Penny

Urban Shadows 2 - The Ectoplasmic Boogaloo

Would anyone be interested in playing a game of Urban Shadows?

Urban Shadows is a PbtA game meant to simulate urban fantasy, think The Dresden Files, Iron Druid, Vampire the Masquerade.

I'd be looking for maybe 4 players.

Like most pbta games the learning curve is very shallow!

Tricksters and Theives: A Warhammer RP

Emmaline was not at all certain that Neil had made the right decision in not shooting Inspector Leizbauhnor. That worthy was seated at what passed for the dining table, a set of old gun carriage wheels laid on their side with planks nailed over the top, sipping at a glass of the indifferent whine Neil had produced. A fish rose into the air and fileted itself, the waste dropping into one bucket and the meat settling into another. If Leizbauhnor was impressed or intimidated by the display of arcane power he was doing a good job of concealing it. A second fish rose into the air and followed the example of the first.

"Under normal circumstances we might not have noticed the theft for some weeks," Leizbauhnor explained, sipping at the wine politely.

"A lot of powder is used up during blackpowder week and it would have been easy to assume that it was just moved or in transit," Leizbauhnor went on.

"We had an idea that something was afoot but it wasn't until the... accident at the gunnery school that we were sure," the Inspector lamented. The fish continued their self fileting, the process growing a trifle more violent with Emmaline's irritation, scales flying off in glittering arcs.

"Something like twenty tons of the stuff vanished between the powder mills and the storage magazines, most of a months supply for the city." Nuln was the arsenal for the entire Empire and though every city worth its saltpeter maintained at least a small powder mill, it was the shipments that flowed up and down the Reik and Aver rivers that kept up with the demand for an Empire whose security rested on handguns and cannons as surely as pikes and swords.

"Someone stole twenty tons of gunpowder?" Neil asked, arching an eyebrow. He sat across from Leizbauhnor, having reversed the chair so that he could straddle it with his chest to the chair back. If their visitor was irritated by the deliberate lack of respect he was showing no sign of it. From the tone of Neil's voice he was more impressed than shocked.

"I wish I had thought of it," Emmaline murmured, eyes still intent on the destruction of her catch. Leizbauhnor forced a tolerant smile.

"It did cross my mind that the theft occurred shortly after one Marguritte von Vissenbach made the acquaintance of a certain member of the Engineers guild we had our eye on, but we were able to rule the pair of you out. Albrecht Magnus has been associated with a number of questionable deals, but a theft of this size, well it requires more than salting a mine with a bit of gold dust or pretending to discover an heir to a lost fortune." Emmaline stiffened slightly, taking the bait in spite of herself.

"Both of those require more work than 'simply' doing anything," she snapped, magically gutting another fish in emphasis. The creatures eyes popped and its back snapped as her control wavered slightly with rising irritation.

"I'm sure you know better than I," Leizbauhnor rejoined dryly, "but the point I was making is that something like this takes logistics. It requires storage, time and patience to find a buyer and fence the take. I'm not attempting to be insulting Frauline Von Morganstern, but you simply don't have that kind of organization."

"You seem to know a lot, why do you need us?" Emmaline asked. Leizbauhnor sighed heavily.

"You may have noticed that the city has its share of problems to deal with at this moment," he said dryly.

"Figuring out which syndicate did this, and where the goods are stored may be a challenge, it will require subject matter experts on crime and gunpowder, and lo and behold I happen to know a crooked engineering apprentice and a...."

"Engineer," Neil interuppted impudently. Leizbauhnor arched an eyebrow in interogation.

"I've graduated, I'm an Engineer now, not an apprentice," the thie continued glibly. Leizbauhnor heaved a put upon sigh.

"A crooked engineer and a gold wizard who are perfect for the job, and who, frankly, don't have much choice other than to do their patriotic duty."

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Tricksters and Theives: A Warhammer RP

Emmaline was still in something of a daze. The ringing in her ears had dissapated but the shock of what had just happened was still passing. Nodding numbly she climed to the top of the tower, exiting through the garret room at the top to the ancient watch platform. Stepping around fallen tiles she looked out over the river. A light wind was blowing the smoke away from the gunnery school, but the damage that had been down was tremendous. An entire corner of the complex had been scooped away by the blast as though by a giant spoon. Worse still, the force of the explosion had shattered the river wall and and the dark waters of the Reik had rushed in to fill the cavity, forming a brown lake where most of the gunnery park had been. Order was being brought to the chaos now, with workers and artisan's carrying away what could be salvaged. The gates were already been shut and barred, proving that Neil had been right suggest a hasty exit. While the crack of cannons was audible she couldn't, from her position, see what they were firing at. Judging from the gunsmoke rising over the distant rooftops, some kind of assault was underway on the eastern gate. Emmaline swallowed hard and turned her attention back to the river. A throng of Nuln's poor were swarming over the docks, jumping and clambering aboard barges and ships that were just as haistily trying to cast and fend off from the wooden and stone wharfs. One of the clumsy vessels was already in trouble, badly over loaded by the scores of people swarming aboard to escape the imminent siege. The starboard gunnel dipped alarmingly and then sank below the sluggish surface of the river. Water poured into open hatches and the roll accelerated as the barge capsized spilling goods and people into the Reik. Spatterings of gunfire errupted from a number of other vessels, as panicked sailors fired into the crowds to escape a similar fate. Some in the crowd fired back as the situation degenerated. As Emmaline watched a phalanx of city watch arrived on the scene lead by an armored man on horseback. They tore into the crowd with batons, heaving the mass of humanity down along the river bank and driving them away from the docks. The Watch was securing the ships which remained on the docks, probably as war material. That was quick thinking, especially as it had been less than an hour since the fiery destruction of the manor house had roused the city, apparently just in time to avoid a surprise attack. It didn't look like there was much chance of getting out by boat, even if the river was safe to travel downstream.

Emmaline's eyes swung back to the gunnery school and the eastern river. The water was glimmering with something and it took her several moments to realize that they were fish which had been killed by the blast. Cursing that most of her exercise was more horizontal she clambered back down the garret and rand down the stairs, skirts hiked up, ignoring Neil's shouted questions. She ran out onto the landing and down to the painter where Neil had tied the boat. Dipping her fingers in the water she whispered a spell. A gentle current began to flow towards her fingers and slowly the floating fish, stunned or dead began to drift towards the island. Within ten minutes the southern shore was covered with fish and the assorted floatsam that normally choked the river. Cringing inwardly but cognisatnt that food would be worth more than gold if a seige lasted, she began picking up fish and tossing them into the boat, the only available container she had. It took her perhaps a half an hour but by the time she had cleared the beach the boat was almost overflowing with fish. Sweating with exertion she sat heavily upon the flagstones near the shore and huffed out a breath. It was all together too much like real work for her taste. Inwardly she wondered how long it would be before the watch, or the army came to occupy the tower and evicted them.

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Tricksters and Theives: A Warhammer RP

As they exited the armory the gunnery school was a hive of activity. Men were running too and fro, carrying armfuls of weapons, parchments and the other minutia of modern war. It looked to Emmaline like a hive of pantalooned ants had been struck with a stick and that there was a much chaos as there was order to their frenzied activity. Despite their haste, the presence of a woman drew attention and more than one engineering apprentice ran into his fellows or tripped into one of the shallow trenches which crisscrossed the gunnery parks.

"Maybe we should try to get out of the city," Emmaline fretted her eyes following a well dressed apprentice who seemed to be sauntering rather than rushing.

"It's possible they haven't surrounded the city yet, we could take ship down river, I don't know if chaos spawn will be able to invest the city that fully," she rambled. The well dressed apprentice had reached the built up entrance to what she assumed was a magazine of some kind.

"Every single person in the city will be rushing the barges, we will be lucky if we..." Neil began but Emmaline's eyes suddenly locked on the handsome apprentice. He crouched down and took a lantern from his satchel. It was the kind with heavy glass panels to shield the flame from the wind.

"Neil..." the apprentice pitched the lantern into the doorway of the magazine. Emmaline lifted her hands and golden light sprang from her palms a moment before the ground humped up and an enormous concussive blast shattered the gunnery park. The apprentice was reduced to a mist as the granite blocks which had formed the firewall of the magazine blew outward like razor sharp glass. The blast struck Emmaline's glowing shield and picked the two thieves up, slamming them back into the armory in a tangle of arms and legs. Dust and smoke filled the air, blinding Emmaline and Neil. She could hear nothing other than a dull ringing. The golden light of her impromptu shield flickered and went out, the stunning force of the blast cracking the shield like an egg. Neil was already pressing himself to his feet, shaking his head as if to clear it. Emmaline followed suit woozily. Neil was speaking but Emmaline's ringing ears couldn't make out anything he was saying. She followed him out to what had been the gunnery park. A huge crater had been opened up against the south wall. Dirt and stone were still raining down. Several other members had survived judging by the screams of pain the slowly broke through the ringing in Emmaline's ears.

"What happened?" Emmaline asked, falling silent as one of the outbuildings groaned and collapsed in an avalanche of shattered red bricks. She had the memories of what happened by the shocking detonation seemed to have robbed her of the abillity to make sense of it. Neil layed a steadying hand on her shoulder.

"Someone just blew up three quarters of the cities gunpowder."

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Grim Galaxy: Shots and Chances

Pain throbbed in Junebug's shoulder as she tried to sit up. Unfortunately even with one hand free she wasn't able to loose the straps that bound her ankles and remaining hand. Pursing her lips she thought for a moment and then thumbed the stun batton live in a long arc that heated the teeth almost red hot. Without waiting for it to cool she thrust it down into the strap around her wrist. The plastic warped and melted and Junebug yanked it to snap the last few fibers. From there it was an easy matter to unlock her feet.

"Surrender heretic... Terran filth," the acolyte muttered weakly. He was clutching his stomach still unable to completely regain control of the spasming muscle groups. Junebug stepped over to him and punched him in the face, hard enough that his head bounced off the wall with a crack.

"Welcome to Earth," she muttered.

The bowels of the colony ship were huge, designed as they were to ferry thousands of people, live stock, supplies, and equipment to distant worlds. Junebug slipped through the mase of passages, looking for some kind of central accessway that would take her upwards.

"Saxon," she muttered into her comm, "we could really use your scaly ass right now." There was no answer. The mastoid implant was designed to be linked to a more powerful unit in a vehicle and its unaided range wasn't unlimited. Hopefully that was a factor of range, and Saxon wasn't dead on a bunch of pitchforks. She grinned at the image. If these hicks thought they could take Saxon down like a monster in a holo, they were going to be in for a surprise. Fairly briefly.

Sayeeda ducked into a doorway when a pair of acolytes came around the corner. They didn't seem alarmed, merely strolling along. By their conversation they were trying to debating whether lust or greed was a more damning sin. The hum of machinery caused her to turn. Behind her were a set of air tight doors, likely originally to section off a large life boat or ships launch. Glancing down she saw that the layer of dust that coated the rarely used decks was disturbed. Intrigued she moved to the door and opened it with a touch to the control panel. Inside the air smelled of antiseptic and electronics.

"Fuck," Sayeeda muttered. The walls were lined with life support pods, not dissimilar to the ones that had kept Taya, Neil and Junebug alive for three years following their escape from Taya's homeworld. Inside were women, their bodies all showing signs of recent pregnancy. Banks of monitors showed vital signs. Each one had a name printed above their pod. Rachel, Ruth, Ester, Sarah and so on. The pod furthest from the door held a slim blonde that carried no baby weight. Taya was dressed in a white shift that floated in the nutrient fluid like a drowning victim.

"Well this is fucked up."

"It is the only way," a voice came from behind her.

"I have a gun, please don't do anything rash Captain Cyckali," Gerome said apologetically. Sayeeda turned to see the elderly cleric holding an electromotive shotgun at waist level. He was liable to break his wrists if he fired it like that, but Junebug would still be torn appart by the spreading aerofoiled shot. She gauged the distances and didn't like her chances.

"You don't have a though shalt not kidnap a bunch of people and trap them in stasis pods in that book of yours?" she asked, raising both hands. Gerome clucked regretfully.

"When we first got here we were full of hope and faith," the old man explained, guesturing with the muzzle of the gun for Junebug to move down towards where Taya lay in stasis. Junebug moved, slowly, following the guesture.

"But then you opened up a sideline in kidnaping and rape? All kinky after you got dissiulioned," she pressed. Gerome made a disgusted sound.

"There are microorganisms here, nothing that will kill you and nothing we picked up on our initial survey. It results in infertility for anyone who spends more than a few months on the surface. We tried hiring microbiologists to create vaccines but nothing worked. We couldn't let the Light of God go out on this world."

"So now we get to the kidnapping part?" Junebug prodded as she passed Taya's pod.

"There are always a few traders, drifters, sometimes women would choose to stay with us, they don't suffer," Gerome said pleadingly. Sayeeda stopped disgusted beyond her fear of the gun.

"So you keep them as breeding stock?! What the fuck is wrong with you people?!"

"Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be Captain," Gerome begged. She could envision the colonists debating the ethics of such a monstrous plan. It always seemed like sufficiently motivated religious folk could justify any horror in the name of a higher power. Half of the wars she had fought in her time with the Armored had religious motivators even if it was normally civil authority that did the hiring.

"So you kidnap people and impregnate them over and over," she asked.

"It's a sterile proccedure, there is no actual intercourse," Gerome appologised.

"Yeah well that makes it much better," Sayeeda responded dryly. She reached the empty pod beyond Tayas. The writing above it said 'Deborah'.

"If you will climb in please captain, I promise it will be over quickly, you will age slowly but eventually you wont be fertile any more and we will let you go," he assured her.

"I'm already infertile, that's why you had you doctor looking me over remember," she restored putting one hand on either side of the access portal.

"It will just be until we can review your results, please I don't want to kill you," Gerome all but wept. Sayeeda sighed and let her shoulders sag slightly.

"Not really a Deborah though," she commented, "more of a Lilith." Junebug tensed her shoulders and leaped upwards. The gun boomed behind her but she was already kicking off the stais pod, flipping up and over Gerome's head narrowly avoiding the ricoheting pellets. An experienced gunman might have got off a second shot but Gerome was barely managing to hold the weapon, a look of horror on his face. He began to turn but Sayeeda was behind him. She caught the barrel of the gun in one hand and drove a palm into his shoulder, ripping the weapon free. She kicked him in the hip slamming him into the pod. It wasn't a fight. He was an old man and a noncombatant.

"Lord! Deliver me from evil!" he shrieked. Damn it was pathetic. She stepped forward, gripped him by the back of the tunic and heaved him into the pod, slapping the closure. It wasn't the approved way to put someone in stasis, but she pulled the activator switch anyway. There were already shouts of alarm so she rushed over to the Taya's pod and began looking for the decanting sequence.

Tricksters and Theives: A Warhammer RP

"Well... that was pretty awesome," Emmaline admitted as the corpses of the beastmen shouldered. Horns began to blare as the city watch began to realize it was more than just high spirited rioters or the normal blackpowder week fires. Brassy horn blasts and bells were ringing and hungover guardsmen were staggering down the main thoroughfares towards the burning manor.

"Let's get out of here incase all these drunken guardsmen get ideas about pretty girls," Neil enjoined, grabbing her by the elbow and steering her towards the river. Another much louder bell began to ring, its deep tolling reverberating through Emmaline's bones. She assumed that it was just another alarm but Neil tensed up and froze.

"What?" Emmaline demanded. Neil continued pulling her down towards the river his body language tensed and troubled. They came out of the alley and down onto the waterfront. Out on the river there was chaos, ships were spreading their sales and heading down river. Downstream oared barges kicked up white spray as they beat their way down river. Even at this distance it was obvious that something was wrong. Emmaline could just make out men at the prows shouting through cupped hands, though it was impossible to make out what they were saying over the clamor from the city. One of the barges was burning and Emmaline watched flaming arrows leaped from the forested fringes of the river, striking one of the barges, it veered drunkenly away as men abandoned the oars to throw buckets of water onto smoldering blaze. Cannons on the wall barked out at unseen targets.

"What?!" Emmaline demanded, confused and exasperated. Winches began to turn at the entrances to the river, great metal chains raising to seal the river entrances.

"I think," Neil said glumly, "that we are under siege."

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