CHA'ALT SESSION the FOURTH: SAVE YOUR HIDE AND GO SEEK, or OUT OF THE FRYING PAN, INTO ANOTHER FRYING PAN
Session #4. Thursday, May 24th, 2025.
Before play started, I remembered to have both Jarrko and Tazmon level up to Level 4 since they had both used Lavender Moon Dice for rolls last time. This lets them advance early, but when Dundard goes up to 4th, the others still remain at that level.
in the aftermath of the Cosmic Feasteria episode, the PCs (now including the human assassin, Jarrko Lehto,) had claimed their reward from notorious gangster and restauranteur, Gorio Grigorrio. Gorio wanted to show his appreciation by offering for them to dine at one of his fancier establishments, totally on him. Gratis. The sky was the limit. Since the group had not eaten any real food at all that day besides cosmic slop, this seemed agreeable. Gorio had one small favor to ask, however. He had a nephew, Abra'am Lindle-off, who was an aspiring filmmaker and wanted to make documentaries or.. some kind o' crap like that. This was his sister's kid, and he really needed to help the kid out, at least to get his sister off his back for a while. The father was one of those "Da'avidians," and they're all about the entertainment industry. Jarrko had some reservations due to the nature of his profession, but Gorio assured him that they could pixelate his features and make his voice all robotic-like. Gorio did hid best robotic voice impersonation.
"Dey'll make ya voice sound all robotty. Ya know, like, BLAHBLAHABLAH.."
The group decided to take care of some errands and agreed to meet at.. (Mark had suggested The Cadillac Grill) THE CA'ADILAC GRILL. This establishment boasted the finest cuisine, including raw meat dishes to tantalize Dundard. The PCs would meet there at around 7:30 PM (Purple Meridian.)
Dundard wanted to head over to the Powdered Fruit Cafe to score some more stim pills, but unfortunately, Ma’alenissa wasn't there. The place was pretty empty, with a shriveled old Eastern-looking woman (whatever that looks like on Cha'alt) sweeping the floors.
Jarrko contacted his Brotherhood to get set up with a safe house (a modest apartment behind a shop) and to see if he should keep working for Gorio. They informed him that more work might be coming from that source and if not, maybe Gorio himself might need bumping off at some point.
Tazmon Zule's "Onions" (a.k.a. Muffin Men or Muffineers) had been heavily traumatized by their recent experiences and had also entered A'agrybah quite nekkid. They probably wrapped garbage bags around themselves so as not to make old ladies faint in the street. Tazmon sought out a tailor for them to outfit them with some new, fancy duds. He found a tailor on a secluded street. We didn't give this tailor or establishment a name, dubbing him simply, The Tailor.
Jarrko got to the restaurant first on his "swoop" bike, and found a number of hippies demonstrating outside the establishment. They held signs that read, "MEAT IS MURDER," "ANIMAL RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS" and chanted, "MEAT PROTEIN, THAT'S JUST MEAN!" Jarrko resolved to slip into the crowd and assassinate whomever the leader was. As there were a number of unsavory types in the crowd who were less interested in causes than they were in the prospect of causing a disturbance, one dark-cloaked dude was scarcely noticed.
Jarrko found the presumed leader, a young woman wearing hemp clothing and shouting the loudest. When he slit her throat, the grassrooters went into full panic mode and scattered. Jarrko caught a glimpse of the kidnapper and humanoid poacher with the strangely-shaped nose, Ginzo Twatsnoot flee from the crowd. Dundard had once spotted him before the last mission scoping out Tazmon. The assassin then calmly strode into the restaurant. He was greeted by the owner, Armand, who was very grateful that his customer had somehow managed to scare off the protesters. Jarrko sat at the bar and was served by a comely young lady with very nice, almond-shaped eyes, who bore a slight familial resemblance to Armand.
Meanwhille at the menswear joint, Tazmon got his disciples some blue nehru suits, blue fez hats and blue shoes that he asked to have the toes curl up in front. The prices were pretty decent, as the tailor had fallen on rough times and was ecstatic that not one, but THREE chump-err.. fashionable men might display his wares and bring him some business. Tazmon also clued him in about his deity, Izzard the Fabulous. The tailor was soon convinced that he could network with those who revered such a divine power, perhaps fetching him better prices on bolts of silk and other fabrics. This earned Tazmon a point of Divine Favor for pushing his Cosmological Affiliation. I had printed out a cheat sheet of all of the meta-currency options for Cha'alt/Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer, and I remembered this was definitely a way to earn points.
Dundard rode up to the restaurant on his newly-acquired riding spider-lizard he had named BALKY. He noticed the corpse of the woman in the street, licked some blood to whet his appetite and lifted her hemp bag, which contained a few credits, some protest flyers and maybe some gluten-free, non-GMO granola or something. As he began to enter, Tazmon showed up on foot with his boys, now a bit more swagger in their walk due to new threads and not being buck naked.
The PCs were the only customers, and all the stops were pulled out. A sort of Bra'azilian rodizio, all-you-can-eat meat parade was brought by Armand and another waiter, including some raw meat for Dundard. Meanwhile, Jarrko's server had been giving him "the eye' and brushed her hand aginst his as she was pouring wine for him from one of those Ita'alian wrapped bottles. He asked what time she got off, and she replied, "That's up to you." (And that's about all the sexy banter I can get through with a player before it starts getting damn weird.)
As Jarrko went off to the kitchen to "help" the young lady with some things (a.k.a. have hot, sweaty, passionate monkey sex near hot surfaces,) the film crew arrived and started setting up. Abra'am shook hands with everyone and assured them that he didn't want to be intrusive and they should go ahead and enjoy the meal (as sound and lighting equipment were put into place.)
Something smashed through one of the windows. Armand picked up a metal cylinder.
"These FOKKINK protesters! Now they break my FOKKINK window?! Get the FOKK away fr-"
As he spoke, green gas billowed out of the cannister and he dropped to the floor, sending it rolling. It spilled out an impossible amount of gas for such a small object. Some of the crew, including Mr. Lindle-Off's personal assistant, also fell to the ground.
Jarrko had done the deed, earning him the SLEAZE FACTOR 5 bonus, the first so far for this campaign. He heard the crash and came out to investigate. He had learned that there was a back exit through the kitchen and called to the others to escape the gas that way. The other waiter appeared to offer to guide him through the back alleys. The serving girl (who now told Jarrko her name was Sinda) said she had a way to get herself and Armand to safety, so Jarrko risked the gas and grabbed the unconscious Armand before he ducked out the back.
Lindle-off yelled to guy with a SteadyCam to follow the group's movements.
Jarrko planned on going around to surprise whomever was attacking. Dundard noticed humanoid shapes outside through the gas-shrouded window. Tazmon told his men to grab whatever cutlery or weapons they could find and get ready to fight as the gas started to subside.
As Jarrko followed the waiter into an alleyway, the waiter seemed to meld seamlessly into the cobblestone street and disappear. The alley in front of him and behind grew indistinct, as the walls began to peel like old paint. Three figures in dark trench coats appeared, floating toward him. They were all pale and had light blue skin. One was slightly demonic-looking. One was emaciated, with huge, black bug eyes. Another was obese and wore a strange respirator mask over his mouth, Bane-style. They looked a bit like a cross between the Cenobites from Hellraiser and the mysterious men from Dark City. (That AI pic also reminds me a bit of the nosferatu from the original Salem's Lot movie.)
The creatures revealed to him (speaking in unison, as they each completed parts of sentences) that it was he who had summoned them, for they now possessed one of his Lavender Soul Shards that he had gambled in his last adventure. As a consequence, he must now serve them. He was told that he must seek out an artifact called The Black Blade of Threese, located high atop the mountain known as A'abadur, where it is guarded not only by an ancient order but also by the presence of a Federation outpost. If he recovered it, the Triumvirate of blue-skinned demons would find him. They receded back down the alleyway and it returned to normal.
Jarrko continued to circle around as the other PCs were getting ready to fight. They saw a group of rough-looking men of various human-like and non-human species brandishing short swords. Jarrko snuck out of the alley and attacked one from behind. Jarrko's player stimulated the Grindhouse/Exploitation Cha'alt X-Card, and proceeded to saw off his victim's head and throw it, horrifying the thugs (henceforth dubbed, "The Shmoogies.") A battle ensued, and three of the six punks who weren't slaughtered ran off. I believe Dundard got to take a bite out of one, before or after death. Possibly both.
Jarrko had noticed Ginzo Twatsnoot skulking in the shadows of an alley across the street, presumably the mastermind behind the attack. The assassin slipped away and did some hardcore parkour to flip down behind GT and kill him. Found on his person aside from a sport blaster, a knife and credits/talons was a small datapad. This contained info on black market, etherwebs auction site called BVEbay. It had listings for blue velvet hides, organs, random bits pertaining to occult rituals and even auctions of living captives to used as slaves or for other nefarious purposes. The group believes they can possibly track down some of the missing bluvelven folks, or at least discover what happened to them, if they were so inclined. Rescue opportunities? Blackmail opportunities? Who knows which rabbit (or poisonous desert jackalope) holes this may lead to.
FUNNY BITS
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