*** Session 11 - Scene 4 (of ***

Once he's onboard, Tickles is told he'll be a general helper around the ship, including working as a spare gunner. Tickles has no idea how the magical weapons on the ship work but Wreck gives him a crash course (telling him to simply point and move his finger) and says he'll do fine.

He also meets the rest of the crew – Sgt. Barrett, the catyr missile officer (a red-skinned humanoid), Cpl. Retann, a noro pyschic navigator (she has black eyes, is very slender, with six fingers on each hand and a spiked head), and Pvt. Fisker, a silhouette gunner (a jet-black humanoid).

Fisker and Tickles sit in the laser turrets. Tickles asks Fisker for any pointers, but the man gives him basically the same basic advice Deckard did. Tickles sarcastically remarks what a real friendly bunch they are.

The thief uses the autodoc to heal his injuries. He also uses a different device to repair his armor. While he does so, Retann asks Deckard if they want to take the more direct route through imperial space or if they want to skirt around the edges in the Emeric asteroid cluster. Deckard opts for the more direct route, feeling time is of the essence.

The trip starts off uneventfully as Tickles is amazed at the way the vehicle they are on flies through the darkness of the heavens.

On the bridge, a red light flashes on the control panel and Retann informs Captain Deckard that a Transgalactic Empire fighter on patrol has detected them and has adjusted its course to intercept. The computer brings up the holographic schematics of the enemy ship – a Kreeghor Flying Fang fighter.

Deckard knows the flying fang fighter has enough firepower to take out a frigate, much less their converted light freighter. He tells Schlomo to take evasive action and calls for everyone to move to battle stations.

The Cartesian Doubt has three laser turrets and two missile tubes capable of firing volleys of up to eight missiles each. Wreck has the gunners ready their cannons towards the aft – he wants Schlomo to take their ship a few parsecs past the fighter and have Barrett fire a volley of missiles.

Wreck remarks he wishes he still had Jean Danielou with him; he didn't like the old man but felt better having him around. Schlomo wistfully recalls the tasty blindeebuff burgers from the business the old man started with businessman Marcel Dupres.

Unfortunately, Schlomo's distraction leads to a delay in him maneuvering the ship and the fighter is coming in fast. He barely gets the engine running in time.

As the ship maneuvers past the fighter, Tickles and Fisker fire with the laser cannons but the fighter evades both shots. Wreck tells Barrett to fire the missiles with the maximum yield.

The fighter blasts away at the first volley but is hit by the second. It explodes in a spectacular blast. Wreck calls out a "woo-hoo" and Tickles tells him good job.

*** Session 11 - Scene 5 (of ***

After the brief battle, the Cartesian Doubt quickly makes its way to the Belasco system. It doesn't take long for Retann to detect the power signature of the Dark Star.

Unfortunately, it appears to be under attack by a star slayer demon. The large creature appears to be trying to eat it.

Wreck tries to think of what to do. Without any robots on board, he knows he'll need to sacrifice one of the crew in the ship's lifeboat shuttle. He calls for Tickles to report to the bridge.

When Tickles arrives, Wreck tells him he has a key mission for him and the cat. Tickles says he has the wrong guy for a key mission, but Wreck says he was impressed by the way Tickles handled himself in the battle and he's a key player on the team.

Wreck explains he'll need to put Tickles on the lifeboat shuttle and send him out towards the star slayer demon. He wants to use the lifeboat to distract the demon long enough for them to steal the ship.

Tickles isn't sure why the demon would be distracted by the shuttle. Wreck says the demon will know that the only reason they'd send out the shuttle is if they had a master plan for it. Tickles notes they don't have a master plan, but Wreck is unconcerned as the demon won't know that.

Wreck tells Tickles all he needs to do is pilot the lifeboat near the star slayer demon. Once they get control of the Dark Star, Wreck assures him they'll "beam him" back aboard.

Tickles isn't so sure about the plan. He asks if they have that kind of magical power on the ship, and Wreck assures him they do (though he knows they don't).

Suspicious, Tickles doesn't believe Wreck's story. He's fairly sure the man is lying to him and trying to get rid of him. He calls him out on it. Wreck asks if he would lie to him. Tickles says he's pretty sure he just did.

Wreck says he's offended and heads back over to the comm, calling Fisker up to the bridge and sends Tickles back to his turret.

When Fisker comes up, Wreck gives him the same explanation he told Tickles. He tells him he doesn't really need to do much, just "fly with confidence".

Fisker knows there is no transporter capability on the ship and tells Wreck as much. Wreck insists they installed one "last month" that is a "model mark-VII" with extra distance capabilities.

The gunner asks if they can come up with a better plan since he's not sure the device really exists. Wreck gives an alternate backup plan, saying he'll use a crossing path to confuse the creature and allow Fisker to redock with the ship if the transporter doesn't work for some reason, though he's confident that it will.

Wreck eventually tempts Fisker with an offer of some bonus credits for helping the mission. Fisker isn't sure Wreck will really give him much of an option, so agrees.

Fisker pilots the shuttle out towards the creature, but his coarse doesn't appear very confident. It does attract the demon's attention who goes after him.

While the creature moves after the shuttle, Wreck has Schlomo take the Cartesian Doubt in to get closer to the Dark Star. Once they do, Wreck calls Tickles back up to the bridge for a new key mission assignment.

This time, he wants Tickles to get into a space suit with Shoes. He plans to tether Tickles to the ship and have him space walk over to the Dark Star and use a "laser torch" to cut a hole in the ship's hull so he can enter and take the ship.

Tickles isn't so sure about the plan. Even after Wreck explains what the laser torch is and how it works, he's incredulous at the idea he can take control of the entire enemy ship himself. He asks the captain if he's ever actually led a mission before.

Wreck scoffs at Tickles' reluctance, thinking of how his old friend Flash could have easily taken control of the ship even with the five men aboard. Heck, he figures even Jean Danielou could have done it.

To help the coyle out, he gives him a "thermal detonator". He explains his plan to Tickles (that he saw in an old holo-movie once) about how he can press the button (warning him not to release it) to intimidate the other crew into giving him control of the ship so they can steal the thermostellar bomb.

The two argue about it for some time but Tickles ultimately agrees to the mission. He isn't thrilled with carrying a bomb onto a ship with an even bigger bomb; he tells the captain it is a shit plan. Wreck insists it is an excellent plan, and notes there are no two people he'd rather have on the enemy ship than Tickles and his cat.

Wreck tells Tickles the key is to have them fire all missiles at the star slayer demon. Once they kill it, they'll transfer the bomb to their ship and get out of there, after they beam over Fisker of course.

*** Session 11 - Scene 6 (of ***

Some distance away, the star slayer demon swallows the shuttle in its gaping maw. Fisker is slowly digested over the next five minutes, living out the remainder of his life in agonizing pain. He tries to contact the Cartesian Doubt, but isn't able to get out much more than some screams. Wreck quickly has the comms shut off, saying they must have lost the signal.

Tickles agrees to take the mission, not only does he not really have a choice but Wreck offers him Fisker's bonus. He puts on the space suit (with Shoes wrapped around his neck) as Schlomo carefully pulls the freighter up next to the other ship.

Wreck directs Tickles into the airlock – a separate room of some kind. When the outer door opens, Tickles is sucked out with all the air, attempting to maneuver himself in the zero gravity.

Tickles attempts to get over to the other ship but mostly flails around. Shoes doesn't seem to like this very much and begins digging his claws into the coyle's neck.

Wreck, seeing Tickles is in trouble, tries messaging over some encouraging words for the man. Tickles tells him to go fuck himself.

Since the encouragement angle isn't working, Wreck suggests Tickles use his emergency thrusters to maneuver himself over to the other ship. Tickles is upset the captain didn't tell him about that ahead of time, but Wreck insists he thought Tickles would figure that out for himself.

Wreck walks Tickles through activating the thrusters. Unfortunately, he finds himself thrown into the side of the other ship. His helmet cracks a bit, making him nervous.

Tickles talks to the captain over the comm, asking him where to cut the hole. He points out it is another key piece of information the captain forgot to tell him. Wreck directs him over to a spot that should be safe.

After he reaches the spot (which Wreck assures him will contain no people), he begins cutting into the side of the ship with the torch. Wreck tries sending some more inspiring thoughts over the comm, but Tickles tells him to be quiet so he can concentrate.

Once the cut is made, air starts rushing out. Tickles is hit by the section of the hull he cut out, causing his helmet to shatter. He flips end over end into space. Luckily, Shoes positions himself in front of Tickles' face to protect him.

Back in the Cartesian Doubt, Wreck sees the emergency depressurization alarm go off for Tickles' suit. He tells Schlomo to use the ship's thrusters to slam into the coyle's body to send him into the hole on the side of the Dark Star.

Schlomo moves the ship quickly, smacking into Tickles. The coyle's body is bruised by the force of the blow and it sends him flying back towards the other ship (which further injures him).

Feeling his way around, Tickles manages to crawl his way into the Dark Star just as its emergency seal patch is being applied. Shoes moves so he can breathe again as Wreck sends more messages of encouraging thoughts across the comm.

*** Session 11 - Scene 7 (of ***

As Tickles makes his way into the next room, he sees a cot along the wall with a man sitting in the bed. The man is dressed in undergarments and has a large, bushy beard. He appears to be holding some kind of thin book made of shiny paper.

The man asks Tickles who he is. Tickles gives his name, and asks the man if he'd like to help a traveler out on his luck. The man comes over to talk to Tickles, giving his name as Cpl. Boiler. Tickles sucker punches him with a swift strike of his hercules club and Boiler crashes to the floor.

Tickles searches the man but doesn't find anything. The book he was looking at appears to be full of pictures of naked human females. He puts it back in disgust.

To dispose of the body, Tickles cuts a small hole and shoves the body out. From the other ship, Wreck can see the body fly out as Tickles tells him over the comm that one is for him. Wreck calls Tickles a murderous bastard and tells him he loves him, then commands him to take the ship.

Other than a stack of those books of naked human female pictures that are now strewn across the room, Tickles finds little else in this room. He moves over to the other door in the room to listen, and hears a swooshing sound as the door automatically goes up into the ceiling.

The door opens to a dark hall. With his darkvision, Tickles catches a glimpse of some sort of spherical object moving across the hall in a side passageway that intersects the main hallway up ahead.

He creeps up to the intersection to get a better look. Suddenly, a ball-shaped creature with feet jumps at him as it makes a high-pitched squeaking sound.

Tickles manages to get out of the way in time to avoid being hit by the strange creature. He maneuvers his way around the corner and readies his hercules club.

Bouncing around, the ball-like creature comes straight at Tickles again. He tries to move out of the way but is still hit. He swings back it but misses.

When the ball comes in for another attack, the thief moves out of the way then hits the creature with a glancing blow. It lets out a shriek then bounces away down the other hallway.

Tickles lets the creature go and makes his way to the end of the hall. He makes sure not to get too close and uses his keen hearing. In the room beyond, he hears what sounds like two men arguing over being out of something called "toilet paper". He decides to go in the other direction.

When Tickles reaches the end of the other corridor, he hears a lot of equipment behind it. When he moves to make the door open, he finds himself at the bridge.

The man turns to say something about "Pinback, it's about time you got back..." when he notices Tickles. Tickles asks if he is the captain. The man gives his name as Lt. Doolittle, saying the captain is "indisposed". He asks who Tickles is.

Tickles tries saying he is a surprise inspector and asks to see Doolittle's identification as he walks towards him. Doolittle isn't buying it, but before he can react Tickles smashes him in the head with his club.

He falls over, smacking into one of the control panels. As Tickles ties the man up, one of the panels on the bridge starts flashing red.

Tickles tries pressing some buttons at random, causing one of the lights to turn green. A female voice calls out "Bomb... activated..."

Over the comm, Tickles tells Wreck the bomb has been activated, just as Wreck is receiving the same information from Barrett's sensor scans.

Wreck tells Tickles he didn't do what he told him to, so he needs to listen. As he's listening to Wreck, Tickles hears another announcement call out "Malfunction!" a couple of times.

Tickles tells Wreck the bomb must be broken so it's all good. Unfortunately, Barrett's scan reveals it is only the launching bay mechanism that is broken and the bomb will go off inside the ship.

Wreck tells Tickles to make his way down to the bomb bay. He explains the only way to deal with the intelligent bomb is to try and talk it out of exploding. Tickles has no idea what the captain is talking about.

After getting directions from Wreck, Tickles makes his way down to the bomb but he still isn't sure how he can talk to a bomb. Wreck insists the bomb is sentient, which Tickles has a hard time believing. Wreck says the bomb is at least as smart as Tickles, which Tickles points out is just being a dick about it.

When he gets down there, Tickles sees various flashing lights and a voice calling out about the malfunction. He calls out to ask if Bomb is there. Bomb responds that he is.

Tickles asks Bomb what he is doing and tells him he should be a good bomb and not explode. Bomb explains he has been activated and it is his mission to explode.

Asked how much time is left, Bomb informs Tickles there is two minutes left to detonation. Tickles orders Bomb to deactivate, but the bomb insists he cannot comply as he must perform his mission. Tickles tells him it is a stupid mission.

The thief looks around for some way to stop the bomb but can't read anything. He decides the next best thing is to use his cutting torch to get the bay doors open so the bomb will at least get sucked out into space before exploding.

Wreck calls over to Tickles to ask what he's doing, saying they need the bomb to complete their mission. Tickles doesn't believe Wreck that the bomb can be talked out of exploding but while he works he continues to talk to Bomb, appealing to the explosive to wait so the bomb can enjoy his golden years and his grandkids.

Bomb insists his purpose is to explode, despite Tickles' assertion that whoever gave him the order didn't have his best interests at heart.

Tickles, still cutting, tells Bomb not to let anyone else tell him his purpose. He continues on with a rambling story about how when he was growing up, his paw-paw told him he'd never be able to talk to bombs, but look at him now.

Bomb doesn't understand what Tickles is getting at. Tickles tries getting him to put the explosion on hold to give them a chance to have a nice talk for a minute. He tells Bomb he's free to still explode afterwards if he wants, but Bomb says he must perform his mission.

As the two argue over Bomb's ability (or lack thereof) to adjust his programming, Tickles continues to cut at the bay door. As he finishes the cut, the door comes loose and Tickles is sucked out with it. With Shoes covering his face (again), he rides out into space on the door, as if on some sort of board surfing through space...

Wreck sees the bizarre spectacle as the muffled voice of Tickles calls out to him over the comm to bring him aboard. Tickles claims the bomb is deactivated and everything is cool, but Wreck knows better.

Still, with few options, he has Schlomo move into position to grab Tickles and get out of there before the bomb explodes. Schlomo hits Tickles a little too hard to get him inside quickly, and notices the space slayer demon coming in at them.

Schlomo moves their ship away quickly, leaving the demon to eat the Dark Star. As it starts to swallow it, the bomb goes off, destroying the demon and the ship in its blast.

Once they are safely away, Wreck puts on one of the space suits to go out and rescue Tickles. He has a few issues with the emergency repair kit, screwing the new faceplate into Tickles' face a few times by mistake.

Their mission a failure, they argue all the way back to Center. Tickles takes his leave of the crew, telling Shoes he guesses they live there now. He heads with the cat to the entertainment district to use some of the credits he has before Matheson revokes them.

*** Session 11 - Scene 8 (of ***

Meanwhile, back in Beartooth, Deadly Snow, Mulroney, Nardig, and Snarg wait around but Shoes and Tickles never seem to show up. Snarg asks what they should do now.

Deadly Snow feels the best thing to do is head back to Rodemus to hunt some treasure. She invites Snarg to come with her, feeling the goblin would be sneaky enough to help. Nardig offers to go as well, but Mulroney is more hesitant as he still wants his cat.

Mulroney asks if his cat might be at the ruins. Nardig says probably not, but he doesn't trust Snarg alone with Deadly Snow. He says they can always come back later to check for Tickles and Shoes.

They eventually decide to leave. As they do so, Mulroney is a bit slower than the others as he still isn't sure it is a good idea.

When he is almost alone, he hears a giggle in the darkness and realizes Charno has found him again. Acting quickly, he uses a levitation spell to disable the killer just as he emerges from hiding in the shadows. Charno cries out that Mulroney is cheating again.

Hearing the commotion, Nardig and Deadly Snow come back and make short work of the madman. As they finish up, they notice a small group of figures in red robes and masks have approached them – the mages of the Scarlet Alliance.

One of the clandestine members steps forward, asking what they are doing there. Deadly Snow says they are looking for Mulroney's cat.

The man addresses Mulroney, saying they saw him use magic despite him pretending to be a prestidigitator. He then tells Mulroney he has done the alliance a great service, as the strange mutant had been hunting their members.

According to the man, Charno killed one of their men already – the wheelwright Akarios (not realizing it was Mulroney and his group who did that). Snarg starts to ask a question when Deadly Snow quickly covers his mouth to avoid him saying anything that could get them into trouble.

The man asks who Mulroney's companions are, and he introduces Deadly Snow and Nardig. As for Snarg, Mulroney insists he was a wandering drunk they found down here.

Asking suspiciously, the man asks more questions about what they were doing in the tunnels. He tries to get Mulroney to join the alliance, but he begs off (since he doesn't want them to discover he's actually a witch).

The man continues on that they are glad to have Charno dead, as he also killed several of their members in Rikki (apparently referring to the astrologer and perhaps others).

The wizard tells Mulroney the alliance owes him a great boon. Mulroney decides to call on that favor right away by having them return his cat to him. They use their magic to find Shoes (and Tickles), using a personal item of Tickles' that Deadly Snow grabs from their home.

Just as Tickles is sitting down to a long overdue meal, he is transported back to his home dimension, finding himself in the magic circle surrounded by the red wizards and his friends.

The wizards tell Mulroney the debt is paid, and instruct them all to leave and never return to the caves, for they are forbidden to non-members. The group agrees and leaves.

Once they are back up in town, Shoes communicates what occurred to Mulroney. He is grudgingly grateful to the coyle for his assistance with the familiar.

Tickles also pulls out the small rod device he stole. He tries examining it with the others, and Deadly Snow tries pressing some buttons. The device shocks her, causing her to drop it. Some sizzling sounds occur, and a small amount of smoke comes out. She tells Tickles it apparently didn't survive the trip.

Deadly Snow also points out Nardig may be the best choice to wear the Armor of the Exarch. Using his skills along with the help of the local alchemist, he is able to shape the armor so he can wear it over the next few days while everyone rests up.

Once they are done, they decide to head back to Rikki to deal with the Thieves of Harr-Ki, but since the Ruins of Rodemus are on the way, more or less, they decide they'll stop there first...

*** Session 11 - Session Notes ***

This was a fun, if a bit shorter, session. We delayed a little getting started with getting Tickles leveled up (the players take forever trying to pick new skills when that happens) and then ended early because we were at a good stopping point (we might have gone on to Rodemus, but our Skype player is one time zone over and doesn't tend to want to go late).

I'd wanted to do a little side adventure in space for a while. For one thing, my GM ADD is kicking in and I'm just itching to run a Coriolis game. For another, I had already introduced the Minion War backdrop into the story and wanted to use more material from the Megaverse in Flames supplement for Rifts. Finally, I wanted an excuse to tie something in to my aborted Traveller: Rise of the Sathar campaign (which, ironically, ended before we ever got to the part where the Sathar became part of the plot).

I knew after last session that the other players wouldn't want to sit around for an hour or more waiting for Tickles' story to end, so I had come up with a side plot that allowed them to play other characters. Specifically, in this case, the Mulroney player got to play Wreck again and the Deadly Snow player got to play Schlomo again. The Nardig player could have played Jasper Jenkins again, but since that character wasn't very memorable (and the player wouldn't remember him anyway because he rarely remembers any details from past games) it was easier just to give him a random NPC.

It wasn't preordained that Tickles would blow the mission, but there was always a high chance so I had the backup planned of Charno attacking Mulroney again. Originally I wanted it to be a bit more dangerous; I thought Mulroney was out of PPE, but he had just enough left to cast his spell.

Anyway, the group is back together now and the plot moving forward. I'll probably let some of the other loose ends start to get tied up before introducing too much new - the poor players can't keep up with the giant list of open plot threads.

Other notes from the session:
* It was hard coming up with a way to describe things to Tickles in the way he would see them - not being familiar with any technology.

* To get around the language thing, I added the nanomachine universal translator injection. The effect, by the way, is intended to be temporary.

* Inspector Tassadar is named after the character from the StarCraft video game - because the prometheans are kind-of close to appearance to the protoss. At least, close enough for me to throw in the reference.

* I liked adding the question about the Wolfen Supremacy movement, intended to be a direct parody of the kind of anti-Communist questions from the 1950's.

* I was kind of surprised Tickles didn't try to talk them out of scanning the cat, since he was already pretty sure Shoes was more than just a cat.

* Tickles kept trying to talk to Shoes, but I wouldn't have him respond because the familiar rules are very clear that the familiar will only act differently towards the witch they are bonded to.

* Tickles was really unhappy when he realizes he was being "thrown in the hole".

* Matheson is named after author Richard Matheson, and the Belasco system and several of Wreck's crew are named after characters in his novel, Hell House.

* Part of the idea with Matheson is that Corbin Decker is an agent of the devils, so he's helping Tickles because it will help Shoes which helps Mulroney help Enilefil and ultimately helps the devil lord Glebecar. Naturally, Tickles doesn't know that.

* The Dark Star, its crew, the bomb, and the ball-shaped alien are all, of course, taken straight from John Carpenter's film, Dark Star.

* The Cartesian Doubt is named after the philosophical concept that the bomb in the film falls into, ultimately causing it to decide to explode.

* Tickles trip to the spaceport was a little more abbreviated during the actual session. I expanded it in the write-up to expand more on how the character would have felt encountering all these strange things.

* The item Tickles steals is a universal multi-tool. Sadly, Deadly Snow's attempts to decipher how to use it accidentally destroy it before he figures that out.

* Wreck's long flashback did not happen during the session as the players who played during it already knew what happened and the others wouldn't care. The flashback is a good summary of the Traveller campaign (as far as it got), including more or less where the final session ended (which I never finished a write-up for) - with a shuttle headed down to the Jetsom platform (the scenario was heavily-influenced by the A Bug in the System module for Star Frontiers). I can't say for sure it was actually Wreck and Schlomo in that session, but no one else would necessarily remember either so even if it is a retcon it is an easy change to make.

* The Mulroney player seems to have lost his taste for accents and didn't want to do Wreck's Texas drawl again.

* As previously mentioned, Wreck's crew is named after characters in Hell House. Barrett is named after Dr. Lionel Barrett, Retann is a play on Florence Tanner (one of the psychics), and Fisker on Benjamin Fischer.

* Wreck trying to get Tickles to do the suicide mission was funny. The player running Fisker not quite realizing it was definitely a suicide mission (he kept not catching that he was quickly eaten) was even funnier.

* Tickles mission over to the Dark Star was horribly inept, also a source of hilarity. The cat shielding his face and lungs from the vacuum of space strains credulity, but maybe the cat used a spell or something. In any event, I didn't want him to die and it was funny.

* Wreck is clearly using the plot from Return of the Jedi for his suggestion to Tickles on how to take control of the ship.

* Boiler's porn stash and the argument about being out of toilet paper also come straight from the movie.

* It was always planned the bomb would malfunction to add a complication to the mission, but I wanted to see what they'd do with it. Wreck was kind-of metagaming with getting Tickles to try and talk to the bomb, but we figured Wreck would know enough to try that.

* Tickles actually talked quite a bit more to Bomb in the actual session, but I condensed it down as most of it was fairly circular and didn't go anywhere.

* I wanted Charno pinned as the killer for Akarios to keep that from being a threat to the group, for now. Plus it gave a good excuse for that favor.

*** Session 12: Cast of Characters ***

 Yukiko Amagi (aka The Deadly Snow): A ten-year-old aberrant human girl; a major psychic trained as a secret assassin. She considers Tickles to be her father after he raised her as an orphan.

 The Great Mulroney: A miscreant changeling witch who believes he is human and masquerades as a prestidigitator. He sold his soul to the devil prince Glebecar and has a devil familiar named Shoes.

 Tickles: An anarchist coyle thief and minor psychic. He raised Yukiko from a little orphan girl into the assassin she is today so she could earn them money as a hardened killer.

 Nardig: A miscreant hobgoblin mercenary exiled from his family for his evil deeds. He can control his tendencies for short periods of time to work with small groups, but will steal from them and turn on them with the slightest provocation.

*** Session 12 - Scene 1 (of 7) ***

After a day of traveling through the caverns of the Underdark, the group finally nears the ruins of the Rodemus. The trip itself is mostly uneventful, though somewhere along the way Snarg manages to sneak off from the group. Mulroney wonders when they'll cross paths with him again, as they still could use him to get to Sa'lid Dra'lah.

For the moment, they ignore the goblin and press on with their other missions. Since he has the heavy magic armor, Nardig takes the point position. Up ahead, he spots an orc performing as lookout. Nardig can tell the orc has spotted them. He quickly tells the others. From the back, Tickles steps around to get a better look around.

Tickles doesn't see anyone else around, but can tell the orc is someone he knows – Sirko, one of Doyle's men from the guild. He tells the others to hold on as the orc is an acquaintance of his. They begrudgingly comply, but are ready for action.

Sirko recognizes Tickles as well, and calls out to him. When the thief answers, Sirko asks what he is doing there, saying this is "our territory" now. Tickles asks who the "our" refers to, and the orc explains Doyle's crew now controls the ruins.

Tickles asks when this happened. Sirko says it was while he was gone, and asks where he's been. Tickles says he has quite the tale he could tell, but there's no time to go into it.

When asked if they've located the lost Rodem family treasure yet, Sirko says they have not. Apparently, they've been busy fighting off plague zombies in the area.

Sirko goes on to say they forced open the towers and found a large group of zombies in one of them. Mulroney takes the opportunity to get up close to the coyle and whisper the suggestion that Doyle's group doesn't seem very competent and may need new management.

Deadly Snow recalls the journal entry said something about Lady Rodem and the other survivors barricading themselves up in one of the towers; obviously they didn't survive.

Tickles asks who is in charge of the location. Sirko explains Doyle himself is here, as the whole gang has been staying out of Beartooth ever since the "falling out" with Materich. Tickles recalls to himself that Doyle wanted him in on that coup, but clearly the attempt failed. He asks Sirko if Doyle was officially kicked out of the guild, but Sirko describes the situation as still undergoing "aggressive diplomacy".

Trying to feel out who has the advantage, Tickles asks who has the bigger side. Sirko dodges the question by saying they are hoping to find something in the ruins that can help them (Tickles assumes he means either powerful magic items to aid in the fight, or money to hire mercenaries to assist them, but says nothing).

Tickles offers that his group could assist them in searching for the treasure. Sirko says that Tickles could join them, but not the others as they aren't in the guild. Tickles explains the others are his lackeys.

Sirko looks the others over. He knows Deadly Snow is Tickle's "daughter" and can see how the dumb-looking hobgoblin would be muscle, but has no idea what good the middle-aged human is good for. Mulroney begins acting like a simpleton to put on a show.

Tickles gives a story about how he saved the man's cat from a river and now the man follows him around. Sirko is excited about the possibility of having a simpleton around to perform a jester show for them, but Tickles tries to get him off that subject and focused back on taking them to see Doyle (particularly when he brings up the "fun game" of blindfolding Mulroney and kicking him from different directions). He also tries to keep Mulroney quiet as the man makes a passive-aggressive comment asking his master who the fat, ugly orc is.

Sirko says Doyle is over in the west tower. According to him, they found the zombies in the east tower; the west tower just had a large, strange-looking bat.

Tickles says he hopes they were able to manage that. Sirko notes it was a big bat, so all they managed to do was drive it off. He's confident it won't come back though.

As they continue to chat on the way over, Tickles learns the thieves have not yet ventured in the undercroft crypt he and the others spotted the door to the last time they were here. Sirko says they were being cautious, as they were worried about encountering too many zombies down there.

*** Session 12 - Scene 2 (of 7) ***

On Sirko's advice, Tickles leaves the others to wait outside while he ventures into the tower. Inside, Sirko sits in a central part of the tower. He's surrounded by a few more of his men – the hobgoblin Novik and the two goblins, Viktor and Jurg.

Doyle greets Tickles as soon as he sees him. Tickles congratulates the man on his sort-of success. Doyle says they have their own guild now, in any event.

When asked if he's come to join them finally, Tickles agrees he's come to help him. He says he's there to help recover the Rodem family treasure.

Doyle is skeptical. He asks Tickles if he thinks he can come in after they've already done all the work with the zombies and just take the treasure.

Tickles assures him his team is an "elite strike force" and can take out the zombies. Doyle asks what kind of arrangement he has in mind, and Tickles says a straight 50/50 split.

Doyle agrees (more than happy to have Tickles and his companions go inside first), and tosses Tickles a small key ring. Tickles asks what it is, and Doyle explains he got the key off one of the plague zombies in the east tower. He says the zombie was dressed in heavy armor and could have been the captain of the guard so he thought it might be useful for getting somewhere important.

Tickles wonders why Doyle's men didn't try to use it to get into the crypt. Doyle explains after all the trouble they had with the east tower, he lacked the manpower to try and open it. When Tickles asks if he lost anyone, Doyle mentions he probably won't be seeing Flanko, Zayir, and Rumar again. Tickles says that is a shame.

Doyle says he can't afford to lose more men with Materich on the warpath. Tickles asks how upset Materich is, and Doyle says he didn't take kindly to almost having an accident back in town.

Tickles says it must not have gone off without a hitch then. Doyle grumbles something about subcontractors then says he could have really used that girl of his. Tickles says that sadly Deadly Snow was preoccupied at the time.

Doyle then asks Tickles where he has been. Tickles says "Oh, the tales I could tell..." then hands him the remains the metal rod he brought back from Center. When he asks what it is, Tickles says that is where he's been and asks Doyle if he wants to talk or get excavating the crypt. Doyle agrees it is time to get down to business.

As Tickles leaves, Doyle wishes him luck but notes that if all of Tickles' party don't make it back, that's just less treasure for him to split on his end. Tickles says that is how he sees the situation as well.

*** Session 12 - Scene 3 (of 7) ***

When he comes out to the others, Tickles explains they are good to explore the crypt but he's pretty sure there are a bunch of zombies down there. Everyone agrees the reward is still worth the risk (though Tickles does not mention the split with Doyle).

Before they head down, Mulroney waits until they are away from Sirko and asks Tickles who Doyle is. Tickles explains about Doyle's attempt to overthrow Materich in the thieves' guild. Apparently, he already tried to kill Materich once and failed, leading to his group being in exile here.

Mulroney asks what it means for Tickles if his guild finds out he's working with Doyle. Tickles takes offense at the remark, saying he's not really working with Doyle. When Mulroney asks if the guild wouldn't want him to kill Doyle, Tickles says they are professional thieves and not murderers, asking the man how he dares make such a slanderous comment.

Tickles says he'll let the thieves' guild take care of the problem in their own way, ignoring Mulroney's scoffing comments about how they don't appear to be effective in dealing with treason in their ranks. He doesn't disagree with Mulroney, however, that a mutiny is a result of bad management.

Mulroney tells Tickles he seems to be a pretty solid guy, and praises his thieving abilities, his deadly skill with his grappling hook, and how effectively he raised Deadly Snow to be an assassin. After buttering the coyle up, Mulroney suggests perhaps the guild would be better off under Tickles' leadership.

Tickles is surprised at the recommendation, but says there is a lot of "paperwork" with the position and it is not the life for him. Mulroney suggests it would be easier with "solid helpers". Tickles says perhaps they can continue the conversation once they have the treasure and the current leadership crisis in the guild has resolved itself and they can see where things stand.

Mulroney agrees that makes sense, and is good thinking on Tickles' part. He also suggests that if one side were to be killed and it looked like the other side was at fault, the resulting conflict could weaken both sides to the point where new management was required.

Tickles feels it would be better if one side really did perform the act. Mulroney says he hopes Tickles stays out of the path of the civil war in the ranks in any case, as an "old man and his cat" probably couldn't help much in that situation. Tickles says he'll cross that bridge when they come to it.

*** Session 12 - Scene 4 (of 7) ***

When they reach the door to the crypt, they find it locked. Using the key Doyle gave him, Tickles hands it to Nardig and tells him to try it on the door.

The stairs down to the crypt are narrow, and they can only head down one at a time. In this case, everyone else stays above and let Nardig head down the stairs by himself to open the door.

Before opening it, Nardig listens carefully at the door. From behind it, he can hear the faint sound of lit torches. Nardig tells the others, surprised that someone must already have been inside.

The hobgoblin then proceeds to use the key in the lock and open the door. As the door opens, he hears a faint chanting from a distance away. He tells the others to be quiet and keeps them informed about what he's heard.

Deadly Snow asks what they are chanting, but Tickles tells her to be quiet. Down in the stairwell, Nardig continues to open the door slowly. He sees the light from torches inside, but can't see anyone around. The initial room inside the lower level appears to be empty except for four sarcophagi, with the chanting coming from another chamber beyond.

Since he can't see the source of the chanting, Nardig starts heading inside for a closer look. He can see there is another attached room offset from the room he's in.
Deadly Snow and Tickles head down the stairs to back Nardig up. Mulroney elects to stay outside to guard the rear.

As Nardig attempts to make his way across the room to get a better look at the other chamber, he kicks a loose stone, making a loud noise. The chanting suddenly stops.

Up ahead, Nardig can see an alcove with an altar of some kind. In front of it are four armored knights, apparently kneeled in prayer. They start to get up and head over Nardig's way.

Nardig turns and tells the others they should get out of there. Tickles is confused what knights are doing down in the crypt, while Deadly Snow is annoyed at the idea of having to run from "this rabble".

Tickles begins walking up slowly. Nardig says they should lure them out to the doorway. Deadly Snow grudgingly agrees the tactic is sound.

Calling up to Mulorney, Tickles alerts him they are coming back out. He and Shoes get into position.

As Nardig is making his way back across the room, one of the knights calls out to him. Nardig can tell the knight is clearly someone he can trust and means him no harm. He knows the friendly knight just wants to talk to him, so he stops and waits for the man to approach.

From across the room, Deadly Snow spots Nardig stopping. She doesn't understand why he's doing that, as clearly a group of knights mysteriously locked up in a crypt, chanting, are reason for caution. She makes her way to the doorway and climbs above the doorway, ready to drop and attack anyone who comes out.

Back down in the crypt, Nardig's new friend gives his name as Knight Captain Havarr. Nardig introduces himself in turn. The captain asks Nardig what he is doing down there.

Nardig explains he and his group were just exploring to see what was down here. Havarr tells Nardig he should head back over to the altar, so he can give his respects to Rurga. Nardig feels that is a perfectly reasonable request and sees nothing odd about the knights being down there.

The knights walk Nardig back over to the altar. When he reaches it, Havarr suggests he should kneel with his head over the altar. Nardig complies, though although his friends are nowhere around, he knows these knights are far more trustworthy than his other companions.

As the hobgoblin begins to pledge his fealty at the altar, Havarr draws his sword. Nardig knows he is only doing so to make sure he stays safe while in prayer.

Just as Nardig is getting his head in position, he spots a blood stain on the altar. He starts to question why he's listening to these crazy knights who are locked down in the crypt for some reason.

In his moment of clarity, Nardig realizes he's been enchanted by the knight and they mean to kill him. He tries to make a run for it.

*** Session 12 - Scene 5 (of 7) ***

The knights block Nardig's way. Since he is trying to flee, they strike out at his with their swords. He manages to parry half the blows, but is still struck by two of them. Luckily, both strikes hit his armor.

Nardig calls out for help, then stabs at the nearest knight with his long sword. The knight easily deflects his attack.

From above, Mulroney hears Nardig's call for help. He decides to head down the stairs to assist, getting into position on one side of the inside doorway. Shoes goes to the opposite side.

Tickles rushes down the stairs after them, heading into the middle of the room. He sees the knights fighting with Nardig and prepares to engage.

Deadly Snow drops down from her position and heads inside as well. But instead of helping out in the fight, she decides to check on one of the tombs. She notices it has the name of Havarr on it.

The knights press their attacks on Nardig. The mercenary fights back, but only manages to block one of the blows with his shield. One of the hits strikes his armor, but two slip by, striking into his flesh. Nardig strikes out again with his sword, but once again the knight easily parries his blow.

From the back, Mulroney notices Deadly Snow looking at one of the crypts. He attempts to lift off the lid of the sarcophagus nearest him to get a look inside, but strains under the weight of the stone lid.

Tickles sees what Mulroney is up to and decides to do the same. He easily rips off the lid of the crypt in front of him, but loses his grip and it lands on his foot. Inside, they see skeletal remains.

Deadly Snow is able to slide off the lid on the coffin in front of her. Looking inside, she sees it, too, is filled with skeletal remains.

Fearing he won't last much longer, Nardig charges ahead at one of the knights to knock him down. He charges straight through the knight, who turns insubstantial as soon as he approaches him, and slams into a nearby wall.

Meanwhile, Tickles decides to start smashing the remains in the crypt in front of him using his hercules club. Deadly Snow does the same at her crypt, hacking away with her battle axe.

As Tickles finishes smashing his remains, one of the knights cries out with an inhuman scream then dissipates. Tickles calls over to Nardig (who is still lying on the ground) telling him he's welcome for the help. Deadly Snow likewise destroys the bones she is smashing, causing the discorporation of Havarr.

Nardig takes the opportunity to pick himself up off the ground. As he does so, Shoes fires an energy bolt into the remains of the coffin Mulroney was able to open. Mulroney fires an energy bolt of his own, destroying the remains and ridding the chamber of a third knight.

Tickles moves over to the last crypt. He rips off the lid and throws it across the room. Before he can damage then, the knight moves in and attacks Mulroney, cutting into the witch's armor with his sword. Mulroney laughs at the knight's attempt to injure him.

Deadly Snow rushes over and strikes into the remains in front of Tickles with her battle axe. Nardig elects to attack the knight directly to get him away from Mulroney. Attacking the knight from behind, Nardig manages to hit the knight but can't penetrate his armor.

Tickles takes the opportunity to pulverize the bones, sending the last knight creature screaming into the abyss.

*** Session 12 - Scene 6 (of 7) ***

With a chance to look around, the group notices there are a couple of doors leading out of the room. They decide to investigate the altar first.

Mulroney takes a closer look at the altar. It appears to be made of stone – either limestone or dolostone, he can't be sure. Deadly Snow takes a moment to defile the altar just in case.

The two doors leading out of the room are on the north side and the east side. Nardig and Mulroney move to listen at the east door, while Tickles and Deadly Snow take the north.

Nardig and Mulroney don't hear anything at their door, but Tickles and Deadly Snow hear the faint sound of gurgling water somewhere behind theirs.

Tickles tells the others what they heard and they all discuss which door to check out first. Deadly Snow wants to check out the north door first. She starts cracking it open slightly to get a better look.

When she looks inside, she can only see about half the room. It appears to be divided by a large pillar or wall in the center. On the far side of the room, she can just see a font of some kind with flowing water.

She and Tickles step inside to get a better look at the rest of the room. As they do so, they immediately see a skeletal warrior guarding the room. It has four arms, each holding a sword.

Tickles is temporarily frozen in horror at the sight of the creature. Deadly Snow reacts quicker, parrying back at its four strikes but still managing to get hit by three of them.

The young assassin strikes back at the skeletal guardian with a telekinetic kick. The strike hits home, but isn't enough to seriously damage the creature.

Meanwhile, Nardig and Mulroney hear the commotion from the fight in the other room. Nardig starts to run over to help, but Mulroney holds back. Once he's sure no one can see him, Mulroney opens the door to the other room.

Leaving Deadly Snow to fight the creature on her own, Tickles heads off towards the font. As he does so, the creature slices into Deadly Snow again with another couples of hits past her defenses.

When Nardig reaches the door, he sees the creature. He rushes in to help, striking at the skeleton with his sword but his blow is parried. Deadly Snow takes the opportunity to use a back flip to disengage from the fight.

Over at the font, Tickles splashes some water on his face and has a drink. He can immediately feel the effects of it healing his injuries. He calls out to the others to let them know about the water.

Nardig attempts to body block the skeleton to knock it over. He hits the creature just right, knocking it to the ground.

With the skeleton on the ground, Deadly Snow takes out her battle axe and hacks at it. But even on the ground, it manages to block one of her hits but is hit by the other.

Over in the other room, Mulroney looks over the room he has walked into. It is a large, L-shaped room with a door along the north wall on the part of the L he is at, and another door exiting to the northeast on the far part of the L.

Like the initial chamber they entered, this room also contains a set of four tombs but the walls here are painted in a great mosaic. The scene appears to depict Lord Rodem's death in battle with the demon Modeus. Mulroney also notices a band of hobgoblins with Modeus, but he doesn't recognize them.

Back at the font, Tickles notices the other side of the room has two doors – one on the east wall and one on the south wall. He decides to walk past his companions fighting the skeleton and head for the south door. He yells "Good job, guys!" as he goes by.

Deadly Snow tells Nardig they should press their attack. They both strike into him with their weapons. It is damaged by the attacks, but shrugs them off enough to stand back up.

Inside the other room, Mulrony and Shoes hear the clamor of battle and head towards the north door in the room. Just as they reach it, Tickles opens it from the other side.

Once again, Deadly Snow backflips away from the skeleton while Nardig attacks it. It manages to fend off Nardig's assault and strikes back with his swords. The mercenary blocks one of the hits but is struck by the other.

Mulroney calls for Tickles to get inside quickly. He complies as Deadly Snow runs around towards the font to get away from the skeleton. She quickly drinks some water and feels its healing power.

Meanwhile, Nardig body blocks the skeleton again and once again slams it to the ground. Deadly Snow heads back around to the prone skeleton and attacks, but it manages to block her attack.

Nardig takes the opportunity to head to the font himself. He quickly takes a drink of his own.

From the doorway, Mulroney calls for Deadly Snow to come in, but she doesn't want the skeleton following them. She attacks again, but is once again thwarted by the skeleton's great skill with its many swords. It then stands itself up again.

Inside the room, Tickles looks over the graves. He notices one of them is for Lord Rodem himself. Mulroney thinks about opening one of the crypts again, but can't get the lid to budge.

At the font, Nardig continues to drink but notices the healing effect does not reoccur.

Deadly Snow uses a telekinetic leap to jump back from the skeleton again, narrowly avoiding hitting one of the walls. The skeleton charges towards her in response.

Nearby, Tickles opens the tomb of Lord Rodem. Inside, he sees the skeletal remains dressed in his armor with his shield at his side.

Nardig heads back towards the door, spotting Deadly Snow still fighting the skeleton. She strikes into it with a strong blow of her axe then knocks him down with a charge and heads into the room with the others.

Inside the other room, Tickles opens another of the crypts. The one is marked as being for Sir Smedley, but Tickles doesn't recognize the name. He opens it to find another skeleton in armor, with a sword and shield at his sides.

Mulroney sees the skeleton from the doorway and uses an energy bolt to blow it up. He then heads over to the font in the other room to drink to see if it will restore his magical energy. It does not, and he says "Bah!" dismissively.

*** Session 12 - Scene 7 (of 7) ***

The group discusses whether to defile these tombs, but Tickles doesn't see the point and wants to focus on finding the treasure.

Deadly Snow is injured from their previous fight and wants to rest but doesn't think doing so in the crypt would be wise. Tickles doesn't want to head back up, however, as he doesn't want Doyle to know what is going on.

While they discuss options, Mulroney looks through the tombs. The other two contain skeletons wearing armor with shields and swords.

Tickles finds it is curious that Lord Rodem's grave did not have a sword with it. Mulroney removes the remains from the coffin and drops them on the floor. Deadly Snow worries about what may happen and gets into a defensive position.

While Mulroney and Shoes defile the remains, Tickles looks inside the sarcophagus. He finds a hidden switch inside. He asks if he should press it, and Deadly Snow notes it clearly wasn't meant for a dead person to press.

When Tickles presses the hidden switch, it opens a hidden door along the east wall. The chamber beyond, unlike the rest of the undercroft, is dark.

Tickles asks Nardig to go take a look. When he enters, he sees there is a single tomb, marked with the name of Zarel. As he calls out the name to the others, no one recognizes it.

Nardig notices there are some items on the floor next to the tomb. He sees there are three scrolls and four bottles of liquid (two smaller and two larger).

Deadly Snow asks if anything else is in the room. From the dark room, Nardig tells them what he's seeing.

Mulroney has Shoes cast the eyes of Thoth spell on him then heads in to read the scrolls. He discovers the scrolls are spell scrolls containing the spells of fear, turn dead, and fire bolt. Mulroney is annoyed to once again discover magical items that duplicate magic he already knows.

The bottles aren't marked so they can't tell what they are. Mulroney makes an educated guess they are potions.

Tickles asks if this is all the treasure there is. Mulroney says it is part of the treasure, but he does not believe it is the entirety of the lost Rodem family treasure of the tales.

The group decides they should take a look inside the tomb, but are cautious about awakening something else they may need to fight. Mulroney takes a moment to cast some healing spells on Nardig and Deadly Snow.

After they are partially healed, the tomb is opened. Inside are another set of skeletal remains, this time wearing the tattered remains of priestly robes.

With no other immediate threats and nothing else to discover in the room, Mulroney suggests they seal themselves in this room to rest. Everyone decides that is a good idea and they lock themselves inside for the night.

*** Session 12 - Session Notes ***

Twelve sessions in, and we finally get back to finishing out the dungeon that was the basis for the very first session.

So, time for a quick confession - I completely ret-conned this part of Rodemus from what I originally planned. In the original design, where I thought the PCs would take care of everything in one shot, the undercroft crypt was one single room with a ghoul in it and very little treasure; the treasure was originally going to be in the tower, with the idea that the Rodem family took it with them when they locked themselves away. The tower was designed as a series of three rooms filled with plague zombies. The other tower, as alluded to in the exposition with Sirko, housed a large bat carrying the plague.

But, since they took so long to get back there, I had the idea to have Doyle move in to the upper levels and move the treasure to a dungeon crypt with more rooms, which is more or less what the players were expecting in the first place. The dungeon I put together is adapted from parts of the D&D 4e Gardmore Abbey book (the knights are inspired by pale reavers and the skeleton by a bone fiend).

Hopefully next session they'll finish things up and be back on their way to Rikki so we can finish off a few plot points.

Other notes about the session:
* Snarg sneaking off on the way to Rodemus wasn't a GM fiat thing to keep the PCs from killing him, we all honestly forgot he was supposed to be there until about 3/4ths of the way through the session so it was the easiest adjustment to the story to make.

* Sirko and Doyle's other men are all named after characters from the season of Dexter where he takes on the Russian mob (season 6?)

* I wanted Doyle to take over the area, but give a plausible explanation why he hadn't located the treasure yet. The plague zombies depleting his forces made the most sense. And he's obviously motivated to still get the treasure since he's now at war with Materich.

* Part of the gang war storyline is giving Tickles a side story and conflict - which side (if either) will he choose? Or will he be able to stay out of it? The Mulroney character pressuring him to seize the opportunity to take over adds more dramatic tension, which I liked.

* Tickles is likely planning to double-cross Doyle about the treasure (and if he isn't, I'm sure Mulroney is planning to). I wonder if they suspect Doyle is planning to double-cross them as well...

* Tickles largely just says "the tales I could tell..." because the players never remember the sessions that well

* Deadly Snow is clearly quoting Tarkin from Star Wars when not wanting to flee from the knights

* Nardig failing his save (and nearly his head) with the knights was hilarious; but I kept wondering if the other PCs would intervene to save him

* Both the knight encounter and the skeleton encounter ended up much more dangerous than intended because the PCs split up, usually leaving only one or two to handle the fight

* It wasn't originally planned that destroying the bones would defeat the knights, but it was an inspired idea and they were in trouble in the fight, so I went with it

* The players kept calling the skeleton Goro in the game, referencing the Mortal Kombat character; we decided it must be his skeleton down there

* Lord Rodem's missing sword is intended as a plot point, though I had to mention it more than once for the players to take the hint

* Zarel has a backstory about being the priestess before Kandia, but its more to add flavor so it didn't come up