characters:
Agent 57 - Sol Federation Assassin
Neo Anderson - Chronically Depressed Tech Specialist
Capt. Richard "Dick" Falcon - Alcoholic Pilot/Ex-Cop
Bob Glob - Merchant Prince/Face Man

Nidalvar, Quann - 3 Days Until Party
Dick and Neo evaluated the defenses and sensors of the Quann Customs and Orbital Services HQ, but headed back to the Patrick when Neo remembered that his Honesty would prevent him from bugging the building or hacking their computers and Dick realized that neither of them had any applicable social skills.  Neo decided to spend the next two days working on an electronic skeleton keycard for Alack Robenn's hovermansion, and thanks to a crit on Electronics Repair (Security), it would work perfectly.  Dick did some Research and found that Quasar Shuttle Services was the company that would be ferrying guests to Robenn's party.

Quann Customs and Orbital Services HQ - 2 Days Until Party
While Neo continued his work, Agent 57 headed out to Quann C&OS HQ disguised as a pest exterminator and used Acting to bluff his way in ("I'll need to check every room, including the evidence room." "Uhhhh okay I guess").  After putting on a decent show, he found an empty office, and went through the police databases on Robenn, which revealed more info about the vanishing shipment:

• The shipment was seized when Ren Kolat, a known smuggler with suspected ties to the Pirate Princess Reena Neeb of the Mentak Coalition, was arrested.
• Ren Kolat was still in the holding cells in the basement, and had a long list of prior convictions like smuggling, petty theft, and grand theft spaceship.
• The shipment consisted of two packages: one addressed to K'Sani Murch care of Alack Robenn, the other to Moh Intergalactic Trading Company.
• C&OS officers were unable to contact Moh Intergalactic.

Agent 57 somehow talked his way into the holding cell area, but with an officer escorting him.  He walked through the halls, "checking for space roaches", passing by force-shielded cells until he found Ren Kolat, a red humanoid with floppy tentacles on top of his head, at which point he started looking for "any crates or cabinets where [he] could hide a body".  He found a janitorial cabinet full of cleaning supplies and, after failing to swipe the officer's taser, somehow tricked his escort into being sprayed in the face with space-Windex with default Fast-Talk, and, after getting the officer to the bathroom to wash out his eyes, went back to talk with Kolat.

GURPS Galactic Merchants Session 1: You're Invited!

Characters:
Agent 57 - Sol Federation Assassin
Neo Anderson - Chronically Depressed Tech Specialist
Capt. Richard "Dick" Falcon - Alcoholic Pilot/Ex-Cop
Bob Glob - Merchant Prince/Face Man

Glob Family Villa, Centauri
The party (minus Agent 57, who had not yet joined them) were gathered at the Glob family space-villa, relaxing amongst the various marble statues of Bob, when a Sol Federation shuttle landed nearby and a functionary trailed by a pair of armed guards walked out to meet them.  Facing the slow collapse of his family's wealth, Bob had agreed to work for the SolFed in exchange for them repairing his ship's hyperdrive, a technological art now lost to all but a few.  The bureaucrat invited Bob and the party to a meeting with Captain Carl Anders aboard the Second Horizon space station, which he accepted.

Centauri Orbit - An Offer You Can't Refuse
Shortly after leaving atmosphere, the sun disappeared behind the looming shadow of the Sol dreadnought SFS Genghis Khan, a constant reminder that, though Centauri had rejoined the Federation peacefully, they hadn't really had much of a choice.  As they neared the Second Horizon station, which was now under SolFed control as a dual-purpose spacedock and administrative hub, they could just make out the distinctive hot pink paint job of the Glob family's Gambit-Class armoured freighter, the SS Patrick.

After docking with the station, they were lead to a large office with a breathtaking view of the planet below, and asked to take a seat by Carl Anders, alongside a silent, bald man of indeterminate age dressed in a crisp suit and holding a briefcase.  Anders launched into the details of the mission they'd be undertaking as part of the Civilian Retrofit Program: they were to negotiate for and acquire 170 tons of hoverbikes from Winslett-Bentzen Industrial Technologies on Gral, a Mars-like planet in the Centauri system, and deliver them to the SolFed embassy on Quann, a system close to the Beta Wormhole, for 16.7 million credits.  In addition, they would carry an encrypted datacore with messages for SolFed civilians in the embassy.  Their contact on Quann would be Lieutenant Diane Morry, a member of the Logistics Service.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 21: Against All Odds

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (260 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (278 points)
"The" Lukas Zombanyi - Human Cleric of Bahamut, god of justice and protection (263 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (292 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (72 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

NPCs:
Odo - Human Wizard, definitely not a necromancer (??? points)
Thrunvir - Dwarf Initiate, Crippled (??? points)

Amothius 46th 2546, Farmland Outside Isserno
Archer loosed an arrow into the eyeslits of the deformed warrior who had charged her, and he exploded into a cloud of acid.  She managed to drop and dodge just in time, and shouted out a warning to the others.  The armoured man launched a flurry of blows at Elana, the second as a Beat which put her at -11 to Parry, but she dodged the third, as well another trio of All-Out Attacks from deformed warriors in the Pollen Cloud.  Another charged at Lukas with his maul, but he blocked it, and the wolf-spider missed a bite on Jahn.

Fresh from the nega-zone, Masha appeared on the enemies' flank, along with another deformed warrior, and took a halberd to the torso.  She dropped her displacer beast pelts and kicked him again, but bounced off of his armour.  Puddin' managed to Disappear, while Elana stabbed a warrior in the eye, killing him and causing another acid explosion; she dodged back and out of the way, but some of his friends standing too close started smoking slightly.

Jahn bashed the spider demon twice, while Vaelcor All-Out Defended, and a Defensive Attack from Lukas was dodged.  While everyone else was distracted, Odo, having cast Flight, seized the opportunity and silently flew away from the battle.  The big bad continued pressing Elana and made three Rapid Strikes with his greatsword; she parried the first, but the second and third were both crits.  The third attack came up 3x damage on the crit table, and she was hit for 69 damage and instantly killed, cut cleanly in half at the waist.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 20: The Long Way Home

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (260 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (278 points)
"The" Lukas Zombanyi - Human Cleric of Bahamut, god of justice and protection (263 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (292 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (72 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

NPCs:
Odo - Human Wizard, definitely not a necromancer (??? points)
Thrunvir - Dwarf Initiate, Crippled (??? points)

Player Absent:
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (265 points)

Amothius 40th 2546, Dirhin Mountains
Vaelcor, somewhat out of ideas, threw a 2d bolt of Lightning at one of the storm archon casters, and hit, but it was fully resisted.  Jahn tried to jump on one of the floating motes of earth surrounding the peak but crit failed and clotheslined herself instead.  The living storm elemental knocked Masha harmlessly off of her mote, and Archer crit an arrow at one of the archons, but their Homogenous nature meant it had little effect.

Seeing that they were losing, the archons both flew away, followed shortly by the elemental, which flew straight up.  Archer fired off a parting shot but a failure on Fast-Draw meant she didn't get a second.  The floating bits of stone fell down, and the storm quickly dissipated.  The party scooped up some of the dead archons' dust (a valuable reagent) into empty bottles, and Lukas grabbed the leader's longsword, but they left the rest of the weapons and armour, as nobody had room.

Amothius 41st-42nd 2546, Swamp
Using Pathfinder to navigate, the party made decent time, but lamented their lack of gryphons.  Over the day, the swamp air grew oppressively thick and warm, leaving everyone exhausted.  While resting on some dry ground, they debated setting camp early; Lukas asked his god for guidance, and interpreted the silence to mean "Press on".  Archer said "I'm staying here" and lay down before falling asleep, followed by Odo.  None of them could be woken up, so magic was probably involved.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 19: He's an Acne Cream Entrepreneur

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (260 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (278 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 (292 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (72 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

Amothius 38th 2546, Kral Aklaz (Cont.)
The party looked around for a place to rest, and some scouting found a room with curtains hung around inside, blocking the Tapestry of Glasswall, another which was lit and probably occupied, and a third which smelled horrific.  They ultimately decided to just rest half in the room with the battering ram and half in the hallway, and were uninterrupted.  Lukas drank another two minor health potions, and they headed back to the "curtain room", which Masha was sent in to scout.  On the other side of the curtains, she found Odo and 5 skeletons.

Odo and Masha had a conversation about whether they'd defeated the ghost and what they were doing, at which point Lukas rushed in and told him to cease his foul necromancy.  Odo claimed that he was just a wizard, but the five skeletons ("I'm just holding them for a friend!") gave him away.  Lukas said that he was under arrest, and Odo came peacefully and "dismissed" his skeletons, though the party agreed to bring his smoking cauldron of "water and some other stuff" instead of emptying it.

The party and their new prisoner headed over to the farm to check out the throne room, and Puddin' scouted to find that Sturri was having some sort of conversation with the giant chief, and that the rest of the giants seemed upset.  Before leaving, they decided to try stealing the chieftain's necklace with the rod segment and gave Puddin' an Invisibility Potion from the Phial of the Mad Alchemist followed by the Flight Potion.  Invisible, she flew into the throne room just as Sturri was leaving, and "Pickpocketed" the giant chieftan's necklace with the rod segment right off of him without anybody noticing.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 18: Dude, Where's My Necromancer?

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (260 points)
Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (278 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 (292 points)
        Mahk Strawngmussle - Human Labourer (72 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (280 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (209 points)

Amothius 38th 2546, Outside Kral Aklaz
When the party woke in the morning, a warm breeze caressed everyone who had been in Kral Aklaz the day before, and they realized they were Blessed; Vaelcor figured this was a reward for helping the winged white stag.  Lukas asked if he could have the fancy magical broadsword the party had found in the vault, but they decided that he was fine with just his light club for now.  The party decided against using the Phial of the Mad Alchemist to try to Regenerate Argua's leg in case they needed it, and headed around the valley to the Observatory entrance, where Mahk lowered them down with the rope.

Masha's Bless saved her from falling, but Mahk lost his grip while climbing down and slammed into the stone floor.  Lukas cast Lend Energy to restore the FP Mahk had lost lowering everybody down, and they looped around to the ruined floor down.  The hallways to the north no longer had vines, and the doors looked different, but the party decided to ignore it, lowered everyone down, and got to the church.  Just as Mahk took down the massive (50lbs) silver symbol of Moradin, Sturri, the shirtless and probably possessed sad dwarf, walked into the room.

Sturri asked the party to leave the symbol for half an hour, so that he could pray, and they did so.  He prayed in silence, and then left without saying a word.  With the symbol in Mahk's pack, the party (mostly Lukas and Elana) decided to go hunt down Odo the necromancer.  They doubled back upstairs at the ruined floor, then looped down to the southern staircase, stopping for a bit when they saw light and heard heavy footsteps in the ruined tavern.  Lukas lectured Masha on the evils of necromancy, and they continued once the light moved on.

GURPS DF Free Cities Season 2 Session 17: Halflings in the Mist

Archer Arrowsmith - Human Scout (260 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)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (271 points)
        Jahn the Bear - Bear (201 points)

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

Player Absesnt (In The Nega-Zone):
"The" Lukas Zombanyi - Human Cleric of Bahamut, god of justice and protection (260 points)

Amothius 37th 2546, Kral Aklaz, Lower Floor (Cont.)
The party arrived at the bottom of the stairs, and walked into a left-right hallway.  Nobody had any more paper, so they decided not to map until they found "known" territory, and used the "follow the right-hand wall" strategy; they passed a hole in the rock large enough for a bear, then came to a wooden door, which had no locked.  Because this door was clearly not the vault, they continued on, looping back to take the left hallway.

It forked again, and they held on to the right wall, where they shortly found a group of five dwarf skeletons, three with axes, two with crossbows, waiting at another tee intersection, passed an unlocked wooden door.  Elana declared that the skeletons would meet their end, and the skeletons seemed to agree, as they charged the party while the two with crossbows opened fire.  The first crit Puddin' and got her in the plate-armoured leg, causing her to drop her katar, while the second missed but somehow managed to crit Elana in the second rank (the random roll for location was also a crit, resulting in a hit to the skull).

Elana, clearly dazed from the bolt sticking out of her helmet, crit-failed her Hidden Lore (Undead) roll, and shouted out that skeletons are vulnerable to attacks that go right through their ribs.  Archer opened fire and crit, which resulted in a perfect shot to the "vitals"... which went right on through, harmlessly (and missed the other two behind it as well).  Archer glared at Elana, who responded "Oh, no, wait, that was people".  Masha moved up, while Elana Waited to Tip-Slash.  Vaelcor crit-failed an Animal Handling roll to get Jahn to attack so he just lay down.