16th Barrakas, 998 YK
- Ell recaps last session, earning Damien an advance on his least developed theme
- Yashira identifies the iconography on the dead guard's armour, they belong to the Order of the Emerald Claw, a recognised Karrnathi extremist group.
- Nerys yells out "Damien you killed a terrorist, you're a hero!"
- Charlie sweats as he tries to keep the crowd's attention despite the word "terrorist" just being yelled.
- Damien theorises that the pickpocket may be involved in this
- Nerys starts panicking, do they tell the driver? These guys looked like Deneith guards, can they trust anyone on the train? What if the whole train has been taken over?
- Yashira thinks that the more people they tell, the more panic will spread. They should keep it quiet until they can't
- Ban suggests just putting the dead guard on one of the seats and pretending he's asleep. That would be less suspicious than leaving them on the floor. They can even put a drink in his hand
- They consider putting the guard in one of the cabins, but that risks raising the alarm when the party ends or someone goes back to their cabin
- Maybe they could put the corpse in their own cabin, with Amaldi Kolkarun. How to get it past the party though?
- Nerys doesn't like this
- Damien ponders just dumping it off the train
- Ban says they should check for keys or anything first!
- Damien doesn't want to touch it though. Ban doesn't either
- "I came up with the idea so I shouldn't have to do it. It's only fair"
- They make Ban do it
- Ban begrudgingly pats the guard down and finds a key. Nice!
- "Happy yeeting, I guess"
- Damien then grabs the corpse and teleports himself and the corpse to the space between cars and pushes the corpse off.
- Nerys isn't sure that was the right thing to do
- Ban says it's too late now
- Damien comes back in and says "either way it's a double murder so we may as well carry on"
- Nerys says they should get danger pay for these jobs. Damien says they don't think terrorists hijacking a train is on the expected hazard list
- Ban is now suspicious about Aurea ir'Korran, since she bought their tickets. He liked her too :(
- Yashira doesn't trust her either. But Yashira doesn't trust anyone
- "That's kinda sad"
- "No it's not"
- Nerys says what do they do now? There's terrorists!
- Damien tells them to stop saying that word!
- Trixie Towers is doing their best work
- Nerys apologises, this is so stressful!
- "It's alright Nerys, you're only an accomplice to a double homicide"
- Yashira says the quicker they get the job done, hopefully the less murders need to happen.
- Nerys wants to tell someone, but the group tell them not to. They don't know who they can trust.
- Nerys says the T word again and Damien pushes them out onto the next car
- As they step outside, Damien tells them to keep their arms and legs inside the platform to avoid electrocution
- The next car is a galley car. Damien says they should go through the kitchen
- They are approached by an elven woman in a waiter uniform, who tells them the kitchen is closed to guests. Do they need food? They can deliver food to their cabin
- Damien says he's an undercover Orien inspector, here to inspect the kitchen. Just to check everything is running as expected and the hygiene is up to standard
- Meriel, the waiter, frowns, but doesn't stop him
- Damien whips out a silver spoon and starts testing the food, waving at the others to keep going
- Charlie notices the others have left him in the first class cabin
- for fucks sake
- He wraps things up, and quickly follows the group (still as Trixie Towers)
- Trixie Towers bursts into the kitchen, and Damien has to cover for that too. "Ah! Ms Towers! You're needed elsewhere on the train!"
- Charlie asks if there's somewhere quiet and private so he can ask what the fuck is going on?
- Damien says maybe in the next car
- "Fabulous job, by the way"
- They enter the Dining Car, and see it's mostly empty. Three men are very drunk, watching a pair of feathered raptors doing a performance at the behest of a halfling woman. At the far end of the car, 4 Karrnathi individuals are having a quiet conversation with some ale. One of them has a green scarf, a rugged half-elf.
- They slip into a booth and Charlie asks what the fuck is going on? Why was Nerys yelling the word terrorist?
- They fill Charlie in. The green scarf is probably their guy?
- But Yashira is concerned it's a tactic to slow them down
- She goes on about Aurea, and if she's connected, then the terrorists know they're on the train.
- Ruckus says why would she be involved? She's paying for everything they do
- Nerys says there's also spells that can disguise people, maybe they never even spoke to Aurea ir'Korran!
- Yashira says yes! They're onto something!
- Charlie says how do they know the thief is part of the terrorist group? They might not be related at all!
- Ruckus says how do they know one of them isn't an illusion?
- While they're dicussing it, the green-scarfed man laughs at something and then gets up and heads to the next car
- Nerys asks if they should follow?
- Yes
- The group get up and walk across the car like they own the place
- The three Karrns give them a look but don't say anything
- Damien tries the door, and it doesn't open. The door isn't locked, the handle moves, but it doesn't budge
- Fuck
- Nerys walks up and tries to strong arm the door. They're strong and manage to open it a bit, but it becomes clear something is blocking it on the other side
- One of the Karrns asks if the door is stuck? They can help
- The two men go to the door while the woman hangs back
- Nerys thanks them, that's so kind!
- Nerys then whispers to the others that they know the Karrns probably aren't trying to help, but they're trying to act natural
- After about a minute, the Karrns get the door open and then ask if someone was after the bathroom?
- The group say yes. All of them. They go to the bathroom collectively
- Charlie says he's here for moral support
- Nerys says they don't know them
- Nerys vibe checks the Karrns, as the woman has moved away towards the raptors
- Nerys is suspicious, something is off. These people are trying too hard to seem friendly. They nod to Yashira with their arms folded and goes "hmm"
- Yashira picks up the vibe that Nerys is putting down
- She goes over to the men and starts talking about the door, directing their attention with details of what was wrong? Creating an opening for Damien to teleport through the gap
- Damien zoopidy doops through the gap in the door and onto the platform between cars
- Damien sees that a flail has been jammed in the door, preventing it from opening. He removes it, allowing the door to open
- That gets everyone's attention. The Karrn woman grabs the halfling, Zhara, and puts a knife to her throat. She yells at the group to drop their weapons!
- Nerys drops their axe
- Ban doesn't drop their frying pan. It's not a weapon!
- Yashira looks behind her to Damien, and predicts he's going to zippity zoop. She gets out her daggers and holds them out as if she's going to drop them, and taps her foot to get Damien's attention before tossing her daggers up into the air
- The Karrn looks up, following the daggers, as Damien teleports behind her and presses his rapier to her neck
- The Karrn cuts Zhara's throat and Damien stabs her in the neck. The Karrn instantly goes limp, while Zhara begins to bleed out
- No!
- The nearest Karrn man goes for Yashira, who has just thrown her daggers up into the air, and tries to grapple her. She feels the attempt to grab her and her training kicks in. She grabs the hand and tries to reverse the grapple, twisting his arm and getting behind him.
- The other guy goes for Nerys, who has already begun reciting a story to try and help Zhara, to put her in a suspended sleep where she won't bleed out. Nerys does not react to the man trying to grab them, so gets grappled (and is now very stabbable)
- The camera pans to Ban, who is thinking this is not his favourite train ride so far. He moves to help Nerys, swinging his frying pan at the Karrn's knee and smashing it. He falls to the ground screaming.
- Ruckus moves to help Yashira, jabbing his stun rod into the man's side. It's way more effective than expected, as if the Karrn was wearing metal? And it fries the poor guy
- 4th death of the train ride
- The Karrn's clothing wibble wobbles and turns into Emerald Claw branded chainmail
- Charlie observes Zhara's raptors go batshit and leap for Damien. He stamps one of his stilletos onto the floor and projects ice across the ground to make it slippery. One raptor slips whilst trying to pounce and ends up on the floor, whilst the other slides past Damien to the other end of the car
- Damien prioritises saving Zhara over protecting himself from the raptors. He gets a first aid kit out of his bag and attempts to triage the wound.
- He manages to somewhat staunch the bleeding, packing the wound, when the raptor that went past him (Muffins) jumps onto his back and starts tearing into him
- Yashira sprints across the car to help Damien, who yells at her not to kill the raptors!
- Yashira lets out a high pitched whistle as she runs, to get the raptors attention and throws a dagger at Muffins
- The dagger skims the side of Muffin's head and takes out its eye, causing it to release Damien and begin writhing on the ground. The other raptor (Snuggles) responds, going for Yashira
- Ban decides to finish his impromptu knee surgery on the other Karrn, aiming for the face. He tries very hard not to deliver enough force to kill, but the Karrn's head bounces off the floor of the train car and they die anyway
- What the fuck!!
- Ban throws the camera to Damien, who has a nasty shoulder wound and a bleeding out halfling in front of him.
- Damien channels his mark and summons his magnificent steed, a unicorn formed from his dragonmark named Clarence, which uses its size to try and intimidate the raptor
- Muffins shrinks back, evaluating the situation and avoiding getting trampled
- Charlie summons a cage of ice to contain Snuggles before it can get to Yashira, containing the threat.
- With both raptors occupied, the only issue is the heavily injured Zhara
- Damien goes up to get the first aid kit from the car, and then the pain in his shoulder kicks in. Yashira tells him to wait, she'll get it
- Muffins is pacing back and forth, assessing the situation and waiting for an opportunity to get to Zhara
- Yashira grabs the first aid kit and brings it to Ban to administer it
- Ban isn't sure why, he's not a trained first aider
- "You got a good vibe about you though"
- They all remember that they were given potions of healing for this job, too
- There is one in the first aid kit though. Ban administers the one from the train to Damien, and his own to Zhara
- Zhara sheepishly wakes up, takes in the situation, and issues a command in Talentan to "Muffins"
- Muffins lowers themselves to the ground
- Yashira laments that she injured Muffins
- Zhara similarly commands Snuggles to lie down, and they do so. She then weakly thanks the group for saving her, and for not killing her babies
- Yashira apologises profusely for injuring Muffins
- Ban apologises for them getting involved, they don't know what's happening either
- Zhara asks what to do?
- Nerys comments that the Karrns were buying time for the green scarf guy!
- Ban asks Damien if there's anywhere they can take Zhara to?
- Damien said back up to the crew quarters maybe? Or to the kitchen?
- Zhara thinks she'll be okay now, have the guards been told what's happening?
- Hahah...yeah
- Yashira says the guards are compromised, they can't be trusted
- Zhara reckons she'll just stay here then. She whistles and Muffins comes running to help her up
- Nerys asks if they can pet them? Zhara says best not to, they're usually friendly but they're spooked
- She asks if they can let Snuggles out of the cage?
- Charlie dissipates the magic, disolving the cage and freeing Snuggles, who promptly rushes to Zhara
- One of the drunk men, Brewster, pops out from under the table and asks if it's over? Do they know if this is happening elsewhere on the train? His fiance is on board
- The group say that the kitchen and first class car should be safe. The men thank them and head over
- Ban asks how long the unicorn lasts for?
- Clarence taps his hooves
- Yashira asks Clarence to tap his hooves once for every hour he can stay out
- Clarence taps his hoof once
- "Okay one hour, brilliant"
- Damien has such a smart unicorn!
- Nerys asks if they can pet Clarence?
- Clarence looks to Damien, and then consents to receiving pets
- Whilst Clarence is being fussed, Zhara coughs and asks "isn't there a terrorist threat?"
- Right! Whoops
- They proceed to the next train car
- Clarence is too big to get through the door, so they stay with Zhara, Muffins and Snuggles
- God there's going to be so much paperwork after this train reaches Krona Peak
- Clarence is going to hide the bodies behind the bar, begrudgingly. He sassily scrapes his hoof on the ground
- Yashira says to have some patience, Clarence. "I know you've only been alive for a few minutes but reign it in a bit"
- They proceed into the passenger car, sans Clarence. They immediately notice beautiful music, and all the cabins are open.
- The first cabin has four gnomes in, three trying to listen to the music and one spouting off lightning rail facts
- Nerys asks them if they saw a half-elf come through? They're looking for their friend, who had bad diarrhoea
- Ban says to say "tummy ache" instead
- Okay
- Nerys says they're looking for their friend, who has a bad tummy ache
- The gnomes say they haven't really been paying attention to who's come or gone
- They proceed through the car a bit, and see a group of hobgoblins discussing something in Goblin. Ruckus understands they're talking about heading up to the first class car. They notice Ruckus listening and ask if they can help him? He says no, sorry, and walks on
- He mentions it to the others, maybe they need to keep an eye on them?
- At the end of the car, they see a warforged producing all of the music. He's a one man band! He briefly looks at the group but doesn't interrupt his playing. It's a weird sight, but also really cool
- They all decide this warforged is the only trustworthy person on the train
- They proceed to the next car, the steerage car
- There are at least two hundred people crammed into the car, and it's very noisy. At the far end, there are two Deneith guards watching the crowd
- Fuck, guards!
- Nerys says they can't trust them, right? But if they're actual guards they could help! But if they're not, there's so many people they could kill in here
- Damien notes that there should be a clear path through the steerage car, but like usual, there isn't
- Yashira wonders if their target has tried to hide in the crowd, how do they check?
- Yashira activates their detective vision and scans the crowd, while Nerys acts as her sidekick and looks too
- She doesn't see a single green scarf. Hmm.
- What if he just took it off?
- Ban also mentions that they passed several closed cabins in the previous car. Could he be in one of those?
- Nerys says he's clearly at the end of the train, that would be the most narratively satisfying
- Ruckus comments that he thinks they might all be stupid?
- They can get Damien to do a random ticket check!
- Damien goes back through the passenger car, and checks the closed cabins. He sees a passed out drunk man in cabin 7, and at cabin 3 hears a woman's voice singing along to the music. He knocks, and the words change to "Go away, the children are sleeping" still in time
- He decides to leave that one alone. He's checked all the cabins, so he returns to the steerage car
- They're going to proceed through steerage. Yashira asks Damien how many cars are left?
- Damien says that most lightning rails consist of 8 cars, two of which are engine cars. Next one should be cargo, last one before the engine
- Nerys says hopefully it's just the one guy. Ruckus does a slow turn to them and says "when has it ever been that way for us?"
- Damien casts Freedom of Movement on the group, so they can slip through more easily
- They spend the next 5-10 minutes slipping and scooching through the car, to get to the other end.
- The guards ask if they need help. There is a solid 10 seconds of silence before Nerys says no
- They stand in awkward silence for a bit, before Damien tries to go through the door. It's locked.
- The guards say the cargo car is off limits to passengers, sorry
- Damien says it's a surprise inspection! He just has the cargo car to go
- The guards apologise again and say the cargo car is off limits
- Nerys whispers to Charlie that they think these guys are bad guys too
- Yashira is wary, there's two hundred people in this car. She doesn't want to jump the gun.
- Nerys suggests telling the guards about what happened in the passenger car. If they're good guys, they'll go investigate, but bad guys will attack them!
- Ban suggests they could also just be smart bad guys...
- But, if the green scarf man isn't in here, they must have let him through. So the guards must be bad!
- Yashira notices that Nerys has a green cloak on. Hmm. She asks if she can take a look at it (and make a disguise)
- Yashira puts the cloak on. Nerys asks if the guards have seen a half-elf with a green scarf (he's their friend and has a bad dummy), and Yashira flashes the cloak.
- It doesn't work, and then the group does what it does best: extreme and sudden violence. This causes a panicked stampede as everyone tries to escape the steerage car
- The guards were terrorists, as expected!
- They loot a key, and proceed
- The cargo car has one of its doors open, against safety regulations whilst the train is moving! There are five guards in here, as well as a half elf with a green scarf. He chuckles creepily and says "well lads, looks like Amaldi's cohorts have found us. Let's give em a warm welcome!"
- and I end the session