Tag: goth

Gotham Mystery Tale: mask on/off

Gotham Mystery Tale: mask on/off


Midwinter bal masque in Gotham during martial law lockdown: Only Highlords like Vladimir are able to bribe the Administration to look the other way.
While the Authority is dancing, the Underground organises the ongoing Revolution:
some members of the resistance group “Gotham Angels'” went undercover to the masque ball of Highlord Vladimir, scouting opportunities for the resistance.
…
Using fake invitation letters, Marquisio the Hunter and Fieldy the automaton Scarecrow disguised themselves with the obligatory  Commedia dell’Arte masks and costumes.

Vladimirs large ballroom was very crowded, at least hundred guests were already dancing and flirting.
Large tables with food and drinks were set up, more than enough to feed the multitude during the weeklong festival.

Marquisio was unable to resist his hunger and started to feed!

A Columbina in red approached and started flirting with Marquisio…
Enticing him to follow her to ‘a more private place’ in the mansion, it became apparent that she was part of another faction that wished the downfall of the Authority.
“Take this secret letter with magic symbols to the Tribe”
…
Meeting the tribal shaman went quite well: after receiving the secret letter, he brew some “strong medicine” to use at the bal masque.
…
Returning to the festival, Marquisio created some distraction by throwing stones at the chandeliers.
While the guards were chasing the culprit, Feeldy scattered the ” strong medicine ” through the ballroom.
…
Our heroes were able to escape during the chaos and went to their hideout to wait till the heat blew over.
…
Escalating alarming words on the street:
“Many people, who joined the festival, are very ill now”
“The Authority is tightening lockdown: curfew between sundown and sunup, mandatory wearing face covering, limiting gathering of groups”
…
Marquisio and Feeldy realised that the ” strong medicine ” was getting out of control!
…
They looked for the tribal shaman, but he already left the city.
…
Following the trails, they saw four riders on a hill having a palaver.
…
Approaching the four riders, they recognised the tribal shaman in white,  carrying bow and arrow.
When asked for a cure, the shaman demanded a life sacrifice.
…
Feeldy stepped forward and opened his chest and a small boy jumped out!
As soon as the shaman performed the sacrifice, the essence of the small boy became a cloudy ball that entered Feedly’s chest again!
Satisfied with the sacrifice, the shaman let our heroes go home:
“It is done! Innocents will be spared!”

Ping:

Gotham Blades in the Dark Revolt

Gotham tales beyond the city

Gotham tales beyond the city


The Village was populated by refugees banished from Gotham, recent unrest has left them vulnerable to chaos incursions.
Hearing of vigilante ‘Guardian Angels’ from Gotham, they have pooled their meager resources to seek aid.

…

Clan MacDonald  already decreed many oppressive laws against ‘the enemy within’ :’illigal aliens’, vagrants,  ‘vigilantes’, etcetera.
Several ‘Guardian Angels’  felt it was wise to leave the city and take refuge in the Village.
…
Arriving at the Village, gathering information…

…
After the arrival of many refugees from Gotham, the Village has become too crowded: too many people, not enough food!
To make matter worse, many rats were investing the fields, destroying the crops.
…
The alchemist brewed some rat poison to scatter between the crops.
Many rats died indeed, but the corvids that ate the cadavers also died!

…
Dissecting some corvids, the alchemist discovered some warpstone contamination!
This same contamination was also found in the Broken Hills, where the mutants live.
…
According to legends, a star fell down in the Broken Hills; amidst the wreckage was a stunned firedemon thas immediately was bound and inprisoned in the caves under the Great Tree in the forest.
…
Investigating the sealed cave:  The seal was broken from inside outwards, the demon has escaped!
…
Entering the cave:  Finding some skeletons, apparently remnants of cultist. What killed the cultist?
Finding a cultist journal, reading a scribbled note in the margin ‘we need the Cog and Compass’
…
Descending in the mazes of the cave, encountering large poisonous mushrooms and giant spiders!
Narrowly escaping monsters and mechanical traps, finding a secret room with the  clockwork engine that operated the security system.
The Alchemist was able to communicate with the clockwork, ensuring safe travel through the maze!
…
Our heroes escaped the maze to return safely to the Village, knowing that the firedemon was roaming in the world!

Ping: Gotham Blades in the dark revolt – Dreamquest

Gotham Blades in the dark revolt

Gotham Blades in the dark revolt


 

Triad leader Wang requested a team of vigilante Gotham ‘Guardian Angels” :
“The Authority organized a razzia against our community,  capturing several children from important businessmen.
Please help us to free the children!”
…
MacSweeney’s bar was a known hangout for mercenaries, the perfect place to find information!
Chatting with a talkative militiaman, the vigilantes discovered important details:
Twenty very young children were held at detention camp Blackgate Island, together with af few Sisters of Our Lady
The waters around the Island was infested by alligators, while the camp was surrounded by a fence with guarded watchtowers.
…
The vigilantes negotiated with the leader of  the  Sisters of Our Lady , to organize combined action:
 while  the  Sisters of Our Lady , would start a rioting demonstration in the city, the vigilantes would infiltrate the camp.
…
New moon, cloudy starless night , perfect timing for action!
…
Commandeering a fishing boat, the vigilantes were able to approach the Island unseen.
The alligators were already neutralized with poisoned meat!
Observing the Island:  large barbed wire fence, six guarded watchtowers, single sentry patrolling each half hour.
Using the small window of opportunity, the sharpshooter neutralized two guarded towers, while the infiltrator cut through the fence.
Just in time to put down the returning sentry!
The infiltrator hid the body and took his uniform to keep appearances of patrolling.
Now the vigilantes were able to free the prisoners, twenty young childrend and four women.
Warding off the rest of the alarmed sentries, the escape was made!
After a short while sailing they were chased by The Fluyt !
The vigilantes tried to evade to the rocky shallows but struck a rock…
‘Beach the boat, take cover, “Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes!” 
While gunshots and arrows were flying, the infiltrator was able to ambush the enemy commander.
As soon the commander was down, the enemy morale broke down, the mercenaries fled.
…
At last our heroes were able to escape with the women and children to safety!

Ping:

Gotham Blades in the Dark
Gotham Blades in the Dark

Gotham Blades in the Dark


While many vigilante Guardian Angels fought  the Reality Storm incursions in the wilderness outside Gotham, the Administration took power by announcing Martial Law ‘to fight the ‘enemy within’ : aliens,criminals, crooks, counterculture, genderbending, heresy, outlaws, vagrants.
All vigilante groups were outlawed! The Guardian Angels went underground to organise resistance.

A covert team went to the night market for information.
…
It was more busy than usual: buying and selling, gossiping, meeting people.
A few groups were clustering together:  burly construction workers, scarred corps students, colourful ladies of the night.
…
The workers were angry because their union was disbanded , the students were upset because one of their outspoken spokesmen was arrested, the ladies were complaining of police harassment.
…

Talking with several groups, the covert team discovered mister Johnson, a secret police member, lurking around!

…
The ladies shared some pillow-talk information about the place where the student was held: Arkham!

Using their black market connections, the covert team was able to get some police uniforms to infiltrate the Asylum, while the workers and the students combined their actions:
While the students organized a riot downtown, attracting a strong respons from the police, the workers attacked the Asylum!
..
Using the distraction of the riots, the covert team was able to infiltrate the Asylum and delivering the prisoner:
it was the grandson of Triad leader Wang!
…
The team was invited at the Triad headquarters to receive great honors: food, drink and gold!
They agreed to undertake another mission, to take a special group of six secret police operators into custody.
…
The ladies of the night provided some information about the whereabouts of the operators: a large single safehouse at a vacant spot in the middle of  Crime Alley.
…
Infiltrating the safehouse, they surprised the operators while conducting a ritual:  six persons stood chanting around an altar where a dense smoke came out of a cauldron.
Immediately a grand melee ensued! Blades flashing, shots flying around, a smoke bomb went off!
One by one the operators fell down, the smoke cleared….
At the  centre of the cauldron a smoke pillar was condensing into a human-like shape, that immediately started attacking our heroes!
Using the demonbane charm and lightning staff , they were able to banish the demon.
Our heroes were victorious…for now!

Ping:

Gotham Tales: Up and Down
Gotham Tales: Up and Down

Gotham Tales: Up and Down


Koganemura is a remote farming village, populated by refugees banished from Gotham.
Its people have lived modestly, growing rice and raising livestock in relative peace.
However, recent unrest  has left smaller villages like Koganemura vulnerable to chaos incursions.
The villagers have nobody to protect them.
Hearing of vigilante ‘Guardian Angels’ from Gotham, they have pooled their meager resources to
seek aid.

Ping:

Gotham tales: the Dire Oracle
Gotham Tales: Echoes of the Forbidden Forest

Gotham Tales: Echoes of the Forbidden Forest


 

The aftermath of the ambush lingered in the minds of the Guardian Angels. The body of the lost hunter had been retrieved, his legacy forever tarnished by the horrors of the World Below. Yet questions gnawed at the council and the scouts alike — if the entrance was sealed, what would happen when the war between clockwork servitors and alien monsters reached its bloody conclusion? What if they sought new paths to the surface?

A week passed. The village simmered with unease. Rats swarmed through alleys and crept into homes, their beady eyes gleaming with strange intelligence. Whispered tales of shifting shadows in the Forbidden Forest spread like wildfire, and the scent of ozone clung to the air — the unmistakable mark of eldritch energy.

A scout who had narrowly escaped the labyrinth ambush, was haunted by strange dreams. Awoke one night drenched in sweat, the hunter’s voice echoing in her ears: *The Royal Tree bleeds sap of time… Find the way back, or all worlds will unravel.*

The village council dismissed visions as remnants of trauma, but the scouts knew better.  Dreams were often prophetic, even if their meaning was cloaked in riddles.

Guided by intuition, the scouts slipped away under the cover of night. They headed toward the Forbidden Forest, where the Royal Tree loomed like a silent sentinel against the chaos beyond.

The tree’s bark shimmered with golden veins that pulsed faintly in the moonlight. At its base, they found a fresh fracture in the earth, glimmering with unnatural energy. The council’s seal had failed. The gate to the World Below had reopened.

 “We can’t go back empty-handed. If we don’t stop this now, Gotham will burn.”

 “Then we go in — not to fight monsters, but to find the key that locks this place forever.”

As they descended once more into the Labyrinth, faint metallic echoes greeted them. The servitors were still active, their gears grinding with malevolent purpose. But this time, something else moved within the shadows — a writhing mass of obsidian tendrils, pulsing with violet light.

“The alien monsters”

 “We split them apart. Let their war continue while we find the core.”

. “And if we can’t?”

“Then Gotham won’t be the only place to fall.”

The shadows thickened around them, gears whirred, and violet light seared the darkness. The final descent had begun.

Ping

https://hgoei.com/2025/02/10/gotham-tales-trouble-at-the-village/
Gotham tales: Trouble at the Village

Gotham tales: Trouble at the Village


After the Dire Oracle warning, Gotham ‘Guardian Angels’ scouts were sent to investigate the Village:
Some years after the men in black destroyed the hippy oase, it was rebuild by Asian refugees.
A distant relative of the leading scout went missing after investigating rumours about chaos incursions!
His abandoned shack was as invested by many rats…
The scouts found his heirloom imperial army knife while witnessing a shade appearing shortly!
Hearing rumours in the village, it seemed the lost relative had the reputation being a crazy old man who hunted in the Forbidden Forest.
At the wasteland outside the village lived the untouchable outcast, the last hippy survivors…
Most of them showed signs of malign mutations, caused by weird weapons!
One of the survivors showed the hunting trail of the missing person, it went straight into the Forbidden Forest…
Follow the trail till you see the Royal Tree!
Look behind the tree to find the entrance to the World Below….

Our heroes went into the World Below, followed the Labyrinth path and found the body of the lost hunter…
Ambush! Death rained from above!

Surviving the ambush, confronting clockwork servitors…
Run!

Escaping the servitors, returning to the surface world…

The village council decided to seal the entrance to the World Below: ‘let the clockwork servitors and the alien monsters destroy each other’

 

Ping:

https://hgoei.com/2025/01/13/gotham-tales-the-dire-oracle/
Gotham tales: the Dire Oracle

Gotham tales: the Dire Oracle


The air was thick with anticipation as the Dire Oracle, a sleek mechanical bird with razor-sharp wings and glowing crimson eyes, soared over the sprawling cityscape of Gotham. Its wings hummed with arcane energy, the faint sound of gears and cogs whispering as it glided through the air. Below, the city of Gotham sprawled in a chaotic tapestry of towers and shadowy alleys, where danger lurked in every corner.

The Oracle circled the skyline once before descending swiftly toward the hidden headquarters of the “Guardian Angels,” an elite team of vigilantes sworn to protect Gotham from its endless onslaught of corruption and madness. The bird’s descent ended at a forgotten temple, its steeple cracked and worn, blending seamlessly with the decaying architecture of Gotham’s underbelly.

Inside the sanctuary, the Angels were gathered.
There was Victor “Ironclad” Kane, the team’s heavy-hitter, his clockwork arms whirring as he polished his arsenal of weapons.
Lila “Shadowveil” Morgan, the stealth operative, leaned against a stained-glass window, her face partially obscured by a hood.
Beside her sat Elijah “Cipher” Reyes, the mentat, his fingers dancing across a map of the city’s grid, tracking movements in his mind.

The Dire Oracle perched on a stone altar, its eyes glowing brighter as it relayed Lady Mechanica’s chilling message in her metallic, melodic voice:

“Chaos is coming to Gotham. Be prepared to take action.”

Victor frowned, his mechanical hand clenching into a fist. “Lady Mechanica doesn’t send warnings lightly. If she’s seen chaos, then we’ve got a storm brewing.”

Shadowveil’s voice was calm but edged with concern. “We need to identify the source of this chaos. Cipher, can you cross-reference recent disturbances?”

Cipher nodded, his mind visualising display spikes of activity across Gotham. “There’s a pattern here. Strange disappearances near Arkham, explosions in the clockwork district, and sightings of strange creatures. Could be connected.”

Victor glanced at Shadowveil and Cipher, his expression grim. “This smells like the work of the Lugh brotherhood. They’ve been quiet too long.”

Shadowveil adjusted her hood. “Then we don’t have much time. We need to find out what they’re planning and stop it.”

Suddenly, the Oracle’s eyes flickered again, and it spoke a single, cryptic phrase:

“Beware the hands that guide the storm. Time is your enemy.”

The team exchanged glances, the weight of the warning settling in the air. Outside, thunder rolled, as if punctuating the Oracle’s ominous words.

To be continued…

PING:
https://hgoei.com/2025/01/08/gotham-tales-cogs-compass-against-chaos/

Gotham Tales: Cogs & Compass against Chaos

Gotham Tales: Cogs & Compass against Chaos


 

Lady Mechanica’s letter to the Guardian Angels vigilantes: 

We need your support!
Sometimes the world goes black and white. And everything seems to flicker almost imperceptibly, like a strobe light flashing faster than the eye can register.
When the Flicker Effect starts, strange things often happen. They may be subtle or they may be screamingly obvious. But they usually involve some intrusion, arriving out of nowhere, from the alternate realms.
The balance between Law and Chaos is disturbed, technology fails while magic runs rampart!
Remember the influx of refugees from the Oasis some time ago?
They escaped the Men in Black, but lost two important artefacts of Law during their flight.
Find the Cog and Compass and bring it to my Bastion to enforce the rule of Law!

Letter from ‘Archangel’ Bruce:

Situation at the border is very tense, the Legionnaires are still holding the bridge over the Raging Waters, but the skirmishes between tribes and bandits might become open warfare anytime!
We cannot send a large detachment, that will escalate the situation, we will send some scouts instead.

On the road they went
Crowbane the clockwork scarecrow 


Marq the hunter

Delph the technomancer…
Following the refugee trail, our heroes approached the tribal camp to consult the medicine man:

What you seek is at the old ruin!


Later they supported the running battle  between the tribes and the bandits: many times the bandits gunshots fizzled while the tribal arrows found their mark!
While the tribes chased the retreating bandits, the adventurers were able to cross the battlefield safely until they saw the old ruin!
Entering the ruin, descending in the confusing maze below, confronting the demons at the portals, our heroes retrieved two artefacts for Lady Mechanica!

One strike in the battle of Law against Chaos, the Reality Wars will continue in another saga….

Ping:

https://hgoei.com/2024/12/10/lady-blackbirds-flight-to-gotham/
Lady Blackbirds flight to Gotham

Lady Blackbirds flight to Gotham


A special team of ‘Guardian Angels’ escorting Lady Blackbird through the dense woods were ambushed by a storm of crossbow bolts!
The scarecrow absorbed the bolts in his straw body…
The tin man let the bolts bounce from his armour…

Peter took flight, attacking the bandits from above…

Alice started running to find a hiding place in the woods..

Our heroes succeeded in routing the bandits, but after the battle they discovered that the Lady disappeared during the confusion!

Searching for the Lady, they found signs  at a clearing further away:  some trees blacked by lightning strikes, a few threads from a ladys cloak, hoof prints, it seemed the Lady fought the bandits valiantly …

They followed the hoof prints: four ponies single file, the last one carrying a heavier load…

After noon when the sun was already traveling to the west, our heroes arrived at an old guard tower and decided to make camp.

Waning moon, cloudy sky hiding the stars, while a dark shadow approached the tower…

Trying to fight the shadow, discovering that physical weapons just passed harmless through…

The scarecrow channeled  Gaia’s life-giving force and chased the enemy away!

After dawn our heroes continued following the trails…

Look! An old castle! It seems there are no living souls around, only a murder of crows were circling around….

Using a Swiss knife, the Tin Man unlocked the front door easily!

Our heroes proceeded through the mead hall.

Peter used at last his artifact to detect the Lady’s whereabout: we must go down into the dungeon…

Unlocking a barred door: we found her!

While our heroes unchained the Lady, a large bell sounded the alarm….
‘Who dares to disturb my rest?’
“Run, you fools!” Scarecrows took his last stand, while our heroes escaped with the Lady!

Ping:

Angels flight to Gotham