Against the Grey Play Report 2: BOB!BAAAAAAHB!BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHB! (Translation: Please Kill Me!)

Previous Play Report:

Against the Grey Play Report 1: We Did an Akira and now the Eye Panopticon is Onto Us

The first session was fun, but this one is where we begin to hit our stride. Two of the players from the first group left and one new player joined. It's not until one or two more sessions where we land on what I hope is our permanent group.

This session included some improvised Concept Crafting* towards the end (during the defense of Chord's home), more Mycelium Matrix shenanigans, and The BOBs!

*My most recent Concept Crafting-related blog post, Anima Crafting, with links to previous posts.

Characters

Jabronski (Me)

A rock.

Vacillates between slightly agitated and at peace with the universe.

Gastrolithic neurotoxic "frog" companion.

Can sporecast from within the companion.

Maude the Badger (Onya)

(She/her) Gun lovin, bomb throwin, grumpy old lady. 

Onya: "Loosely based on my grandma, and an old weird anarchist I met as a kid. Both were kinda scary and problematic."

Hark (Gibran)

Human fighter/barbarian-type who is a gung-ho stoner. Gets up to shenanigans, but also often comes up with clever plans.

Play Report

The group started off at the Haunted Watermill a few days after the events at the end of last session.

While hanging out with the Rebels there, they heard about the various things that were going on in The Forest. They heard the following:

- The Greenwood-Grey Compound is currently occupied by an emergency dispatch of troops, and more equipment, weapons and people are en route from Greenwood (city)

- Some kind of apparition had been appearing in the Haunted Watermill and stealing strange items

- The maiden who was supposed to set alight the boat in the Burning Boat festival held in the Forest Village has gone missing

- Chord who supplies bombs to the Rebels has found his hut in the path of the New Road being built by the Greenwood-Grey Company

- The Watchers at the Sacred Cave have reported that Mercenaries in the Forest appear to be planning a raid on the hoard of treasure they had gathered from the Greenwood-Grey Company to sacrifice to the spirits of The Forest

- The Eye Panopticon has grown 50%

Kitsch disappeared without explanation shortly after the events at the Greenwood-Grey Compound

- Grench did not meet up with the rest of the crew after and may have been captured by the Greys 

- something glinting and golden was seen passing high above in the sky yesterday afternoon, the elders have debated what kind of omen this might on the eve of the Burning Boat festival

The group decided to travel up to Chord's Home to attempt to save him and his equipment from the Greenwood-Grey Company and their Bob - driven bulldozers. And then make their way on to the Sacred Cave to deal with the Mercenaries there.

En route they encountered some other Mercenaries attempting to make a delivery to the Greenwood-Grey Compound. Their caravan had become stuck in the mud.The caravan is pulled by two Bobs. (Bobs are turtles with human faces created by the Greys and used as a pack animals. They piteously croon 'Boooob' as they labor. No one outside the Greys knows how they are made.)

Hark decided to approach them and ‘play it cool’. Their leader Rum, a mean tit bird, sees them all and immediately tries to recruit them to help. Several schemes develop. Maud suggests using her firewater to blow up the caravan and doing it in such a way the it looks like an accident. While preparing to do this they encounter Trish a very young raccoon who has stowed away in the caravan. They also discover that the caravan is carrying extremely high quality muskets made exclusively by and for the Greys. 

At this point a revised scheme is hatched, with Jabronski suggesting that he speak to the mud via the Mycelium Matrix and ask that it take the caravan and keep it safe for them until they return to get it. Meanwhile, Trish starts crying and Rum comes over to investigate. His lackeys Mal and Mak, both join. A couple of things then happen:

- The mud does indeed take the caravan, seemingly keeping it safe

- Rum becomes so frustrated by the situation that he storms off

- Mal and Mak decide to take responsibility for Trish and take her back to Greenwood (city) . They leave under the impression that Trish is some kind of spy for the Rebels. Trish reveals that her family is fairly wealthy in Greenwood (city) . Mal and Mak leave on their ‘secret mission’.

- Huffa doesn't remember how the Bobs were dealt with here. Maybe they were just let go?

The group then travels on to Chord's Home. As they reach the clearing in front of the house, on the opposite side of the house from the Greys and their Bob bulldozers . They hear shouting between the Greys in the Forest on the other side of the house and Chord, asking him to come out. A loud explosion indicates his response was a bomb. Chord then pops up from a hatch in the top of the house and invites the crew inside. There they discuss what to do next.

Artist rendition of an experimental model of BOB, or possibly a BOB in its theorized larval stage.

They eventually arrive at a plan. This involves detaching the small second floor of Chord's Home, rigging a balloon from the bomb making (and bomb resistant) fabrics Chord has and using a series of explosions to power the flight of the balloon, with the second floor of Chord's Home serving as the basket of the balloon.

It will take about 24 hours to achieve this. They set to work, but in the midst of their work the Greys attempt to break into Chord's Home via the secret passageway underneath the first floor. The passageway is filled with mushrooms that make the Greys sneeze, making their approach obvious. Jabronski uses the Mycelium Matrix to talk to the mushrooms to make them increase their spore output, further debilitating the Greys and forcing them out of the tunnel. However, the spores also seep through the floorboards and begin afflicting the crew. Hark breaks open one of the wooden-shuttered windows of Chord's Home to let air in. The Greys now out of the tunnel and recovering in open air, start shooting, but their aim is not good while irritated by the spores. Hark decides to charge them and try to take their leader hostage. This does not go entirely well. And ends up with Hark captured by the Greys . Maud then finds/craft and throws a tear gas bomb at the whole group outside, debilitating everyone. And Hark is rescued and they are back inside.

With a few more hours time, while the Greys are recovering and moving the Bob bulldozers in place. The crew complete preparations for their plan. They launch the balloon with the Greys firing at them from below. And Maud drops a bomb on Chord's Home to blow it up along with the nearby Greys and Bobs. Chord's Home explodes. The Bobs bray joyfully for this sweet release as they are blown to pieces. The shockwave from the explosion pushes the balloon off course and they find themselves over the Radiant Pool quickly running out of explosives and sinking directly toward it.