Ok so, this is the story of how I got back into roleplaying games after changing cities.
Table of Contents
Chapter I: In the Beginning
Chapter II: Genesis
Chapter III: Enter the Mullet
Hiring Practices
So last time the group was introduced to "Mullet" (never known as William Tracey VIII) and defeated the Shadow Giant of the Black Heart of Death™. This purified the Black Heart of Death™ and transformed it into the Diamond Heart of Life™. All is now right with the world as we now have a new PLOT DEVICE to drive the story. Deciding what to do next, some of the group decides to introduce me to their overlords at Globodyne.
So Mullet, Eugene, and John Jones load up into one of the group's "We swear we didn't steal these from the U.S. Government" Black SUVs and head off to the Globodyne HQ. The rest of the group had to check in on a group of gnomes alchemists that they had "rescued" and were totally not being used to make a fictional drug called "Black Lotus".
The whole "Black Lotus" thing was one of the previous story lines that I was not apart of. Out of character they had explained that is was a recreational drug used by the Drow in the city. Globodyne knew that it was being distributed through a Drow nightclub called the Dark Lady. The party found the gnomes that these Drow dealers were using to make the drug. The party kills the dealers but instead of freeing the gnomes, they just moved them to a different safe house. Maurice then cuts a deal with Drow of the Dark Lady to supply them with Black Lotus. Globodyne hears that the dealers are dead, but the Black Lotus is still flowing in the city. The party is then put in charge of finding out where the new supply is coming from. Obviously nothing comes from the new investigation.
None of this was told to Mullet until later. So in character I never knew what was going on until it was to late to do anything about it. It did rub me the wrong way personally. However, Maurice was kind of a bastard and it was in character for him, so I let it go. So back to Globodyne.
The three of us take an elevator down to the "Secret" basement floors where the covert operations training is. John finds their... supervisor? I'm not really sure because this is the first and last time I'm ever in the building. The floor we are on is a large underground warehouse and it is busy down here. Guy are loading up crates, people are yell out orders, just massive pandemonium all around. In the middle of the room directing everything is this one guy with that Men in Black/Agent Smith vibe.
John say something like, "Hey this is a new guy, can he get some credentials? Also we took care of the Black Heart of Death™."
Smith in Black responds with, "That's great, but I don't have time for new hires, all hell is literally about to break loose. Here just take this."
He reaches into pocket and pulls out a laminated work badge. He tosses it to me. On it is my picture and my name is listed as "New Guy". Well, New Guy is better than Mullet, I shrug and put it on. Now the reason why they wanted me to have a badge was because it's an Amulet of Protection. An Amulet of Protection grants a +1 to all my saves while I wear it. Nice, my first magic item! As we are leaving Smith in Black yells something about getting processed by HR if we survive the next few days. Well that's ominous, but John laughs and Eugene smiles.
A Walk in the Park
We load back up into the Black "Totally not Stolen" SUV. John looks to Eugene and says "Bob?". Eugene nods and we take off. I ask who Bob is and John says he's an expert in "Mystical Whatnot". Eugene writes down "Gotta show and tell" and holds up the Diamond Heart of Life™. Then John chimes in with, "But first we are going to need an offering."
We drive until John spots a liquor store. John and Eugene get out and go inside and I wait in the SUV. They come out with a case of beer and three brown bagged bottles of whiskey. When they get back in they had me one of the bottles. John says,"Just hand it over when you are asked to do so. Don't say anything unless you are asked a question. And don't stare." Now I am all kinds of confused, but nod and take the bottle.
We pull up to a city park. John carries the beer and Eugene has the other two bottles. They lead me deep into the park, through a thicket to an open field. This field was surrounded by trees and completely cover in tents and make shift structures. It was a hobo village.
And I mean a village. There were stand operated businesses, food stalls, wooden footpaths for roads and a few gardens growing food. John explains that the city knows they are there. They used to tear it down every few months, but it just kept coming back, bigger and more elaborate. So at some point the city government gave up and issued a festival permit so they wouldn't have to deal with anymore.
In the center was an enormous marquee tent. All the paths lead to this tent. Inside it was like a soup kitchen. Dozens of rows of tables and chairs, most of them empty with a few people just sitting and conversing over mugs. I follow John and Eugene to the back of the tent were there are several large boiling pots being tended to by cooks. Jumping between them is a rather spry older man.
He looks to be in his late 70s, bald as an egg with a long disheveled gray beard. He is wearing flipflops and dirty linen robes. He is adding handfuls of some kind of herb to the pots and telling the cooks to keep it from boiling over. When we approach he greets Eugene and John as old friends. They whisper something to him that I can't hear and Bob guides us out back.
Bob, Priest-King of the Hobos
Now behind the marquee tent is a small yurt upon a large stone slab with a large black metal pot on a campfire out front. This is Bob's private residence.
"So, you've come asking for advice? Did you bring tribute for the priest-king of the hobos?"
Eugene nudges me as he hands over the two bottles. I hand over mine and John sets the case of beer next to the cauldron. That's what it had to be. It was a large black cast iron pot sitting on top of burning coals. There was even an odd bubbling concoction inside that smelled awful. Totally a cauldron.
He proceeds to tear open the case of beer and pops the top on two of them and dumps them into the cauldron. He asks us to give him a hand with the beer, but to save four of them. As the three of us start decanting the beer, he dumps each of the three bottles of whiskey in as well. Once all the booze is in the cauldron, which did not change the level of the concoction inside, he hands each of us a beer, plops down on a folding lawn chair and asks what we want.
Now I whisper to John that I'm 15 and shouldn't be drinking. John just side-eyes me and tells me "No one cares, don't be a bitch". While this is going on Eugene has pulled out the Diamond Heart of Life™ shows it to Bob. Bob flies out of his seat, grabs it, and starts muttering incoherently while holding it up to the sky. Holding it tight in his hand, he slams it into to the ground and we hear a loud crack.
I panic thinking he broke it. Nope, he just punched a hole into the solid rock we were standing on. He pulls his hand and the Diamond Heart of Life™ back out of the hole he made and a tree made out of crystal is now growing out of the hole. It's not very big, maybe an inch and half (4cm) in diameter and about six and half feet (2m) tall. He just nods and hands the Diamond Heart of Life™ back to Eugene.
"Yep, that's some real powerful goodness right there. I'd say it was the heart of an angel at one point. That tree is also a sign. So good news, the world is about to end. Hope your ready, cause the Shadow is coming and it can't be stopped. Be back here in three days with whatever you need to fight. I must gather the faithful. Good luck and see you in three days."
I pound the rest of my first beer, praying it wont be my last.
So yeah, Dan drops that little knowledge bomb on us. The rest of the session is the three of us explaining that we need to stock up and be ready for the end of the world to the rest of the party. Since I didn't have any money, I had nothing to do. The others bought equipment, explosives and stocked up on ammo. I really just stayed at the safe house and practiced sword forms for three days.
So the session was memorable for my character for several reasons. He got his first job. Had his first beer. These are things that are important and memorable to young adults and I was trying really hard to play him as a teen just coming into his own life. He doesn't want it to end. I don't either, I really like playing him. How about you? Was there a character that just really loved playing and might have been just a little to attached too? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, happy gaming.