Thursday, March 23, 2017

One Shot : Pocket Odyssey

04/09/2016
One Shot

Pocket Odyssey

Pocket Odyssey was one of the Kickstarter projects that I really wanted to support. The game is a tiny box filled with maps, tokens, and cards which allow you to create on the fly a group of characters, story arcs and challenges for your group.

The game sort of plays like old school Japanese computer role-playing games, which is pretty awesome, with factors like range, timing and items being cool elements that can affect your battles.  The game primarily is about the fight scenes, which is cute when you just want to try something with RPG elements.

The group created characters by merely choosing from the cards and forming their heroes.
Three story arcs were set, and with that we were playing!

Scene 1: Escort
The four are traveling through the woods to escort Borgan Freeman with them, the spiritual leader of his tribe of Odun.
Zophia the Wise, played by Josh.   Who knows everything.
Zilla the Zealous, played by Flip.
Kotar also known as Q, played by James.
Unnamed played by Koko. With two magic arms.

It was at the bridge that they noticed trouble: Hobgoblins hiding in the wilds! Zophia notices the hiding group before anyone else, and quickly casts a spell to prepare for the battle. Oil spreads in an area where Zophia sets his trap.  As the hobgoblins emerge from their hiding place, Zophia declares a warning.  Zilla wonders if they should have at least talked to them first, but Zophia clarifies, "They are ugly goblins. They're the bad kind!" Even as Zophia is casting his spell, however, Kotar charges forward since he is Impatient.  Being tiny, Kotar finds the bridge he is crossing to be much larger and safer than most do.  He throws his weapon at the closest hobgoblin, causing it to scream.  The others mobilize to close in. The group begins to move, striking in coordinated strikes to try to bring the hobgoblins down. When one of the hobgoblins begins to seemingly cast a spell, the group realizes the attackers may be more deadly than expected.  Unnamed leaps onto the closest rocks, maneuvering into position.  Zilla strikes at a nearby hobgoblin. When a second one begins chanting, the group realizes they have to dispatch the enemies faster.  Zophia leaps across the bridge with his hunter's axe to stirke. Blood spurts all over Zophia's face as his second weapon connects.  Another hobgoblin closes in to strike at Kotar, but it misses. Another hobgoblin steps backwards, and vanishes.  Kotar uses his special powers to create doubles of himself.  Then he creates the illusion of a web covering the face of the closest hobgoblin. A few hobgoblins struggle to keep their footing on the oily bridge. Seeing one of the heroes alone, another hobgoblin takes the opportunity to strike at him. Blood lust surges through them all, raising the danger of the scene.  But Zophia's calming presence affects the flow of combat and dispels the blood lust instead into a heroic surge that encourages him to knock the dreaded hobgoblin down. Unnamed finds the opportunity to use all his extra arms into a whirlwind of destruction to cut through the enemies. Kotar's illusions flank the remaining enemies, distracting them from seeing the others close in.  Seeing one attempt to rush the bridge again, Zilla strikes it down as it runs past him. With their successful strikes, the flow of battle allows them to recoup. One of the hobgoblin's spell is unleashed, and roots rise from the group to capture them! They dodge out of the way before any of them get snared. Zophia unleashed back fear upon them through magic, and while tormented, the hobgoblins need to recoup their courage before they can act. The bridge begins to warp, as some kind of magic distorts the structure. Kotar stabs into another hobgoblin, and he feels his blade scrape against the bone.  A berserker hobgoblin charges forward, and with a mighty swing, strikes the bridge to cause it to collapse.

As the heroes leap out of the way, they realize these things mean business!  The others cheer as Zilla launches a barrage of strikes, although it hits nothing but air. Zophia searches for vines that can be used to swing across the shattered bridge. As he reaches for Borban's hand, they swing across and land across the gap safely. Unnamed ends up killing the last hobgoblin despite all the other yelling at him to keep him alive. They realize they could have gained more information on their attackers had they left someone alive, but now it is too late. Zilla, however, is the sole one to find a treasure from the corpses. He finds a Bag of Keeping.

The group ends up voting Kotar as the MVP of the fight, and it grants him a bit of an advantage for the later scenes.

Scene 2: The Tavern
At the Tavern, Borgan Freeman talks to the gathered, telling them of the ill acts of the dark lord and the need for them to unite to defeat him. The heroes feel boredom swarming around them as they wish something more interesting would happen.  Thankfully, the dark lord learns of their presence at the tavern and sends agents to silence Borgan.

From the crowd, the agents of the dark lord reveal themselves. Hobgoblins march into the place, screaming in their strange language. Seeing them closing in, Zilla senses the incoming battle thanks to his Animal Instincts. Battleflux triggers and the group moves to face the threat as one.  Zilla rushes down the stairs to close in on the hobgoblin he sees.   Zilla's strike easily slices down the first one, giving an opening for a second strike.  Zilla fires his slingshot at the next villain he sees. Another one of the hobgoblins vanishes. Angered that danger once more threatens Freeman, the man Zophia has begun to fall in love with, Zophia begins to close in on the enemies within range to strike at them with another oil slick. A berserker leaps over the oil to close in on Zophia, and his strike misses Zophia... but then afterwards, the berserker vanishes as well!  Kotar jumps to the wall, to push back and leap at the next closest villain still visible. As Kotar's strike kills the berserker, however, even in its dying throes it strikes to strike at Kotar!  Kotar thankfully parries the strike before it finds its mark. Unnamed leaps down to land between a group of hobgoblins and Sunders them with a single move. Borgan gasps, fearful that they've found him once more. With Zilla's animal like senses, he smells the other invisible berserker and tries to intercept the monster. He slips, however, and hits the oil slick on the ground!

When the invisible hobgoblin attempts to strike Zilla down, however, the berserker also loses balance and slips!  Kotar makes doubles of himself again, and has them stand guard of the others.  He leaps across to the other side and attempts to strike the other hobgoblin before it closes in on Borgan too close. The strike kills the monster as Kotar lands on its dead body to land atop the oil. Zophia cannot find the other. One of the enemies chances upon the real Kotar, however, but thankfully the Unnamed one slides in within the brief window of time to call out no and strike! Kotar leaps backwards, to land onto Zophia's shoulders. Kotar's strike misses again but the enemy vanishes once more.

They start trying to detect the invisible villain, searching for him while he's hidden. But the villain successfully reaches Borgan and pulls him to one side. "There shall be no more..." the villain raises the blade, but before he could slash Borgan's throat, the heroes see their opportunity to stop him. Zophia, realizing she is in love with Borgan, casts Torment upon the Goblin to stop him. Fear strikes the goblin, giving the next hero an opening to strike at the assailant. Zophia's Battle Sense shifts the flow of battle to their favor as all the heroes recover a power point. Zilla suddenly remembers where the goblin is, and spots the hiding figure.  He calls out where the enemy is to guide the others! Heroes' Fortune blesses the Unnamed four armed hero who grabs hold of the villain despite his invisibility and gives them a chance to learn more now about their enemies.  "Great teamwork, guys!"   The villains yells, demanding to be let go.  Unnamed slaps him with one of his arms.  Zophia demands he explain, "Why are you after the Priest who is so pretty and beautiful."  Kotar warns if he tells them where the dark lord is, they will be merciful.  They learn that the dark lord is the Vampire Dark Lord, who cannot be harmed until he initiates a battle. They easily learn the whereabouts of the dark lord.

"Wait," Zilla suddenly screams, "Why are you trying to kill him!?!"  All the others turn to look at Zilla, realizing once more he's a tad behind everyone else.  Unnamed squeezes the goblin a bit more bit by bit to see if he can get any more info out of him. But goblin gives nothing more. Kotar asks him to be merciful and let him go.

Scene 3: The Tavern
With the spiritual leader Borgan finally safely escorted, the group considers a direct confrontation with the dark lord to annoy him to the point of forcing him to engage into a battle.  Once again, the group chooses their MVP and Flip wins it, granting a bonus for his character in the game. The heroes look at their loot and consider sharing them around. The group arrives and sees the front gates and shoves them open to step inside to the courtyard where a lone tower stands. The Vampire Lord waits for them, flying above the battlefield as he is laughing. A single henchman, a gigantic goblin stands close by. The henchman stares at them, ready to fight.  The group then senses one last villain in the area, a woman who lands close by from a leap and smiles at them. They all realize she is extremely beautiful and has wings.   Zophia mutters, "A Succubus!"

As Zilla cries out, "What are we fighting for," Kotar and Zophia are charging forward, ready and anxious to fight.  Kotar summons his doubles. Zophia casts Oil upon the gigantic goblin. With the goblin as the center of the oil spell, Kotar then closes in on the Succubus with his doubles running alongside him. He swings at the air, straight for the Succubus, with his sharpened steal... but the Succubus leaps backwards as his blade bites against her flesh.  She changes form in response, transforming into the splitting image of Kotar's mother.  "You hurt me!" she hisses.  Kotar snarls, "I hate my mother."

The Vamprie Lord questions if they really think it is wise to fight him at his own place. Zilla mutters they know it is not!  Zophia's mind races for any weaknesses a Vampire might have. Unnamed closes in towards the goblin, without stepping on the oil slick.  The Goblin raises its arms and its parts seem to move about, as if it were re-configuring in some way.  The Succubus leaps at Kotar but lands on a double instead.  The kiss consumes the double and the Succubus snarls in frustration.  Kotar thanks the gods he had that double.  The doors begin to slam shut to separate the others from the outside.  Zilla uses Battleflux to encourage all the others to move that moment.

Kotar continues his swings at the Succubus, his blade nipping at her but she twists over and over with her wings to avoid any strikes. Zophia runs back to the door and tries to unlock it. Staying close to the Giant Goblin, Unnamed fortifies his position to be prepared to defend himself.  He hurls the flashbang at the Goblin, positioning the throw to catch the Succubus as well. He hopes he does not hit Kotar in the process.  But before it erupts, the Succubus sweeps in and catches it, to keep it from banging. The group begins to fight in earnest. The Goblins strikes slam those hit backwards from its immense strength. The Succubus sees the flash bang suddenly erupt and she recoils from the light, unaware that the bang was merely Kotar's illusions forcing her to retreat.

"Now," the Vampire Dark Lord whispers, and burst of darkness erupts in an area where a Shadowblood Warrior emerges!  Everyone else is blinded in that area.  Zilla tries to work on the locked door that separates them from the others, but they can't get through.  Zophia's mind races on how the vampire can be attacked... she recalls that any wounded hero becomes vulnerable to later strikes. The Vampire is vulnerable to light and to fire. Unnamed charges forward to try to strike at the Goblin despite being blind.  He smashes into the Goblin and it explodes upon impact, and now there are two where one stood!  The Succubus realizes the flash bang was a trick, and she closes in to try to grab Kotar, but she lucks out and grabs a non-image. Kotar twists out of the way from letting her touch him. He moves back, away from the Succubus,  he launches a weapon at Succubus and it strikes squarely.  The shadows pull away, revealing the Shadowblood Warrior. It closes in on Zophia, who is working on door.  She feels her eyes go dark as blindness strikes her.  The Vampire Dark Lord is impressed at their resourcefulness, but she is more impressed with their capacity to feed him.

Unnamed avoids the swings from the two Goblins, but waiting for the perfect moment they're close enough, he uses Sunder to strike at the two by grabbing one, then the other, to chuck them at the door to open it. One Goblin tears the door open.  The second one, however, upon impact, splits into two more goblins!  "Whaaat!?" Unnamed gasps.  Zophia cannot see anyone. She uses her Vast Knowledge to unblind herself... but sadly she fails to undo it. He feels a slam from the goblin hitting her to the ground, and instinctively dodges the next two.  "You won't hurt me," the Succubus smiles at Kotar as she wears the form of a Princess.  Kotar sneers, "I hate princesses," and strikes her with his chained weapon.   She screams as she dissipates into mist as the last hit rips her connection to this plane. Unnamed dodges the blades of the Shadowblood Warrior.  The Vampire Dark Lord moves closer as he sees the Succubus as been banished, "You will pay for that!" he hisses, and closes in on Kotar.

"I just remembered something!" Zilla screams, as he runs for the oil slick.  He transforms his body into living fire and ignites the oil in the ground.  Everyone is forced to back away from the sudden surge of golden fire. The others back up around the flames.  Unnamed tries to strike at the Shadowblooded Warrior during the distraction of the flames. He then follows up with a swing at the remaining goblins, cutting them down before they can split again. Zophia attempts another unblind move, using secret knowledge.  She regains her sight and finds herself staring at the fall of fire.  Kotar creates a MAJOR ILLUSION, the appearance of a gigantic sun dragon with three heads that is on fire! But the Vampire senses the dragon is an illusion and laughs at it instead of getting terrified.  The Vampire closes in to engage.

Still in flames, Zilla screams, "I am burning!" and he starts running around, leaving a burning trail behind him. The flames cease to dance on Zilla's body, but they've created a bunch of fire in the area.  Unname ignites some of his arrows on the fire trail, then launches the burning arrows at the Vampire Dark Lord.  The Vampire turns into mist, allowing the other arrows to fly through, then resolidifies as he snarls how that hurt!  Zophia uses her hidden power that moment, erasing from the Vampire's memory the last sixty seconds of memory he has of the dragon illusion! With that, the Vampire totally forgets he saw it as an illusion already, and when he turns he sees the sun dragon and this time believes it is real!  He howls!

Zilla slashes at the Shadowblooded Warrior, killing it, while the Vampire is far too busy staring at the moving illusion.  Kotar directs the dragon to move closer, forcing the Vampire Lord to back away towards them and their weapons. The Vampire stares into the dragon's eyes, attempting to charm it.  Unnamed leaps towards the Vampire, hoping his blow downs the vampire. Unnamed misses, falls into a fiery trail and rolls out of it before it burns him.  Zophia then torments the Vampire about being scared of the dragon and distracts him with taunts. Zilla gasps, "There's a dragon you guys!" And fires his slingshot at the Vampire.  Then as the dragon moves like it will breathe fire, Kotar yells at everyone to shield their eyes as he hurls the flash bang as if it were the dragon breath!  The flash blinds the Vampire, and stuns him, leaving him vulnerable for the time being! Some parts of the Vampire crumble to ashes... but he begins to recover quicker. The illusionary dragon continues to stomp forward at the vampire.

Zophia cannot think of another plan.  Unnamed sets his magical arms ablaze with the fire, and closes in on the Vampire with his flaming arms!   The Vampire screams from the touch of the flames, but in its mind, it thinks the dragon grabbed him.  Kotar then moves forward and hurls his chain at the Vampire, and rips apart his shoulder.  The Vampire tries to grab Unnamed to drain some of his life force. Unnamed screams as the Vampire bites into his throat and starts drinking. While still in his arms, Unnamed grapples the Vampire and drags him to the fire.  Kotar realizes with his chains, he can help do the same thing.  Zophia realizes two rounds of sustained powerful light should be enough to destroy him.  "Bring him to the fire!"  Kotar pulls the Vampire closer and closer to the flames, but he realizes he needs to drag Unnamed inside as well.  Unnamed feels the flames biting him.  The Vampire tries to bite as well, wanting to survive the flames. Unnamed consumes a Health Potion to recover what he can as he headbutts the Vampire to let him go.  Unnamed smashes his magical arms at the Vampire to force it down.  Zophia runs into the flames, ignoring the flames, and tries to pin the Vampire to the flames.  Zilla influences the Flow of Battle and prevents the Vampire from healing more. Kotar creates illusions of blinding lights to stun the vampire from moving!  Zilla then hugs the Vampire tight. And in fear, the Vampire Dark Lord burns away in the flames.

With its destruction, they all see the castle grow empty and quiet. Having survived, each one smiles at the victory they have embraced.

Secret goals:
Each player drew a secret goal card to try to sneak into the game. Turns out, they all were able to hit it one way or another!

Unnamed is thankful to have protected a party member.
Zophia is proud to have done something rash.
Kotar remembers he showed mercy towards an enemy.
Zilla just happy that he tried to hug the enemy.

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