Pulp Alley – Perilous Island Campaign – Hell Unleashed

All leagues have finally reached the Forbidden City and spread out to frantically search for Lord Darrow and at the same time stay out of sight from the other Leagues, as the cease fire we all agreed on (and everyone kept!) is now worth nothing.

You can see the leagues in the corners of the board. The Belgians in the upper left, the Phrenologists in upper right, the Cult of Ra in the lower left and the heroic CSSS in the lower right corner.

It seems we all have the same general idea where to find Darrow - in the centre of the Forbidden City, and by a strange coincidence we all see him at the same time and from different directions (we modified the set-up as it was originally for two or three players. Now the playing area is twice as large and we all come in from different corners)

The Belgians, horrified by the spectacle in front of them.

The Phrenologists, all shaking with fear and clutching their skulls.

The cowardly Cultists, fearing their own death or un-undeath.

The courageous CSSS, knowing God is on their side.

The very fabric of space and time is torn asunder as the legendary Orb of pure Perilium consumes Lord Darrow whose body transforms into an unspeakable abomination in front of our very eyes. Is Hell upon us?

The Orb and what is left of Lord Darrow. Poor chap.

The earth shakes and volcanic clouds obscure the sun as we all spring into action. The only way to stop this is to physically wrest the orb from what is left of Lord Darrow. Looks like a walk in the park...

It all starts rather quietly. All leagues advance towards the centre of the board. It is as if the cease-fire is still in effect.

The leader and sidekick from the Belgian League uses their experimental Flight Packs and flies over all obstacles while the cannon fodder takes their time. 

The cultist horde stays together, seeking safety in numbers.

With a healthy dose of Divine Intervention both Monsignore and Padre unfolds their angelic wings (unfortunately invisible in this shot...) and they also fly across the terrain (yep, I used the same Flight Packs as the Belgians, but took some liberties as to how the effect actually worked.) My attempt to sound as an angelic choir made the other players say very rude things and cover their ears.

Turn 2 starts and with it gale force winds starts to whirl around the Orb, hurling debris through the air. The area within 18” of the Orb is considered Perilous.

The cease-fire is certainly over as all minions starts shooting. This happens all around the table, and losses start to climb while the cannon fodder advances towards each other while the leaders and side-kicks advances towards the centre of the table.

Charge!

Aow! That hurt!

Revenge!

Unfortunately high density of heroes...

Melee!

 Turn 3 and the very earth cracks as huge boulders rise into the air. The area closest to the Orb is now Extremely Perilous.

The chunks of earth that I made earlier comes into play.

Allies, followers and gangs continue to batter each other and one after another falls.

The Belgians lead the way into the mealstrom around the orb. They pass Peril after Peril until the Boss takes one hit.

The Prenologist advances into the smoke and debris. Their leader passes all his tests but a lowly ally falls, hit in the head by a skull (a fitting end to a phrenologist)

Monsignore, Padre and Soura all advance into the flyin debris. Padre is hit and takes a wound.

Turn 4 and molten lava bubbles from the holes left after the boulders. A character on the ground must climb onto a floating boulder (passing a random Peril) or be burnt to a crisp (or at least be removed from this scenario).

The Belgians have the initiative and their leader jumps from boulder to boulder like a gazelle, passing all the annoyingly easy Perils. He grabs the orb and (easily passing the Elder Stone Challenge) he wrests it from the mutated body of Lord Darrow.

We watch in stunned silence. This was supposed to be difficult. It was really not supposed to be this easy. What happened here? How can one man have this much luck with the cards and his dice rolling?

Our thoughts are yanked back into the unreality of Perilous Island as the earth starts to shake violently, the volcano grumbles as dark smoke spews from its top.

Don’t miss the panicked rush to the boats (in the case of the CSSS it is a tactical retreat in full order, mind you) in the next instalment.

Coming soon to a blog close to you.