Session 2 – Beware the gaze of The Head

https://plus.google.com/u/0/100807759232603150118/posts/cpSEovt2Nt2

Dramatis Personae:

Loot:

  • The party got high quality foodstuffs. They chose to keep their hauls separate. (Galens: 450 credits; Umquat: 350 credits; Virgil 250 credits).

Magic Words:

Mutations:

  • Virgil: The flesh and meat of his left arm has become elongated. When he stands erect, his left palm can rest flat on the ground. The metal arm within has become somewhat deformed, creating metal protrusions at odd angles. However, the gel-based mechanisms remain largely functional.
  • Ronnina: Ears have grown to 2′ in length. Ronnina’s listening is enhanced by this, though she must actively announce she is listening.
  • Umquat: Any time Umquat suffers serious trauma (lets say, is reduced below 0 hp), there is a 10% chance she becomes psychologically unbalanced by the experience. She will thereafter refuse to acknowledge the thing which traumatized her, even if it is a threat.

A THOUGHT FOR CONSIDERATION: Perhaps I’ll include a means by which to remove all of one’s mutations. A very expensive “DNA Realignment Procedure.” It allows you to get rid of bad mutations, but you have to be willing to lose all your good mutations as well. I’m not certain I’ll include it, but it does seem like an interesting option.

Game Rulings:

  • We will be using Courtney’s injury and death tables rather than standard LotFP deaths.
  • The green goo, if smoked, causes a mutation from the full 1000 point table. However, a save v. poison must be made. On success, the mutation lasts 1 hour. On failure, it is permanent.

Injuries Sustained

  • Both Galens and Umquat are in negative hit points Umquat is Sickened (-2 to pretty much all rolls), and has 1 Bleed and 2 pain. Galens has only 1 pain.

NPC Relationships

  • The party encountered Muta Bro. A mutated human man with fluttering bird wings covering his right arm. His tongue is swollen and fills his mouth, making speaking and eating difficult. His brain receives a shockingly small amount of blood. This guy barely functions, and he’s very dumb. So dumb he’s actually forgotten his name in favor of the name “Muta Bro” proposed by Ronnina. He has agreed to hire on as Virgil’s torchbearer, with a Loyalty of 8.

Adventure Highlights

The party briefly amused themselves with tormenting poor Ronnina, and she remained remarkably passive during the hazing. No doubt plotting revenge.

They then discovered a room of dry foods that were well preserved and still edible. In addition to basic rations, they discovered a number of food items that were known to be valuable on the surface. They nabbed those.

They also followed a trail of “Admiral Crunch” to a hole in the wall, where they encountered a Mother Giant Squirrel, and her cubs. Violence was narrowly avoided through an offering of additional Admiral Crunch.
The party then returned to the main task at hand, moving through the kitchen, into the cafeteria, and confronting The Head. A giant floating robot head that is blind and shoots lasers from its eyes.

After a sequence of what can only be called “shenanigans that ought to have been paired with yakity saks,” the party made it past the head. Two of them nearly dying in the process, and dealing no damage to the head itself. Although the Giftgiver’s bag of gifts was lost, and now the Head’s mouth is full of fire.

The party then lowered themselves down an elevator shaft, skirted past some green goo, and headed north until they found a makeshift wall. They used fire to destroy the wall, and as they waited for it to burn, they encountered a Muto-Man. In a remarkable show of luck, they got a modified 12 on their reaction roll, and the lone creature agreed to join the group as a torchbearer for awhile.

Once the wall was down, the party entered the domicile of a long-vacated magic user, discovering some chalk, and a magic word.
Also during this period of the game, three players chose to mutate themselves in the green goo.

Following the newly dubbed Muta Bro, the Party was led to a heartily-constructed defensive wall, behind which Muta Bro assured them they would find Room 404, and the chip they sought. The man behind the wall questioned them harshly. Umquat lied, saying that the group needed to reach Room 404 because they were followers of the Techno-Faith, and needed to worship the technology in that space. By sheer luck, the man behind the barricade revealed himself to be a Techno Priest. He claimed that the entire area behind the barricade was a Techno Faith outpost in Dukes of the Dome territory, and he welcomed the party as acolytes.
The session ended in media res.

I had a lot of fun last night, guys. It wasn’t quite the wild ride that the first session was, but it was neat to see the party begin to mesh a little. See some connections begin to get made in the campaign world. I’m really looking forward to the next session.