[Actual Play] The World of Tomorrow, Session 3: Exploring Cryopolis

We continued our science fantasy game. Session 1 was a dungeon crawl, session 2 was a trek through the wilderness, so it is only fair for session 3 to concentrate upon hanging out in the big city!

The characters are:

Psamtek, the psionic Grey pilot (Halfling 3)

Keteus, the dark prophet or something (Magic-User 3 with Space Age Sorcery spells)

Soundtrack: "Nuits de Printemps Avec Abdou El Omari" by Abdou El Omari

At the end of the last session, they reached, via ferry, Cryopolis, the city of the five black ziggurats. Their entry point was at the docks near the southern ziggurat. So instantly they were plunged into the bustling cosmopolitan atmosphere of the harbor quarter. As this was just the beginning of the light phase, there were a lot of dock workers carrying stuff, loading barges, merchants disembarking, etc.

The other passengers of the ferry (the zombies and the school field trip) all headed north towards the center of the city.

Keteus and Psamtek decided to hang out here a bit, find a place to stay, pick up some rumors, maybe find a job to earn money.

The architecture of the area proved to be quite eclectic. The main feature, the black three-tiered ziggurat, had clearly been built during an earlier period and was now covered with newer buildings: shacks, towers… So the levels of the ziggurat became like city streets. The river partially flows under the ziggurat.

Moebius... Why, what did you expect?

They headed towards the local watering hole, the Atomic Kitten tavern. Which is a two-storey metal building: Psamtek identified it as the repurposed habitation module of an ancient generation ship.

The Atomic Kitten at this time was rather underpopulated, as most of its patrons were busy at the docks. So Keteus and Psamtek ordered some drinks (Keteus can drink through his mouth, Psamtek has suckers on their fingers to suck up liquids from a sponge).

They chatted with the bartender and expressed a wish to get some sort of a job. The bartender took them up to the second floor to introduce them to his boss. He knocked at an inconspicuous door.

Psamtek managed to overhear a door opening and closing in that room. However, once in the room, they couldn’t see any other exit, so they surmised that there must be a secret passage here somewhere.

They met AYISHA, an older lady with rust-red hair and creepy fangs. Turns out, she is the boss of the whole harbor area.

[Actual Play] The World of Tomorrow, Session 2

The science fantasy campaign continues! (see the session 1 write-up here)

 

The characters are:

Psamtek, the psionic Grey pilot (Halfling 3)

Keteus, the dark prophet or something (Magic-User 3 with Space Age Sorcery spells)

 

After exiting the sanctuary of ETERNAL-6000, the duo took some time to examine the World around them, using the binoculars pilfered from the stocks of the sanctuary.

Off in the far-far distance, they noted a floating isle, a large chunk of earth with mountains and perhaps ruins on top of it. It seemed to move on its own volition.

They tried to scout out the way down to the city, but that was not easy. They did get a better understanding of the valley below, though: a river flows through it from east to west, empties into the sea. The city stands on the river and is made up of five large ziggurats/step pyramids: one in the middle, four on each corner.

After this reconnaissance, the party started their descent. Pretty soon they got lost between the rocks and in the narrow canyons.

After some time, they reached a larger flat area with an interesting feature: a GIANT SKULL embedded in the cliff-face! Small offerings (flowers, cups, simple pieces of jewelry) had been lain out before the skull on a stone platform.

Psamtek threw up a grappling hook and climbed up to the left eye socket. Beyond, they saw a small grotto with a pool of water inside. They climbed in and noticed many inscriptions carved into the inside of the skull. Keteus joined them and read the inscriptions: most of them were vows and prayers to the MOUNTAIN MOTHER. They didn’t touch any of the offerings and continued the way down the mountain.

They were still quite lost, and couldn’t find a way directly down towards the city. However, this off-the-beaten-path journey led them to another interesting discovery.

They noticed the sounds of metal against rock and soon reached an open-air quarry. The workforce was about 30 people, who chipped away tirelessly at the black basalt. The chunks of stone were then collected by a giant robotic walker and loaded onto a double-tracked vehicle… PULLED BY GIANT QUADREPEDAL LIZARDS! These brontosauri had some sort of mechanisms attached to their heads, probably for control.

Dinotopia!

Psamtek and Keteus descended into the quarry.

The workers didn’t seem to notice them. The robotic vehicle, however, turned towards them, opened its back hatch. A large, tattooed, four-armed person got out from inside.