P&P: Rails and Slime - Session 3

Find the previous chapter here!

The cast:
Skitters the tiefling thief.
Ixcuina the tiefling radiomancer.
Werd the human soldier.
Itzapal the ashanti veteran.
Ton, the NPC ashanti soldier.
Tot, the NPC berkins soldier.
Huehue, the NPC ashanti soldier.

The setting: A train bound for the urban battleground of Palenque, a Mayan city. The train consists of 7 cars (from front to back): The conductor/engine, 3 troop transports, 1 officer's quarters, and 2 cargo cars at the end. Conductor's car is #1, the first troop transport #2, etc.

After performing a crude pseudoautopsy on a tridog that might not have been completely dead, the gang decided to split up. Skitters, Werd, and Itzapal went to investigate the top of the engine. After climbing atop the cars, Skitters noted that the wind had picked up considerably. The gang pried open the emergency hatch, noting some resistance from some unidentified goop caking the hatch.

Meanwhile, Ix suggested that the strange tridogs should probably be moved out of a potential engagement. A captain agreed and ordered several soldiers to carry the tridogs to the cargo cars, and out the tridogs went. Ix then located the small wizard who soaked him earlier, and asked for assistance. The child came along willingly, and revealed that they had splashed him with a defoliant earlier because Ix looked green. Ix remained noncommittal.

The gang, with Ix and the child watching from the second car, opened the hatch. As they did so, they rapped on the surface of the train...and something tapped back, matching the intensity of the impacts. When they opened the hatch, they discovered the conductor's hand still affixed to the controls. Unfortunately, those hands trailed off into glistening streaks of slime that wound their way towards the back of the train, where a large, amorphous mass pulsed. Iz and Werd tapped their rifles on the side of the train to distract various grubs meandering about inside. Skitters reached down with his rifle and knocked the controls to half speed.

Ix asks the child what they can do. The kid says they can alter their shape and make potions obey them, adding an ominous comment about an "accident". Ix sighs and asks what happened, and the child narrates how they accidentally turned their brother into a fish monster while playing with a ball.

A moment of silence.

Ix hears some gunshots towards the back of the train.

Iztapal, Skitters, and Werd pull out all their available lantern fuel and, with the help of some twine and rope, lash the flasks into a large bundle, planning to swing the lit bundle through the opened hatch and smash it against the ceiling. Skitters dangles the makeshift molotov off the side of the train, gently swinging it back and forth to build up momentum, and then lobs the smoking bundle neatly into the hatch, where it smashes against the ceiling with a tinkling noise. A blaze of light erupts from the hatch and the party hears a greasy crackling noise that smells like dog bacon.

Itzapal descends and rallies the loud, uncoordinated soldiers in the car, making a stirring speech and outlining a plan of action.

Except nobody volunteers to help her.

The captain then mentions that hazard pay is awarded for especially dangerous combat activities, and people start talking. Some lots are drawn, and three soldiers present themselves to Itzapal: Tot, a timid berkins, Ton, a bulky ashanti, and Huehue, a voluble ashanti, Ton's sister. Iz sends off a couple soldiers (with approval of the captain) to investigate the gunshots. The soldiers return and report that the captain's quarters are locked and unresponsive.

Itzapal files the information away for later and organizes her volunteers into a firing line. She gives a signal, and the transport's door is flung open. Directly ahead, a thing pulses behind a milky, obscured window.

"Fire!"

The window shatters -

"Soldier down! Soldier down!"

- and Itzapal collapses to the ground, stone dead courtesy of massive internal hemorrhaging from her old wounds. Everyone gasps, and her body is quickly moved to the side. Her nonexistent pulse is taken, and almost everyone hushes as her death is announced.

While his comrade drops dead, Ixcuina takes advantage of the shattered window and peers into the engine. A thing like knotted, fleshy ropes with moist orifices adorns the front of the entire engine, with purple grubs crawling in and out of the orifices. It leaks a runny, pink goop from multiple perforations, and Ix takes advantage of its wounded state, draining electrons from a nearby lantern and firing a concentrated blast at the tangled mass, critically dazing it.

Skitters takes advantage of the stun, wrapping a bedroll over the pulsating thing and tearing it off the engine with some meaty snaps. He hoists it up through the emergency hatch, and before it recovers, tosses it off the train. The quivering bundle hits the ground with a thud and unceremoniously rolls to a stop, quickly disappearing in the distance.

Skitters hears a familiar skriii-kreeeeee noise and scampers away from the grubs moving towards him, back to safety. The excitement ended with the party discussing the shocking loss of a comrade.

Tune in soon for Session 4! (Which has already happened. I just need to write it up.)

Notes:
Well, so much for testing the Veteran class. Apparently any chance of instant death the first time Wound Dice are invoked is enough for the (now fired) dice bot to murder a PC. I would say it worked well, but maybe I need to account for the 1.53% chance that any Veteran player will die instantly when invoking their most important class ability. Sigh. Maybe someone else will die and try their hand at the class responsible for 100% of PC deaths so far.
Ixcuina got lucky with his spell because the fleshy thing, despite having no visible light-sensing organs, nonetheless critically failed its save. His luck probably won't hold forever.

P&P: Rails and Slime - Session 2

This was the first game set in my personal GLOG hack, Plaster and Pulque. I finally put together a rough rules document under pressure and it's not horrible, I think? Anyways:

The adventure takes place on a train bound for the urban battleground of Palenque, a Mayan city. The train consists of 7 cars (from front to back): The conductor/engine, 3 troop transports, 1 officer's quarters, and 2 cargo cars at the end. Conductor's car is #1, the first troop transport #2, etc.

The players:

Werd, a human Soldier who is thoroughly paranoid of all things unnatural after the introductory session.

"Skitters", a tiefling Thief with a penchant for investigation. Rolled spider legs as his beneficial mutation. (Skitters isn't his actual name, but I'm using it in place of the player's name.)

Ixcuina Quiahuitl, a tiefling Radiomancer who likes cards. He is a plant. 

The session opened with soldiers gambling, drinking, and completely eschewing their duty, chugging tequila and munching cacao bars with abandon. 

A man walked through the cabin, and the only noticeable thing about that was the other man with the exact same face who followed him a minute later. 

After that, a disheveled captain walked hurriedly into the room, and Skitters noticed his clothes were not entirely put on. Skitters deftly tripped the captain with one of his legs, catching the man and inquiring to his well being. Meanwhile, Ixcuina dodged a flask of tequila spilled in the rush to hide illicit substances from authority. 

Skitters, after being solicitous, took the chance to pick the captain's pocket while the man was distracted by the fresh puddle of tequila. While the captain gathered himself to tear the unfortunate lass a new orifice, one of the same-facers walked in and whispered in the rumpled man's ear. The party caught the words "conductor", "barred", and "unresponsive". 

Same-face and the captain rushed off, and Skitters examined the purloined papers, finding one to be a telegram directing the biological samples acquired by Werd in the intro session to be brought back as a top priority, superseding even the return of personnel. The other paper was simply a manifest of the cargo cars, listing such fascinating items as a mechanized macahuitl, jellied fire-water, and some fast-hardening rubber with special molds. Skitters filed away the papers for later.

Around that time, the second same-face walked back through the train car. Werd and Skitters decided to chat with the captains and observe their reactions. Werd, burdened with normal legs, walked through the train cars while Skitters crawled underneath the cars until he reached the captain's cars and then lurked on the outside, watching through the windows. Ixcuina wandered off to find another wizard.

While observing his superior officers, Skitters saw a slime trail that ran from the cargo hold to the front of the train or vice versa, and after inspecting the trail, determined that it ran from the cargo hold to the engine.

Werd knocked on the door to the captain's quarters and lied to his section's captain about hearing a noise near the cargo hold. She responded by offering him a drink from a flask and drawing her revolver. Werd then chugged some gutrot tequila and went off to investigate the hold with his captain. When the captain's argument resumed, Skitters noticed it had calmed down somewhat, although he noted the field surgeon had joined in.

Werd and Skitters briefly talked on top of the train, and Werd noticed a purple blob atop the train behind the thief. Skitters whipped around and quickly trotted over to the blob, revealing it to be a small wormlike creature with a toe on a segmented tail and fingers poking out from a central orifice. It popped up at him on thin legs and he whacked it off the train with the butt of his rifle. Peeking inside the open window (which was covered in slime) he discovered that the floor was covered in a sticky goop and saw a pulsing thing lurking in the shadows by the engine. The conductor was piloting the train, but his face was slack and unresponsive, lolling on his neck.

A cdkcdkckd-ciii noise erupted in front of Skitters and he saw several more grubs approaching him. The closest on popped up at him, landing on the arm he swung at it with, and proceeded to pull his lips open with its fingers.

Werd entered the cargo bay with the captain. They found the light off and the soldiers assigned to guard the car gone. Lighting a lantern, they began to explore the car until they heard a chittering noise. Panicking, Werd fired once at the shadows atop the cargo crates over his captain's orders. She ordered him to stand down and they retreated from the car back into the captain's quarters to secure backup.

Ixcuina saw a person huddled in a corner playing with a ball of water and noticed Same-Face passing by again. As they brushed by, Ix got splashed with a bit of water, and noticed the previous owner of the water snickering. Suddenly, Same-Face's face began to blur and smoke, and Ix cast Annihilation, cancelling the magical effect. The surprised face of a curly-haired woman was revealed behind the illusion and Ix noticed some soldiers rolling their eyes. Sitting down, Ix discovered that the woman was probably a member of the Smoking Mirror, counterspies devoted to Tezcatlipoca embedded in every regiment. Ix broke out some scrip and started a hand of cards with the soldiers, noticing a new slime trail on the window.

Meanwhile, Skitters decisively whacked the grub off his mouth (and the train) with his rifle. He broke the window he was observing through, which had closed, and tossed a lit lantern through the hole, which shattered, spreading burning oil on the slime-coated floor. The conductor convulsed, and his organs melted out of his skin, crawling away from the fire towards the back of the train. A wave of chirruping arose and Skitters noticed more grubs crawling towards him. One jumped at him and Skitters introduced it to the his rifle's stock. It tumbled off the train, but then ejected its tail with a splorch and grabbed back onto the train's sides. Skitters chose this moment to decamp for safer parts, crawling under the train while noticing that the wind had picked up.

As he crawled underneath, Skitters felt a thumping rhythm from inside the car. The rhythm stopped as he neared its source. A large bone spike erupted with a metallic screech from the floor of the car, narrowly missing him.

As they moved towards the troop cars, Werd and his captain noticed some cooing noises coming from the cars. They opened the door to find the troops clustered around a small creature. It had a segmented tail, an oval torso, and three legs. Its face was doglike, with beautiful eyes and long eyelashes, and it was covered in dark brown fur. Some soldiers were petting it as it nuzzled up to them and arguing over its gender, as its underside was smooth.

Werd decided the thing was probably a threat and asked where it came from. A few people pointed to an empty bucket. (Last session, Werd stored a dead biological sample in a bucket.)  He tried to shoot it, but some soldiers blocked him. The captain ordered them back, and they reluctantly fell into inspection stance. Werd then perforated the small thing with half a clip of bullets. He pulled on some rubber gloves and poked around in the creature's guts, finding that its internals were mostly a semitransparent non-Newtonian fluid very similar to the slime trails.

As he inspected its belly, he discovered that the creature's inside was composed of serrated, segmented bone strips that ran from head to tail all the way around the creature. Its organs were lurid yellows and greens. As he pulled his hands back, he noticed that the goop was slowly moving up his gloves. Choking back a yelp, he quickly shucked the gloves and called for a mop to clean the creature up. Some soldiers went at the corpse with soap and water but only succeeded in smearing the goop around. A soldier successfully scraped the slime off the floor with her dagger and went to wipe it on a rag. Werd stopped her and had her toss the dagger out the window along with the thing's corpse.

Ix, after winning a couple hands of cards, went over to the window and tentatively touched a scrap of old slime, carbon dating it. It appeared to be extremely old and yet very new. He suddenly noticed some soldiers clustering around an object and discovered another small doglike thing. It rubbed up against him and he petted it, deciding to rejoin his companions.

He met Werd poking through the creature's guts and decided to date the fur, which was very young, and confirmed that the fur was dead.

Werd and Ix discussed their next move, and the session ended there.

Notes:
It was nice to finally use my system. Somehow, people have avoided getting hurt so far. That may change tomorrow. I like how investigative my players are, it's more entertaining than "I shoot everything." Allows for more horror, too. I managed to actually disturb Werd enough to shoot at shadows (he didn't Crack from stress!) so I consider that a plus as a DM.

Tune in next week!