The Oracle

The rules of the Oracle

1- All answers must be paid for

2- No answer worth having is easy

3- A question once asked, cannot be clarified

(likely 4th rule) only 3 unanswered questions may be open at a time.

Time to play IDENTIFY this!

Storylines
- necromancer being tortured by the two knights
- pc's plan to leave them trapped in that room
- other guards trapped on top floor of castle- 3rd floor
 -- includes capt of the guard and the apprentice necromancer, tied and locked into office on 2nd floor
- pirate zombies have burned the empire ship and killed most all the grew
- pc's plan to track pirate zombies to where they hidden treasure
- shop revenge needs repairs

-eventually leave island, return to their home city / port
-then overland to castle whitewater.


Items to be IDENTIFIED, or researched in some other way.

Thayer
arm bands (2) metal
two regular staves
 one gnarled
 one with metal round knob
book
3 vials
wand
-heavy sandals

Leeflo
googles
hood
small ornate box (ken?)
heavy gloves (gloves of hiding)
backback that attaches to you
- doppleganger dagger from bargles
- 'necromancers dagger'

Stephan
black two handed sword
  with red gem at joint of cross bar, claws make shape of 'the' Red Star
shield silver encrusted writing on edges (elvish)
- one of plate armor

Red
brown leather armor
staff that can turn into a bow
  slender light wood

4 matching sets of plate armor (steph, jaden ,chris, eberk)
4 long swords (ana, jaden, zav, red)
black leather armor (ana)
brown leather armor (red)

Eberk
heavy sandal like boots
one handed ax

Zav
two toned wooden and bone bow, very hard to string

Chris
mace - round lumpy headed

backpack
 a- magic - attaches to back (leeflo)
 b- glass crystal decanter (chris)
 c- 3 vials (thayer)
d- 2 potions (jaden)

small bags
 a- 2 dice (leeflo)
 b- piece of wood - wand (ana)

2 quivers of magic arrows (Red, Zav)

Dagger - Ana
Sword of Capt of Guard (necromancers guard)

2 Scale Mail (Zav, ?)
2 Shields (Zav, Jaden)

The Crab Pots of Dr. Kraken or Sky High Beach Party

Seeking a nemesis for Roy, schedule an event on the beaches of the great lake

either the groups has decided to invade the beach on a early summer weekend, or there is a class trip of some sort.  End of year trip?

Meanwhile, Dr. Kraken is building his crypto-krabs deep in the lake,

Opening, crabby intro, something getting eaten?

School scenes, gym - softball
mad science - invasive species
hero support -
history -

--------------

Dr Kraken
and the Crab Pots of Doom!

at the beach, crabs start coming out of the sea, larger and larger they get, until a giant crab ridden by Dr Kraken emerges!  They attack the beach, sending bathers running in all directions.

play up secret id's - they have to find a safe way to change (behind an umbrella, in the surf, etc)

squid head man - extra limbs
jelly fish man - all long reach attacks the NND stun
seahorse guy - movement
moray - spitter
crabs - grabby - pinchy


Maybe some/all get napped, wake up in the crab pots?
if only the hero's get kidnapped, then they won't have to hide their secrets anymore, maybe fun if one or two normals get napped?

possible classes
ms - microbial creatures in water / ocean - see the diff?
hero support - secret id's
history - end of the ancients - move to mideval - Roman times?  Egyptian?
modern history - little s -
gym - movement in other media, swim, fly, walk, walk in dark, swim while flashed


scene, start on beach?
play for a while, crabs sighted

then flash back to school day
 what foreshadowing??
--------------

---------------

Crab Pots of Dr Kraken

draft scene list

Act 1 on the Beach

scene 1

backdrop is the damaged ship  The Snail?
 damaged in a seas/hero battle, it's been turned into a snack shop/shower house

light surf, big lake

City Skyline is the background

Open with students on the beach, enjoying the summer day.

--What are you doing on the beach?

Scene 2a the attack

minor monsters begin to come out of the light surf, threatening the normals

PC's must hide their secret identities

Scene 2b hide your face!
each pc must do a quick change, even rajive needs to find a place to get out of view

then try to save each normal that has been grabbed or threatened

Scene 2c Dr Kraken
 finally the giant uber-crab appears, with a bubble holding the Infamous Dr Kraken!!
   Presence attack!

some will be stunned (do the math ahead of time for each!)

crabs us that time to grab some of them, others probably too.

Act 2
FLASHBACK?!

to earlier in the week, so they get some school time in.



Act 3
FLASHBACK ... FORWARD!

Into the Crab Pots!

wake up captured
escape from pods (you are supers after all)
sneak around underground lair of Dr Kraken
   what stuff should they encounter?

follow trail to where one (or more) of them are being transformed into crabs!)

Dr Kraken gloats
  minons surround him

Fight!

Red Star Sept 2012 - Siege of Whitewater

There is an ongoing party as the group returns the dwarven children to the dwarves, they are joined by an elf army, then a dwarf army.  There is a lot of paryting.  Soon the PC"s realise they have been away a whole month and they need to get back to their County.

As the two armies travel west they start to irritate each other, and the party ends around the swamp mine site, as the two groups remember how close they were to war and how deep their differences are.

The PC's struggel to keep the armies moving together and at any good pace, but eventually leave Eberk and Loughlan as guides and move faster.  two elves keep up with them, and 4 dwarves try to keep up, but end up as a middle force ahead of the main party, but not as fast as those elves and the driven PC's.

The Castle is beseiged by a large Red Star army.

.... no flashback.

Army estimates, thousands of zombies, 1/2 that of gobilns, hundreds of humans/dwarves/elves, and dozens of trolls.

The trolls want to attack now, best fighting that way.  The Goblins want to starve out the castle, since they are doing most of the front line fighting.  The zombies are useless until the walls are breached since they don't climb ladders well.  The humans will follow their leaders and just want it over and to get their share of the loot.  The zombies .... "brains"

Safira wearing the hat of disguise and Thayer as Alterself both appearing as Goblins are dropped just outside the town walls, were they find other goblins looting the corpses.  After a breif confrontation with 3 other golibns, Safira animates 10 goblin corpses to zombies, and after a short delay sends them to wandering in the to main goblin camp.

Chris leads two npc (level 4th +1 cha) clerics, Jaden, Stephan, Zav and Ken.  They are teleported to the far side of the Zombie wedge.  They find a single guard, actually a lone necromancer with a staff standing guard.  Ken dispatches him, and takes his skull helmt and large cloak.  Assuming the staff is magical, he attempts to use magic item to aid control of the zombies.  32 zomibies are turned in the first turning ... the crowd starts moving torward the rest of the army, and the castle walls.

Leeflo is given a large black cloak and teleported to the center of the ReD Star camp, just outside the Leaders tent.  Inside he hears a very deep voice say, "We should already be attacking, just let me get my paws on the Goblin King"

And the man in the black armor with the black tabard with the Red Star, and a helm with antlers says,
"There is but one King, and he is I"

FC - standard watches

1st Watch
Thayer & Leaflo (& Ken)

2nd Watch
Jaden & Stephan

3rd Watch
Zav & Chris

Sophomore Year - Day one - surprise surprise

Opening - long bus arrival scene as the new Sky High students are added to the sequence. See other post for details.
At most stops, Mr Smith is visible.

Car snubs Hank for the first time, on the bus, she sits with someone else.

Altercation on the bus?

and again as they exit the bus.

Leyla greets the new students.

New classes
History of Hero's - new teacher, Mr. Myth. First hero? Gilgamesh. Hercules? bah.

Special gym - Sensei Chin - "First, grab their wrist with your tail ..."
Luke and sticks act as leaders

that night?
Hank tries to call Car, she disses him
Something invades David's parents house.
then they rush to Graviton's home, she climbs out the window to join them, but then they go back inside since smitty is seen in her yard.
smitty - invis in Katherines home.

they stop him from taking a tablet from her father's den.
they stop him? from taking ? from David's parent's lab.

Plots
What is he after?
what powers does he have?
why is car dissing hank?

Vacation all I ever wanted ...

Summer vacation - Each PC was off with family on summer vacation, each encountered a strange man with varying responses. Each time they were soon attacked by a Mythological Creature. Also, each time this strange man exhibited powers of his own.

-In the Swiss Alps, David (Ian) came back from Skiing to find the man chatting with his mother. They were attacked by a Gryphon, the man hid David's mom using invisibility.
-In summer school, Luke (Sean) had a battle with a Manticore on the steps of the school. The stranger was talking with Coach Boomer, and proved both strong and very smart in the battle
-In Guatemala, Seth (Ben) is on a dig with his father, when they find a strange man come to visit their tents. Seth is wary and doesn't tell him much, but then a Chupacondra(?) attacked. The man produced an energy sword and shield much like his, but blue, and gave Seth a chance to escape with his father.
-At the beach, Roy (Aidan) was playing in the sand and surf. Another man struck up a conversation with his parents, and seemed to have an affinity to fire as well. Then a Minotaur attacked. After the fight, he offered to help Train Roy to use his power
-In Hong Kong, Henry (Stephen) meets another man, gets asked for directions to a good place for food (?), fights a Gargoyle. Man is surprisingly fast and tough. Grandma uses a shotgun to wax the creature.
- In Cairo, Rajive (Ryan) comes home from meditating on the great pyramid, only to find the same man with his father on their back porch. Then a Sphinx attacks, not one of those mamby-pampy puzzle giving sphinxes either, this one just plans to kill!

Later, back in the city, Roy has a visitor. It's the stranger, come to give him a lesson. Most of the others are at David's, Henry has a date with Car. Somehow (?) they realize that Roy might be in trouble, and a fight ensues in Roys back yard. The man manifests serious flame powers (both FF and FW) then flies away toward mid-city.

They trace him back to Empire High, after much clue thinking. But arrive only in time to see him with a staff on the stage, and also in 5 other places around the stadium. As they hit each one, it disappears and the one on the stage grows bigger. Until they all disappear and remaining one on the stage grows larger and transforms into a giant 6 headed Hydra! In the voice they recognise, but deeper and growlier, "You are too late, I have it now, nothing can stop me!"

Then they smell burning, and remember the TNT.

BOOM!!!

They make it out.

The next school year however will be a rebuilding year for EHS, so all those students will be enrolled in SKY HIGH! (see last years GENCON Tournament)

Eberk

Dwarf son of a fighter.

Lives behind a blacksmith/weapon maker [on another street]

Str:18
Dex:8
Con:12
Int:10
Wis:14
Cha:16
Class: Cleric (war/earth)

Eberk: (Sean)
10 1/2, dwf, str, Cleric(War/Earth), Fighter/m, blacksmith-weapon maker/?

Back to the Future - end of Freshman Year

The story goes like this...
It's the end of the school year
They have just a few classes and finals left
Game start was a gym class where they play, instead of 'save-the-citizen'
they play bank robbers and heroes
Quick bank map, and have at each other
As luck would have it, the Desol and T-porter/street thug were both on the first 'bank-robbers' scene, So I asked them for their first actions ....
Then had Coach Boomer blowing his whistle, "OK that's round one, now you two teams switch sides ..."

I was afraid those two problem powers would be on opposite sides, but it worked out

So then, they had just two finals to prepare for
First, a paper due in history about their favorite hero from WWII.
which they could answer using any comic book hero they knew off, which the understanding that the character would be writing about some close analog from the game world
And Second, they needed to be able to study up for one question of their Mad Science Final
which was:
"name 5 of the 12 dimensions relevant to Teleportation" :-)
Naturally they can't answer it correctly, and since it's a practical final
Mr Medulla t-ports them off somewhere, saying that if they aren't back by the end of class they fail.
:-)
They land in their own city in June 1942, and end up saving the cities hero group, which had been captured by the 'Crimson Cranium." Who they find giving a maniacal speech in German
while in a hidden base under the still-under-construction, Empire City Center.
In the PC's time that auditorium is converted into a Superball stadium, because that base becomes the secret home of the Evil High School, Empire High.

The PC's rescued a bunch of heroes (interestingly enough mostly those they'd just written research papers about, hmmm?) And as they exited, one of them noticed a stock pile of TNT in a store room.

They are returned to their classroom just in time to pass the test, by Tommy Tomorrow (from Red Panda) whose t-travel gadget has 15 dials! (not just the 12 Mr Medulla expected) :-)

School - basics

The school is just a few blocks away from the street.
Roughly in the form of a cross.

The center is used for the youngest students and academic classes in general. All students are given instruction on the basics of reading, writing and maths, with some use of history and the science of the time as materials.

Each of the four wings are dedicated to learning of the four forms of power. Mystical, Physical, Spiritual, and Martial.

As each child grows, they are given opportunities to train in each, but in the end they must chose one to be their focus.

Once chosen, they spend more of their time in dedicated study in that wing.

This choice is made starting in the 13th year, and no later than the 15th. Occasionally the staff will encourage a student to rethink their choices after the first or second year of focused stuff.