Session Recap: Until It Sleeps, Session 3

Something like this, or listen
to the theme song while you
are here.

Ride a train, fight a tiger.

The Cast

Talbot

Talbot is a mustelidian, or more colloquially, an otter-person. Until the end of the recently deceased empress, he was among the royal gardeners. He has a magical talent for gardening [using Sorcery mechanics] and can usher the elements to his whims using by calling o power through the rhythmic clashing of two stones in either hand. He is enchanted with Zeke's air synthesis, a rare miracle in this day and age, and becomes friends to learn more about him.

Zeke

An Air-Infused religious monk who has betrayed his traditions, and done irreparable harm to his ancestors by selling manuals of their secret techniques to rich but exploitative businessman who have exhausted air aspected mana throughout the empire. To this day, the faintest breeze is considered a miracle. Wanting to give the greedy royals a piece of his mind, he returned to the capital to speak with someone in charge that might help. When this failed, due to an unfortunate switch-up, he found himself imprisoned for a short while in the same dungeon as Morty. He was soon released when the forensics group discovered they made a mistake, but while in the cell, he listened to Zeke's story, and decided it was worth his while to help him break out.

Summary

September 27, 1812.

Talbot and Zeke stand
over a Triger in a large pollen
cloud.

The party is tasked by the monastery on a mission to deliver goods to Radkappe, a poor town in the sticks. The party decides to do some research before travelling, and discover that the emperor is trying to have the citizens of the town relocated by eminent domain to build an important government facility. Further on the train there with the supplies, they discover that the indigenous people in the area sustain only on the industry of goat raising. The soil is too poor for farming, but goats are at home at the high altitudes.

When the party arrives and after they reload, they convince some locals help them deliver the food, however, [due to some whinging on Weirdness Magnet] A Dungeon Fantasy Triger appears out of nowhere and attacks the party. The laborers scatter.

Talbot launches a pollen cloud at the Triger [This probably saves the party's lives even though Talbot proceeds to be defeated easily.] Inflicting coughing on the Triger failing an easy resistance roll.

The Triger responds with an attack that reduces Talbot to 1 HP in one move, though he resists fainting and shock from the major wound. Zeke meanwhile carefully attacks using a quarterstaff, taking advantage of his decent skill, balance, and reach. Attacking the Skull from behind to do extra damage. He too, is hit for a serious injury, and decides to throw a cloak over the eyes of the Triger [I'm not sure if it is raw, but I let him roll to target the head(s) and he succeeded, and it failed to dodge, so I treated it as very temporary blindness.]

The critically wounded Talbot called for help, and soldiers from a nearby camp came up running, but they were several seconds a way. In the meantime, using control Earth magic, he shifts earth underneath the Triger to make combat difficulty and to stack up obstacles to protect himself. Just as the much better armed soldiers arrive, the two defeat the triger. They tell the two that they will take the disposal of the dangerous beast from here. Zeke asks to handle it [but rolls a very bad reaction.], and they reply that they will handle it without civilian interference.

After Action Report

• I found out that extra heads gives a very severe penalty to maximum damage to a skull, though, coincidentally, this limit was not breached, probably because the Dungeon Fantasy Triger has a lot of hit points.
• I threw in the Triger because my players seemed like they were getting antsy for action in this short session. They also pointed out their own character flaws they paid points for which is good.
• They also remembered they haven't specified any quirks yet, which might give them more points.
• Since they don't have a lot of social skills, abilities, or connections, I think they might need to build a reputation in the meantime to be more convincing and prepare them for a "truly political" campaign.
• For more survivability, Talbot, a user with Sorcerous Empowerment 7 limited to Earth and Plant Spells, I have two optional cantrips:
• Leaf Barrier(-80%) - Damage Resistance 5 (Ablative, -80%; Force Field, +20%; Sorcery, -15%)[7]
• This ability gives you 5 Ablative DR in the form of a cloud of leaves that surround ones body but conveniently do not impede vision.
• Earth Barrier(-35%) - Damage Resistance 2 (Force Field, +20%; Front Only, -20%; Semi-Ablative, -20%; Sorcery, -15%)[7]
• This gives 2 semi-ablative DR in the form of a thin wall of Earth that stops attacks from hitting the body, but only from the front.