The next thrilling installment in the MK RPG Watch campaign, and it was a doozy!
(PCs were Lt Cmdr / Cpl Ruvac, Warden / Initiate Liasa, and Initiate Teka; Maega was absent due to the player being ill.)
We opened with a Mission, with the platoon’s base under attack by clockwork-enhanced rats controlled by a King Rat. Cpl Reti, the medic watched backs, Teka strategised, Ruvac was on recon, and Liasa was on point. During the attack, Lt Cmdr Eucit (the man, there because of his sorely-needed military experience) shouted to Liasa to forget rescuing the wounded and instead concentrate on sealing the tunnels. Liasa decided to take two objectives: seal the tunnels and rescue the wounded (including her squad-mate Pera).
During the fight, Eucit was lost in the Shadow tunnels, Ruvac was overcome, Liasa panicked in the backblast from throwing flaming oil in the tunnels, and Sgt Lorru was discovered after the action, in her room ripped apart by rats. The fire in the tunnels for some reason took hold and soon the farmhouse was consumed by a huge column of Shadow-influenced green flame.
Cut to the platoon taking stock in the frosty and barren countryside, with almost no equipment, no commander, and the sun just beginning to rise.
Preny (Lorru’s second in command) tried to assert her control over the remains of the platoon, but Ruvac stared her down. Miende approached Liasa about deserting and leaving the war behind.
Ruvac led a eulogy for Lorru and started giving orders. Cpl Toha challenged her, Ruvac Unleashed the Wolf and inflicted terrible harm and damn near cut off Toha’s leg. In a bad GMing call, I was so shocked I forgot to call for Resisting the Shadow until later!
There was a bit of faffing around, including Teka Letting the Shadow In and getting a vision of Eucit, hands and feet ripped off, screaming as a Shadow-creature came to graft blades on his stumps. Ruvac then ordered a small team to re-enter the Shadow tunnels and rescue Eucit! I was not expecting a second mission in the session, but that seemed the correct way to run the in-fiction events.
Teka was watching backs, her sword humming to warn people of approaching Shadow-twisted creatures. Preny was navigating. Liasa was scouting the tunnels with walls of burnt glass, passing unnoticed when she realised how to imitate the Shadow-twisted (complication of getting an extra Jaded).
In the end, they rescued Eucit and killed the Shadow king rat. In a player-created complication, Eucit was too far gone to be saved, and everyone else took one or two harm due the sharp, burning tunnels.
Back on the surface, a half-hour walk directly away from the farmhouse led them back to it (their Shadow warps reality). Teka Spirit Walked to free the area of the Shadow, also sending Eucit to rest in peace.
The PCs eventually returned to the platoon, only find half of them had deserted.
Next session, we’ll cut to Phase 2 of the war.
