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.