A Night to Forget - A Shadow of the Demon Lord session

So it has bean a LONG time since my last post...

While I have gamed quite a lot over the last couple of years, I have not written about it.Jobs, family, kids, and ADD have really interfered with my ability to post. But anyway, here I am and here is  another post!

A Night to Forget

After running and playing Shadow of the Demon Lord by Robert J Schwalb for a while now I wanted to try something a bit different. I looked over the book, house ruled a few things, added some equipment, and changed the setting a bit. Then, me and three others sat down to make characters and test it out.

The Setting

Many years ago, the Demon Lord set his gaze upon our Earth and has since been slowly destroying our planet, society, cultures and people. Today, we eek out a droll existence amidst war, disease, violence, and decay. We live in a world trapped in Shadow.

The Shadow is an unseen veil or cowl that blankets our planet to corrupt and destroy. However, living in the Shadow also grants protection. The Shadow prevents us from seeing what truly exists in our world. Beyond the Shadow, elves, orcs, dwarves and other ancestries live, breathe and interact alongside humans. Beyond the Shadow, magic is real and horrors unspeakable invade not only our nightmares.

Yes, this is Shadow Run, but it's hard to find good images of modern Elves Dwarves, Orcs and it not be Shadowrun.

The Characters

MonkeyWrench - An Orc nomad/biker who is on a quest to create the perfect Orc, one who looks exactly like him. So far, none of his offspring have met his expectation, so he killed them. Seven newborns have been crushed under his boot in his idealistic quest. Shadowed humans see him looking similar to “The Kurgan” from The Highlander movie. He got the name MonkeyWrench because most modern mechanical/electronic devices do not work for him and in fits of rage he breaks them.

Rozan - A dwarven outcast who, in his youth, survived a mining accident in and has since become claustrophobic and afraid to go underground. Eventually became a parole officer but was fired due to inappropriate conduct with parolees. Rozan now lives in the streets of D.C. begging for necessities of life. Very dirty, smelly, and unkempt. Shadowed humans see him as a homeless wretched little person.

Billy Jack - A human war vet who was medically discharged when his patrol was ambushed with an IED which burnt the left side of his body. He is very ugly with side of his face is burnt and no ear. Billy Jack is from the Deep South and carries many of the prejudices of his ancestors. His veteran benefits help him to “get by” but recently he’s turned to a life of crime to supplement his income. With all the latest uproar in the world he came to Washington to appeal to the president and let him rejoin the Army to fight against ISIS.

The Story

The game started in the The National Mall in Washington D.C. at around 10 pm on a hot summer night. MonkeyWrench is wandering through, Rozan is panhandling, and Billy Jack is enamored by the beauty of the Capitol building at night.  A moment ago, it was quiet. A few homeless, a few business types, a few party goers and yet a few others taking in a different, nighttime perspective of the DC sites. In an instant it all changed.

"Who doesn't love Nick Cage."

A bright flash of white and the smell of ozone permeated the area across from the Natural History Museum. In the center of the Mall there was a man. Out of nowhere, dressed in what some would describe as something you’d see in a Renaissance fair, he just appeared. In each hand were, what appeared to be, small volleyball sized plastic balls light up with some phosphorescent bulbs.

Soon, strange black creatures emerged from the shadows and attack the “wizard”. Monkeywrench and Rozan move to help him while Billy Jack, a human who has never seen such craziness before hides and contemplates what to do. The shadow creatures take the wizard and Rozan down as Billy Jack steals a car and and rushes to their aid.

MonkeyWrench drags the wizard and Rozan into the car. Then, in a instant, emerging from the darkness of the floorboards a shadow arrives. Bully Jack is taken out and right before the car careens into a tree, Monkeywrench takes control. He drives them a few blocks away, safe from the shadow creatures and the incoming police force.

The “wizard” Beltharus wakes to answer a few questions, then passes out again as black veins creep from the wounds and take over his body. The group searches the body finds a few healing poultices, a small rock wrapped in soft leather, and an address on a post-it. When they try to unwrap the rock,  small beam of red light escapes and Monkeywrench quickly closes it. The group finds out where the address is, ditch the car and plot a course via public transportation..

The group decides to drag Beltharus with them to the address. Still concerned that he is in a dream, Billy Jack has a deep conversation with a bus driver while question his own sanity, alcohol intake, and reality. Mere moments ago, he thought Orcs, Dwarves, and Wizards were nothing more than characters in the Lord of the Rings movies (As pointed out by Monkeywrench) To find out that they really exist and he’s been living in a Shadow his whole life is testing his sanity.

They get to the subway and the Dwarf becomes frightened as he has flashbacks of being the sole survivor of the cave-in of his youth. However, he soon swallowed his fears and followed them down into the subway station. On the subway, the group gets attacked by a possessed Asian teen. While Billy Jack hides behind a set of seats, Monkeywrench, closes his eyes, turns his head and unwraps the rock pointed it in the direction of the girl. When they reopened their eyes the girl was gone.

Eventually they find the address; a row house a few blocks away from the National Cathedral. They suspect it is the wizard’s home, however he won’t wake up to confirm it. Billy Jack breaks a window, climbs in and grants the group access.They search the upstairs and find dormitory type living spaces with multiple bunk beds in each room. Monkey wrench began pilfering through the kitchen, Rozan pilfering the living area, and Billy Jack headed to the basement.

Quietly he descends to the basement and finds seven cultists humming and dancing around a pentagram like design. He creeps back up stairs to find Monkeywrench and quietly discuss what’s going on. They surmise that the group is in the process of summoning something and that they must stop it. I think Billy Jack’s words were, “I don’t know what’s going on. Hell I don’t even know if I’m sane anymore. But something tells me that the ‘wizard’ was comin here to stop this. So we have to.” 

At first it's just Monkeywrench and Billy Jack that head down to the basement. Rozan is too engaged in pilfering to help.They soon realize that the ritual was completed and in the center of the diagram there is an inky black demon with spikes and claws. The shadowy demon appears to be trapped in the circle. As the cultist charge our group, two of them step into the diagram and are soon consumed by the demon. After a round or two of fighting the cultists, Monkeywrech attempts to use the rock in the same fashion as on the subway but to no avail. 

Rozan eventually makes it downstairs but is quickly taken down but a hate raged cultist. Monkeywrench also soon falls but not before taking out one or two with him. The final cultist attempts to push Billy Jack out of the way and run up the stairs. However. Billy Jack throws his knife, plants it square in the back of the cultist tho then tumbles back down the stairs (on top of Rozan coincidentally). 

Billy Jack then takes the red gem that was wrapped in leather and tosses it to the center of the diagram. The gem loses its glow when the demon gets absorbed into it and now sits, pulsing with a red and black energy within.

With the battle over, Billy Jack carries the bodies up stairs. Rozan is dead while Beltharus and Monkeywrench are unconscious on the couch. Billy Jack goes to the kitchen, finds a bottle of wine and starts drinking it at the dining room table.

A couple hours later with the sun finally peeking over the horizon, Monkeywrench wakes up and stumbles to the table. Billy Jack hands him the bottle where he takes a swig. He reaches his hand across the table and says, “I’m Monkeywrench by the way.”

“I’m Billy Jack”

And the two shake hands.

_________________