Monday, December 9, 2013

Episode 93: On a Roll...

Covered by darkness, the members of DCM Enterprises converged in groups on the Chelonian...

Xeno and Madmartigan, approaching from around the inlet, notice a hulking mind flayer nautiloid hovering over Port Harbor. The light of 100 fires light its keel in an eerie red glow. It stops its barrage of the town and turns, slowly, towards the DCM ruin and slowly starts to creep closer...

Lance and the Philosopher (scuttling along in his leopardskin tunic and carrying the Philosopher's Bone) scurry towards the ship from the west, and are soon pursued by a very large man wielding a scimitar.

Takemiya, utilizing his eldritch wiles and his rope-taut musculature, nimbly hops and shuffles from his hiding place in the woods and scurries up the gangplank, only stopping when he sees the eerie and grotesquely glowing figure of Kobayashi, who was just recently killed (by the Philosopher, I remind you) in a rock/paper/scissor fight to the death.

The Philosopher reaches the ship first, racing past Takemiya and knocking him in the drink. He saw the ghost Kobayashi and attacked, missing, and his hand was benumbed, lost the bone as it skittled across the deck and became lodged in the railing.

Madmartigan stops to rescue Takemiya from certain dampness with his polearm.

As the Philosopher and Lance streak by, Xeno leaps out and attempts to bribe Hassan with riches and not death.

It worked.

The Philosopher tries to save the bone, but with his hand numbed by Kobayashi's chilling death aura, he fumbles and the bone falls into the water. He leaps in after it, and needs to be rescued by Madmartigan, who only succeeds in reigniting his concussion-like symptoms, and causing him to fly.

Kobayashi, now aware of the approach of the nautiloid, heads below to finsd the Spelljamming helm. To his surprise, he can sit in and operate it.

Kobayashi lifts off, and with his mindlink with the ship, gets everyone to battlestations to attack a mind flayer ship three times their own size. Takemiya and Hassan on topside blade slinger, Madmartigan on aft catapult. The Philosopher on fore ballista. Xeno on hot, liquid death.

The Philosopher misses badly with the ballista, and the bolt flies over the ship and into the town and skewers dog.

Takemiya glances a blade off the hull of the nautiloid, and it flies into town and through stained glass window of a church that has taken in refugees from the battle. The statue of Saint Egbert the Lucky was beheaded. 

Madmartigan, however, rolls a goddamn 30, and shatters the bridge window with an iron catapult ball, killing the captain instantly and knocking out the serial lifejamming helm. The nautiloid stops moving and hangs in the air exactly like a hummingbird doesn't.

Kob skates the ship across the face of the nautiloid, and Xeno falls through eye of the ship and into the 'empty skin' hold. Mildly disgusted, he finds his way out to the passageways of the ship and tries to start a fire in the hold. Madmartigan boards the ship to save Xeno. Phil skewers a slave, explodes a ballista and obliterates a slave into a pink mist, knocking out a mind flayer in the process.

Kobayashi then forces the nautiloid gently to the ground while the crew board the captured ship. With only aged, shrunken slaves to defend the ship, the crew captures a viable nautiloid and fits it with the Mobile's backup helm.

Not a bad day's work...