So the desert expedition started off fairly well. Nel ended up taking about 5 damage (over the 5 hours of travel) from the heat because he was rather unaccustomed to the desert compared to the other travelers. Caiden, the Knight, moved around in his heavy armor with almost no effort.
The knight was a bit negative about following the group, but decided to help them due to his humanitarian nature. At some point in the adventure I'm planning on giving him an official rank within the knights of his home kingdom of Ancuan in the Blue Legion.
Raz knew they needed to find a mount quickly. He rode into Presca on a giant ant-like creature, but the town guards killed it. So him and Nel worked quickly to find some tracks.
What happened next changed everything: Dustin (playing Nel) rolled a 100 on my Encounter Chart.
What will they find? An Adult Blue Dragon.
Nel found these massive claw marks leading up a sand dune that disappeared and then re-appeared on the sandy plain below...moving towards a gigantic stone cave that covered in sand that reached out from the desert like a gigantic head. After two more hours of walking the party rested underneath the shade of the cave and then investigated the dark hallow insides.
Using his scanning abilities, Nick managed to see a gigantic creature that was about 20ft. wide with huge claws, a crowned head and even a horn. It was surrounded with electromagnetic energy. I told him it seemed like it would be a level 9 creature upon scanning (which would be impossible to fight), but for the sake of playability I reduced it to a level 6 later on (which would still be very difficult, but not impossible to fight).
Raz, using his double stealth specialization and several lucky rolls, managed to sneak by the dragon in an amazingly epic Lord of the Rings style moment. He even compared the shard (oddity) in his pocket to the dragon's scales and noted that they had a similar color but the metal blueish shard was more smooth and metallic than the scales. The dragon throughout constantly breathed in wisps of electric energy every time he would breathe of be near the PCs, and It was a really fun effect to describe. Imagine breathing out little bits of energy instead of oxygen, the warm electric feeling it would be like near your face if you were close, like sparks in the air. In this case, Raz saw its face illuminated by its electric snoring as it slept.
He snuck behind and found a junk pile of around 25 shins in assorted junk and scrap along with a rounded metal ball with a handle behind it. Later he discovered it was a stun blaster and took it for himself. Raz then snuck out of the cave and, since I wasn't going to let this end...they all got a bit of exp right after Raz said "I got it, I got a thing from inside there!"
Behind them they heard a deep voice as the beast slithered out from the cave and rose to its back legs, it towered over all of them and covered them in shadow with its massive wings. "You took a thing?!" it repeated Raz's words angrily and combat proceeded soon after Nel was pushed backward by it like an ant after trying to offer it a sacrifice.
Nick went first Stabbing it in the leg with his knife and letting the disrupting nodule (which still has about 15 hours of battery life) blast apart one of its legs. It screeched in pain as it was stunned, its scales falling apart and littering the sand. Caiden went next and much like in Monster Hunter (the game series), he slashed his heavy sword into the dragon's wing, tearing it apart with a burst of blood.
Raz saw that it was in pain and tried to stop the fight before anyone got hurt, rolling a 20 to calm the situation down. He promised to help the dragon if they could make a deal. This was where the negotiating began. The party spent about 30 minutes to an hour conversing with the dragon, who was named Gretiem the Gentle Minded. This is what took up most of the session, and it was a blast.
Nick used up two of his telepathy tattoos, sticking one unto Raz. However, Raz was trained in the art of Mental Defense (as a special Trick of the Trade) for certain reasons beyond just keeping secrets. This way, he could hear Nick, but Nick could not hear him. The dragon also had the ability to force himself into someone's mind to deliver telepathic one-way messages, which Raz could not counter.
Many secrets were unveiled throughout the dealings, such as:
-Nel smelling of "The Dust of the Land Beyond Dreams" and sees great potential in him.
-Raz's name, as he had told the group his name was Arch. The dragon believed the truth was valuable and demanded honesty after finding out Raz was a liar.
-The Dragon recognizes some of the group's cyphers from the abandoned building, calling them "experiments of the people from beyond the moon. (though he whispered this, two of the party picked it out)"
-The dragon mistrusts Caiden and can sense that he is tainted by dark forces, warning the party of this. Caiden says "So, you fear me?" and the dragon does not respond, indicating that he is in fact afraid of the demonically powered warrior who bloodied his wing.
-Nick "Smells of Sin" indicating that he has had a troubled past.
The outcomes of the deal were as follows:
-Nel would become the apprentice of the dragon in exchange for his co-operation. He confuses this for a sexual relationship, being a slave. In exchange, the dragon will fly them to Aian overnight.
-Nel traded her video monitor oddity so that Raz could keep the Stun Blaster Artifact that the dragon hoarded (he has no concept of the value of the items).
-In order to use his home for shelter, the party must gain his trust by "Speaking the truth, and telling no lies" for the night, sharing their backstories with each other and the dragon.
As a group we agreed to meet earlier than normal and have a smaller group-RP session to play out the night in the dragon's cave. While I did not record the audio logs for this adventure, it was still one of the best experiences I've had in RPGs. Playing out and describing the dragon was very fun, and the players were put in a very dangerous position while also feeling very powerful. I loved every moment.
For the next blog, I still need to make notes on Mystic Machina (Karl's steampunk game that got pulled out of hiatus for a cool second session).
Out of Character stuff for numenera is going interestingly too.
Tom is considering how he should play out Nick's character, as he hasn't been able to really be focused on personality wise. He even told me he might just kill Nick and change characters.
Raz continues to be a neat addition, getting really lucky rolls and making great dialogue. I'm still working with Aleena to flesh out who this mysterious man is and figure out his full backstory.
Nel is growing more powerful as this dragon recognizes that there is more to him, and I have some awesome things planed to showcase this. The first dream was the first taste of many cool things to come.
Caiden, played by Karl, has been put out of the spotlight for the most part, but had some great comeback lines in character to what the dragon was saying. He is the strongest member of the party, able to tear through almost anything. The real development will come when he is first injured or stressed, then the demon will be unleashed.
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