Session 41: The Beasts of the North
General Summary
The session began early in the morning after the battle at the first village. Kutter, RM, Jericho, and Alexandru were resting after they helped the villagers recover and form a local militia. While they were keeping watch, they saw a vertibird approach and hail them, requesting permission to land. It landed, and Jason and Blair hopped out, slightly nauseous from the hard landing, assisted by Kutter’s signaling. Quinten was absent, having gone hunting for game to help the villagers survive the winter. However, May and Kenny had vanished without a trace.
The players gathered their full force to move on to their next objective: the enemy’s forward operating base. Their entire vertibird force returned to the village, and the players mounted up, heading north until their objective was in sight. However, thick fog obscured the landscape and buildings below, though they could see an orange glow of lights through it. Unable to get a clear visual, the players executed a risky low gun run, but as the propellers cleared the low fog, they saw nothing but destroyed houses. Not a single enemy was in sight.
Eventually, and with some hesitation, the players landed their vertibird, disembarking and establishing a perimeter. In the city center, they discovered a pile of burnt bodies—likely the townsfolk. The rest of the vertibirds landed and fanned out, finding only three surviving Red Tide soldiers. The survivors spoke of chaos and explosions the previous night, claiming they had seen their comrades running around trying to find an infiltrator. Kutter prepared to send these POWs back to the fleet, but upon seeing the devastation, the Liberators’ infantry demanded blood from the men who had participated in this massacre. The Blades and Blair had to hold them back while Kutter took the POWs to the vertibird. Kutter and the Blades understood their position, having once stood between the Red Tide’s enemies and their own officers as well with the threat of death for disobedience.
Then Kenny, May, and David—Kenny’s recruit—entered the camp dramatically. Kenny said “Ho Ho Ho” and attempted to knock on the front gate, which fell off its hinges. He debriefed them on his stealth mission and introduced David to Kutter, explaining that David had helped complete the mission, but they needed to get him off drugs. David recognized Kutter, calling him the Berzerker, and warned that the enemy had it out for him, especially the commander of this operation who had been here last night. Kenny recalled the man in the church who sounded like a ghoul and had apologized to his master. Kenny also briefed them on the creature he saw the previous night and the camp they found, mentioning a .45-70 round embedded in its hide. As they recounted the tale, Kenny noticed May had inched closer to him. May insisted they pursue the creature, stating there were ten villages within a hundred miles at its mercy if they didn’t kill it.
The players fully mobilized, dividing the marksman infantry and Blades into a full platoon formation. Kenny and May took point to track it down. As they approached the camp where they had seen it run off, Kenny remembered the nightkin he had deceived before. He jumped back into the same tree to torment them further and clear the path. One nightkin nearly caught on, but when he attacked, one of the Liberators took a shot at him. Kenny played it off as a punishment for doubting him. He commanded them to keep their heads down and not rise for anything, letting the platoon pass unchallenged.
They returned to the camp and observed ritualistic gore. Though shaken, they pressed on as Kenny picked up a trail. They marched for hours in silence, remaining hidden as they followed it. Eventually, Jericho and Blair informed Kutter and Jason that the troops needed a break. Kenny decided to push on with May and David while the platoon rested. As the platoon broke out rations, Alexandru smoked his pipe, which Kutter protested. Kutter grilled him on his carelessness, again accusing him of lying back at the village. Alexandru warned him not to pry, and disgruntled, they moved on.
Ahead, Kenny’s scouting party found a lake tinted with thin streaks of red, which May confirmed was blood. As the company followed, they moved up the shoreline where the blood grew thicker. They discovered a ruined fishing village soaked in blood. Out on an old, lonely dock, they saw a dock crane with a fishing net in the water, operated by a freakishly tall, gaunt figure. The Liberators surrounded the position, taking cover behind buildings and cargo at the dock’s end, while Kenny approached.
As Kenny drew closer, he fully beheld it: 11 feet tall, ghoulish, with pale, grayish skin spattered in gore. A metal crown with two protruding fake antlers weighed on its neck. It wore manacles on wrists and ankles, suggesting it was often restrained. Near the water, Kenny heard it muttering, “Chum the waters, chum the waters.” When Kenny tried to speak to it, it seemed bothered but ignored him. He could see bodies in the fishnet. When Kenny asked what it was baiting, it said “Asset.” Asked what kind, it said, “Perfect.” Then its eyes shifted from milky white to glowing purple, and its demeanor changed. Kenny asked about the purple crystal on its crown, but he merely sized him up. Kenny stated he had never seen something like it, and he retorted that Kenny had never seen anything like him, Kenny quipped "Yep that's what I said". He called Kenny a smartass and arrogant and that it would get him killed one day, Kenny countered that he's heard that many times before. He blinked, and the purple vanished. It went feral, raving as it operated the crane. Kenny signaled everyone to attack. As they did the rope went free and the fishing net opened allowing the mutilated bodies to spread into the water around the dock.
Chaos ensued as they opened fire. Kutter fired a missile down the dock, blasting both the creature and Kenny into the water, incapacitating Kenny and obscuring the creature. A frantic battle followed as the team struggled to save Kenny while being ambushed from beneath the dock. Kutter ordered the infantry away to keep them safe from ambush, leaving the players and officers to fight alone. Kenny was saved from drowning, but Jason was hit with an EMP grenade that fried his armor, causing him to sink into mud. The battle turned into a desperate attempt to save both Jason and Kenny as the creature escaped. After they were saved, May asked Jason if he was okay, having almost been swallowed by the mud but he just shook his head as Kutter mocked him for no longer being a super mutant. Unbeknownst to them a shadow beneath the waves moved toward the coast. A massive reptilian creature emerged, speaking angrily in the local tongue. It swung its tail in a massive sweep, hurling the team into a nearby house and knocking Kenny unconscious again. In the aftermath, Alexandru stood alone.
Report Date
02 Dec 2024
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