May the Power Protect You: Jason Lee Scott (Zeo Gold)

MAH. BOI. JASON. Oh my God. This is yet another time where I horrifically underestimated one of Mr. Ying's designs. How on earth I did that I've no idea. Do you think I would have learned by now? I thought I had. Ah, man's heart is hard and ungiving and his brains are mush. At any rate, I decided to wait and see. Me being wrong is something I've grown used to.

A few weeks ago I talked about Lauren Shiba and about how easy of a character she was to just go buck wild with. I also said that this flexibility will become more and more common as we get deeper into the game. Jason Gold is the guess seeing some fruition. Jason is so open, so ridiculously flexible, so freaking hard to figure out how to talk about... I love the challenge. Let's see if I do this design any justice.

So Jason Gold has the Gold Staff (GS) symbol on his cards. You can resolve a GS ability from your hand. You then have to put that card on the bottom of your deck and draw another one. This is the most dynamic character in the game so far.  Your hand is constantly changing. So I make sure it's really well organized: Attacks, Maneuvers and Reactions. I do it that way because the sheer amount of information going through my hand requires that I organize my hand a bit better than I normally do. You may do it that way normally. But I sure don't. So I have to go and organize it with Jason Gold, to make sure that I know exactly what my hand has.

Now, the next thing I did was to consider what types of cards are in Jason's deck. The vast majority of Jason's cards are attacks, which locks most of Jason's approach into attacking. This is probably the balancing point of Jason's impressive arsenal, making him a bit less flexible than he looks. I know that's not saying much, given just how intimidatingly large Jason's arsenal is.But most of Jason's opportunities, by the numbers, are attacks. Gold Rush is his best attack card, if you ask me, as it allows you to either get a reliable attack or essentially regain health, if you donate the card to another played card of yours. Having only one maneuver and reaction puts Jason up front, hitting as hard as he can, as often as he can, with good dice values to back it up.

Honestly, when I look at Jason's deck my eyes cross. The amount of possible combinations in this ten card deck boggles my mind, enough to where I don't think I could write anything actually intelligible. I found myself having to look at cards as two-component bits and I just...

It's one thing to have a single use card that I can go "I like using this card like that". But when I look at this character that's not what I feel. I don't feel any particular card jumps out, because the cards bleed into each other and makes something so adaptive and powerful and fun that I could just play this dude, over and over, and have a completely different game each time. It's gotta be a pain to design, but as I said with Lauren, I want this to be the norm for this game. I want to look at those ten cards and feel like I just walked into a gigantic library of choices. And that's just a fantastic thing to encounter in a ten card deck.

Jason has an answer for practically everything. He's the ultimate jack of all trades, mixing and matching cards and cycling his deck to keep the toolbox constantly refreshed. Even his zord does a little bit of everything. Lauren was the start of a paradigm shift for this game, a shift I am more than willing to accept that I missed. Jason Gold isn't a character. He's a freaking infinite library.

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Marvel Champions: Hulk Pack

Well, that was fun. 

There are a lot of downsides to the Hulk: his stupidly small hand size, both Banner and Hulk. He can't thwart. Well, that's not true, he can technically thwart, but his thwart is a zero, so how helpful is that really? And a lot of Hulk's cards, the ones I really like, will effectively cost you your whole hand. Oh, and you discard your hand at the end of ever turn if you're in hero form! The number of times I had a good defensive hand that had to be discarded....

But in one of the games I played I was faced with something that would normally be insurmountable: tons and tons of minions, with side schemes galore; an overwhelming amount of stuff to face. I checked: none of the minions had guard. Rhino was at his full sixteen hit points. And I'd just drawn Hulk Smash. Along with Crushing Blow. I'd spent the time to build up the resource management engine Hulk's default deck comes with, so I could play both.

And I did.

Sixteen damage in one turn.

I didn't have to worry about dismantling the myriad ways I'd been screwed with a few bad draws. None of that mattered. I just emptied my hand and pounded Rhino into the ground so hard I could feel the tremors, from worlds away. Now, you have to smart about it. I don't see taking out Avengers Mansion and the Helicarrier anytime soon, honestly. It allows Hulk's deck to operate pretty smoothly, assuming you don't mind setting all this stuff up. Which I don't, BECAUSE HULK SMASH.

I would absolutely hand this deck to a new player. It's got an immense amount of power that only needs a little bit of patience to build into a raging monster, like the Hulk truly is.

And the rest of the pack ain't bad either! Beat Cop is a sea change for Justice, as my Spider-Man Justice deck just showed. You'll Pay For That helps solve some of the biggest issues with Aggression.

Now if only they could give Protection some real ways to mitigate threat.

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Masks of the Forgotten: Session Zero

Down down down to the land of the dead,

A dangerous path that we must tread,

Never knowing what lay ahead,

In search of things to gain,

Finding a deeper pain,

Will we return or is all lost,

If we survive be it at what cost,

Down down down we go

-Gratorin the Skald, from The Journey to Death

Last year a pitch for a 4e jumped into my brain. And when I say it jumped it practically grabbed my brain and just kept screaming. For weeks. Even months. It was a concept that just begged to be played out. I ignored it, because I was doing other things at the time and wasn't quite over the rude shock that playing Burning Wheel was to my DnD sensibilities. And, honestly, I've been in some weird form of pseudo-mourning for the last few years about that, that the first RPG I've ever loved was not capable of giving me the experience that Burning Wheel did so deftly.

But this concept demanded 4e.

So over a year later I decided to go for it. 4e is many things (perfect ain't one of them), but it seemed to fit with the idea I had in mind. So I went and hacked a few things here and there into the ruleset, trimming the fat and correcting some of the major problems. As time goes on I'll get into how I modified the system, but for the moment all that needs to be known is that ability score generation was changed to allow for greater variety in class/race builds and that I borrowed some stuff from the phenomenal game Miseries and Misfortunes.

Characters were given an 18 in their primary stat, a 16 in their secondary, and rolled 3d6 straight down the line for the rest of the stats, for some truly hilarious rolls. Players get characters who are very proficient at their respective jobs but can have hilariously awesome weaknesses, as well as unexpected strengths. I also asked the group to come up with a Determination, which is the reason why the group is together. If they get into arguments someone can invoke the Determination and quell the argument. Each character was then given the chance to name a Virtue, which was associated with their highest Stat (or if there was a tie they got to pick), which someone else can invoke to make sure the player can get an auto-success, along with three Action Points.

Characters

We generated the three main characters using Heroes of the Feywild, particularly the background generator they have in the back of the book. They will be getting a ranger from PHB1 as a companion character.

Acacia

A Hammadryad Berserker Barbarian with a Guardian of Nature Theme, which was custom built, Unrelenting Virtue. Acacia is built principally upon maneuvering her opponents into a bad spot and hitting multiple opponents at once. Since she's a berserker she drops into rage with a Primal power, which she gets from her theme (which is essentially a multi-class into Warden) and her class, allowing her to spike  damage when it becomes clear that she doesn't need to defend the group anymore.

Acacia had always been concerned about balance. Nature was about cycles and seasons and the hammadryad took that deathly seriously. Raised amongst the lower echelons of the hammadryad community. When she heard about the awful fomorians' eternal war upon Astrazalian, crown jewel of the Feywild, Acacia could feel that the war was an imbalance in the world itself, one she needed to try and end if she could. Over the next few years Acacia did extremely well, serving on the front lines of that war. Having served well Acacia was discharged. In search of new meaning, Acacia found herself in need of something new to do. She went to the twilight city of Mithrendain, hoping to see the Citadel Arcanum, a place known for trying to preserve the balance of the world. She was denied. So Acacia broke in with a group of adventurers, hoping to learn something more about the world itself. She learned nothing. Leaving, she heard about The Prince of Frost and his eternal winter and the halting of his land's natural cycle. She marched to the Land of Frozen Tears and demanded that the balance be restored. 

The Prince of Frost killed one of Acacia's childhood hammadryad friends, Citali, with but a word from his frozen throne. Acacia felt the life drain right out of her

And then told Acacia that if she was so self-righteous about the "balance of things", maybe she should figure out a way to go see her dead friend, in the land of the dead, without getting caught.

Gratorin

A half-battlerager/human Skald Bard, theme Unseelie Agent, who mechanically resembles with a half-elf, except with a bursting sword encounter power instead of grabbing another class's at-will as an encounter. Virtue is Magnetic. Gratorin is a melee buffer, running in and granting tons of temp HP and damage boosts.

Gratorin was the product of a human woman and a fey battlerager. One would think that being a half-elf with swords floating around him in a perpetual ring would make it  difficult to be in commerce.  On the contrary, Gratorin did quite well for himself.  So well, in fact, that he was able to do what he liked. Gratorin went to Astrazalian and joined the Stars and Dolphins Guild, where he picked up a knack for market research. With enough money to his name Gratorin that he wanted to do something for himself. He went to the city of Shinaelestra, where pilgrims from the mortal world journeyed. Gratorin acted as a guide to these pilgrims. After that he went to the Prince of Frost, seeking an audience. He so impressed the Prince that he was formally dubbed as Friend of the Realm. Gratorin was then sent to to Senaliesse to attend to Queen Tiandra. While there Gratorin stopped an assassination attempt, earning the gratitude of Queen Tiandra. Returning to the Prince of Frost Gratorin was sent with a couple of ragamuffins to travel to the land of the dead. The Prince of Frost wanted to make sure the job got done, and he only trusted Gratorin with this task....

Jolene Wick

A minotaur witch, fey nobility theme. Virtue Cleverness. There was a lot of excitement about the witch subclass's ability to turn targets into small helpless animals. So we'll be seeing that a lot! Jolene actually is actually half-pixie (DON'T PICTURE IT) but only really wanted the fey keyword out of it. Well, and huge pink wings. On a minotaur.

Jolene was a minotaur with gigantic pixie wings. Her formorian masters found that funny, so they sent her to the tunnels of Mag Tureah to be a test subject. But it didn't take long for Jolene to realize that nobody was really watching her around the portals that lined Mag Tureah. So she slipped through one, winding up in Astrazalian.. She went to The Coven of the Full Moon and asked to be taught magic.The coven, impressed by Jolene's clear aptitude (and attitude) gladly trained her. Jolene quickly became a star pupil. one night, while staying up late to study, uncovered the truth about herself: she was fey royalty, probably connected to the Prince of Frost! She traveled to his castle and announced her presence as his relative. When the Prince asked how it was possible he was related to a minotaur with pixie wings Jolene winked and told him it was done in the usual way.

The Prince of Frost was not amused.

A few hundred years later and the Prince unthawed Jolene, telling her he had a job for her. Weakened by her time in the ice, Jolene would have loved to have throttled the prince, but could only listen. The Prince wanted Jolene to go to the land of the dead with a few other companions. They could talk about her possible... relationship... with the Prince whenever she got back.

Jolene realized The Prince of Frost was not asking. He was telling.

Further Rules

4e is not a perfect or tidy game, like any starting venture. While it's good as it is there are certain things that can certainly be improved.

Dice Rolling

We're taking from Pathfinder 2e here: anything 10 above the DC is a critical success in addition to a nat 20. Anything 10 below the DC is a critical failure in addition to a nat 1. If a character fails by less than 10 they can elect to try again. Critically failing means that a twist happens in the story that prevents further attempts at the same skill or possibly starts a combat. Critical success allows the player to twist the situation to his benefit.

Escalation Die

This is ripped from 13th Age. For those of you who do not know, the Escalation Die is the biggest d6 you own. You plop it into the center of the table on the second round, at 1. That's the bonus the player characters get to attacks. Of course if you combine that with the crit rules life gets very interesting indeed....

The Terror Track

Solos and elites in this game are simply not strong enough. They usually get outnumbered and cannot handle the action economy. Wizards had attempted to fix the problem by making it harder to stun solos and giving them more turns, but my brother in law Kyle had a far simpler fix, which I've since modified to be nastier. It's the Terror Track. The Terror Track is a bonus to attacks, defenses, and damage rolls. The Terror Track decreases by 1 each round and also whenever the solo or elite is hit with  an attack. Each time a solo or elite with the Terror Track still active critically hits a target they gain one additional action point. Solos start at Terror Track 5 and Elites at Terror Track 2. At bloodied a Solo gains Terror Track 2. 

Solos and elites may burn an action point to end all effects on them as a free action.

The Escalation Die cannot be active while the Terror Track is. Solos and Elites always benefit from the Escalation Die when it is out.

Virtues and Flaws

Like I'd said before, we're borrowing the system from Miseries and Misfortunes. Players get to describe an aspect about their character that is truly impressive. During play another player may nominate a roll you are making because of your character's Virtue. They have to wax long and poetical, with worldbuilding heavily encouraged. Compare your buddy to ye heroes of olde! Doing so gives you three Action Points. This may only be done once a session.

After getting to level 2 the other players will nominate your character for a Flaw. You may invoke your Flaw to automatically fail a d20 roll, describing how you get in the way of yourself. You gain an Actin Point. This may be invoked as many times as you like.

Action Points

You get one action point at the beginning of each session. Action Points do not carry between sessions. You may spend an Action Point to get an extra standard or movement action, add +10 to your d20 roll, or to get a bonus to your damage roll equal to your Healing Surge Value. You may spend as many action points as you like in an encounter.

Phase Initiatve

Regular initative is stupid, particularly in 4e when the turns can be so long.  Break up the round into multiple phases, based upon what type of action everyone is taking. At the beginning of the round everyone must reveal their intended actions for the round. They get a minor, a movement, and a standard as is normal. Everyone rolls for initiative after declaring actions. And then begin to resolve actions in the following order:

Minor

Standard Ranged

Standard Close Burst

Standard Melee

Standard Close Blast

Move

Standard Area Burst

I've played this particular type of initiative before and it's really helped speed up the feel of combat.

Well, that's all the preliminaries. Next time we'll see if Gratorin, Acacia, and Jolene Wick can survive the perilous wastes, back to the warmer areas of the Feywild.

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The Undertow: Session Twenty-Seven

It's done. The Lone Keep, source of so much pain and suffering, has been destroyed, with help from beyond the grave. Mikansia and Nomi make their way back to Vigilance, where they left Dale's widow Ember, along with little Simone and mother-in-law Decima.

Mikansia and Nomi appeared in the streets of Vigilance, outside the house where Decima, Ember, and Simone had been staying. The sun was setting; an eerie quiet had taken hold of Vigilance. Almost all the windows were dark. No one was in Decima's house either, so Mikansia laid the skeletal frame of Makirta in an upstairs bed and went back to the street with Nomi. The sun had hidden itself a little more... and darkness began to intermingle with the silence.

They wandered down the empty street, acrost an empty piazza, down another another street. The only people they saw were three children playing stickball, running back and forth as their little legs would take them. They looked up and stared at the two elves. Yelling excitedly the trio ran up to Mikansia and Nomi. One of the children grabbed Mikansia's hand. Reflexively Mikansia yanked her hand away and the child stared at his hand, confused: "No coal?" One of the other children asked to play stickball with Mikansia and Nomi, while the last one just gaped at the ebony skinned elves.

"Do you know where everyone is?" asked Mikansia, still looking around. The darkening quiet was downright creepy to her. No city should be this quiet.

"They found the dragon that had wrecked the town! They're going to go kill it!"

Nomi was running down the street before the words were fully out of the child's mouth. She stopped. Turned. And ran back: "You can just teleport us there. MOVE!"

Mikansia was way ahead of her.

They stepped through. Fish was in the same place as they'd left him: in a glade down the mountain from Vigilance. There was a mob here now, complete with torches and pitchforks. Decima, who had been left to defend Fish, lay on the ground with a humans standing over her. Mikansia held her rainbow blade aloft: the mob stopped and stared at the blade, entranced.

Nomi screamed and launched herself at one of the distracted humans, hacking his head off with her sword as he stared at the blade. She lunged at another human, only to be blocked by Mikansia; the mob's eyes followed Mikansia's shining blade, uncomprehending. "Get.. out.. of my way!" Nomi growled. "We need to defend Fish!"

Mikansia's face twisted into a mix between compassion and concentration. "I. Would. Never. Let them hurt Fish. I'm on your side. I promise."

Nomi broke the blade lock and lunged for another human. Mikansia blocked again and knocked Nomi to the ground. Nomi made as if to stand, but after taking a look at Mikansia towering form she stayed down.

"You've some nerve, coming back here!" Ember, Dale's widow, had come out from hiding behind Fish. She walked right up to Mikansia, eyes filled with a cold fury, lip trembling from facing down possibly the best swordsman on the planet. 

"This is not a good time, Ember." Mikansia growled. Ember seemed unfazed.

The mob began to stir, still mindful of that sword. Yelling at the crowd Mikansia began flashing her rainbow blade back and forth. The mob couldn't help but follow it. "This is not the dragon who was attacking your city! He was defending you! Leave him alone! Decima was helping him because he was injured defending you!!"

The crowd muttered, backing up. "Decima" was now rippling through the crowd, ending in "I know where she lives! Let's burn her house!" The ground shook as the mob hurried away.

Ember, seeing that the imminent threat had passed, slapped Mikansia, who didn't flinch. "LEAVE. NOW."

"Ember!" yelled Decima as she grabbed her daughter-in-law.

"You came back! Dale didn't! Why did you even bother to come back without him??"

Mikansia walked up to the sixteen year old widow. "I don't have time for this. And neither do you. They're going to burn your house down and I left someone there."

"I-"

"Ember, shut up." Decima pushed past Ember to stand next to Mikansia. "Stah here with Nomi, Simone, and Fish. Turning to Mikansia Decima nodded. "Cut your way home, please. I have a few things to get too."

When Decima saw Makirta she took a deep breath and whistled. "She was in the Keep?" Mikansia nodded. "Who is she?"

"My mother." Decima stared. "Makirta, my mother," reiterated Mikansia.

"I thought she'd died."

"So did I."

"Oh my goodness," Decima's mask of calm dropped. She looked years and years older as she stared at Makirta's unconscious form.

As they came back Ember's eyes narrowed in rage. "Uh uh. You don't get someone. Not after this. Not after Dale."

Mikansia froze Ember in place with a glare. "If you knew the half of what's happened to me you wouldn't have said that." The hatred in Ember's eyes didn't die. But she did back down.

Nomi hadn't stopped snuggling Fish since Mikansia had left. Mikansia walked up to her. "Are you and Fish alright?"

Nomi stood up and squared up with Mikansia. "They threatened Fish. Now we have to move him and we wouldn't have if you would have helped me kill all of them! Like you should have!"

Mikansia snorted in disgust. "We wouldn't have had to move him if you hadn't have flown off the handle in the first place! We couldn't have killed them all. Our best chance-"

An arrow entered Nomi's gut. She fell with a thud. the crowd had returned, this time with bows. Mikansia cut a portal under fish and Nomi, herding Decima, Ember, and Simone down into it. Dale and Ensio were waiting in Dream. Decima flew into Ensio's arms, crying with happiness. Simone laughed and giggled as her father Dale wrapped her in a fierce hug.  But Ember stood back, away from her family. Dale tried to come near Ember. "Don't touch me!" snapped Ember, backing away. "You wont' be here the next few decades! It may be 'tomorrow' when you see me against but who's going to help me raise Simone?? Certainly. Not. You." If the dead could ever look hurt Dale did, right then. Ember stormed off.

"Daddy, what's wrong with Mommy?"

Dale took a deep breath. "She's hurting. People sometimes act out of anger when they're hurting."

"Oh."

"Promise me you'll take care of her?"

Simone wrinkled her nose. "Even when she's hurting." That was a statement, not a question.

"Especially then."

Simone nodded.

Ember had sat under a nearby tree, watching Dale and Simone with a curious expression. Dale had nodded at Mikansia as he snuggled  Simone. Mikansia rolled her eyes and sighed, but walked over and checked on Nomi. She was stable, but definitely not happy. Mikansia really didn't want to talk to Ember, but she knew that cold rage all too well. She sat down next to Ember, who did not look over at her. "I know none of this" - indicating Dale and Simone - "Can take away your pain but... but we don't have to rush away if there's something... anything... unspoken. Anything you need to say here..." She looked over at the young woman. This whole thing felt empty; what could anyone say to alleviate Ember's pain? Mikansia sure didn't know.

Ember exploded. "What's the point?? He's going to be gone. By all rights Dale shouldn't be with Simone right now. I've cried myself to sleep every night. Simone has been inconsolable and Dale just comes back for a few minutes?? It's going to start things all over for Simone! And for me!"

"Yes, he will be gone again. And it's not fair. By all rights Dale should be there with Simone, with you, at night." Mikansia's words felt awkward in her mouth, nevermind when she said them. Her voice was choked with sorrow. Mikansia's mind flashed to Jabez, Tyce, Yngvar, Akseli, Ensio... and Dale. None of them had died of natural causes. Or sailed for the Void. The enormity of her left Mikansia hollow. So she looked over at Dale and Simone, who were happily snuggling. "He ran toward that dragon" she said finally, still gazing at Dale; he hardly seemed older than Simone in Mikansia's elven eyes."I've known elves who would not have charged that monstrosity of a dragon that we fought. Not like that. But Dale couldn't have run away, couldn't have left knowing something like that threatened you, or Simone, or the world." Those words sounded so flat to Mikansia. What did it matter that Dale had died with more courage than most humans Mikansia had ever known? Ember was still alone, with a small child preventing her from even mourning the way she should.

Ember's sobs were as loud as they sudden. Dale came running with Simone. Ember shook in his arms, sobbing over, and over, and over, that she wasn't as strong as Dale. Ember just wasn't strong enough. And she knew it. 

Mikansia couldn't have felt worse.

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Beside the River of Truth: G1E1

Steve was still in his suit. Not his red, white and blue one. This one was black, with a bow tie. Sharon liked bow ties. They'd been all the rage when Steve was a kid. Sharon said he looked distinguished. She usually said that with a wicked grin, so Steve had some doubts. He'd have to ask her about that, when she came over.

It had been a rough memorial. May Parker had cried the whole time, hanging onto Peter's wife, Mary-Jane. No one could look at them. With Peter they had held back alien invasions, saved the universe from the Beyonder, laughed, dined, cried together. And the most Steve had managed to May and MJ was a nod. "What a hero", he muttered to himself. Tony hadn't even bothered to show up.

Sharon came in as Steve sat down, remote in hand. "I brought pad thai" she said, bag in hand.

Norman Osborn was on the screen, shaking hands with Tony. Tony looked tired. Drunk. Norman was... was...

"He looks like a real jerk" Sharon quipped. "Oh, and there's a sleazebag standing there with Tony too. He's probably a supervillain."

"He's the Green Goblin," Steve was walking toward his closet.

"Wait, really??" Sharon's eyes bugged out.

"Peter told me while we were on Battleworld, while we thought he was dying from Dr. Doom hitting him with a full frontal blast. Peter had asked me to to watch after May and MJ, specifically because he knew Osborn would go after them. And Sharon, I watched. I've not stopped watching."

"That explains all those odd moments... scattered in the odd moments that are our life."

Steve couldn't help it; he cracked a wry grin. "I've been watching them the last year. Turns out I'd been watching the wrong folks. Norman Osborn is not going to buy out Tony. Not going to happen."

"Ooh, a party! That'll be a nice change of pace."

Pulling his mask on, Captain America shook his head. "No, you're affiliated with SHIELD. You need authorization, otherwise you'll cause an international incident. Call Nick. He needs to be briefed."

"Steve, you know as well as I do I can go with you. I have authorization to follow on leads as I find them, by the President. I've got jurisdiction."

Captain America stopped at the window. "Osborn is cunning. Go get us backup."

"You really think Norman Osborn is that much of a threat?" Sharon was incredulous.

"Peter let us underestimate him. What makes you think Osborn is any different?" asked Cap. Sharon nodded.

Captain America was up on the rooftop in less than a minute, shield slung to his back. No backup. Not yet. Osborn was his problem. He'd promised Peter. This was Captain America's fight. Oscorp's Tower wasn't too far away.

The security on Osborn's tower was pitiful. Captain America practically slung shot himself  into Osborn's office. But Osborn showed no surprise when he walked into his office twenty minutes later. Seeing the star-spangled figured backlit by the moon Osborn smiled and walked to a nearby desk and pulled out a bottle of amber liquid and a glass. "Captain," Osborn said, tipping his glass.

The glass shattered with a flick of Captain America's hand. "Cut it out, Goblin. I'm onto you. Stay away from Tony."

The force of the explosion rocked Captain America and Norman Osborn off their feet.  The Green Goblin's cackle could be heard. "AH AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA.... when in doubt flood with shrapnel! With extreme prejudice."

Norman's smile looked like a skull's grin. "This isn't over" Captain America promised him.

"Osborn, I've come to stop you." In floated MODOK. "You cannot continue with your plans."

"Hey, that's my line, Floaty! Whaddya say we sing it together?? I'll be tenor, I've got good tone I'm told! AH HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"Affirmative."

Captain America rolled in front of Norman Osborn, shield out. "Hey Bobbi? I've got an issue. Goblin and MODOK are together."

"Yeah, I've been watching. Sharon already called." Mockingbird vaulted through the wrecked windowframe, kicking MODOK across the room into a wall.  Green Goblin bent almost in half as Captain America and Mockingbird's fists connected with his jaw. Captain America bent him the other way with a crashing knee to the gut.

The Green Goblin fell with a thud. Mockingbird leaned over. "Man, I hate to ask why-"

Cackling and electricity erupted in Mockingbird's face and she fell, out cold. The Goblin stood up, still cackling.

A sudden light and whirring announced the news helicopter. Norman had planned his trap well.

MODOK lunged. He ripped into the star-spangled hero as Captain America smashed him twice with his shield. Bleeding profusely, Captain America grabbed Mockingbird and jumped out the window, letting out a grappling line a few dozen stories down.

Sharon came flying by in one of those flying tubs SHIELD had said they'd junked years ago."Bad night?"

Steve pulled off his mask, grimacing at his open stomach. "Yeah, bad night."

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The Giggling Dark: Session Twenty-Nine, Trait Vote the Last

I still can't believe we're here. Seriously. This is amazing. This was the first solo campaign I started. I was sick of missing gaming, GMing in particular, and just needed something to do as I was cleaning the kitchen at night for my long suffering and angelic wife. But I had an idea. And it wouldn't leave my head. So I called Ryan, who seemed to be itching as badly as I was for a game. And we were having a blast! I decided to start putting the session posts up, just for fun. I figured it was a good, if incredibly dark, story about a boy turning into a man, and wanted to see what others thought of it too.

I've done not one. Not two. Not three. But five campaigns since then.

Five.

Turns out that people not only liked what I was doing with Ryan, but wanted to join in. And I've just been very steadily plugging away at this little blog ever since. I've added in other games, done reviews, even have a small group doing random things from time to time, and of course there's the Power Rangers posts! Can't forget about those. I'm insanely indebted to that community for reading and checking out the rest of the blog.

But it all started here.

We didn't intend to end this particular campaign here, honestly. There's a lot more to Xellous the Celestial Knight, Kora, and Threen. We're doing another campaign to find out what happens to them. That's coming and I'm so excited! But when we got done with Session Twenty-Eight something in my heart said "This is done. Cut it here." And when I thought it over we had gone well beyond the bounds of the dark gritty fantasy that Ryan and I had first envisioned. And that was fine and all, but I knew I needed to renegotiate what was going on in the game. Ryan was a bit surprised, but he agreed after I explained myself. We need a genre shift.

IN SPACE!

 But first, we have to wrap this game up. At the beginning of the Trait Vote this is what Xellous had, trait-wise:

Tenacious

Hardworking

Blunt

Tough as Nails

Commanding Aura

We decided to award two traits to Xellous, while removing one. Blunt went right out the window. Xellous hasn't been socially awkward in a long time. Between the two of us we came up with three traits: Sixth Sense (which is essentially Xellous's Aura abilities expanding on their own), Loyal to Kora (gives a fourth Belief about how much Xellous loves Kora), and Show No Fear (good luck scaring Xellous, which is really the only way he makes Steel checks at all. We nixed Sixth Sense, as that wasn't something that really developed in play, although it was cool! Loyal to Kora just made sense.

So now it's:

Tenacious

Hardworking

Show No Fear

Tough as Nails

Commanding Aura

Loyal to Kora

We also looked through his Reputations. Mysterious Stranger was nixed. Hero of Khouria was expanded to 3D, as pretty much everyone in the world would have heard about what happened to Khouria and Xellous and Kora's role in saving it. His reputation of Rogue Mutant Human was 2D with khen-zai. Xellous killed one black khen-zai and disgraced another, so that's now a 3D Reputation, changed to Dangerous Rogue Mutant Human. And then, because he had communed with an ascended start, he now has a Reputation amongst stars as The Ascended Human, at 1D.

And there we have it! You've got someone who started as a thirteen year old, socially awkward  enchanting savant and ended as a socially powerful Celestial Knight! What a journey!

And there's still such a way to go...

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The Undertow: Session Twenty-Six

Mikansia and Nomi have their weapons. The Lone Keep has been responsible for almost every last bit of misery in their lives. Armed with Mikansia's rainbow dream blade and Nomi's knowledge of The Lone Keep they hope to make a dent. Yngvar said surprises awaited them. What could that mean?

As Mikansia and Nomi stepped into the dreaded Lone Keep Yngvar wished them luck with a smile that made Mikansia feel more than a little suspicious. As they stepped into the Lone Keep Mikansia's magic blade, which usually glowed with all the colors of the rainbow, began to glow a soft but powerful blue. Mikansia and Nomi looked down at the sword, but it didn't change color, emitting a constant, calming blue. They looked up; they were in a long hall, lined with eldritch eggs, objects that could bring forth Nameless horrors, as well as resurrect the dead that you feared the most. They usually had The Music, the dissonant noise that the Nameless emitted, spewing forth from them. Given how many eldritch eggs there were Mikansia and Nomi should have been deafened.

There was total silence. The only sounds that could be heard was Mikansia and Nomi's breath. They shrugged after a moment.

Mikansia turned to close the portal from Dream, singing the Song of Mending. A female elf appeared next to one of the eldritch eggs as Mikansia sung. Nomi took one look and fled the opposite way, running between the eldritch eggs and vanishing down a flight of stairs. Mikansia couldn't run after her; the portal had to be closed. And besides, the female elf wasn't showing herself to be much of a threat.

The female elf was wearing a First Sword Sword Singer uniform. A lifetime ago Mikansia had considered herself a Sword Singer. Whatever she was now wasn't that, or so she had thought. Song complete, Mikansia found herself saluting with her magic sword, Jabez's sword, which involved presenting said sword for presentation.  The firstsword approached. Her eyes spoke of death, glory, heartbreak, a thousand thousand battles all rolled into one lifetime, honor, bloodshed, and a discipline that would have been cruel if it came from anyone else. Her ebony hands had a blue glow as she reached out her hand to inspect the glowing blue sword, as was customary. The intent was very clear: to inspect the sword which bathed the world in calm. But Mikansia caught herself. She pulled the blade back from the firstsword's outstretched hand.

And then charged the firstsword, blade against her neck. Confusion and anger spread acrost the firstsword's face. "Well the who the hell are you??" snapped Mikansia.

"What the hell?? Are you a swordsinger or not?? ATTEN...SHUN!!!!!" snapped the firstsword.

Mikansia was at attention her sword hanging by her side in a tightened grip.

Mikansia shook her head. This was too easy. Too natural. All this training was something she had forgotten. Right?

"I AM FIRSTSWORD OLIVIA THE THUNDERER!! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, GETTING BETWEEN ME AND MY DAUGHTER?? I WILL FUCK YOUR WORLD, SWORDSINGER!!!!!"

Mikansia's jaw dropped. Olivia the Thunderer was one of her childhood heroes! Olivia was the most fearsome swordsinger ever known. She had been the bravest (or perhaps most insane) swordsinger in elven history. Olivia had been known for her incredible charges the should not have worked, would never have worked if anyone but Olivia led them. All of them had been successful, except the last, depending on how you thought about it. Olivia's unit had been surrounded by six Nameless. Normally swordsinger units hunted one Nameless at a time. Olivia had personally charged all six Nameless, buying her unit time to get away. The accounts said that Olivia had cut down all the Nameless in one charge, moving in a blur that no elf eye could track. The six demons, once released from their Nameless vehicles, turned on her. No elf had ever defeated a demon. Fearless, Olivia had taken them all on, laughing the Song of the Sword in a way that was so menacing even the demons had paused. Before the angels came to wipe out the demons Olivia had been killed she died laughing in the face of a demon the size of a mountain as it crushed her in its hands, locking eyes with it and daring it to squish harder, because they were all doomed and knew it.

Not one of her soldiers had been lost that day.

And she was standing, right there, in the flesh.

"Wait, Nomi is your daughter? She never mentioned that."

"Yes, she is. But how do I know you're not one of them?" demanded the Thunderer. "My unit was betrayed, that's how we wound up where we got surrounded by six Nameless."

"The Lone Keep had corrupted the King of Kotae Mah a long time ago. Nomi and I are here, in the Lone Keep, to destroy it" replied Mikansia. "I suppose I can't give you more a reason to trust me than that. I'm with Nomi. She wants this place down. So do I."

"We're at the Lone Keep?" Mikansia nodded at Olivia. "AWESOME. Let's go get my scaredy-bitch daughter, see why she's scared."

Mikansia couldn't help herself. She laughed straight from the heart, the type of laugh that takes over your body and washes everything else away. She hadn't laughed like that for well over a year, would never have had reason to do so before this, and honestly didn't know why she was here, but she was, and that was enough. More than enough.

And off they went.

"So how long have I been gone?" asked Olivia.

"A bit more than a century, I think?"

"Oh, that long? How has Nomi been doing?"

"Well, I've only known her about a year, after she stopped being a dark elf."

"A. WHAT."

Mikansia paused  a second. "Um... a dark elf." Mistakes had been made. Mikansia could see that now.

"Tell me not for the Keep."

No one could withstand that glare. "Well..."

"Mother. FUCKER. No wonder she ran. Let's go get the scaredy-bitch before she really gets herself hurt. Moron."

They descended the staircase that Nomi had fled down. And bumped into a dozen dark elves. "Oh good, another former yetekaida!" shouted one of them, pointing at Mikansia. "We can replace the one we've got downstairs." They charged.

Mikansia found the spot in her heart where she had defeated all the orcs. She stayed there. Ducking under blades, cutting dark elves and blades in half with the sword Jabez had given her, and all with hardly the flick of a wrist. She was covered in everyone else's blood but her own. At this point it was like being covered in sweat.

"Daaaaaaaaamn that wasn't just the sword" Olivia sounded almost exactly like Nomi just then. Come to think of it they sounded a lot alike in general. But what mattered was that Mikansia had surpassed Krakeru permanently. Mikansia almost wanted him back so she could kill him again, even more fair and square.

Almost.

As they made their way down the long stairwell the whole Keep rocked, tilting to the side for about a minute before righting itself. Mikansia and Olivia were puzzled, but given the lack of living dark elves they shrugged and kept moving. A bit on they found more bodies on the stair. Kneeling down, Olivia whistled. "These weren't killed by Nomi. The cuts are too fine, too precise. Nomi is a hacker of a fighter if there ever was one." Mikansia looked at the cuts. They were fine, razor thin, almost imperceptible. She couldn't put her finger on it, but those cuts were familiar, somehow. Look at Olivia shook her head.

As they got up Mikansia could hear Tyce faintly singing. He was a human she had helped from what felt like an eternity ago. He had died alerting Nomi to come and help break the siege of Elfwatch. The last time they had been near eldritch eggs Mikansia thought Tyce had helped her, but hadn't seen him since, not even when she had crossed over into Dream and seen the souls of her other dead friends.

Tyce's song, the Song of Mourning, was louder.

And louder.

Olivia stopped. "Do you hear something?"

"That's not just me?"

"No, is someone singing the Song of Mourning?"

They were lying together, there in her bed. There was a look Tyce had given Mikansia. He'd just lost his friend to suicide and Mikansia was reeling from being raped by her father, Krakeru. She was not  in a place anyone could qualify as good.  And Tyce could see that. And he let her see where he was. And they were, together.

A hand was placed upon her shoulder. By reflex Mikansia reached to return the carress, but she stopped herself. Nobody could be there.

The grip on her shoulder tightened, gently. "You rang?'

There stood Tyce, smiling in the soft blue light of Mikansia's blade. Mikansia just stared. Tyce wrapped her in his arms for a tight hug. Mikansia couldn't move. She just couldn't. Olivia jumped, pulling out the sword she'd just lifted from a nearby dark elf. "Um... no. No! He's alright!" Mikansia stammered."

Olivia nodded. "Looks like you two need a minute. I'll keep looking." And she continued down the seemingly eternal stairs.

Mikansia and Tyce stared at each other. "How are you hear?" Mikansia's voice was barely a whisper. "You died getting the word out about the siege of Elfwatch."

"The eldritch eggs that line the walls of this castle? They're originally from Dream. The dead may walk in Dream as they wish."

"Oh, right, like how Olivia is doing. But you didn't come the last time I was around an eldritch egg, did you? You weren't standing here like this. With me."

"You didn't own the sword like you do now." Tyce reminded.

"Oh," she continued to stare blankly at him. There'd been so many times Mikansia would have gladly talked to Tyce again. And here he was. And she just kept staring.

Tyce chuckled, took her hand, and kissed it. "I missed you."

"I... I missed you too. Do you know where we are?"

"Yes, we're in the Keep."

Mikansia was surprised. "You've been watching me all this time?"

"Yes, we all have. You can call us all back. The same way you called me."

Mikansia nodded. And then shrank back. So many were dead! She'd failed so spectacularly! Just thinking about it... "I don't... I don't think I can. That would be too much. Can you help me do this?"

"That's why I'm here. You called me back to myself, and I can't thank you enough for it. My last moment, before the Nameless overwhelmed me, all I could feel was gratitude for what you had done for me. You've given so much, to so many people. You didn't give just me hope."

Mikansia nodded, tears brimming her eyes. She could feel that was true. It had hurt to hear, it had hurt to do those things, but it was true. And it was time to embrace it. "Sing with me." Mikansia held out her hand. Tyce took it. They sang the Song of Mourning, which Mikansia had used to revive Tyce to himself. It felt like forever ago. They sang of times past, times they missed, times that could not return.

Enzio, who had taken in Mikansia when she needed a place to be after killing Krakeru, joined in.

And then Dale, Ensio's son. He'd tried to withstand the Creature from Dream's assaults. And he'd accompanied Mikansia ever since.

Yngvar stood next to her. He'd been skeptical of her at first, but here he was, smiling at her and singing the lament with Mikansia.

Their voices rose into the fuligin reaches of the Keep's stairwell they stood in, beyond the glow of the pale blue light of Mikansia's sword.

A second later Jabez appeared, chuckling: "Well, I couldn't be boring like them, could I?"

Mikansia laughed and wrapped Jabez in a fierce hug. Everyone was laughing as they reunited. But Mikansia stopped a minute later. "Where... where is Akseli?" Akseli, who she had failed so many times over? Akseli, who had died because of her failure to believe in him? Did he not forgive her? She couldn't help but think he would be justified.

Yngvar grinned. "That's a surprise! Come on!" Down the stairs they went, passing dozens more slaughtered dark elves. Each time they did Yngvar and Dale chuckled. Mikansia knew better than to ask.

They finally reached the bottom of of the stairwell, which opened out to another hallway. Piles and piles of dark elf bodies abounded. Olvia was standing in front of a corner, trying to coax out the terrified Nomi. Olivia turned as the group came out of the stairwell and jumped. "That's a hell of a lot of friends! Can you please tell my daughter I'm not a specter of the tower sent to torment her??? She knows what the eldritch eggs are and what they should do... without that glowing blue sword of yours."

Nomi was in a fetal position, eyes shut and ears plugged. Mikansia pried her hands off and said "It's not just some specter. That's your mom."

Nomi didn't seem much comforted by that. She did stand up. "What's this I hear about you being a Lone Keep elf?"

"Um, well, after you died."

"But you stopped, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

Olivia turned to Mikansia. "Has she been helpful to you, since you two started traveling together?"

Mikansia smiled warmly at Nomi. "I'd never have gotten here without her. She's been crucial." Nomi couldn't have looked more grateful.

"Well then, what more is there to say?" Olivia hugged Nomi. For the next few minutes there were tears.

After a few minutes Mikansia tapped Olivia on the shoulder "Um-"

"YOU GOT A SIXSOME WITH YOUR BOY TOYS BACK OFF!!"

Mikansia laughed. And complied.

After a few more moments they made their way into a huge room, after passing scores more of dark elves. There was an eerie green light coming from the other end of the room. The Music could be heard dimly; Mikansia's blade was almost white-hot blue, almost humming as it struggled against The Music. There was a chimney of epic proportions, which was the origin of the green glow. Green and white-blue met and fused in the room.

A long shadow cut acrost the room. At its end stood Akseli. Mikansia almost knocked him off his feet.  Mikansia couldn't hold it in anymore. She sobbed and laughed and so did he and finally she said she finally said those words she'd wanting to say for that entire torturous year. "I'm so sorry! I failed you. I thought you weren't-"

Akseli laughed. "Oh Mikansia... you didn't fail me. If you think you need forgiveness I give it, but... you didn't fail me."

Mikansia gasped. "What??"

"Well, it would just be better to show you." Akseli moved out of the way of the fireplace. There was someone chained inside it; the weird green light came from her, feeding up into the flue. Mikansia had been told her mother, Makirta, had gone into the Void of the Heavens. And her whole life she had believed that Makirta had abandoned her. And while her views on Makirta had softened, the sting of being abandoned had never fully gone away. Mikansia had never anticipated how much she looked like her mother. But there was Makirta, alive. And Mikansia indeed looked very much like her."She never made it to the Havens" Akseli whispered.

"Of course she didn't" was what Mikansia found herself saying.

"They've got her locked to these eldritch eggs you can see throughout the whole keep. The eggs originated from Dream. So as I was dying I felt Makirta, calling out for me. She'd been looked in the worst moment of her life: when I rejected her for being a dark elf double agent. Of all the things in her life... " Akseli tried to suppress the guilt on his face but couldn't. "That was the worst of her. Me rejecting her. She's been calling out to me for over 70 years, constantly begging for me to come back. And, as I was dying... I... I... I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay with you. I had to go to her. Makirta's despair is what's keeping the place floating in orbit. The materials they somehow found float if you have despair going through them. I've still no idea how it works, but I know if I take her out of that chimney the whole Keep crashes. I'm only here because the eggs are here. If they're destroyed I stop being able to be here. So I couldn't take her out, not without making sure she had somewhere to go. So I just started killing everyone I could, for the last year."

"You've been here for a full year???" Mikansia was shocked, yet again, despite the day she'd had so far.

"Well, I couldn't just leave her here! Now that you're here we can get her out and to safety before this whole thing comes down."

Mikansia couldn't stop staring at her mother, horrified. "Why her?"

"I think it's because she's a former yetekaida. From what I could gather, after sneaking around, former yetekaidas are thrown into this chimney, locked into their memory, and then practically abandoned. She's held out about four times longer than anyone else they've ever put in there."

It was too soon. But Makirta had been in there too long already. The goodbyes to Ensio and Dale were short and bittersweet; they wanted to to have their love sent to their family, poor little three year old Simone especially. Yngvar winked and saluted, causing Mikansia to chuckle and return the salute.

When she got to Tyce Mikansia stopped. They smiled at each other. "Thank you for coming back for me" said Mikansia.

"You brought me back. What did you expect me to do?"

"Well, thank you anyway."

"It was my joy... although whenever you get to where I am I'd like a round two."

Mikansia laughed and punched Tyce in the arm. "Still not satisfied in Heaven??"

"I will see you again" Tyce told Mikansia.

"I know. I can't wait."

Jabez was last. He didn't mind. "That sword looks a bit different nowadays" he remarked at the glowing blue blade. He held out his hand and Mikansia placed the sword in it without hesitation.

"You think you can explain why the sword is acting like this? Cancelling the Music and going all blue?"

"There's a lot more sorrow in it now and the Creature enhanced it with the essence of Dream. Sorrow remembers. The Nameless changes all before them. But not sorrow. Sorrow doesn't change. And this sword has more power and sorrow behind than almost anything else."

"... thank you much for giving me this sword. It's meant so much to me."

"I'd figured it would do more good with you than me." Jabez had left home in anger, taking his ancestral sword with him. His father had told Jabez that he was unworthy of so venerable a sword. Jabez had told his father he would makes himself worthy. When Jabez had learned about Mikansia's quest to vanquish the dark elves, Krakeru in particular, he'd given her his family sword. Jabez's father, who had died for Mikansia's cause as well, also believed that Mikansia was worthy of the blade and had told her so. "I. Will. See you. Again." Jabez stated.

Mikansia nodded. "Yes, you will. Tomorrow." They both smiled.

Makirta was chained to the walls. Two swings of the sword and Makirta tumbled into Mikansia's arms. The green light vanished, as did The Music. She was lighter than Mikansia could have ever imagined. Her eyes winked open and stared stupidly at Mikansia. "Akseli... Ak...seli??" she croaked, voice barely audible.

"I'm here, my love! Right here!" Akseli cried, gently cradling Makirta's head

She gazed at him as one surprised. "You... you came back."

Water streamed down. "I did. I never should have left. I'm so sorry!"

Makirta smiled and closed her eyes.

The whole structure lurched and groaned. The floor began to tilt.

"Makirta?"

The blue light of Mikansia's sword made Krakeru's eyes practically torches. Mikansia gripped her sword hilt tightly, but the expression on Krakeru's face surprised her. It wasn't the constant sneer she'd seen while Krakeru was alive. It was pain. Shock. "You're... you're alive??"

Makirta opened her eyes. "Mikka. I never... I never died."

Krakeru's face twisted into a mask of pain and rage. "Don't call me that. I've not been Mikka for centuries. Mikka is gone."

"You... were always... Mikka... to me..." heaved Makirta.

Krakeru walked up closer to Makirta. He saw no one else. Akseli and Mikansia tensed, but Makirta looked more awake and stronger. And she was totally not threatened. "All this time. I'd no idea. I've not been in the Keep since-" Krakeru's eyes bulged. "They're going to pay for this."

"No, come with me!" Makirta summoned a strength Mikansia couldn't believe. The look on Akseli's face said he couldn't either. "Start over! All over! With me!" Makirta's skeletal frame, every bone in sharp relief, was erect. Her eyes had cleared. Her body began to shake in agony, but Makirta would not yield.

"They need to pay" Krakeru went over to one of the dark elf corpses and grabbed a sword. He ran down the hall, with a weakened call of "Mikka" ringing in his ears.
 

Mikansia kept the portal open until the crash. The ceiling fell right in front of the portal. But Mikansia did not close the portal. She had to know.

"Father!" cackled a familiar voice. "So... good to be home! I'm here to avenge my sister. It's been too long." There was the sound of a blade entering something soft.

And then a long, hacking, wet cough. And then a thud.

The Lone Keep was no more. Become a Patron!