Skyfell Campaign: Session 21
Skyfell Introduction
The cast is:
Session 21 - Clockworks Of Carnage : Stack Overflow
Preparation
I have prepped and re-prepped for this particular session multiple times over the last year. So, I didn’t do much this time around other than build out the set pieces. My original plan was to have a massive battle involving all the constructs fighting the players. I even had some ideas about other yet-to-be-identified enemies. Eventually, though, I wanted to rely more on story than a big battle.
My daughter came back from college for the summer and it was hectic for a while. I ran a one-shot for her friends around trying to resolve a wild-magic mishap at a brewery. So, some of my game planning went into that. Also, and to be completely honest, I picked up a copy of the Robotech Role Playing Game a week or so prior to the session and my mind was ducking into that world far more often than it should have been. (If you’ve read my History of a Gamer, you know my love for that universe.)
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| Robotech RPG and Show |
It wasn’t really until Friday night that I built out what I needed. That did take a while because I really wanted this to be a great session. Here are some shots of the full maps.
Pre-game
It was awesome to finally all be back together at the table. I made split pea soup mostly because it was easy. Also the high temperature for the day was going to be well over 100 and I didn’t want to heat up the house even more with the oven.
I did make a fresh batch of roasted green tea. (Check out my Ovens and Dragons video on how to do it.)
So, we ate, chatted like we always do, and then diced right in.
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| The Gang's All Here |
In-game
Team Stomper immediately recognized that Constable Manfred was being attacked by some of the V-series constructs and they rushed to his aid.
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| Manfred Surrounded |
Drekazhar was the first on scene and quickly diced up one of the crazed machines with his scimitars. Tauffae was next. He hurled the chest of components they had looted from the Stomper’s secret workshop (see the Session 19 summary) but missed his target. The chest cracked open when it hit the ground, spilling its contents all over the walkway. Meribore, still in dino-form with an unconscious Stomper lashed to her back, was next to do a little slice, dice, bite. It wasn't long before she realized that she did not like the taste of oil and clockwork grease. Together, the group easily finished off the remaining enemies.
As the fight came to an end, Team Infernal caught up with Team Stomper and Manfred. A slow moving V-15 was trailing behind. The construct infused with Cheb's soul was moving slowly but was determined to follow Bronte wherever he went. Not so far behind V-15 was another group of constructs charging toward our heroes.
As Manfred downed a potion, he informed the group that the constructs had gone berserk and were attacking all the humanoids on the citadel. Sure enough, our heroes could hear the sounds of clashing metal, screams of fear, someone barking orders, and the woosh and boom of a fireball spells resonating around the citadel. Smoke was curling up from near The Tinker Inn. He went on to explain that there was a way to shut down all of the constructs in Ringmaster Overclocked’s quarters. The quarters were in the Administration Tower.
While all this boring yakety-yak was droning on, Tauffae noticed that there was a funnel cake stand within the little courtyard area in front of the Administration Tower. This was clearly a more important discovery and he meandered over to the stand.
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| Tauffae Finds the Funnel Cake |
The stand was boarded up, but that didn’t stop him from knocking on the shutters to see if anyone was home. No one answered so he knocked a little harder. When there was still no reply, he knocked even harder. The shutters broke, revealing a few sacks of dry goods stacked inside that were labeled “funnel cake mix.” Within easy reach on the counter was a wooden spoon that someone had left behind. Tauffae grabbed this and stuck it in his mouth. He was happy to discover that the spoon was encrusted with that good, good taste of dried funnel cake batter and he started sucking on it as though it were a lollipop.
Unknown to Tauffae , more constructs rushed in from the opposite end of the courtyard, threatening to flank the party. To slow them, Bronte laid down a fog cloud spell. The fog cloud rolled into the shack and around Tauffee's feet. This was enough to pull the orc away from the promise of a delicious snack. Drekzhar joined up with him and told him they were going to hold the ground near the funnel cake stand until their friends were safe in the tower. Meribore, still in dino-form, rushed for the tower with Manfred. Omagoshno ducked behind a decorative wall near the courtyard and readied himself for a little spell slinging.
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| Bronte Lays Down a Fog Cloud |
Bronte then slowly headed for the tower so that V-15 would not be abandoned.
Meribore and Manfred were the first into the tower. (In her haste, the unconscious Stomper fell off of Meribore’s back and landed right in front of Tauffae.) They rushed through the customer service area and Manfed’s security office, and then into the construct bay where three P-series constructs were “resting.” Manfred was initially relieved that these were not out and about until they snapped to attention and moved to attack him and Meribore.
Meanwhile, Bronte and V-15 were still making their way to the tower. Omagoahno was unleashing shatter spells on the constructs that had followed Team Infernal. Drekzhar and Tauffae were hacking back the group that had been caught up in the fog cloud. (These constructs, you see, have blindsight so the fog cloud didn’t slow them down at all.) It was about this time that The Stomper started waking up.
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| Tauffae and Drekzhar Hold Off the Constructs |
As Bronte and V-15 were nearing the tower, Drekzhar and Tauffae fell back because more constructs were emerging out of the coliseum. Tauffae grabbed The Stomper, but during their withdraw, she was struck by one of the constructs and killed.
Bronte joined Meribore and Manfred to finish off the P-series. Tauffae closed the tower door to keep everyone safe from what seemed liked an endless stream of constructs. Soon, though, the last of the attackers were destroyed. Tauffae let Oma into the tower and then blocked the door with a table.
Everyone then rushed up the spiral stairs to Ringmaster Overclocked’s suite.
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| Overclocked's Suite |
The place was, for lack of a better way to put it, a swinging bachelor’s pad complete with an indoor hot tub and a huge bed beneath a mirrored ceiling equipped with a rotating glitter sphere. There was also a balcony decorated with very fine furniture that provided a view of the entire citadel. From there, the party could see a desperate battle going on between an unknown number of survivors pinned down in The Tinker Inn and a mass of relentless constructs.
Manfred indicated a keyboard mounted to a bronze and cedar panel with three crystals embedded in it. Each of the crystals were glowing.
“The password is the closing theme of the show, “ Manfred said, “but I don’t know how to play this damn thing.”
Clearly within his wheelhouse, Drekzhar stepped up to the keyboard, took a moment to recall the theme played at the end of the clockwork match they had attended, and then started playing. One by one the crystals dimmed until they finally stopped glowing entirely. Outside, the sounds of battle slowly dwindled into an uneasy silence.
The constructs were shut down.
The immediate threat dealt with for now, our heroes, accompanied by Manfred and V-15, went to the engine room. There, they found the body of Gear Grinder (a clockwork fighter) and the destroyed remains of his clockwork The Hunger. There were also numerous constructs, now shut down, carrying batons covered in blood. It was obvious Gear Grinder had fallen fighting the constructs. Manfred knelt by his body to demand Gruumsh grant a place of honor for this fallen warrior.
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| Rest in Peace, Gear Grinder |
Next, the team hurried to The Tinker Inn, leaving Manfred behind to guard the engine room. On their way they saw the destruction that the constructs had managed to wreak in such a short period of time. They discovered a few bodies but also found a few survivors. As they approached the inn, they began seeing more and more constructs. Some were destroyed but most were frozen mid-stride. Dozens of the things were piled against the main entrance of the inn. Clearly, the building had become the final stand for the humanoids inside.
The scene was no less shocking. Tables were pushed against doors. An exhausted Flik-flak Boom ministered to the wounded with the meager remains of a medicine kit; he had spent all his magic during the battle trying to keep the defenders alive. The dead were lined up on the floor. Blood-soaked tablecloths covered their bodies. The whole place smelled of blood, smoke, fear, and grease.
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| Flik-flak Boom |
The team found Ringmaster Overclocked and explained everything that had happened. Then, they went about the inn helping where they could until they were too exhausted to go on. They collapsed in their beds for a long, long rest back in their ship. (This is also when they learned that a few constructs had tried to board the ship but Gubrash and Huru had destroyed them.)
During the full gloom, Meribore was visited by The Raven (see the supplemental materials below for a write up of that sequence.).
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| The Raven |
The next morning, the party rejoined Overclocked and Manfred to discuss what should happen next. They also had many questions for their host. Overclocked thanked them profusely and gave them 2000GP worth of parts, a lightning ballista for the ship, the tools to create both ball and powder for the flintlocks the team had found in the wreck (see Session 14), and 100 shots for them. He also gave Meribore an immovable rod.
The team took this moment to also learn more about the citadel and about the door in the access tunnels. Overclocked explained that the door led to a plane known as Mechanus, a plane filled with clockwork machines and other mechanical marvels. They had entered into an agreement with the Eyes of Tescalain (see Organizations of Highwater) to explore the plane and salvage whatever technology they could. The doorway to Mechanus was guarded by an entity that called herself The Hidden Order. The passages leading to her were tricky though because they changed each time one went through them. There were also numerous puzzles along the way that had to be solved; failure had deadly consequences. Overclocked had managed only three expeditions because of the dangers the passageways presented.
As a side note, on one of the floors in the Administration Tower, the party had noticed a few of the same kind of constructs when they had discovered Auntie and her chambers way back in Session 10.
When the team brought up Auntie and described her to Overclocked, he said he didn’t know the name nor did the description of Auntie match The Hidden Order’s appearance. The adventurers wondered whether these were indeed the same person, perhaps taking on a different persona, or these were in fact two different entities.
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| Auntie |
There was too much left to do on the citadel and, to be honest, the adventurers were still very exhausted from their ordeal. They decided to stay on Clockworks of Carnage until it returned to Doraku. That way, they might help the survivors in any way they could, get a chance to rest, and have some time to mull over their next steps.
End session 21.
Experience earned:
Bronte - 3,839 (29,641 total)
Drekzhar - 3,917 (30,508 total)
Meribore - 3,857 (29,943 total)
Omagoshno - 3,926 (30,331 total)
Tauffae - 3800 (29,827 total)
Supplemental Materials
Maps and Stuff
Here's a shot of the map I drew up for the final session of this arc. I've already posted the maps for the other sessions in the corresponding sessions.
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| The Maps |
And once again, here's the playlists I used for this arc.
RPG Adventure - Clocks of Carnage
RPG Combat - Clocks of Carnage
RPG Mood - Clockworks of Carnage
Clockworks of Carnage Out-troduction (The Touch -- Stan Bush)
Arc Retrospective
The Clockworks of Carnage drew inspiration from several sources.
First, way back in the early 2000s I really got into a reality TV show called BattleBots. (Apparently, it’s still running, so I guess I have some more TV to binge.) In this show, teams created robots that beat the living heck out of each other in a no-holds-barred smorgasbord of robot carnage involving saws, spikes, flame throwers, and more. There was always something quite satisfying about this show, maybe because at the time the idea of robot “fighting” was a completely new concept to me as far as real-life entertainment went.
Second, it’s really hard to miss the influence from pro wrestling, especially franchises like World Wrestling Entertainment. You can see it in the unusual stage names for the clockwork fighters (and their clockworks), the merchandise on sale at the Tinker Inn, and the stage show where the “hero” and “villain” clockwork fighters engaged in verbal duels filled with colorful language and promises to demolish their opponent during their next match. It’s all in there and it was great fun to do it.
All that said though, BattleBots and WWE (or at least what I remember of it when it was the WWF) really only inspired the mood and feel of the Clockworks of Carnage arc. The overall story, however, came straight out of the 1977 Doctor Who serial called The Robots of Death.
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| Dr. Who : The Robots of Death Source: BBC America |
In this storyline (where Tom Baker is the fourth Doctor and Louise Jameson is his companion Leela), the TARDIS arrives on a mining vehicle where humans are in charge of a robot crew. The robots go on a murder spree (go figure) and it’s up to The Doctor to save the day.
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| Robots of Death Novelization |
This is my favorite Doctor Who serial from Tom Baker’s run. The story makes for a great mystery. The set and costuming is not only beautiful but unique. It includes a wonderful set of characters. And the writers made no secret of their own literary inspirations with numerous inside references. I won’t go into the parallels between The Robots of Death and Clockworks of Carnage; I’d rather encourage you to watch The Robots of Death and figure them out on your own.
Any fan of The Transformers might have also noticed my gratuitous use of "The Touch" from the 1986 animated film Transformers, The Movie. I very clearly remember going to see this in the theaters on opening night. I think anyone around my age will agree that it was an exciting and somewhat devastating movie. Prime's death still chokes me up when I watch it. I couldn't pass up the chance to use this song, which is inspirational in its own way, as a theme for The Clockworks of Carnage.
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| Transformers, The Movie Poster |
All in all, I think the arc unfolded fairly well in spite of the COVID-19 interruption. There were literally months between a few of the sessions. It’s a testament to the tenacity of my players (and the details of their notes) that we were even able to return to the arc, let alone complete it. The extensive delays in play did afford me the unusual opportunity to reconfigure the story more frequently and more deeply than the standard gap between sessions. In some ways that was both a boon and curse.
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Also, check out my DMsGuild offerings:
- Epic Gnomish Inventing
Rules supplement for creating gadgets. - Gnome Concept Packages 1
Collection of gnome-related backgrounds, feats, magic items, and more. - Great House Servants
Collection of backgrounds centered on the servants of a great house. - Mildew's Revenge
A first-level adventure. - Random Plot Generator
A tool for creating adventure prompts for one-shots and story arcs. - The WhatNot Shop’s Absurd Accoutrements
A collection of unusual magical items. - The WhatNot Shop's Bracing Beverages
A collection of strange potions. - The WhatNot Shop's Common Curiosities and Trivial Trinkets
A collection of common magic items and trinkets. - The WhatNot Shop's Dastardly Doodads and Orc Oddities
A collection of orc-themed common magic items and trinkets.
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