Apex Session 6: Tower Fight

We were missing one player, so I played him as best I could for the evening, and managed not to get him killed. And he even got to eat (there is a running joke about his food as he does keep missing meals). 

The adventurers sleep well in the tower, after moving the remains of the skeletons to one of the rooms. Sleeping on the 3rd floor, they shove that huge table to block the stairwell doors. They keep watch, all except Frau Ilsa, as these are gentleman in these perilous times. And she is not complaining about getting a full night sleep. There is something flying overhead during the night, but it was too distant to tell if it was natural or not, though they are pretty sure it was something natural.

the tower

Next morning, with the sun shining, they leave the tower, only to be attacked by a flock of juvenile pteradactyls! These were from those nests in the stable level of the tower. They are the remnants of those creatures who used to be ridden by the guardians centuries past (which is sort of assumed by our adventurers based on the remaining tapestries and that one bronze sword with To Guard The Worlds engraved on it.

attack!

A fight ensues, and Ace got bit while protecting the expert shot Ilsa. A monkey wrench is almost as effective as some guns but does require to be a bit closer! As the fight is drawing to a close, a screaming Jungle Girl (who really has no name that she can at least recall. Other than Ungawa) comes charging up on her dinosaurs. She leaps to "Arkie's" defense, but despite her high agility, I actually rolled badly and she missed her prey. She turned her overshot into a graceful flip however; the pteradactyl she was attacking was put out of its misery by a round to the head from Archie. I also rolled really bad for all of Tong's shots, so he never hit anything. Fortunately for our team, I rolled equally bad on the attacks: only that 1 attack on Ace succeeded. And I think we forgot about that later - we can go with he bandaged up his arm and we'll restore a point of damage from first aid at least. I need to read the healing rules.

Jungle Girl's dinosaurs gorge themselves on the fresh meat. Having run most of the night, they are a bit famished. While Archie tries to ask JG if the adventurers can eat the meat, she casually tears into one of the dead dinos and starts eating the raw meat. She has quickly adapted to using that knife Ace gave her the previous day. The team decides if she can eat it (with blood dripping down her face) then they can. They strip some meat from the downed dinosaurs to take with them.

Having been reunited with Jungle Girl (who followed that ornithopter on her dinosaurs, and she apparently is popular with the boys at least) they resume their trek to the volcanic region with the temple.

Tong's map

Ace, adventurer that he is, uses Tong's map and they follow the vague trail that is there. About midday the two dinosaurs find some shade in a butte and decide that resting and digesting is more important than walking across these badlands. Jungle Girl agreed and napped against one distended belly.

the badlands (actually the Badlands Park)

After resting a bit, they start back up. Travelling almost to the oasis, they spy what looks to be a herd of triceratops in the distance. Looking through the binoculars, they see what appears to be a herder or something overlooking the herd. A while later, he is replaced by another and he leaves, leaving a new watcher in place.

Despite the differences in the images, they appeared to be similarly dressed, though they were riding different dinosaurs. They somehow managed to get Jungle Girl to look through the binoculars, and she seemed indifferent to seeing other people riding dinosaurs. 

And that's where we left the game. Part of the fun for me at least is poking around for images: so many cool dinosaur things to pick and choose from. I also brought back our jungle girl as I did want an NPC in the group so that I can have a bit of interaction with the players. It helps that she only knows the one word (gotta love old Tarzan movies!). Currently there has not been too much of a rush to get where they are going: they have water, and fresh meat now. But I will be throwing something in there to speed things up and give more urgency to this foray. 

Hard to believe we're 6 sessions in already. There are a few turning points ahead, so I am not sure what the players will actually decide to do. I like big sandboxes and try to have a lot of options open. This is a new game and the players are basically going where the overall plan was but that could change at any time. Particularly as not everyone's motivations are the same. Tong has a map that may lead to the center of the Earth, Ilsa wants to keep the Nazis from taking over the world, and Ace & Archie are basically following her as they want that as well, but they are in it more for the adventure, though saving the world is important as well. And Archie is hoping those crystals will be able to power his toys. 

And this world may be part of a larger set of universes. While it is (at least in my head!) in the same universe and time as our vigilante game, there may well be access to my Fantasy Trip world, and the Traveller universe as well. Way back in college one of the Traveller games I was playing in misjumped, and we ended up in a D&D world. Those were the ways we played back then, and as I've been playing perhaps a bit too linearly and by the rules the last few years, I do want to play outside the lines a bit more. Have more memorable games. Fun games for the players as well as the GM! And oddly enough, the PDF of Wex's Drift showed up and there are power crystals there. So another potential overlapping world. I am not sure if Wex's Drift exists or not in my Fantasy Trip world; I do have other fantasy RPGs where it may fit in better.  And it is always fun translating characters between game systems - sometimes it is pretty easy, other times a bit twisty.