Pulp Alley – Perilous Island campaign, scenario 3 – At Death’s Door

Monsignore and Herr Doktor arrived by plane in Istanbul only to find their contact, Mr Demas, unconscious in the hospital. By a coincidence a messenger arrived when our two gentlemen, ehr, looked for clues in Mr Demas’ already ransacked apartment. There seem to be a package addressed to Mr. Demas in the Turkish Customs Authority. A package from Soerabaja in the Dutch East Indies and from Lord Darrow. Unfortunately they won’t give it to anybody but Mr. Demas.

We decide to wait until Mr. Demas is conscious again and try to get him to help us.

Well, that is what Herr Doktor Kopfgelände and Monsignore Cadaverica, told each other.

Monsignore decided to await the rest of his league and after a week they arrived with a steamer from Morocco. A short war-council and they decided to raid the customs warehouse and get the package.

A dark and rainy night our heroes picked the locks on one of the entrances to the warehouse and entered the dark premises…

The gaming area is a large warehouse filled with assorted stuff. All places with a rat or rat-swarm on them are considered perilous to cross or enter. It is dark and line-of-sight is limited to 12”. Entry points are supposed to be doors spread out around the board and leagues enter by one door each.

The plot points in this scenario are:

Darrow’s box – major plot point and it can only be found if someone with a minor plot-point nears the centre of the complex.

Customs Log Book – can give clues to where the box is hidden

Watchman Abdel – an armed and dangerous guard that counts the space around him as extremely perilous.

Watchman Hassan – another armed guard.

Customs Offical – he can be convinced to help out.

It seems we are not the only league here today. 

The CSSS. As always the CSSS dice for Network of Supporters before the game. I roll very well, but strangely enough we don't get the usual number of supporters on table. No-one notices...

The opposition is, as usual:

The Independent Phrenologists that couldn’t stick to our agreement. Untrustworthy heretics!

The Cult of Ra

The Belgian League

Let’s start:

The Belgians infiltrate the premises and move close to the log book.

The Phrenologists moves into contact with one of the guards.

The cultist horde moves in and come into contact with the Phrenologists. They also contact the other guard.

Our heroes take up defensive positions around Monsignore. Suoroa Innocenza had to beat up a beggar before she could enter (i.e. she was delayed one turn)

The Second turn see all leagues securing one plot point each

The reward for our plot point turned out to be +1 Experience . Very valuable for my league as it, together with prior experience points, will allow Monignore to get another ability. First priority for this mission will be to retain the Custom Official at all cost. This means I will not risk Monsignore in the first line.

First blood goes th the Phrenologist. A cultist falls and is removed from play as it is an expendable follower. 

The Belgians advance towards the middle of the board.

Suora advances and the rest of the league takes position behind cover.

The cultist horde attacks...

...but the diciplined Phrenologists fells one...

... and another...

... and another...

... and another.

The survivors of that fight retreat into cover of the fuse box...

... while the rest of the cultist intend to grab the box in the middle of the room.

Miss Mayhem doesn't like cultists!

Padre Sicario doesn't like Belgians and fells one.

The cultists start to search for the box with help from one of the guards.

And there it is. Close to the mummy. If you have a really good magnifying glass you can see that it is actually adressed to Mr.  Demas! 

Another cultis falls. Can anything stop the Phrenologist advance?

The mummy tries to open the box. He is not very good at this...

At the same time the Belgians tries to swarm the cultist. The mummy must be stopped.

I play a peril on the mummy - A guard seem to have been asleep under the stairs. He awakens and sees a mummy before him. Angry by the sacrilege of an undead among the living, he attacks the mummy and continues to do so as the mummy can't beat the challenge.

It looks grim for the lone cultist by the fuse box. Hmm, the fuse box...

One of the Phrenologist leans on a pillar. An unstable pillar that falls. The roof sags because of all the water on it. It cracks. A deluge of water hits the fuse-box.... (The truly evil cultist mastermind played these perils to the enjoyment of everyone... except Ulf the Phrenologist) 

That was one hell of a fuse-box. The resulting short-cut electrocutes most people in the vicinity. Bloodbath!

It's the end of the next to last round. One of my soldiers advances and shoots one of the Belgians. I have initiative and that is important now.

The last round. All Belgians have recuperated. Notice the lone Belgian follower at the right. The one with the Belgian Plot point... Remember the Network of Supporters roll before the game. What I had chosen is revealed.

Double Cross! The Belgian league had a devout Catholic in their midsts. Monsignore entices him as an activation and succeeds in making him switch sides! As I still have initiative I activate the Belgian and he rushes into the safety of his saviours. I had stolen one plot point!
How I laughed!
Poor Jeppan. The look on his face...

The hostile bystander finally knocks the mummy out. Things look good!

The Belgians advances!

But in the last possible moment the leader of the Cult of Ra snatches the package and fades away into the night.

That was such a great game. Perils flew left and right. Some spectacular results. A game that really captured the Pulp feel.

Best of all was the Double Cross. Fantastic!

I came away with +1 Experience, one extra backup to be used in the future and +2 Reputation (giving me 10 in total)

Now we all have to travel to Ankara where we can start the journey to the Dutch East Indies. We have secured a couple of trucks for the trip through the valleys of the Turkish highlands.That trip is bound to be relaxed. What could possibly go wrong?

Next - Mad Pulp Max...