Well actually this is episode #3 of the new campaign, but the game system went through significant changes between #2 and #3, I feel that we landed in full OSR territory only with episode #3, episodes #1 and #2 were more some kind of prologue and fine-tuning sessions.
The party:
Carmin, 16 yo, he. Terror: Being lost. Likes rules. Smells funny and has a strange condition that makes him weak.
Nina, 13 yo, she. Terror: Water. Likes exploding things. Has pretty serious anger management issues.
Nina and Carmin are spending the summer at the Citadel, a summer camp for rebellious teens. During the afternoons they explore the Lost Bay. In the previous episodes, they have visited an abandoned heliport on the seaside and bought tickets for the Arrow, an old bus touring the Marshes. They got the tickets from a weird kid, Jacky. As payment, he asked Nina to help him fight some guy. Nina thinks that's bullshit. Going back to the Citadel just before the sunset, Nina almost drowned wrestling with an electric eel. Actually, the group was crossing the Nameless river, one of the small tributary brooks of the Tears of Apollo, when Catalin (who was part of the group in sessions #1, #2) saw something shiny at the bottom of the river. She tried to grab it, unfortunately, that was an eel. Nina was badly injured and she lost her most precious belonging: a portable chemistry set.
A few days later.
The group is now heading inland, towards the marshes, intending to find the Arrow. The landscape has drastically changed, and the kids are surrounded by small ponds of muddy water. They stop at a dusty road and wait for the Arrow. After a brief moment, the bus approaches. It's an old vehicle. The orange paint of its rusty body is marked by a fading golden arrow. The kids hop in. The laconic driver stinks of liquor, and the bus is empty.
The Arrow hurries through the marshes, drawing a perfectly straight line. It passes by an abandoned arcade game store. It looks like it's never going to stop and as Nina and Carmin start worrying the Arrow brakes suddenly: out of nowhere, a dark figure gets on the bus. Long hair, laced and embroidered full bodysuit, some sort of show costume. It's Phasio (he) a 17 years old kid. He sits not far from Nina and Carmin hiding his features under the hood of his cape. Carmin approaches the guy, they talk a bit. He's the guitarist of The splinters, a punk band. He's late, he's going to a rehearsal and the kids can come.
The Arrow stops in the wetlands, Phasio is in a hurry, Nina and Carmin follow him. They are in the Heart of the Mercury Marshes now. Mud has almost entirely replaced dirt, and water surrounds the tight path that leads to the entrance of an abandoned Opera House. The old building is gigantic, crumbling, and partly submerged by water. The place is both magnificent and decaying. The theatre stalls lay under a broken glass dome, and on the stage the rest of the band, Damien (he), Enna (she), and Gloria (she), are waiting to play music. Nina and Carmin take place on broken theatre chairs, and Damien, the band leader, starts screaming, well, sort of singing. He sounds like broken glass, but the kids seem to enjoy it. A few little cute colored birds fly around Carmin and Nina. They're Rainbow Parakeets. At first, it's just a couple of them, but little by little, bird by bird, they fill the entire theatre flying erratically like annoying insects: the musicians can't play anymore. As soon as the music stops, the birds dive on musicians and spectators alike. They're everywhere, and they're mean. Carmin fights valiantly trying to protect Nina who is totally petrified. She screams in horror and pain at the top of her throat. Her howl somehow stops the birds. The kids take a moment to assess the situation, the parakeets are on the balconies, on the dome, on the chairs, everywhere. There are hundreds of them. Phasio falls on the stage floor, his face is lacerated, he's agonizing in pain. As band members and kids start arguing about what to do next, the birds resume their attack.
Abandoned theatre, photo by Julia Solis
Everybody runs to the closest make-up room. It's tight, messy, windowless, and flooded. Clouds of parakeets fill the room, and the entrance door is blocked by mud and debris. Carmin manages to kill a few birds with his skateboard: they explode in littles puffs of colored feathers. Nina in a heroic gesture pushes aside everybody, and with all her strength tries to unblock the door. Her attempt is a total failure, Nina falls backward and the door opens wide to the terrifying storm of parakeets. Everybody dives underwater and takes refuge under a couple of upside-down floating theatre chests.
Damien seems to know what's happening, the birds were sent by Heroola, his ex. She's pissed off about something. After endless debates the kids manage to return to the stage. They move using the upside-down chests as a turtle shells. The thick cardboard of the chests is almost torn out by the birds, the kids realize that their refuge won't last much longer. Nina grabs two hairspray bottles inside Gloria's stuff, she gets out of the chest and stands in the center of the stage, alone, surrounded by the birds. She sees at the entrance of the Opera House a feminine figure illuminated by the sunset. Nina quickly turns the hairspray bottles into a flamethrower, using her silver storm lighter and, as she whispers the Prayer of St Apollo, she produces a gigantenormous flame that burns the birds to ashes. The mysterious woman standing at the entrance of the theatre runs away followed by the remaining birds.
The kids hurry out of the theatre just in time as the colossal glass dome crumbles into dust. Carmin is in pretty bad shape. It's almost night and Nina and Carmin have to go back to the Citadel, but before parting with the band they all agree to go and see Heroola the next day, and sort things out with her. The birdmaster lives in the abandoned arcade store.
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