Dramatis Personae
+Adventures of the Mind as Don Harper of Mars, the Specialist
+Linlin Kins as Umquat the Specialist
+Ronnie Whelan as Ronnina the Magic User
Loot
Nothing at all for you! Hahahaha!
Rulings
Spears deal 1d8 damage. That makes way more sense than 1d6.
NPC Relationships
Klaus the Hero Slave has passed. He took two arrows, one to each eyeball, which flew through his head and pinned his eyeballs to the ground. He is mourned by Umquat.
Anna Blerkinman was slain, and revealed that she blames the party for the death of her daughter as well. Ronnina erected a 3 sided obelisk in Fighting Mongoose territory, to honor the fallen Blerkinman clan.
Albert was not as shaken by the death of Klaus as he was by the death of Henry. Perhaps he and the young slave had never bonded quite the way that he and Henry had. Regardless, his loyalty does not decrease.
Bal’Urel: Tͧ̌H͚̰̞͛ͬEͨͥ ͭͫ̾̾̚P͇̹̱̯͖͇̔̉ͬ̍̎A̠̼̭̰̦͖̐̈ͦͫ̅̈C̣̏̅̈T̞͖̤̆̊ ̲̦̝̘ͤ̓̃̍ͬ̈Ḯ͖̰̘͗ͦS̤̖͚̼̅̇ͬ̃̓̚ ̻̮̬̹͋S̯̼͈͔̺̝ͪ̉ͬ̀͌̃ͨE̱̯̮̟̦̭ͥ̎͒A̦͓͖̮̦͂͑̿ͬL̖̊Eͬ̈́̈͑ͯ̏́ͅD̺̞͈̪͉̒ͪͯ̚.̻̭̭ͧ̆ͤ͌͗ ̗̖̲͇R̃ͨ͌͆̄̑̂Ṏ́N̞͎̰͖̳̰̑̑ͭ͛N̫̲̘͓̦͚̈͂̄I̤̲̿ͩ̊N̫͎͖̜̠̜̼̄͋ͩA̦̹ͬ̎ͧ̽͒’̖͎̠̻͓̞̭̿͒S̯͈̝̰͗̉ ̗̒͌ͮ̒̚P̐Ḽ͓̏̉ͫͭȀ̂̅ͪC̤̤̹̈́̒͑E͈̲̝̫̭͈ͩ͂̈́͂ͅ ̲̤͖͂̔̀͛̂͗̄I͔͔͙͖͙̫͊ͮ̆S̠̪̤͎̳̫̞ͭ̿ ̣̮̳͊ͥ̓ͣ̈́̏R̺̈E̱̪̫̫͖ͨ̚ͅS̝͍͚̞͎̀̎͐̇̔E͒ͩR̬̖̪͖͌ͅV̘͉̰̙̬͉̰̿ͮ̈Ë͈͉͎̙͉̳̼́̃ͣD̐ͪ́͑̂͛ ͙͚̣̳̼I͓̓͋͊͐̄ͤ͗N̼͕̲̥̆͗͑̾͑̓̊ ̜̬̬̞ͭ̈̅T̘ͬ͂ͯͥḤ̼̲̟̔͆͒̉̆E͎̘͙̲̩ͧͦ͑ ̎̓͂̋ͩP͖̞̖L̲̩͇̳A̭̓͒̎̒͊̚C̹̗̈͋͌̾̆E̘̘̻ͯͭ̊ͫͨ̊̂ ͍̓ͭ͌̆͛B̑̒ͩ͗ͪ̑Ē̥̮̥̯̿͛̄̏̚YỒͮN̝̈́̌͗̾͂͌D̫̹̱̺̫ͭ.͙͈̠̬͛ͥ̉ͥͣ
Highlights Recap
NOTE: Originally we had planned to resolve this encounter, then continue on to the next adventure post-haven turn. Due to a confluence of circumstances, that was not feasible. Instead, we just wrapped up the encounter with Ana Blerkinman, then called it a night. So all the Haven turn stuff discussed in the Session 19 recap will technically occur between sessions 20 and 21.
The combat opened when Anna threw a smoke grenade, dealing heavy damage to the party but only partially obscuring the rear of the alley. And so, when arrows started flying down on the party from behind, they were able to quickly identify their source.
Umquat charged forward, knowing she had the best chance of surviving against Anna. And given that Umquat was the only member of the party present for Clint’s death, Anna was only too happy to give Umquat her undivided attention. Albert used this opportunity to slip past Anna into the cover of a doorway.
Klaus, meanwhile, had been trying to suppress the fire coming at the party from the rear, and was the only character who did not dive for cover behind the smoke. He was targeted by both archers simultaneously, and had one arrow fly through each of his eyes, breaking out the back of his head, and pin his eyes to the pavement as his body fell over dead.
As the situation started to look grim, Ronnina called out the name of Bal’Urel, the eyes in the dark. Bal’Urel stopped time, and appeared to the puny wizard who dared call upon the full name of a devil. Bal’Urel refused to acknowledge any debt to Ronnina for freeing it from its prison, and mocked Ronnina for being foolish enough to call upon a devil without any magical protections. Ronnina made a simple offer: save us from this combat, and Bal’Urel could have Ronnina’s soul. Bal’Urel agreed. It tore a strip of skin from its arm, revealing a contract with blazing gold letters, which Ronnina signed in her own blood.
Time resumed, and all of the party was at full health, and Ronnina herself was a massively muscled person with a fighter’s attack bonus, and massive bone katanas growing from the palm of each hand.
Ronnina, Albert, and the enraged Umquat each scored successful hits against Anna, causing her to fall backwards onto her wheelchair with tears in her eyes and a curse on her lips. Umquat stepped forward and plunged her Katana through Anna’s cheek, and out the back of her neck. She cursed Anna for killing the man that she had loved. Anna wailed that Umquat had killed her husband. Had killed her daughter, and there was no way Anna could lose. Just no way. She pulled a ripcord on her wheelchair, and it exploded in a blast that damaged everyone, and would have killed Albert if he was not immune to fire damage.
The party made their way home and began to ask around about Anna. They learned that after her husband’s death she’d nearly killed herself using chems to make her legs function, just so she could find work to pay for her daughter’s medical bills. Medical bills she never was able to afford, eventually leading to her daughter’s death.