|
2055
|
Harlequin’s Back
Runners: The Colonel,
Thin White Duke, Mercury , Lilith, Martin, Old
Father, Running Wolf, Iceface The
Runners experience a series of strange events, things even start going right
for them! They also get a weird questionnaire to fill in. One
night they sleep and dream of a strange terrifying boatman figure who
challenges them. – unknown to them they have embarked on an astral quest
engineered by their old mucker Harlequin. The runner’s successfully pass the Dweller on the Threshold’s tests they meet with H and Frosty. H explains some of what’s happening to them including that he has kindly chosen them to help him stop an invasion of horrific creatures that threaten the entire planet. He takes them to …. The Bridge pt 1. The
Bridge is an Astral construct being built by The Enemy to reach Earth while
the mana level is still low. Harlequin’s Quest is to stop the Enemy breaching
the gap in the astral and complete the construct. The runners first mission
as part of this Quest is to help him
find and recover Thayla’s Voice the magical singing voice of an
ancient and powerful queen now resident in an enchanted songbird. The
runners must traverse the metaplanes (netherworlds?) and obtain certain
artefacts and then the songbird itself. Before they can start however they
are attacked by hordes of loathsome creatures. Harlequin stays back to defend
the party he sends them on their way. Unknown to the runners (and Harlequin)
The Enemy have their own champion – Mr Darke who is essentially a Horror
Construct. Aftermath: The
runners find themselves somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, but a very
different one that that they know. Running Wolf joins the party. There
appears to have been some sort of great cataclysm the landscape is blasted,
broken and dying and the few survivors are grouped into two communities, the Enclave
and the Collective . The runners must collect the a hood for
the Songbird currently in the possession of the Collective’s leader Oscuro (
a manifestation of Mr Darke). Hooking up with Leroy the leader of the Enclave ( a manifestation of Harlequin)
the runners assist them in their low intensity war with the Collective. After
some weeks of skirmishing The Collective offers a deal. peace in exchange for
Leroy’s wife Talia ( a manifestation of Thayla)! Knowing the Collective has
overwhelming superiority, Talia sneaks out to exchange herself as a guarantor
of peace, the runners volunteered to retrieve her. Eventually they manage to catch up and rescue her from the
“escort” sent by the Collective for her who were just about to engage in a
little ”fun” with her. Next
evening The Collective turns up in force…battle is joined. At one point in
the battle Leroy is killed by a lightning bolt. The Runners trace the bolt to
a nearby hillside where Oscuro waits. He had a pet eyebiter hooded, which he
unleashed against the runners. After
disposing of the eyebiter the runners faced off with Oscuro, who turned into
some weird demon hybrid, killed him and retrieved the hood. They
returned to the Enclve where Talia, distraught at Leroy’s death, kills
herself. As her end Leroy’s blood mingle on the ground the land is magically transformed
and renewed by the blood sacrifice and the runners were whisked away to their
next mission. A
Fistful Of Karma: The
runners find themselves in some kind of weird steampunk version of the
American mid-west. The Runners are pitted against the evil Mr Trey ( aka
Darke) the oppressive local mine owner. They meet the local sheriff Bergamot
(Harlequin) and a saloon singer Cella
(Thayla). In this place they must find the Songbird’s perch. It all ends in a
spectacular gunfight, Trey turns into some kind of demon, the perch is
actually one of his ribs, which they somewhat messily retrieve. By
The Sword: The
runners find themselves in an Arthurian England where the Grail Quest never
happened, eternal winter grips the land until the Spring Champion can be
reborn. In this place the runners have to find a Sword. They find the Sword
which has been broken and have to take it to be repaired. They met a celtic
goddess, got involved with someone who may or may not be Lancelot and
undertook to repair his sword. This involves taking it to the Isle of the
goddess where only females may go. Lilith, Mercury and Running
Wolf took the blade, went through some weird mystical stuff and had the
blade repaired. The
Impossible Dream: Entering
a realm of pure metaphor they find the inhabitants spend all their time
building a great Tower in the hopes of reaching an unattainable Heaven. High up in the Tower the Foreman
(Darke) holds the lovely Maiden (Thayla) hostage to prevent the Architect
(Harlequin) from stopping him build the Tower. The runners climbed the Tower
, rescued the Maiden and free the pople from the Foreman’s oppression. As a
reward the Architect builds a cage for the Songbird. After accomplishing this
quest rather than returning to H. they found themselves in a strange diner
somewhere in the mid-west. Barely having time to reacquaint themselves with
“reality” they quickly discovered the Mr Darke had brought them here as a
team of assassins hit them. The Old Father took a bullet to the centre
of the forehead. The
Songbird: The Runners find themselves in the land once ruled by Thayla now blasted and destroyed by the Enemy. Shogun joined the party. The discovered one tower remained standing in what was once a huge city. Entering the tower they fought various demons before managing to recover the Songbird and heading back to meet Harlequin. The
Bridge pt 2: Harlequin
tries and fails to use the Songbird to stop the Enemy. The bird alone is not
enough he needs Thayla herself. He
despatched the Runners to rescue her. The
Masquerade: The
runners followed the Songbird across the metaplanes to a forbidding Victorian
mansion where they find the master of the house Lord Umberly (Darke) is
holding a grand masquerade ball at which the runners appear to be expected –
costumes are provided – surprising number of the party ending up in S&M
gear !!!. Thayla is held prisoner by Umberly’s brother Nacht. Umberly has set
the runners up to fail unaware that some of the Great Powers of the
metaplanes have turned up at the ball to watch the final drama play out.
After a firefight (what else) they locate and rescue Thayla The
Bridge pt 3: Having rescued Thayla, the runners were returned once more to Harlequin, where they found Darke attempting to pollute the place with blood magic so Thayla’s counter song-magic will not work. The runners launched into a final climactic battle with Darke and his demonic minions. After a frenzied battle, Thayla manages to sing and the Enemy is held back. Harlequin thanked the runners and they woke in their beds…. Was it all a dream ??? |
Friends: Harlequin, Frosty Foes:
Mr Darke, The Enemy World
events: Aug
23: The UCAS government sets up the Chicago Containment Zone, isolating most
of the population of Chicago behind UCAS Army barricades. Those trapped
include the Chicago mafia, as well as the Chicago branches of the other major
syndicates. The Mafia loses contact with the don of Chicago and the
Commissione believes him dead. It transfers control of Chicago operations to
Don Leo McCaskill of Milwaukee. |