Black City Game 12 - Free Odin

Last game ended with the players staring into the starry void of space, while standing on an orbital platform high above the earth - with a 7' tall Odin in front them, declaring, "Welcome to Asgard".

As it turns out, that wasn't exactly true.  "Asgard" was more like an orbiting telescope in geosynchronous orbit high above the Black City, and Odin claimed that the ancient builders of the city bound his godly form to the platform in the distant past.  Long has he waited for the bold men of Midgard to discover his prison and set about to freeing him.

The first hour and a half of the game was Q&A with Odin, as he explained what he knew about the city, the workings of the devices back in the tower, and what it would take to free him.  The group learned how to safely open portals to the other 9 Norse worlds, including the homeworld of the ancient builders of the city, where super weapons lay deserted in the wasteland.  The players are beginning to wonder what kind of damage they can do with laser rifles and their own flying saucer.

They also learned that Odin was stripped of much of his power when he was imprisoned, and by connecting him to other parts of the city, his powers will increase and he'll be able exert himself beyond the tower.  They agreed to a mission to make some repairs in the domed building, which Odin called "Central Command", and fixing his connection to Central Command will extend his consciousness.  In terms of godly powers, he's demonstrated telepathy, a degree of clairvoyance, and the ability to generate matter from energy - he created 100 large crystals for them (about 1,000sp in treasure, using 1sp = 1 xp).  They're wondering if Odin can make a magic sword - he scanned one of their weapons, commenting on its "unusual compositional matrix and atypical energy signature..."

None of the players think the real Odin is actually trapped in space (although the characters are acting that way) - "Odin" is either a demon or hideous entity bound in servitude by the ancient Greys, or the projection of an insane alien super computer.  Either way, he's got POWERZ and they're hoping to benefit financially from helping him out.

After agreeing to return in 9 days with their mission complete, the Spitsberg Pirates returned to the tower - as Odin attested, the tentacled, globular, "opener of the way", was gone, and it was safe to leave.  However, some miscreants had set up an ambush at the base of the tower, waiting for them.

A mean looking halfling, with a desert-clad Arab fighting woman at his side, stepped out onto the path, and the group became aware of some archers and axe-men off to the side.  This NPC group, Awen's Looters, were in a foul mood after being stymied by the tower guardians time and again, and demanded to learn how the party entered unscathed when they lost so many men themselves.  When Awen learned about the passkey gems, he demanded a chance to buy or trade for some, having plenty of arctic fox pelts in their camp.

Interestingly enough, instead of launching Sleep spells and just crushing these guys, a few members stepped forward and essentially talked the halfling out of the ambush, convincing them of the futility of taking on the totally awesome crew of Isgerd's Fury.  Awen's crew chose to leave peacefully.  Maybe they saw Mustafa's duel or something - their reputation is growing.

The second half of the night was hex crawling around the ruins north of the Well of Woe, trying to bushwhack a trail to the clamshell doors that lead down to the Mist Dungeon.  The party is looking for an alternate entrance to that mini dungeon, something to make salvage easier.  Along the way, they explored a few extant buildings, fled a haunted chamber that seemed to be crawling with dark shadows, found a ceremonial building with a bas relief carved alien procession marching up a ziggurat, and followed blood trails from a battle site to where a group of hungry Viking ghouls - gjenganger - were pulling the guts from a few dead vikings.  They gjengangers charged, only to be cut down and decapitated fairly quickly.  Another night of D&D was in the books.

We had a nearly full crew this evening, including some guys who had missed recent weeks, so some of the new names in the party are either elves or magi that came with the Byzantines and hired on seeking arcane lore in the city.


Cast of Characters
The Spitsberg Pirates:
Agnar Beigarth, a Northman fighter (L2)
Mustafa of Arabia, a scimitar wielding desert warrior (L2)
Brutok the Strong, a dwarf (L2)
Borghild, a Norse cleric of Odin (L2)
Timur, Russian Elf (L1)
Vitaly, Russian Elf (L1)
Dominicus, Byzantine magic user (L1)

Retainers with the party:
Brick Bunnybreaker (halfling L1)
Ayerick the Young (Fighter L1)
Bjorn Fjordrunner (Fighter L1)
Bottvild (Cleric L1)
Ivar the Bow-bender (Specialist L1)
Tribunas, Byzantine magic user (L1)

Plus 3 unnamed zero-level sailors to help carry tents and supplies

Retainers back at the boat:
Grimson (Fighter L1)
Fafnir (Fighter L1)
Skoldig (Specialist L1)
Halam (Cleric L1)