Riverboat Gambler - Session Seven

 

Jack, Zigar, Roddy and Datura worked out a plan of attack with Smaragdino the Grain Cleric and Alejandra the Minotaur. The cult would send the flying ship Llanera to drop off a blocking force at the Serpent Tomb (to destroy the Giants if they made it back with their prize), then head west to garrison the Tomb of the God in case that was Aldrich's target. The Gamblers would head south accompanied by one cult ship to the Tomb of the Dragon and a force of two other gunboats would go to the Shield Volcano.

 

The ship which was to accompany the Gamblers floated in a columned impluvium with a tunnel bored through the rock to access the river. The Bottle Full Of Rain, a lightweight dhow or beden which mounted a pair of swivel guns. A compliment of sailors worked to prepare the vessel for departure. The Cleric Alice Woodfingers clouted her detachment of ten Mowers aboard the boat, gesticulating with her arms of living oak and shouting that they'd overdose if she left them in charge of their own combat stims. Roddy recognized the signs of black honey addiction, a stimulant that granted extra actions but destroyed the user's teeth. The Mowers all had grills of wood, bone or gold. 

 

Alice explained the score to the Gamblers in between shouting at her troops. The Bottle could match the Last Round's normal speed under sail, and if she handed out stims the Mowers could match the steamship's blueline speed under oars. She had a gift for the Gamblers, something to mount on their ships. A group of teenage acolytes brought out six scarecrows on poles. Jack asked what they were for and all six turned and bowed at him, doffing their straw hats. Alice explained that the constructs absorbed magic spells and would protect the ship from the Giants' lightning toss power. 

 

At Roddy's insistence, Datura negotiated access to one of the ammonium nitrate "golems" for use in demolitions. The rest of the gang purchased healing potions and other necessities. The grain cult potions came in earthware jars and tasted like thick barley porridge, a marked contrast to the glowing red serum sold by Potion Addict.

 

 

The Last Round and the Bottle Full Of Rain took the western channel of the Hog around the Pastry Mesa. They came upon a barge headed downriver, full of homesteaders and sheep. Jack assessed that the ruminants were a hot weather morph bred by the Cult for survival in the Plain's harsh conditions. The barge crew had no news of Aldrich but shared stories of the monster bats that lived in the desert north of their ranch. Dusk fell and a group of enormous camel spiders came tumbling down the dunes piled at the foot of the mesa to drink from the river. When night fell the Gamblers could see a bloodred light on the horizon to the south. Alice warned them that the "village" ahead was the homestead of retired high level adventurers who hated the Grain Cult. The Gamblers left the Bottle anchored and proceeded alone to avoid guilt by association.

The adventurers' villa was a series of rock escarpments rising out of the river, connected by stone bridges. Atop the platforms were gardens and a structure like a smaller version of the fazenda above the Gnomish mines. The red glow came from a big statue of O Sun and Great Moon back to back, holding up a glowing dagger that cast Continual Light to keep the undead away. White robed figures labored over the gardens and an tattooed elf lay under the red light of the statue clad only in a pair of sunglasses. He pretended to be annoyed when the Gamblers tied up their cool steamship at his dock, then invited them up for coffee and awerdenty.

 

The Elven Necromancer Vlad Polishes-The-Bones threw on a robe but didn't bother to belt it, leaving his dick hanging out and giving the Gamblers a good look at the tattoo on his chest: a skull and crown, impaled on a cactus. The adventurers were veterans from Cactus Garden, the final battle of the rebellion. The Elf treated Jack Fatherd (who he recognized by reputation) to a tirade about the evils of the Grain Cult. Sure he'd slaughtered monsters in his time, but this was excessive. These people were a plague. Their damned Goddess was like the queen of a colony of driver ants whose only goal was to devour everything in its path. The big board tracking how many hit dice of creatures the militant orders had dispatched to their reward was particularly grotesque. And they had the nerve to tell him that his white hooded skeleton farmers were an abomination, like using convict labor was better.

Doomedsarcoma

 

But, those were old man's stories. The Gamblers weren't responsible for any of that stuff.  He asked them about their adventures and they told him about their pursuit of Aldrich, Human King of Giants. Datura noticed several pairs of enormous eyes peering out of the bush at her. A wisdom of Owlbearlins, bird headed humanoids, hidden from the rest of the group but visible with her greensight. Vlad told her they were friends of his, monster people who had fought along side him during the big war. Anywhere else they'd be hunted for reagents, here they were under his protection. The Gamblers didn't care about hunting humanimals, they wanted to know where Aldrich was going. Vlad remembered what it was like being level four, and he was amused by Jack's plan to track down the giant bats and use his Rod of Bat Friendship to commandeer one as a mount. So the necromancer slid a dagger out of his sleeve and drove it point down into the table. He stared at the quivering handle and announced that Aldrich was headed to the shield volcano.

 

Inside the villa, someone shouted at Vlad to get rid of the adventurers before they made a mess. She was trying to sleep. He told them they'd better leave before Pectin killed them and him. The Gamblers got back in the Last Round and continued on their way, rejoined by the Bottle Full Of Rain.

 

Further up the river a cloud of dust kicked up at the base of the mesa betrayed the hiding spot of a Gnoll pack. They were too far away for the Gamblers to engage with anything but a Hail Mary shot from the main gun. The beastmen weren't interested in challenging the Gamblers and Roddy settled for waving the scrimshaw bone he had taken from the tomb complex and shouting at them in a rude imitation of their speech. Maybe an hour later they spotted another group of desert dwellers on the west side of the river, moving among the rocks and boulders. They wore lizardskin cloaks that protected them from the heat of the Plain and Jack Fatherd wanted to buy one. He shouted a greeting in the trade language. The lead figure lifted its head, revealing the snout of a Hogman. The Mowers immediately let loose with their bows, dropping two of the Orcs and sending the rest to ground. Jack shouted at them to cease fire and called on his Gods to turn away the arrows before they did serious harm. He went ashore with Datura to negotiate with the desert dwellers.

 

Marsh Davies 

 

They caught up to the monstermen as they exfiltrated through a defile in the rock. There were enough Orcs to potentially give two adventurers trouble but the leader didn't want to fight. He acknowledged that today the Godman's magic was stronger than his own. Jack asked to buy some of their lizard skin cloaks, which the Orcs gave him in exchange for a charge of powder for their scavenged muskets. He and Datura healed some crippling injuries afflicting the tribe, curing a gangrenous foot and a case of glaucoma afflicting one of the elders. In exchange the Hogmen told Jack the location of the Bat King's tomb.

 

Alice was not happy with her allies' decision to trade with the Orcs. They were Water Insects, a tribe who killed people in the desert to drink their blood for sustenance. The powder they bought would no doubt be used against people under the Goddess' protection.  

 

The ambush came as the two boats passed through a narrow channel with short, steep cliffs on both sides. By the time they realized it was a trap it was too late to avoid the rockslide. Both banks of the river caved in and sent stone and earth fill tumbling down into the river. The Gambler and the Bottle ran aground in the shallow water covering the heaped debris. A shout went up from the hills and thirty four Red Dwarves surged down toward the stranded vessels, accompanied by five Black Bears.

 

The crews let loose with their deck guns and the Last Round disgorged its main gun into the oncoming attackers. The Dwarves maintained their spacing, used to fighting technologically superior adversaries, and their losses were minimal. Roddy dumped all the alchemical oils he'd been hoarding over the sides of the Last Round, making them too slippery for the Red Dwarves to easily climb. The Halflings fired their muskets into the crowd. The Dwarves hurled spears and with the Bears they piled onto the Bottle Full Of Rain, whose sides weren't high enough to form a natural barrier. They stacked rocks to climb onto the decks of the Last Round. Zigar and Roddy blocked them from reaching the Halflings, who thrust away with their short swords like huge bowie knives. Datura and Jack leaped off the deck and into the fray. Jack's amulet of protection from normal weapons let him absorb punishment from the crowd without injury. Datura dueled the chief of the Dwarves, taunting him in the Chaotic alignment language they shared. Alice lost her Flail of Flowers and laid into the attacking bears with her hardwood fists. Everyone called on their Gods to heal injuries and deflect damage and guide their attacks home.

 

The Dwarves were tough adversaries and didn't go down without a fight, but the death of their leader at Datura's hands and the extermination of 2/3 of their forces broke their morale. The Gamblers laid into their fleeing foes with missile weapons. Alice stopped the pursuit before the Mowers became overextended. Four of the Grain warriors didn't make it and Alice took it out on the Gamblers. Did they also want to trade with the Dwarves? Did they have local knowledge that was worth paying for? The Mowers were less bothered. They had slain twenty six of the enemy and next time battle was joined their leader would hand out the combat drugs sooner, unwilling to let her troops fall under the superior action economy of the foe.

 

All the Halflings survived thanks to Zigar's heavy armor and Roddy's rod of parrying fending off the oncoming tide of Dwarven warriors. The Gamblers collected treasure and the Mowers took scalps off the dead Dwarves, then the shambling mound full of ANFO slurped up the remains to add to the mulch.