Game 6: The Prison

Morning has come. Gloomy grey light pours through the window of the common room of the quarters where Enbel and Echo have just woken up. Altus and #8 have returned from their nights duties, and are greeted by a familiar figure - Rufus - standing waiting in the common room. He addresses the 4 with the reason for his visit after some banter and morning greetings.

Rufus: "I'm just here to have a word with you privately. Firstly, I would recommend that you make time this morning to visit our prisoners, and question them. Goblins do not have a particularly high regard for gnomes, so you might be able to get some information that Carlana and her men would not. Echo, there may be something of interest to you in the prison store room. Other than that, a word of caution about the "meeting" today - I will not be attending..."

Enbel: "and why not?"

Rufus:" If you must know, I'll be babysitting. Anyway, I want to warn you about Graf and Taka - the leader of the Army and the leader of the Guard - I don't trust them. I want to tell you to watch your back. If things get sour, or they try anything funny, then deal with it. I know you can handle yourselves. But if things get physical, I would implore you not to kill anyone. I will talk with you later - friends."

The group ready themselves and leave their quarters. The day is overcast - to suit the mood of the town. Preparations are being made for the memorial service. Enbel suggests they check on Erik on the way to the prison, to see if he has finished work on armour for them. The shop is closed as they pass. They realise that the only businesses that are open are ones which are needed to supply the memorial service or funeral. As they near the prison an argument can be heard around the corner. They hang back to try to listen in, at first not realising who the voices belong to.

Man: "I'm overworked as it is, now I get to take over his responsibilities at home AND lose a set of armour too?"

Woman: "He died in battle, he deserves the honour"

Man: "I don't see how what he did is in anyway influenced by what he wears to his grave. It just proves that he would have been better off with me than with those meatheads."

DM's note: The party had to roll checks to hear the conversation, to stay undetected, and to workout who the speakers were. At this point they had worked out just from the conversation that it was Erik and Carlana.

Carlana: "Erik, please..."

Erik: "What? I can't keep up with the workload. I have had no life since Eliza died. I have no apprentice - everyone just wants to join the Guard. I'm sure the Guard will be very successful when they're stuck with donkeyhide armour. I'm sure Lentil will make a fine replacement armorer when I'm dead. Or will we dig up all the wasted burial armour then?"

Carlana (asserting herself): "You're taking liberties because of our relationship. Don't ever speak to me this way in company. I can't have anyone undermine my authority. I don't have time for this, I have work to do."

Erik: "Work? Where's Sepo?"

Carlana: "At Rufus' place. Still shook up. She's had a real run of bad luck."

Erik: "Well, she has us now. I'm sorry for losing my temper."

Carlana: "Whatever, we'll talk about it later."

Carlana finishes speaking with Erik and rounds the corner - seeing the 4 and realising that they had been listening in. She reacts huffily with false humour.

Carlana: "Eavesdropping? Well I guess there had to be something wrong with you. Nobody's perfect."

She then storms off. They round the corner to the front of the prison, where they see Erik, collecting himself. He doesn't realise they've been eavesdropping. He tells them about the stress he's been under with his work. His old partner in the business - Zanster Trickfoot- is the guard who was killed last night. This leaves Sepo as an orphan.

Erik: "Carlana and I are going to care for Sepo - I've always been like an uncle to her anyway. I'm not sure if Carlana and I will make up, but Charlie's been working on a "girdle of restoration" enchantment for me..."

At this point the party indicate that Erik is veering into the realm of giving highly personalised information. He tells them that he needs to get back to work, since Carlana has decided to waste some of his best work burying Zanster, right when it looks like the demand for armour will never have been higher. #8 says that given Zanster's dedication, he does deserve to be buried in his armour, as it honours both the professions he worked in while he was alive. Erik says that he believes that a romantic notion, as he doesn't believe there is anything honourable about being dead. He takes his leave.

The group enter the prison. Echo looks through the prison store room, and finds the hammer Tep was wielding, and decides to take it as spoils of war. Meanwhile, the others are talking to the goblin prisoners to try to get to the bottom of recent events. Approaching Tep with diplomacy and respect, the party manage to converse and learn some facts - from Tep's point of view - about recent events in Firestrong.

*There has been a truce between the goblins and gnomes for 4 years

*It was believed that the gnomes were pulling out of the truce, as they did not show at the latest meeting to confirm that the truce would remain. This is why the goblins are suspicious, as Corvek and Set have gone missing.

*Corvek was the main goblin leader. He was uncle of Set, and would be leader only until Set 'came of age' - if he had completed the trials in the Temple.

*Set's father had previously passed away in suspicious circumstances

*The goblins believed that Graf & Taka were the leaders of the gnomes, as they had always been present at the truce meetings

*Tep was next in line to lead after Corvek, and next in line after Tep is his brother, Vin.

*Vin is a warmonger

*Tep wanted to take the wall of the gnome compound swiftly to have the high ground to force a negotiation without bloodshed.

Tep: " I didn't think you'd want to talk if I just knocked at the door... I mean, you had brought me back bound up earlier that day."

DM's note: the decision to approach Tep diplomatically was decided amongst the party. This was the only way he would open up and talk. If the party had led with intimidation or threats, or insults, he would have shut down and they would have learned nothing from him.

The party also answered Tep about how they had come to be there, although they didn't raise the issue of Set with him. They told him truthfully that they knew nothing of Corvek or his fate. Altus seems particularly taken by the goblin's story and assures Tep that he will talk to Carlana about recent events. As the conversation ends, almost without a moments passing, Carlana strides through the door with Graf and Taka trailing in her wake.

Carlana: "you're here already, good! Upstairs."

So they convene upstairs in the prison, where there are no prisoners in the cells - but a table is already set up with 8 seats at it. Echo had noticed this earlier when she was raiding the store for Tep's hammer. Obviously one of the seats had been intended for Rufus - who was absent. Graf and Taka, leaders of the gnome army and the Guard respectively, were defensive, and questioned the attacks only coming after Echo, Enbel, Altus & #8 had arrived. Enbel in particular was very quick to point out the flaws in their arguments, and the mood became more and more tense. Graf stands up from his seat, and with a series of quick movements knocks Carlana unconscious with a blow to the head, and throws her in a cell and slams the door. Taka goes to the window and yells from support from downstairs. A number of guards run in from outside, as if they had been waiting there in anticipation of a scuffle. As the upstairs of the prison began to fill up, Altus and Enbel moved downstairs, where a few more guards had moved in, and someone had thrown a fire bomb into the cell holding Tep. Altus managed to teleport him into the adjacent cell, saving him.

The fighting continued. Despite the imbalance in numbers, soon the difference in size and strength began to turn the skirmish in the favour of the party, who one by one subdue each assailant, and lock them in individual cells. At the end, Rufus appears. He helps with getting Carlana to a medic. Charlie comes to enchant the cells that Graf and Taka were in, as they had mastered the gnome racial power of teleportation. The party all decided to stay at the prison to keep an eye on the new prisoners, while waiting for Carlana to come back when she was done at the doctor's office. Rufus pulls out a chair at the table. With a glint in his eye, he pulls out a deck of cards.

Rufus: "Since it looks like we're going to be here for a while..."

*End of Game 6*

I enjoyed this game - the prison fight was a bit of a cluster - but that was the whole point. The party have neutralized a threat effectively - and are getting a bit closer to having a better idea of what is really going on in Firestrong.

Items awarded - Game 6.

Echo: Frost-touched hammer +1

Property: Deals cold damage

Property: Brutal Weapon - brutal 2

Daily - Frost-touched attack

Trigger: An attack you hit with this weapon

Effect: Enemy is immobilized and grants combat advantage (save ends both)

Echo

DM's notes: Game 5

Since David has joined the game, the party now have 3 members (of 5) that mark. Echo, Ranger, and #8. Echo and Ranger are played by Megan, but having all 3 have powers that mark means that the characters will get in each others way with powers. Also, Ranger having a seperate turn in the initiative order both means that Megan gets 2 turns for everyone elses 1, and isn't player friendly in a game with more characters anyway. To tidy things up, I chatted with Megan and we agreed a change to Ranger - as a sort of homebrewed 'companion' character. I'm not aware of the rulings for companions, but we made up our own rulings to suit what I wanted, without letting Megan feel like she'd been cheated.

Ranger - companion animal: Dog

*Ranger shared defence and HP stats with Echo

*If Ranger is adjacent to an ally, he can take their defence against an attack, if that defence is higher than Echo's.

*Echo can mark a target through Ranger

*Echo can take attacks through Ranger, and make them through Ranger also.

*For purposes of marking, an enemy adjacend to either Echo OR Ranger is considered adjacent to Echo

*Ranger gets no initiative - Echo gets 1 standard, 1 move, and 1 minor and must share these between herself and Ranger.

*Special, Move action: Echo can expend a move action to move both herself and Ranger to move up to half speed each.

*Ranger's speed is 8

*If a status effect is inflicted on either Ranger or Echo, it effects them both.

As a result of this changeover, Ranger's items are effectively useless, so as a compromise, I've stripped them from him, and replaced them with one new item (also homebrewed)

Collar of Companionship

Daily, Move action: Ranger can teleport from wherever he is to be adjacent to echo, provided he is not magically restrained.

Ranger also retains the "Smoulder" power, mostly because I think it's a hilarious concept.

---

Here i'm going to include the #7 enemy sheet, as it's the first solo that I brewed up on my own.

Enemy character sheet:

#7, Solo Controller

AC 21, Fort16, Ref 19, Will 22

HP 350, Bloodied175

Speed 6, Init +10, Perception +2, Saving throws +5

Low light vision

Action Points: 2

*Can saving throw any effect at start of turn

*If attacked, makes an attack vs. Ref. If it hits, #7 can move 3 (shift) and use a minor action.

Minor Actions:

1. Net +8 vs Ref. Hit: Restrained and immobilized, save ends

2. Batter: +8 vs. Fort: Knocked prone

3. Taunt: Mark target, erases any effects the target have placed on #7

Standard Actions:

1. Flame thrower +8 vs Ref. Hit: 2d6 and ongoing 4 fire (save ends)

2. Blinding Sand +8 vs Fort. Hit: 2d6 and blinded until end of next turn

3. Electric Charge +8 vs Will. Hit: Target takes a -4 to attack rolls until end of next turn

Triggered actions:

1. At will, immediate reaction: when missed by an attack, #7 can shift up to 3

2. Daily, immediate interrupt: can redirect a ranged, blast, or burst attack to hit someone else.

Game 5: Defending the fortress

Altus immediately jumps in to check that Rufus is still alive, and finding that he is, starts to patch him up. The others jump in to fight off #7, looking to get between him and Carlana. Altus succeeds in getting a makeshift binding on Rufus' chest, and bringing him back to conciousness. While this is happening, #7 is trying to burn and beat everyone within sight, and screaming all kinds of misinformation at them all the while.

#7: "Enbel is a fake, the real one was killed before going into stasis!"

"Echo, your dog is a bomb!"

"#8 isn't here to help you, he's a spy."

Numerous other things were shouted at the party - all of which they were sure were untrue. Altus, happy that Rufus was out of the woods, turned his attentions to Carlana, and as he was assisting her, she disappeared, and reappeared at the other side of the room - in 2 places! Meanwhile, #7 knocks the rest of the group into the back wall, and showers them in flames.

#7: "I thought I could trust you, but you're acting like that bitches (indicating Carlana) lackies!! And you! (indicating Carlana) They killed a goblin, and spun lies - the whole Set story is a fake! They're disposing of Goblin bodies in your town - they're going to start a war!"

The tide turns, and #7 is pinned down, and beaten to the ground. During the fracas, Carlana has disappeared. #8 and Enbel leave to check on the power cells and bring them back. Rufus has sunk into an armchair and seems to be leaking blood through the dressing which Altus had hastily applied. Despite the wound, he is not fazed. He appears to be of few words, but perhaps this is just an attempt to conserve his strength. He thanks them for their help, giving a nod to Altus. After talking to them briefly, and answering their question on his age: "north of half a century", he politely asks for the doctor, and then falls asleep. Echo pulls out #7's memory card.

They split up - #8 goes to the gate to retrieve the power cells while the others fetch the doctor, and then they locate Carlana and talk to her. Carlana apologises for her hasty exit- saying that she had to be sure that #7's intent to kill her wasn't shared by the rest of the group. She thanks them for neutralizing #7, and tending to Rufus. She reveals that she is an illusionist, and one of her talents is making copies of herself. She can control up to 2 copies at the same time. This explains why there were 2 of her at one point - she was actually never in the room with them to begin with. Rufus had come to talk to her, and had just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

#8 informs them that when he was retrieving the power cells from outside the gate, the goblin - Tep - that they had tied-up had escaped. Carlana tells them that they will have a meeting the following day to discuss things, and there will be a steak dinner for them too! The party relax for the evening - although the definition of 'relax' varies for each person. Echo and Enbel eventually go to bed. Echo has never needed much sleep - part of the Mul constitution, however she feels that passing up on a good night's sleep in a safe place after the day she's had would be foolish. Before they woke up in this world, she was a council worker - used to using her hands to work on the power grid for the town, or any other oddjobs that came her way. Slaying goblins and droids would never have fallen under her job description. It feels slightly surreal, that the world could change so fast.

Altus patrols through the town around the inner perimeter of the wall, and #8 takes up residence in one of the towers by the front entrance, to stand night watch. #8 does not need sleep, and doesn't feel human hunger, thirst, or physical tiredness. He scans the horizon, and reflects on the progress made towards his goal of restoring Firestrong, and what is still left to be done. At about 3am, #8 detects a noise. However, neither he nor the other guards posted on the wall can see anything outside. He reaches out to Altus telepathically to warn him of possible danger. Altus quickly goes and rouses Echo and Enbel. #8 descends the tower and uses his knife of entry to get outside the fortress without opening the gates. He stands in front of the portal he has just opened to make sure no-one else can use it to get in and out. When it closes, he looks around, and sees no-one. Seconds later, a guard falls from the tower to the ground. #8 looks up, and a guard falls from the other tower. However, there is a guard in place. #8 uses a power to pull that guard down from the tower to the ground, believing it to be an imposter, but it is another one of the city guard, gagged. The guard did not see who had assaulted him.

The gate is opened for #8 to re-enter the fortress, and it becomes apparent that goblins are attacking. It isn't possible to see exactly how many there are, but some have taken the guard towers. At this point, Enbel and Echo have arrived on the scene, and Echo sends Ranger to alert Carlana to this threat. One guard is thrown from the wall by a goblin who then jumps down after him, lands on him, and slits his neck. Altus tries to stabilize him but he is very weak.

As Carlana was made aware, she organised the off duty guard and the army. They marched from the guard towers at the back of the fortress and along the grounds within the fortress in a tightening loop towards the front entrance. The party realise that the goblin leading the attack is none other then Tep, the goblin who had slipped his bonds when they captured him. Tep's allies begin to falter, especially as #8 is particularly effective at repelling the assault at the front gate. Altus, bring made aware of the snipers of the moat, telepathically reaches out to inform the resident alligators or a nearby snack. Goblin screams are heard shortly thereafter. Altus, Echo, and Enbel come to a realisation almost at the same time, that if the moat was to be searched now, finding the corpse belonging to Set wouldn't raise any eyebrows with the gnomes. The moat was going to end up littered with them at this rate. #8 continues to scare the goblins back, one of which runs into the mouth of an alligator who hadn't yet had its fill.

Echo tries to take on the leader, Tep, who is similarly proficient with hammers. Tep quickly realises that his position is weakened, and turns tail and runs for one of the gate guard towers. Echo gives chase and despite being only steps behind him when entering the tower, does not catch up to him on the stairs. She believes that he must have used a secret escape route. Looking down from the wall to the outside, she sees him climbing out of the moat below. She yells, alerting the others, who all make chase. #8 accelerates ferociously towards Tep, only to falter and collapse to the ground just on reaching his side. Enbel and Altus are hot on his heels and leap in, but the goblin drops his hammer and surrenders. He has a few words to say while being bound. He in unhappy, clearly - more with other issues than the failed attack.

Tep: "We were provoked into attack. You broke the truce - you killed our leader, and stole our power cells. Are we just meant to take that?"

As the party take him into custody, another figure appears distantly - one of the goblins from the attack. He calls out:

"I'll keep your seat warm for you... brother"

He then turns and melts into the night. Tep is taken and put in the prison. The gnomes search the guard tower that Tep escaped through, and find a secret door - where an excavation has taken place from the moat through the floor of the guard tower. This wasn't something which was made in a day, it took a deal of work and meticulous planning to not be found by the gnomes. The guard immediately get to work on sealing it, and searching for possible others. Despite getting medical attention from the doctor, the man of the guard whose neck was cut died. Carlana spoke with the party, saying that their plan for a meeting to discuss tactics would continue as planned the next day, but now it would be an emergency meeting, where the head of the guard and the army would be called in. She was quick to let them know that their presence would be desired, as without them the whole fortress would have been overrun. She told them that there would also be a memorial for the fallen guard. She asks if Altus and #8 would help to stand guard for the remainder of the night, as 2 men have been seriously injured and 1 dead so the numbers are down. They agree, and she takes her leave.

Of all the goblins that attacked, all had escaped or were killed except Tep, and one other unconscious female. Enbel and Echo, their adrenalin waning, made their way back to the guest quarters and a few hours of sleep. #8, unfazed, makes his way to the top of the wall to resume watch. Altus silently follows. Two of the city guard tie up the goblin female, and carry her - heels dragging- through the doors into the prison.

*End of Game 5*

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I really enjoyed this game, and the party seemed to also. The #7 fight didn't work as well as I had hoped - the parties plethora of status effects really helped them neutralise the threat. However, the allowed finally dishing the hurt out on #7. They had been distrustful of the character from the start, and it was nice to have the payoff from that. #7 was never meant to be a recurring character/villain anyway, and i'm going to try and not be scared to kill off characters - I want the game to have that touch of reality.

The goblin invasion encounter was clearly the highlight of the game. The players really did well - I had allowed for a number of outcomes - including the goblins successfully taking all the walls and demanding a surrender. #8's successful perception checks meant that they became aware of what was going on at an early stage, so it gave them the optimum chance to fend off the attack successfully. All the goblin corpses falling in the moat covered up the disposal of Set's body there. I'm excited for the next game now.

DM's notes: Game 4

Items awarded in game 4:

Altus: Cloak of inconspicuousness

Daily, Standard action: You appear of a humanoid race of your choice - your dimensions do not change.

Altus: Helm of communication

Amplifies the telepathy of any individual

Enbel: Bag of holding

(as per character builder)

Enbel: Jester hat

Daily, Minor action: Until the end of the turn, your movement does not provoke opportunity attacks - and you may attack without taking a penalty if you run.

#8: Knife of entry

Daily, Standard action: Open a portal the size of a small door, through any material of 5ft or less in thickness, that lasts for 30 seconds before closing itself.

Ranger: Collar of Cerberus

Gain the triple attack power.

Daily, Standard action: make 3 attacks.

1hit: 1d6 extra damage

2hits: 2d6 extra damage and target is slowed

3hits: 3d6 extra damage and target is knocked prone

Other loot:

Goblin Resist Armour (doesn't fit anyone on the party)

Daily, Minor action: resist 10 damage for 1 turn.

Game 4: Blackwater Fortress

The party start in the temporary quarters of Carlana, the gnome leader. She enters, and speaks with them. She thanks them for their assistance of Joplin - a friend of hers who is known for gambling and generally getting into trouble. She asks that they entertain his obvious embellishment of the truth in the days to follow. She explains that he lost his wife, and his children had been killed - hence his recklessness.

Carlana: "I have announced Joplin's return, and your arrival. I thought it best to speak before he did - otherwise he'd have saved you from a whole squadron of drakes, and kobolds to boot... at least, that's how the stories would go"

Carlana apologized for seizing their belongings temporarily - but it was to ensure the safety of the community, not to take anything that wasn't theirs. However, she noted that a number of expensive items were present in their packs. As they seemed an adventuring sort, she asked if they would trade some of those items for some gear that would be more useful out in the wilds. The party agree, and she gives them an assortment of adventuring gear.

Carlana: "I prefer your crystal ending up on my table rather than a trader's desk. I'm not proud, but being a young leader these small things are taken into account when weighing up my leadership. You have to look the part. "

The party ask her a number of questions, and learn that the "world-ending event" was actually a war, involving biological weapons. They also learn that this was only 40 years ago. This is a contradiction of the information obtained through Module #7. Carlana herself oversaw the building of the fortress, while herself a teenager. The party realise that #7 is corrupt because of his 'lies'. Carlana says she can have someone inspect him. They also learn from her that kobolds killed the dragon. After their conversation, she tells them:

"If you want to rest now, you will be shown to quarters. If you are willing, I have some jobs I would really like an assist with. You'd be rewarded. You are free to wander the fortress at your leisure. Forgive the locals if they are wary. There are non of your particular 'distinction' living here. You might notice there is one kobold among us. He is quite friendly, and a little eccentric. They call him Rufus the poisoner - but it's just a harmless nickname."

She agrees to meet them at 12 noon at her quarters the next day, to talk about jobs. She returns their gear, and takes her leave. #8 has no need to sleep, so he volunteers to stand watch with the guards on the wall. The fortress is surrounded by a moat inhabited by alligators - except at the front. Echo, Enbel and Altus decide that the moat presents a unique opportunity to dispose of the body of Set. They wait until there are no witnesses - except #8, and they head up the stairs to the top of the wall, and drop the body off.

DM's note: At this point I made the party roll bluffs against #8 to fool him so he wouldn't suspect that the body that they were dumping was actually that of Set. The aim was to keep their cover story intact. It was successful, as they managed to convince him that they were doing a favour for Carlana. This had the knock-on effect that #8 became more wary of Carlana, and began to think of her as 'shady'.

#8 sees figures to the south, but cannot make out exactly who - or even what - they are. He makes himself known among the guards - and they seem to get on well. The next morning, they decide to venture around the town before their midday meeting with Carlana. They meet a young girl on the street who seems very excited to be seeing the new arrivals. She gives them her name - Sepo. She decides that Altus is her favourite, and gifts him with a friendship bracelet - before saying that she's not meant to be out of her house, and running home.

Walking through the town, they notice most of the shops are closed. The blacksmith shop however, is not. They go in and introduce themselves. The blacksmith is named Erik, and his workshop is in complete disarray. He provides armour for the guards in the fortress - especially those who go outside the walls to protect the farmers. Since he does all the work alone and without assistance, he doesn't often find time to clean up.

Erik comments that #8 is not efficiently made. He offers to upgrade #8, give him a lighter armour with equivalent strength. In exchange he could harvest #8's current armour plating to make more armour for the gnomes. The party all hand over the drakescale they harvested from the bodies of the slain drakes. Erik takes it as a treasure. The gnomes do not have much - or any - of this precious armouring material, because they don't join the drakes in combat if they can afford it.

Erik also tells them of the death of Sepo's mother: she was picked off the ground by a drake and carried away while farming, and because of this her father is now very protective, and doesn't like Sepo to be outdoors. Sepo's dad - Zanster Trickfoot - used to work in the shop with Erik, and when his wife was killed he joined the guard. As a result, Erik is left to do all the work on his own - and can be partly blamed for the mess in his shop, although part of that is obviously Erik's personality. The party mention Rufus to Erik - they had seen him while walking through the town. Erik tells them of his love of cards - and how he became known as 'the poisoner'. His original training was to poison the gnome population - but he had no allegiance to the kobold's cause of genocide, and asked to be allowed to stay with the gnomes. Erik gets very chatty while working on #8's armour, and storing the drakescale so it won't spoil before he can work on it. He alludes to his loss of virility from too much time by the forge. They meet Charlie also - an older gnome, who seems to be friendly with Erik. Charlie specializes in enchantments. He seems feeble and slow, but when asked by Erik to transfer #8's enchantment from his old armour to his new armour, he seems to take on a more youthful vigour, and executes the enchantment in record time, with a flourish. He then resumes his slow and feeble guise. The party leave to meet with Carlana. As they pass Rufus' house they notice he is no longer on the porch.

Carlana meets with them and despite starting out with the same 'regal' persona as she had employed the night before, she slipped into more informal speech a number of times during their conversation. Her mission for them was to ask them to go to the temple and claim the power cells, as the fortress has been experiencing power shortages as of late. It also comes up in conversation that those cells were not from the Save Point - another lie from #7. She also lets them know about how she once had a 'roll in the hay' with Erik.

#8: "if you have balance issues..."

Some other choice dialogue:

Echo: "I know a thing or two about a thing or two..."

#8: "That seems like a vague statement"

Altus: "She could know anything between 1 and 4 things"

The party tell Carlana their concocted story of a goblin 'Set' who is planning rebellion against the goblin community. She seems to take them at their word and finds the information interesting. When the chat is done, they take their leave. Although #8 would be of considerable strength, they decide to try to obtain a cart to ease transport of the cells. After getting directions, they continue to the stables area, where they meet Lentil (or Bean, as she has been nicknamed). They obtain from her a cart, and they also tell her the story about 'Set'. By her excitement from the story, they discern that she is a gossip - who will be glad to have some new story to tell.

#8, Enbel, Altus & Echo (with Ranger) leave the fortress and head in the direction of the temple. They notice a small spire of smoke coming from the Save Point, but they do not stop by to investigate. On reaching the temple they can see that there has been some activity since they left. There are a small team of goblins there. Despite attempts to reason with them, the goblins attack. After winning the ensuing skirmish, the party tie up the goblin's troupe leader - Tep - and while #8 is enlisted loading the power cells onto the cart, the others check the temple. The note that they posted about Set is gone from the wall. They further deface the temple with graffiti signed 'Set' without #8 noticing (as he never entered the temple). They leave the bodies of the goblins they killed on the grounds outside. Tep made some mention to them about Corvek being missing along with Set, when the party try to tell him of Set turning on the other goblins.

As #8 draws the cart toward the fortress (the bound and now unconcious Tep lying tied-up amongst the power cells) the guard opens the gate and rushes out, shouting:

"Leave the cart and come quickly, it's an emergency!"

#8 quickly dumps the carts load onto the ground - knowing that none but him could lift them back on alone, and wanting to be sure that noone would steal their bounty while they were inside. Following the others inside, they burst into Carlana's chambers. Carlana is hiding behind a chair, terrified. Rufus is unconscious, and is bleeding out on the floor. #7 is standing in the centre of the room, screaming -if it could be considered possible for a droid to do so -

"Fuck, you've ruined everything!"

*End of Game 4*

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I feel that this game was a success. I had thought that the party would progress further, but they were having fun roleplaying in the town, so conversations with Erik, Charlie, Bean, Sepo, and Carlana all took up more time than I had originally guessed. This wasn't a problem however. It was good to see everyone enjoying the roleplaying element, it too often gets passed over by players in games.