Post by Adminenkainen on Feb 24, 2019 15:48:44 GMT
Session 24
April 1, 1942
Batman, Sir Robin, Darklash, and Gracie had gathered in an open field near downtown Des Plaines, where a hot air balloon had descended. The occupant was a masked man who identified himself as the Acquirer, a mysteryman from the past. Batman and the Acquirer butt heads immediately, but the Acquirer is looking to help (for a profit). Darklash, knowing there was an awful lot to do, deescalates the situation and agrees to bring the Acquirer along. Where they are going is the Medinah Temple near what remains of Glenview, because Sir Robin came back last night to tell them Blaze and the Wizard were going in to the Temple by themselves this morning.
Back at the Temple, everything had been fine so far, though a spooky encounter with an animated statue in the basement had been hairy for a moment before Blaze and the Wizard came back up. Searching the auditorium, Blaze decided to wreck his way through the stage to see what was underneath it. There was a large room down below. Blaze hopped down and wrecked his way back up through the stage, right under the black marble box on the stage. Sure enough, the box was hollow, and Blaze had made his way into a secret room. Searching the room, he found a large jet gemstone on what might have been an altar block, and a book on top of the block. While taking them, Blaze heard from the Wizard below that something was in the room with him.
Blaze came back down and they both went back up -- and ran into Darklash, Gracie, and the Acquirer, who had just arrived (Batman, being stubborn, had remained outside and kept Sir Robin with him). After hearing about the creature moving in the dark, cluttered room below, Darklash decided to go down for a look -- and was ambushed by a live minotaur and knocked unconscious! The battle proved to be tough without her, and with Batman outside, but Gracie did most of the work of taking the minotaur down (indeed, it was accidentally killed by a combination of hers and Blaze’s powers).
There were doors that led to more of a basement level, but the Outsiders decided to get Darklash back on her feet so they could explore the ground floor more instead. Batman and Sir Robin finally joined them. They spent a lot of time backstage, checking the catwalk and such, until they discovered a side hall that was housing something unusual. Some antique items were being stored at the end of the hall, but when Blaze tried to race down to them, he set off a magical trap and was hurt. Expecting more traps between him and the objects, he wrecked his way through the wall at the far end of the hall and found a brazier and what looked like a genie lamp. Gracie took the lamp and rubbed it, but no genie emerged.
They did get a response, however, as a group of what looked like Arabian desert nomads charged them. Batman hit most of them with a lightning bolt, quickly routing their attack. After a minute, the remaining nomads surrendered. They believed that they served Allah’s will by guarding the Temple, but were willing to call a truce with the Outsiders. The displaced Arabs controlled every level of the Temple above ground, but not the basement level.
The Heroes had to make a choice about what to do about this Temple. Though the Acquirer was interested in looting the Temple, the others wanted answers more. And it seemed like the basement was the place to find them.
Session 25
Rather than go back down through either of the ways they already had, the Outsiders decided to try a staircase in the backstage area they had only noticed before. Since the Acquirer had wanted to search the east side of the Temple so badly, the compromise was to take the stairs that descended to the east side of the basement level.
The stairs came down to a short length of corridor with a skull on the floor and magic fog in the three exit archways. The fog was rust-orange in color and not gray like the Fog Wall. The Outsiders were very leery of it and did a lot of experimenting to see if they could light areas filled by the fog (they could, with torches), if the fog was combustible (it wasn’t), and if they could move safely through the fog while holding their breaths or covering their faces (they could). However, there was a side effect to prolonged exposure to the fog no matter what precautions they took -- it left them disoriented and unable to tell directions.
Moving through one arch, they found another similar length of corridor with three more archway exits. In here was a partial skeleton clutching a sled with three chests on it. While Darklash was moving the sled, an Arab came bursting out of the fog near her and attacked. The Arab held his own against the Heroes for a couple minutes before being knocked unconscious by Darklash using Olaf’s Hammer. The Arab was stripped of his scalemail armor (that Batman put on) and tossed back into the fog.
Again, the Outsiders were very careful about the chests being trapped -- and wisely so because one was and a paralyzing dart scratched Darklash despite her precautions. Luckily the Wizard had an antivenom solution that revived her quickly. The trapped chest held nothing but socks in it (Darklash broke the chest), but the other two held thousands of dollars worth of British gold guineas.
They moved on and found there was more to the maze, but they were uninterested in solving it. When their route took them back to the minotaur’s lair they opted to go back up and try something else. Blaze and the Wizard took them downstairs to where the black statue “Kazam” was waiting. They gave the statue back the gold sphere (it had dropped it since last being encountered) so it could speak to them again and they interrogated it about Rei Po and what Kazam knew about the Temple. Rei Po was a wizard from Tibet and he did not seem like a nice guy. There did not seem to be a connection between Kazam and the statue spotted at the Pal-Waukee Airport, though that would have explained a lot.
It was decided that the Temple’s secrets were too much trouble to pursue for now and there were other things to do. Blaze led the others back home to Mount Prospect for something big and unresolved -- the distribution of the loot from the Battle for Mount Prospect. Lightning guns were compared and grenades were handed out. Downtime would continue. Further, the Acquirer could detect magic and determined what things they had that were enchanted. What treasure they didn’t want to have on them they moved to the Burning Tower for Percy to guard.
April 2, 1942
Darklash, the only person who had been seriously hurt in that expedition, spent the day resting up.
The Acquirer spent it examining Olaf’s Hammer and, while it was magical, held no special enchantments to be learned.
Blaze spent it talking to the Wizard. The Wizard was not surprised to learn than Blaze was an android (he had half-incorrectly guessed they all were). They talked about how little Blaze knew of his own true nature and the Wizard offered to learn more, through surgery. For now, Blaze rejected that offer.
April 3, 1942
Batman and the Acquirer traded spells, Batman giving the Acquirer a Find Traps spell.
Darklash decided to go exploring; there was that suspicious hermit, Willie, she had met before and she scoured the woods around the Des Plaines River trying to find him, but only encountered more crocodiles (which she fled from rather than combating).
Blaze and Gracie went back into the Temple. Gracie used X-ray vision to scout the tunnels below and she discovered there were some seemingly empty rooms mixed into the maze. Then they went backstage and grabbed the brazier.
April 4, 1942
The Acquirer examined the genie lamp. It had indeed been a genie’s lamp -- but the genie was conspicuously missing.
April 1, 1942
Batman, Sir Robin, Darklash, and Gracie had gathered in an open field near downtown Des Plaines, where a hot air balloon had descended. The occupant was a masked man who identified himself as the Acquirer, a mysteryman from the past. Batman and the Acquirer butt heads immediately, but the Acquirer is looking to help (for a profit). Darklash, knowing there was an awful lot to do, deescalates the situation and agrees to bring the Acquirer along. Where they are going is the Medinah Temple near what remains of Glenview, because Sir Robin came back last night to tell them Blaze and the Wizard were going in to the Temple by themselves this morning.
Back at the Temple, everything had been fine so far, though a spooky encounter with an animated statue in the basement had been hairy for a moment before Blaze and the Wizard came back up. Searching the auditorium, Blaze decided to wreck his way through the stage to see what was underneath it. There was a large room down below. Blaze hopped down and wrecked his way back up through the stage, right under the black marble box on the stage. Sure enough, the box was hollow, and Blaze had made his way into a secret room. Searching the room, he found a large jet gemstone on what might have been an altar block, and a book on top of the block. While taking them, Blaze heard from the Wizard below that something was in the room with him.
Blaze came back down and they both went back up -- and ran into Darklash, Gracie, and the Acquirer, who had just arrived (Batman, being stubborn, had remained outside and kept Sir Robin with him). After hearing about the creature moving in the dark, cluttered room below, Darklash decided to go down for a look -- and was ambushed by a live minotaur and knocked unconscious! The battle proved to be tough without her, and with Batman outside, but Gracie did most of the work of taking the minotaur down (indeed, it was accidentally killed by a combination of hers and Blaze’s powers).
There were doors that led to more of a basement level, but the Outsiders decided to get Darklash back on her feet so they could explore the ground floor more instead. Batman and Sir Robin finally joined them. They spent a lot of time backstage, checking the catwalk and such, until they discovered a side hall that was housing something unusual. Some antique items were being stored at the end of the hall, but when Blaze tried to race down to them, he set off a magical trap and was hurt. Expecting more traps between him and the objects, he wrecked his way through the wall at the far end of the hall and found a brazier and what looked like a genie lamp. Gracie took the lamp and rubbed it, but no genie emerged.
They did get a response, however, as a group of what looked like Arabian desert nomads charged them. Batman hit most of them with a lightning bolt, quickly routing their attack. After a minute, the remaining nomads surrendered. They believed that they served Allah’s will by guarding the Temple, but were willing to call a truce with the Outsiders. The displaced Arabs controlled every level of the Temple above ground, but not the basement level.
The Heroes had to make a choice about what to do about this Temple. Though the Acquirer was interested in looting the Temple, the others wanted answers more. And it seemed like the basement was the place to find them.
Session 25
Rather than go back down through either of the ways they already had, the Outsiders decided to try a staircase in the backstage area they had only noticed before. Since the Acquirer had wanted to search the east side of the Temple so badly, the compromise was to take the stairs that descended to the east side of the basement level.
The stairs came down to a short length of corridor with a skull on the floor and magic fog in the three exit archways. The fog was rust-orange in color and not gray like the Fog Wall. The Outsiders were very leery of it and did a lot of experimenting to see if they could light areas filled by the fog (they could, with torches), if the fog was combustible (it wasn’t), and if they could move safely through the fog while holding their breaths or covering their faces (they could). However, there was a side effect to prolonged exposure to the fog no matter what precautions they took -- it left them disoriented and unable to tell directions.
Moving through one arch, they found another similar length of corridor with three more archway exits. In here was a partial skeleton clutching a sled with three chests on it. While Darklash was moving the sled, an Arab came bursting out of the fog near her and attacked. The Arab held his own against the Heroes for a couple minutes before being knocked unconscious by Darklash using Olaf’s Hammer. The Arab was stripped of his scalemail armor (that Batman put on) and tossed back into the fog.
Again, the Outsiders were very careful about the chests being trapped -- and wisely so because one was and a paralyzing dart scratched Darklash despite her precautions. Luckily the Wizard had an antivenom solution that revived her quickly. The trapped chest held nothing but socks in it (Darklash broke the chest), but the other two held thousands of dollars worth of British gold guineas.
They moved on and found there was more to the maze, but they were uninterested in solving it. When their route took them back to the minotaur’s lair they opted to go back up and try something else. Blaze and the Wizard took them downstairs to where the black statue “Kazam” was waiting. They gave the statue back the gold sphere (it had dropped it since last being encountered) so it could speak to them again and they interrogated it about Rei Po and what Kazam knew about the Temple. Rei Po was a wizard from Tibet and he did not seem like a nice guy. There did not seem to be a connection between Kazam and the statue spotted at the Pal-Waukee Airport, though that would have explained a lot.
It was decided that the Temple’s secrets were too much trouble to pursue for now and there were other things to do. Blaze led the others back home to Mount Prospect for something big and unresolved -- the distribution of the loot from the Battle for Mount Prospect. Lightning guns were compared and grenades were handed out. Downtime would continue. Further, the Acquirer could detect magic and determined what things they had that were enchanted. What treasure they didn’t want to have on them they moved to the Burning Tower for Percy to guard.
April 2, 1942
Darklash, the only person who had been seriously hurt in that expedition, spent the day resting up.
The Acquirer spent it examining Olaf’s Hammer and, while it was magical, held no special enchantments to be learned.
Blaze spent it talking to the Wizard. The Wizard was not surprised to learn than Blaze was an android (he had half-incorrectly guessed they all were). They talked about how little Blaze knew of his own true nature and the Wizard offered to learn more, through surgery. For now, Blaze rejected that offer.
April 3, 1942
Batman and the Acquirer traded spells, Batman giving the Acquirer a Find Traps spell.
Darklash decided to go exploring; there was that suspicious hermit, Willie, she had met before and she scoured the woods around the Des Plaines River trying to find him, but only encountered more crocodiles (which she fled from rather than combating).
Blaze and Gracie went back into the Temple. Gracie used X-ray vision to scout the tunnels below and she discovered there were some seemingly empty rooms mixed into the maze. Then they went backstage and grabbed the brazier.
April 4, 1942
The Acquirer examined the genie lamp. It had indeed been a genie’s lamp -- but the genie was conspicuously missing.