Tess lounges in her nest, absent-mindedly scrawling symbols with her claw then applying prepared substances. She yawns and fishes a small trinket out of her hoard, then places it in front of the symbols with a smile.

“Let’s play a game. I’m going to make a series of increasingly complicated wards and meta-wards. The first to correctly guess what each does will get a reward…but there’s a catch. Guess incorrectly and you’ll reward me with something of equal value for my stash. Feel like taking a chance and putting your knowledge to the test? Who knows- maybe we can all learn something in the process.”

Feeling lucky? Be the first to correctly guess what this ward combination was meant to do and win a Luck Token for my campaign. Guess incorrectly and lose a Luck Token. I’m planning to send a series of these that are increasingly difficult, yep I’m bored!

• As several of the godlings continue to hunt in The Preserves, the rest relax and shmooze in one of the many decadent lounges of Splynn. Kraig of Ma’Ip manages to attach himself to some kind of female demon, while his companions meet some other interesting characters.

• The party hunting in The Preserves begins tracking new prey, with the help of the wilderness-worthy Norse godling in their group. He does find his quarry, but it ends up being a huge Russian man from another dimension, possibly Heroes Unlimited Earth. Utilizing some amazing natural abilities, he has managed to avoid or defeat multiple hunting parties tracking him from Splynn. When he agrees to help us hunt, the situation is reversed as other hunters appear at his cave looking for him, and we are the ones helping him.

• The Russian man’s hideout is a secluded cave; the party fights those who hunt him there, a group of gargoyles and gurgoyles lead by a gargoyle mage. Hephaestus’ son and the Norse Giant do the most damage against these resilient enemies as the rest of the group tries to pick away at them. The Russian seems invulnerable, and destroys foe after foe without taking any damage! He also seems to have a very limited teleportation power.

• The Gargoyle Mage attempts to escape with a teleport, but one of our Shifters tracks him and leads us straight to his manse in Splynn.

• We have a manse in Splynn.

• The Egyptian, Greek and Norse pantheons go to war. A plan is hatched to prevent further bloodshed..a plan involving the player characters, a secret dimension used by the gods for convenient travel, and a pact conjoining the player characters in the style of The Running Man!

• A trio of Godlings or powerful minions of the gods are chosen from each of the three pantheons. Cleo of Ma’Ip, Kraig of Ma’Ip and a son of Thoth are chosen for the Egyptians, a powerful giant, a bestial warrior and a _______ for the Norse, and a _________, _________ and _______ for the Greeks.

• Each of the Godlings is fitted with a custom-made magical collar, created by Hephaestus, Thoth and possibly others. These collars seem to be indestructible and impossible to remove (so far). The collars appear to prevent any of the Godlings from physically moving far away from the rest of the group, unless at least one member of the other two pantheons also accompanies them. Doing otherwise seems to cause great pain, discomfort and disorientation to the wearer who attempted it the longer and farther they do so. The effect seems to vary depending on the situation, leading some to suspect that the collars are actively monitored and responded to by the gods themselves, or perhaps by other minions. It has been suggested that failure to observe this restriction for long could even kill the wearer(s).

• The Godlings are deposited in a dimension known as The Citadel of the Towers. As it’s name suggests, it is a small island consisting of a plaza surrounded by four ancient towers, another circle of four towers surrounding that, each representing a compass point. Each of the towers is composed entirely of a different material, each with furnishings inside making them adequate living quarters. Each of the towers in the inner circle seems to have some unique implement, such as a reflective pool that may inspire visions in one, or a magical forge in another. The outer circle towers are each topped with a large instrument, a flute on one, a harp on another, and a large drum and horn on the remaining two.

• Visions from the pool, one of the Godling’s psychic powers as well as some rather reckless yet useful experimentation seem to indicate that each of the tower instruments have some control over the elements; at the very least, they seem to be capable of summoning and binding elementals, each one of the four types of elements being represented by one of the four instruments. Another psychic vision suggests that doing so with all four instruments at once, perhaps at the right time or with other components in effect, can summon forth or create some kind of powerful being. Whether this is for good or ill none can yet say.

• There are several beings that have accompanied the Godlings to their new “home”, and others that have come to visit. A huge beastly dragon variant of passive temperment lingers and quietly watches the group, while a small obnoxious demon hangs out in the plaza making comments and insulting nearly everyone present. The Norse Giant nearly trapped him in a magic chest before throwing it along with it’s mysterious contents into the sea, causing many to wish the imp had not escaped, nearly as much as they wished to know what it contained. Another visitor was Hermes, the Greek Messenger god. He commented on his love of the Citidel for it’s convenient travel circles to other locations, which he says he has used for thousands of years.

• Hermes notes that the Godlings are floundering a bit on what they should do, and comments that one of the magic circles of travel leads to Splynn, a fabulous city of wealth and magic. He suggests we go see it for lack of anything better to do. The player characters decide that this is not such a bad idea, and before long they are touring Splynn by airship. During the trip they briefly encounter Set on his own airship; whether this is by chance or design is unknown.

• It is suggested to the party that the Preserves of Atlantis would make an interesting distraction, as it is purposely filled with monsters, animals and “escaped” slaves, making it the perfect environment for hunters who are willing to pay the price. We were. Rather than finding monsters however, the party was attacked by what may have been runaway slaves. Left with little choice, the party destroyed many of them, sending others fleeing for their lives.

• The Doctor attempts to diffuse the imminent conflict between Bisbee’s vampire protectors, the Arznoite cowboys and the player characters, but fails miserably despite his way with words. He narrowly avoids death by darting into The Tardis.

• Our heroes, lead by Alexei and Freddy, fight to free Bisbee from it’s vampire masters, and do so successfully. However, after the celebration that evening, the real threat emerges: A second vampire brood, this one an organized army under the control of “General” Xavier Stuart, a former Coalition Officer.

• The party battles vampires in the streets, protecting as many civilians as possible, aided by the TW Fire Truck and Storm Flares provided by Arzno.

• Many armed, armored and organized vampires march into the town from the west. Naraka and Brian Fortunatus bravely face them head on.

• In the Petrified Forest, Timur goes to scout the area and find the location with the most positive Chi in preparation for his vampire ambush plan. Unfortunately a Leprechaun was spying on him and used powerful faerie magic to change him into a frog! He snatches him up, along with all of his gear, and stashes them in a magic chest. Timur soon escapes, and spends some time contemplating amphibious things in a nearby stream until the magic wears off.

• Our heroes gather together again and with the help of James, head back to Arzno to turn in their bounty, which ended up being over a hundred thousand credits.

• The party meets with Prince Onra, head of the Arzno Council, who debriefs them personally. They update him on the true nature of the vampire situation in Arizona. He tells the group that Arzno is indebted to them, and urges them to continue the fight, offering more money and resources in the form of a techno-wizard fire truck.

• Prince Onra identifies Freddy as a True Atlantean, and offers to teach him more about his people in a completely non-gay way.

• The Doctor appears while the party is making their final plan on how to deal with the two vampire controlled towns to the south. He informs them that not all of the residents of Bisbee are evil, and makes an offer. If the party can somehow deliver the citizens to a location southwest of the town, he will ensure they are safe. He pressures the group to do this in his friendly, knowing way, then mumbles something about how interesting it is to “see how it started” before vanishing again into the alleys of Arzno.

• The party travels south in search of the source of the vampire menace. They camp along the Great Trade Road with a group of friendly cowboys, then pass through Joseph City and learn of other settlements nearby; the Papago Indians to the southwest, towns called Clarksdale Confederacy and Pheonix to the south/southwest, and confirm that the towns of Bisbee and Fort Tombstone lie south/southeast. After checking the layout, they head out on the south trail for Bisbee.

• On the way to Bisbee, the group comes across a nasty monster, some kind of plant-like burrower that lies in wait for prey to walk over it, like a venus fly trap. Little Onion makes short work of it utilizing his paralyzing breath attack.

• Our heroes then come across a leyline that crosses the trail. An insane leyline walker is within, and insists both that he is a god, and that this is HIS leyline, making the party foolish tresspassers indeed. Naraka, in his creepy Yin Tiger form, convinces that madman that he too is a god, and manages to find out that Malificus the Great, as he calls himself, was once a resident of a small community near Bisby, but something tragic befell him; someone close to him was murdered by vampires. His insanity may be a result of this. Naraka convinced him that he must make a pilgrimage to Hope in the Colorado Baronies, and speak with Lokan, the God Who Hates Vampires. The poor fool agreed, and with a ring of invisibility in hand that Naraka gave him, went off on his grand adventure.

• Pressing on through the night in an attempt to make good time reaching Bisbee, the party is suddenly ambushed by a large swarm of vampires in bat form. Naraka mind controls some of them, enough to convince them that he is an ally that wishes to join with their Master. The vampires leave, presumably to tell their maker this message. Naraka continues to Bisbee alone, asking the others to meet up with him in the Petrified Forest. “I have a plan. Trust me.”

• On his own now, Naraka heads to Bisbee. A phalanx of vampires and day protectors await him on the outskirts, and escort him into the town where the Master awaits. The two speak, and Naraka spins a tale of his desire for three magic items that are held within the walls of Arzno, items he desires for himself. He portrays himself as a temporary ally, and proposes an attack on Arzno in two days time, using all the vampires from Bisbee as well as an army he himself will provide.

• Meanwhile, the rest of the group is travelling to Joseph City, but run across more Bisbee vampires, looking for the others they spotted with Naraka. They descend and attack, and Freddy quickly casts a Globe of Daylight, but the vampires begin to use psionics, leaving little doubt the heroes will be overcome. Suddenly, a military helicopter flies in from the distance, shining floodlights upon the vampires, the shadow of a cross hitting them, sending them in all directions, and shooting railguns that seem to be super effective. The chopper lands, and several armored men get out, revealing the colors of Arzno Mercenary Corps as they approach. Checking on the party’s contract and finding everything in order, they wish them luck and lift off again in search of more targets.

• Samwell (and…friends?) say farewell, escorting the remnants of the waylaid caravan back to safety.

• A prospector offers us some juicy info on a faerie treasure horde nearby in exchange for a small cut of the profits. Sure..we’ll be right back..with your money. Yeah that’s it.

• We interrogated a vampire. Another one. This one was slightly less uninformed than the last. The Master Vampire, who calls himself General Xavier, is apparently a very tricky customer, concealing his hideout with extreme secrecy.

• The vampire spoke of a contact they were supposed to meet named Jude. The party set up camp to wait for this contact to arrive.

• Tired of waiting, the group went to investigate the treasure rumour. They encountered a faerie which was distracted through the employment of a dragon hatchling, Alexei’s storytelling, and a healthy dose of alcohol.

• They discovered a faerie grove hidden in the northern end of the Petrified Forest, but seeing it full of faeries, the party wisely retreated. While on the way back to the caves, they detected someone approaching the camp.

• Ambush Ambushed! A group of vampires comes out of the trees, seemingly directed by a group of Cyber-Knights, lead by Ser Jude. Calling themselves the Black Swords, they had apparently made a pact with General Xavier to assist the vampires’ attack on the New West. This was secretly the maddened Ser Jude’s desperate and misguided attempt to force the hand of the Cyber-Knights to face the threat of the Vampire Kingdoms. After Naraka changed form into the Yin Tiger, he quickly took control of the vampires with his powers over the undead, turning them against the knights. Dirkreeting One-Handed executed the leaders himself, seeing it as his solemn duty as a Cyber-Knight. In the end the party had mixed feelings about Jude’s efforts, and were a bit saddened that his seemingly honorable companion must die as well.

• The battle was hopefully not for nothing, as Jude indicated the area he strongly suspects the Master’s lair lies in.

• The party got directions from a vampire, decided to actually follow them.

• The Waste appears to be the most fertile, lush valley any of the party members have ever seen on the continent so far. It would probably be excellent for hunting and foraging, if it weren’t for..

• Spooooky ghosts! Specters of the long dead cover the landscape in the heart of The Waste, reliving moments of their lives in what can only be the pre-rifts Golden Age of Man. They do not seem to notice anything apart from their normal routines until…

• Blood curdling screams! Some other kind of entities were also in The Waste, lingering near the other spirits; as the party approached they began to shriek, and all of the ghosts began to relive the terror of the Apocolypse and the Coming of the Rifts. The screams were debilitating, draining the party mentally and physically, and drawing the attention of nearby Possessing Entities, until destroyed with weapons invested with Chi energy, or forced under Naraka’s control.

• We leave The Waste and make for a petrified forest to the east and discover a vampire nest in a cave. Broxx is very nearly torn limb from limb, but the others fly in and thanks to some quick thinking, trap the vampires and easily destroy them.

• One vampire is left alive to tell the tale; he confirms they were created by a “General Xavier”.

• We signed contracts with a bunch of paper-pushing, policy-obsessed mercs. Since when were mercs obsessed with rules?

• We borrowed a wagon and bulky clothes and set off to be bait

• We split the party to go get firewood (James, Naraka, and Onion / the others)

• The ones back at home get approached by a ghosty thing, which gets blown up

• Naraka returns to get the firwood, sees some tentacly thing going boom boom boom out in the darkness. It runs off.

• We go to bed, something approaches us at night.

• VAMPIRES!

• Naraka lights up 2 vampires

• James dominates 1 vamp

• Wheels chops 1 vamp and runs off with its head

• Other people do things

• We interrogate James’s vamp

• We have dinner at Naraka’s to talk over the vampire adventure

• Little Onion steals Goethe’s credchip, and slips it in Freddy’s pocket.

• Naraka starts teaching Little Onion a mudra

• We ride out in the grand carriage pulled by 6 undead elk

• We ride up to the Iron Horse, confronting some Psi Stalkers who say they want to murder the dragon and who say they’ll see us in Durango which isn’t such neutral territory.

• We get reminded that they don’t take kindly to black magic around the Iron Dragon.

• We ride the Iron Horse (Grigory steals the tickets, then Little Onion steals some of them from him)

• We go to a saloon in Durango for an expensive meal.

• Ian tells the sherriff about the Psi Stalkers, is reminded that we don’t take kindly to black magic around here.

• Josh plays piano for everyone

• Outside of Durango, the Psi Stalkers confront us as promised, get blown up.

• Ian makes the survivors promise to not kill dragons any more, and not attack us either

• Later on the trip, we run into a group of mages. Little Onion steals their guns, then while they confront us about the guns, steals their soup. It all gets returned.

• We make it to Arzno.