Savage Hyboria Forgotten Islands: Episode 4 "The Tomb of Voltannox" Part 3

After fighting their way through the jungle and into the ruins the band of ex slaves decided to take refuge in a small building that was still mostly intact.  Tired and wounded from their journey they fell asleep without even setting a watch.
Suddenly Rozlynn awoke to an eerie howl.  She immediately shouted an alarm to the others "Wake up!  The creatures are upon us!".  

 More of the undead creatures attacked them along with several twisted and mutated undead hounds.  The hounds attacked with even greater ferocity than before.  Again the party suffered several wounds before destroying this threat.  This time they decided to set a watch before going back to sleep.
 

 Rozlynn took over watch after Racket had his turn.  She noticed a strange winged statue on a nearby building that she had not seen earlier.  Eventually fatigue overtook the Aesir and she began to fall asleep.  Suddenly the roof shook beneath her feet with a loud thud.  Snapping out of her stupor she saw the statue before her raising a taloned claw to strike her.  She barely managed to deflect the strike with her sword as she struggled to her feet.  Racket had heard the commotion on the roof and rushed outside to aid his companion.  The Argosian drew an arrow from his quiver and fired but the missile was deflected by the monsters stone-like skin.  Rozlynn screamed as a taloned claw ripped into her thigh as she rained blow after blow onto the creature.  Though she struck with great strength she did only minor damage to the beast.  Again the creature struck and sent the warrior reeling.  She barely managed to keep from falling off the roof.  Seeing that his bow had done no damage Racket gripped his spear and hurled it at the creatures back with all his strength.  The spear struck the creature square in the middle of it's back and pierced it through it's torso.  The creature screamed and crumbled into many pieces.
Shortly after the battle with the stone creature the sun came up and Rozlynn woke the rest of the party.  They were all amazed that such a battle had not woke them during the night but they decided to be more cautious.    

 As they made their way through the city again they heard the echoing howls of the undead hounds.  They saw a large pack approaching from their front and a small one approaching from their rear.
 

 The creatures discordant barks and howls echoed from the buildings and stone pavement.  The Argosian and the Hyrkanian shot several arrows at the creatures felling a few but the pack charged into them snapping at them with their teeth and slashing at them with their claws.  With no where to run the party fought desperately against the hounds.  The two Aesir stood their ground slashing left and right with their great blades felling several hounds but suffering grievous wounds.

 Within moments they were completely surrounded by the rotting creatures.  Racket and Mon Tau fired arrow after arrow into the beast as the others fought.  Racka and Aziz held off the creatures charging from the rear and Alenna did her best to keep the beast that broke through from attacking their archers.
Eventually the beast were defeated but they were again forced rest in an ruined bakery.

 Near the middle of the ruined city Racket spotted a familiar looking building.  "There at that temple!  That is where Melampos found the clues to the location of the tomb".  The adventurers entered the temple as night began to fall.  It was sparsely decorated but there was a large plaque on the far wall behind the alter inscribed in ancient Stygian.  "I think I can translate this with a little time" Raka said.
 

 Heimdal and Mon Tau took up a position to guard the door.  "Look there!" Mon Tau Shouted.  A hoard of ghouls charged towards the temple from across the square.  "We are going to have company!" Heimdall Shouted.  Mon Tau began to fire arrows into the crowd of ghouls killing several even at great range but still they charged on.  Racket climbed up to the roof and Rozlynn guarded the back door.
  

 Before Racket could fire any arrows into the approaching ghouls one of the flying stone creatures swooped down and attacked him on the roof.  Another attacked Rozlynn at the back door.

 Heimdall and Mon Tau fought at the front door as Raka began to translate the inscription.  Alenna rushed to Rozlynn's aid and they managed to destroy the stone creature trying to get inside.

 After a fierce battle with the stone creatures and the ghouls it looked as if the battle was about to come to an end.  Only a few ghouls attacking the back remained.  As the party closed in on the remaining creatures one of them lashed out and slashed Rozlynn across her mid section.  The Aesir fell back into the temple covered in blood.  Her companions charged the remaining ghouls and destroyed them.

 "Look here Mistress!" Aziz exclaimed "There is a loos stone behind the alter.  Raka removed the stone and uncovered two scrolls.  On one of the scrolls was a map to the Tomb of Voltannox and on the other was a riddle of some kind.  "We can use these to help us find the tomb more easily" explained Raka "Go and check on the others Aziz".

Alenna used her skill and divine power to revive Rozlynn and after they had rested to party assembled and began their journey to find the Tomb of Voltannox.

Notes:  We played this session over nine months ago so this account is somewhat more invented than the others.  The players have finished this adventure but I still have the final chapter to post after this one.  Their final encounter at the Tomb of Voltannox.  They have also had another adventure since then.  We played it just a couple weeks ago.  Hopefully I will get caught up on this campaign soon.   

Project Wraith Episode 2 "Information is Power" game report.

 This is Episode 2 of my new Solar Empires role playing game called "Project Wraith".  The player characters are playing specialist who have had their identity stolen by some kind of hacker known as "Casper".  Casper has been sending them on "jobs" for unknown purposes.  In Episode 1 Casper sent the party to the Greek camp of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids to search for a doctor who had discovered the cure to a dangerous Martian biological weapon.
In this episode Casper sent them to Titania right in the middle of the war zone surrounding Station 42 to meet with a contact who knew the location of Casper's hacker friend known as Starfire.  Casper sent three of his agents.  Spider is a female hacker from Titania.  Vogue is a female public relations specialist from Callisto, and Lone Star is a; gambler, drifter, gunslinger, from Titan.  They met with Casper's contact several kilometers South East of Station 42.

 Unfortunately for the party the meeting was a trap set by the Hell Knight mercenaries.  Six mercenary scouts ambushed the party when the team discovered the true identity of their contact.

Vogue updates her facebook about rolling a critical on her "Look at my boobs" roll she used to distract the bogus contact while Spider maneuvered behind him.

 Spider attempted to subdue their contact while the rest of the team engaged in a gun battle with the mercenary scouts.

 Eventually Spider managed to knock their contact out and then engage the rest of the scouts.  The fire fight was difficult.  Most of the scouts had cover while the team was out in the open.  Eventually the final scout fled the scene after Spider killed the last of his companions.
After defeating the scouts the bogus contact was "convinced" to reveal to the team that he did indeed know where Starfire was hiding but he assured them that the Hell Knights would get to the hacker before they did.

 The team arrived at a small compound about 20 kilometers further South East of their landing position.  Several armed militia members were on the rooftops of the simple structures that made up the compound.

 After convincing the militia members that they were friendly and on an important mission for one of Starfire's associates they were able to meet with militia leader Jim Dutton.

 Just as they were warning Dutton a Hell Knight LAGAREV transport arrived on the scene and blew up one of the small compound buildings with it's scatter laser.

Spider, Lone Star, and Vogue.  I can't remember what was so funny.

 The team immediately took up defensive position to help the militia members defend the compound.  About 10 Hell Knight mercenaries dismounted their transport as the transport's gunner covered them.

 The mercenaries split into two groups and took up positions in cover just outside the compound.  The mercenaries were armed with laser rifles while most of the militia had assault rifles.

 The mercenary LAGAREV was eventually destroyed by; Vogue, Spider, and the militia members.  Lone Star joined Dutton to engage the mercenaries hiding in the rocks.

 Eventually only one mercenary remained alive and only one militia member had been killed.  The mercenary warned the team that they would never get off Titania alive.

The team met with Starfire who told them she had irrefutable proof that the Smith and Wilson Agriculture Company had engaged in illegal dealings with several members of the Titania government and that their seizure of farms and Station 42 was a completely illegal action.  

Starfire agreed to flee Titania with the team but suggested that they gather a force to escort them since the Hell Knights knew where their ship had landed.  

 Before the battle Father Padre, another team member, joined them.  He had been on a separate errand for Casper who had sent him to Titania City aboard a civilian transport to aid them. Jim Dutton gathered his militia including his men and four improvised armored vehicles.  Dutton's forces were joined by a robotic force owned by the enigmatic "Rosie" of Station 42 who also piloted her own Cyclopes mech.
When they arrived at the landing site the Hell Knights had already arrived with three LAGAREVs, one Hobelar tank, an Incubus light mech and two scout squads.
  

The battle was bloody.  Most of Dutton's men were killed and more than half of Rosie's robot troopers were taken out of action.  Rosie's mech was also destroyed but she managed to eject to safety.  The Hell Knights lost half of their infantry forces and two LAGAREVs.  Their mech and tank were also heavily damaged.
The team managed to make it to their ship during the fighting but as they were making a run for the landing ramp a LAGAREV and a lone trooper with a grenade launcher fired on the.  Spider and Lone Star were wounded in the exchange and Starfire was badly wounded and in danger of dying.

As they took off in their ship Father Padre managed to stabilize Starfire with his medical skills.  The team had managed to escape Titania but the militia forces had sacrificed quite a bit for it.  With Casper's resources they should be able to use Starfire's information to completely expose the true nature of the Station 42 War.

Check out the System News Network news report here:  http://systemnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2014/04/notorious-hacker-starfire-escapes.html
Notes:  This was a tie in between our No Limits campaign on Titania and my new role playing campaign.  We wanted to do an rpg tie in to help us bring the Station 42 War into it's final stage.    

The Battle of MacIntyre Station: Trojan Uprising 2895 Memnon. A Solar Empires game report.

 March 18th 3033, 2895 Memnon, MacIntyre Station, Trojan camp of the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.  Last Tuesday a force of Jovian Imperial Legionnaires engaged a group of communist insurgents at MacIntyre Station on 2895 Memnon.  The Jovians attacked with four squads of Legionnaires and a light mech.  The station was defended by almost forty insurgents as well as four improvised armored vehicles and two light field artillery pieces.  

 The insurgents took the fight to the Jovians attacking immediately with their light vehicles and inflicting some casualties on the Imperial forces.

 Two of the vehicles were quickly dispatched by the light mech and Jovian troopers who steadily advanced on the insurgent positions.

 The Jovians were reportedly after insurgent leader Curt Stillwell.  Early in the fighting he and his squad were cornered by the Jovian mech but they were able to find cover in a nearby building.

 The remaining two insurgent vehicles were destroyed by the Jovian mech but the insurgents kept fighting in an attempt to save their leader.

 Stillwell and his body guards engaged Jovian troopers in close quarters fighting inside a small building as the rest of the battle raged around them.

 After dispatching the insurgent vehicles they Jovian Mecha destroyed an insurgent field canon only to be gunned down as it tried to jump away my the insurgent's auto-cannon and combined small arms fire.

 Several insurgents units sought cover under elivated buildings in the middle of the station where they engaged a squad of Imperial troopers.  Many casualties were inflicted in the close quarters fighting.

 Curt Stillwell escaped the troopers inside the building he was hiding in only to be gunned down near the wreckage of the Jovian mech by another squad of troopers.

 After their leader was gunned down the rest of the insurgents decided to flee the station.  Although they had inflicted heavy casualties on the Imperial troopers they had lost all their heavy support.

 The remaining imperial troopers began to quickly secure the station and search for remaining insurgents.

Up to this point the communist uprising in the Trojan camp of the Jovian Trojan asteroids has consisted of largely of protest over the abuse of workers in the region it appears that the Emperor is not longer interested in ignoring the situation.  Two Imperial Legions have been stationed in the region as well as forces of the local household armies to put down this revolt.

March 24th 3033: Associated Press.

Notes:  We're about to draw our Titania campaign to a close and we are going to stat to work on another competitive campaign.  In addition to that we are working up a list of ongoing conflicts going on in our Solar Empire setting that we intend to use for one off battles in a kind of system wide narrative campaign.  This battle was fought between myself and Curtis a gamer friend of ours who put together a force for our campaign setting using the brilliant Dreamforge Games  Eisenkern Stromtroopers.  I'm really impressed with these modes and what Curtis did with them and the Gundam Zaku mecha he used to supoort them.  It's a really nice looking force he is putting together and I look forward to playing against him again.  
As far as the battle goes it seemed pretty close points wise however at the end I only had lightly armed and armored militia up against powered armored troopers with assault rifles.  I decided that since the Jovians achieved their objective of killing my commander and I had little chance of continuing the fight that the battle was a Jovian victory if an fairly expensive one.     

The Battle of FOB 1138: A 2500 point No Limits battle for the Station 42 War

 Titania, March 8th 3033.  Earlier this morning a force of M.S.S.R. and Titania militia attacked FOB 1138 a Hell Knight base West of Station 42.  The Martians made a slow advance towards the base which allowed the mercenaries to move in several armored units to re-enforce the tiny garrison.

 The Martian attack was spearheaded by a captured Jovian "Liger" super heavy tank and four battlesuits.  One of the martian battlesuits advanced killing four member of a Hell Knight veteran rifle squad but was itself destroyed by combined tank and infantry fire.

 A militia improvised armored vehicle scored a hit against a Hell Knight heavy hover tank but was destroyed by a grenade launched by the surviving mercenary veteran.

 A Hell Knight light hover vehicle traded fire with the martian tank but was destroyed by combined fire from the Martian battlesuits and Militia snipers.

 The martians poured heavy fire into the bunker occupied by a squad of Hell Knight veteran heavy infantry but did not manage to bring it down.  It seemed as if the mercenaries had stopped the Martian advance.
 

 Two Martian battlesuits engaged the mercenary Heavy Hover tank in the middle of the field badly damaging it.  The tank responded with several hits but did no damage to the light walkers.

 Fearing that the bunker they were in was about to collapse around them the Hell Knight veteran heavy infantry exited the structure.

 Taking heavy fire from all sides the mercenary heavy hover tank turned it's particle cannon on a squad of Martian veterans killing three and wounding their force commander.  The tank was destroyed shortly after killing the infantrymen.

 Despite the loss of their heavy tank the mercenaries continued to poor fire into the Martian super heavy damaging it little by little.

 One of the Martian battlesuits caught the mercenary heavy infantry in the open killing five troopers.  The four remaining veterans responded with well aimed shots that brought the Martian down.

 The Martian Liger was finally destroyed but not after trading quite a bit of damage with the mercenary tanks.

 A unit of Titania militia finished off one of the mercenary medium hover tanks that had been badly damaged by their allies super heavy.

In a last desperate act one of the Hell Knights medium hover tank rammed a Martian battlesuit but only managed to inflict light damage on itself.  Unable to stop the Martian advance the mercenaries withdrew from the field.

Notes:  We actually penalized the Hell Knights 100 points for the bunker because we have decided that fortifications in deployment zones really give the defender an advantage.  This was actually a very close battle that came down to less than 100 victory points.  In fact my last shot of the battle was an attempt to kill the Martian general with one of my snipers.  Unfortunately I rolled a 10 and was not even able to re-roll with the sniper's sure shot ability because of the critical fumble.  I rolled a disproportionate number of 10s during the battle especially when I only needed a nine to hit on most of those rolls.  Of 18 railgun shots fired from the medium tanks only 6 hit and only 3 managed to do damage and the worst shots I had required a roll of 8 or under on a D10.  The dice just were not with me in this fight.  Still my wife fought a very aggressive battle using her tank and battlesuits quite effectively.