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Great Basin Session (2023-01-29)

·503 words·3 mins
Matt Schwennesen
Author
Matt Schwennesen
Ph.D. Student and Tabletop Gaming Enthusiast

When we last ventured to the Great Basin…

The task force and their allies had stormed a remote monastery in the Niven Imperium, set on the volcano containing Keburipemi, the Niven deity of smoke, greed and misdirection who also was running the largest crime syndicate in the Basin. Before you stood the three masked avatars of Keburipemi. They let you quote “deliberate” for some time before asking the strength of your resolve and if there was room to negotiate. They promised wealth and incredible boon in exchange for allowing Keburipemi to live.

Their words fell on deaf ears, for you were united that Keburipemi must die.

The fight was swift and brutal. The avatars possessed powerful abilities including extremely high displacement, gaze attacks and scream which chills you to the bone, even in the extreme heat of the volcano. Soon thereafter, Keburipemi himself rose from the lava as much as he come, exposing a single eye. However, he was still able to unleash destruction across the battlefield.

Highlights of the battle include:

  • Meru using Obscuring Mist to block the effects of the Black Mask’s gaze attack.
  • Wil knocking out the Red Mask with a single blow.
  • Redfern summoning a Cerberi.
  • The Red Mask’s scream causing all but Breagan to flee in terror.
  • Keburipemi’s gaze of hatred causing many members of the Task Force to temporarily attack each other.

And of course, the tag team between Zorro and Breagan which lead to the defeat of a God. Zorro used Floating Disk to levitate Breagan, equipped with the life-stealing katana Raifusutīrā, to within striking range of Keburipemi.

The traditional slashing strikes proved unable to find purchase on the thick hide of the elder dragon until Breagan finally hefted the sword above her head and slammed it down in a stabbing motion. The dragon strained against the pull of the sword, but his body turned to smoke and was sucked in regardless. Saved only by the floating disk, Breagan quickly retreated to the shore of the lava lake just as the lava itself realized that the dragon was gone and collapsed inward on itself, spraying you all. It was this final splash of lava which did Redfern in, the rest of you carrying his body out of the volcano.

A safe distance from the monastery, you stopped for a break and Niwa demanded the sword immediately. Breagan was hesitant, but eventually yielded the sword to avert further bloodshed. While now clearly wary of you, Niwa recognized the great debt that she owns you and teleported you back to Daitoshi. She also had a mage resurrect Oisin and Redfern.

We now resume in the safehouse Niwa led you to in, just after your two dead members are restored to life. The safehouse is a cramped space tucked just beneath a larger wholesale shop. While many other operatives seem to be coming and going, to the street and to chambers deeper in the network, you are in a small room thus far undisturbed by the rush of activity…