Exile Game Studio

[twilhelmson]

Last night my group played the first round of a HEX version of King Kong. The characters are:

Randolph Hobbs – Wealthy financier
Clyde Morris – Mechanical engineer and designer of Magic tricks
Johnny Tomorrow – Personal pilot to Mr. Hobbs with a rocket pack
Logan Wayne – Jungle Explorer
Captain Stewart Kurtz – Captain of the ship the Venture

Part 1: Singapore sting

They started out in the port city of Singapore trying to find information on a map that they found in the last adventure. They knew the coordinates of the island (written on the map) but didn’t know much else. Half of the party went into a seedy sailors bar and proceeded to get into a large brawl while the others found a contact that might have some information.

Later that night in the pouring rain Mr. Hobbs and Clyde went off to meet the old man who might know a little something about this island. They were introduced and the old man proceeded to tell them about when he was younger he was a pearl diver and his boat got knocked off course in a storm. When it passed they found them selves next to a very forbidding island that none of them had ever seen or heard of. They decide to dive and see what was below and they found some monstrous oysters where they pulled a pearl the size of softball! Then they saw a man clinging to a log floating in the water. He was an Englishman and he was clutching a leather satchel. He kept saying, “Thomas and I escaped from the tribe” or “Thomas and I are hungry.” The pearl divers rescued him but left him at a hospital in Padang in Sumatra. The old man then thought a little while and said, “The castaway did say one other thing, over and over again. He said…” BAM! A shot rang out and the old man fell over dead shot between the eyes! The PC’s looked up to see three thugs intent on killing them all. The fight was short with Clyde killing the one with the gun and then running for his life. Mr. Hobbs followed quickly behind and when they got back to the docks they decided a quick bribe to the Harbormaster might be in order to make a quick exit on the Venture.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Padang and beyond!
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Rock & Role-play

[twilhelmson]

Padang and beyond!

When they arrived in Padang the PC’s asked around for a hospital and discovered that there is a hospital run by the Sisters of St. Jude that is in an old converted Buddhist monastery that sits up in the hills. They also discovered that the hospital is for the insane and infirm.

When they arrived they were met by Sister Mary Joseph who Mr. Hobb’s lied to and claimed that he was the long lost relative to one of the patients. They described to her a man who clutched a leather satchel and talked about “Thomas”. The nun knew exactly whom they were talking about and (through another con) was delighted to lead them to him.
As they walked down the corridors two of the PC’s noticed a Caucasian orderly pass by. This was strange as all of the other orderlies they had seen were Sumatran. However, by the time they really thought about it they were at the room of the patient “Robert”. The sister knocked and told him he had visitors. There was no answer but then they opened the door and found him on the floor, in a pool of his own blood still clutching the leather satchel. On the wall he had written in his blood one word “KONG”. When they turned him over they discovered that he had been stabbed in the chest and upon opening the satchel they found the shrunken head of another Caucasian man…Thomas.

They decided to leave at dawn to head out into open water to find this lost island and in asking around they discovered that some of the locals had heard of Kong and it was considered a nature spirit of some kind. Neither man nor beast. When the sun rose the Venture left the harbor.

They sailed for 6 days and that is when the Venture entered the fog. The Captain slowed down the ship and then came the rocks! In the wheelhouse Kurtz did his best to avoid all of the treacherous spires but, alas, in the end he missed a roll and the ship as wedged in between two massive rocks. When dawn arrived they could see that the ship needed some work and that they seemed to be on the west side of some huge island. According to the map they had found there was a site of a wreck (the Florence) not far from where they were and, according to the map, there was some kind of key to ancient writing that went down with it.

Hobbs made the decision right there that the PC’s would row over to the wreck of the Florence and dive down to it to try and retrieve the key.

Stay tuned for part 3: A watery grave!
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Rock & Role-play

[Danyaell]

Nice. Can't wait for the part where they meet dinosaurs.
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t h e s q u i d i s n o t d e a d

[twilhelmson]

Part 3: A Watery Grave!

The PC’s rowed over to the wreck of the Florence with Mr. Hobbs and Wayne already in their diving suits. When they got into position the two divers put on the heavy brass helmets and went over the side. Clyde Morris manned the pump as Capt. Kurtz and Johnny Tomorrow kept a watchful eye on their unusual surroundings.

When the two divers reached the bottom they found the ship sitting on one side and made their way over to it. It was a simple swim up and over the railing and before too long they were walking on the listing deck of the old ship. They both noticed there were a fore cabin and an aft cabin with doors slightly ajar. Hobbs decided to go to the front and sent Wayne to the back. They made their way to their respective doors and started to find their way inside.

Johnny Tomorrow was looking through a pair of binoculars when he spotted a large bird-like shape soaring over the edge of the island. Looking closer he saw something out of a museum, a pterodactyl diving right toward them! Johnny pulled his mouser while Clyde (knowing that the Captain must remain safe) pushed Kurtz over the side and into the drink! Clyde was in a real predicament, as he knew he had to keep pumping for the others below. The Capt. was now holding on to the side of the boat as the flying dinosaur made its first pass!

Hobbs looked around the old crew cabin and only found rotting hammocks and a few small fish but in the aft cabin it was altogether a different story. Wayne looked around through the more opulent cabin, searching under beds and in fallen chests. He knew that the map stated there was a key to the ancient language somewhere on this boat, but who know what it was. If it was a book, the odds would be that it was long gone. Then he found the old satchel sitting in the corner. It came apart when he picked it up but what remained was a wonder to behold; a stone tablet with a strange form of pictographs mixed in with Sanskrit. It almost resembled the Rosetta stone and maybe it was the same kind of thing. This is what Hobbs was looking for down here. Wayne picked it up and headed to the door and that was when he felt the tug at his left ankle.

The Pterodactyl zoomed by as Johnny and Clyde took as much cover from the boat as they could with the Captain still clinging to the side. The creature turned to make another pass as Johnny readied the Mouser. BAM! A shot rang out but did very little to this monster that was barreling down on them. “I don’t think shooting is going to do anything!” Clyde said as the Captain climbed back in the boat. Just then the massive dinosaurs claws came right at Johnny’s shoulders but a sudden dodge meant that the creature only got a patch of the leather from his coat instead of a patch of Johnny. It was circling again. “Captain, take over on the pump! I’ve got an idea!”

The Octopus was suddenly around him, its beak puncturing his diving suit and filling the cabin with his blood. Wayne didn’t have a weapon with him and soon the damage was too much. He began to feel weak and could tell the octopus was going to get the best of him. Just then Hobbs appeared out of the murk, brandishing a rusted old cutlass and slashing at the creature! It let go of Wayne and turned its attention to the threat with the sword! This was the chance Wayne needed as he swam out the door and started ascending to the surface. Hobbs started to back out of the door when he noticed the tablet sitting on the floor directly in front of the massive invertebrate.

With that, Clyde Morris reached for the folded net sitting in the back of the boat. “Take the other end Johnny and when I give the signal throw it!” As the Pterodactyl dove in for the kill they threw the old net directly in its path! Startled and ensnared, the creature made a severe turn and then made its way back to the cliffs where it came from. For the moment the PC’s seemed to be safe.

Hobbs took the chance and dove for the tablet as he thrust the sword into the center of the octopus’ body. In a rush of ink and bubbles he escaped the cabin and made his way to the surface.

Several hours later the Venture broke lose from the rocks and made its way to the far side of the island. In the dark starless night as Wayne lie in bed recovering from his wounds, the crew began to hear drums coming from the island. On the deck Captain Kurtz scanned the cliffs with his binoculars and saw fires burning in a village. Chanting soon followed mixed with the screams of a lone female. Straining to hear, Kurtz thought he could make out the words “Shee-ra Kong!”

Stay tuned for Part 4: Land ho!


All of this was in one nights session. We don't play again until the 27th but I know all of the players are really looking forward to getting on the island.
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Rock & Role-play

[Danyaell]

I like the way you think, I almost guessed some parts of it. I was thinking: "wouldn't it be cool if that thing happened?" And it happened!
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t h e s q u i d i s n o t d e a d

[John Aynge]

AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED?!
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[twilhelmson]

Sorry for the delay folks but my group has not been able to get together for a while as we are all in the theatre and several different productions got in the way. However, I struck my show yesterday so there should be some Adventure on Skull Island in the very near future!
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Rock & Role-play