Thursday, January 29, 2015

Bujilli: Episode 117

Previously...
Bujilli wakes up at Idvard's Keep. His injuries were much more severe than he had imagined, but Doktor Niemann's surgery and Mildred's potions have done their work. It is a beautiful morning. He and Leeja share a quiet moment standing next to one another looking out upon the gardens below. Then Grunters attack from one of the ventilation well-shafts...
Sirens shrieked. The window rattled. Something exploded down below. Another. Another.

Lurid green smoke filled the garden. Bujilli could see it streaming up from one of the ventilation well-shafts that led down into the lower levels beneath the Keep.

Dozens of Grunters* charged out of the smoke. Each one wore a crude respirator-mask and was covered head to hoof in baggy coverall-like suits. The first few over the rim of the well-shaft were lobbing crude black-powder grenades into the garden seemingly at random.

"Scheiss. We only just got here." Bujilli went to the wardrobe and pulled on his denims, a fresh shirt, started getting his armor settled into place. His boots didn't want to go on right and required him to make three tries, finally sitting himself down on the bed let him get them on properly. His hands were shaking. He knew all too well what Grunters were like from his time spent running through the Blade Maze of Kalkendru***. Long, long ago. Another lifetime. It was supposed to be all over. Done.

Obviously not.

"What do you intend to do? you're not completely healed yet. You can't rush down there just to get yourself killed." Leeja's white hair writhed and slashed about like a corona of flames. She withdrew her gonne from its make-shift carrying-case/sheath and began to re-load it. The shot she was using looked like small bundles of blades bound with copper wire. Her powder came in paper packets stamped with the black fist of Abundru, a notorious Tsalalian arms merchant who advertised in the Whisperer. He wondered when she had picked that up. Most likely while he was unconscious or going through his surgery.

"No. I'm not in a hurry to go down there. I'm not ready to face those things one-on-one, but I don't have to." He slung his quiver and withdrew the short bow Mistress Eberhard had given to him to replace his old one. It was built-up from layers of horn, bone and wood, compressed and bound with glues and resins and spells. The string took a little more effort than his old one required to get it into place. The handle was bound in some sort of roughened hide that held a good grip. It had a stiff, but substantial pull. He grinned. It was time to put all those arrows** he had taken from underneath this very Keep to work. But first he set down the bow and checked his manticore pistol. It needed to be re-loaded, so he took care of it. If anything happened, or he ran out of arrows, he wanted something he could rely upon. He wasn't strong enough to wield his hand-axe in pitched battle. The pistol would have to serve. He began to stuff a dried gunpowder grub down the barrel.

"You do realize that's a manticore pistol, right?" Leeja stared at him with her eyebrow arched in disbelief.

"I just had my skull reassembled, so I'm not much interested in sarcasm. If you've got something to say, then spit it out. We don't have a lot of time to waste."

"Fine." Leeja strode over to him, took the pistol out of his hands, held it up so he could see clearly and worked a tumbler and latch mechanism at the base of the trigger-guard. The pistol snicked open on its well-oiled hinge. The thing had eight barrels, not just the one he had been using and it was a breech-loader, not a muzzle-loader. He felt foolish.

"Don't know much about gonnes."

"It shows. Don't worry about it. Just get it loaded. I'm going to see what I can see from the balcony here."

He nodded and set to work getting the pistol loaded. The grubs slid into place much more smoothly this way and he didn't need to tamp them down with the little brass rod with the brush--he realized that was probably for cleaning the barrels. Snick. The pistol locked back into place smoothly and securely. He slipped it into his sash, took up the bow and headed to the window.

Krak-Boom! Leeja was already re-loading her gonne. She had over-charged her weapon. Two Grunters were squalling and screaming and squealing as they thrashed about on the ground. One had lost a good chunk of its face, the other their left fore-arm.

Bujilli pulled out an arrow, knocked it, pulled and released in one fluid motion. It would have hit dead center if that Grunter hadn't been struck down by a glaive wielded by some mail-clad defender down below. Three more mail-clad defenders forced their way forwards, one with a halberd, two with military forks.

He drew and released one more arrow. It took a Grunter through the eye-socket. He drew again. And again. Again. All six arrows were gone. He didn't have any other arrows left, so he set the bow down against the railing and drew out his pistol and the black-iron-and-teak fighting wand. He was reluctant to use the wand unless he had to, so he set about shooting any and every Grunter that looked like some sort of leader or specialist, like the grenadiers who remained clustered about the well-shaft.

The third grenadier he killed lurched backwards and fell over the rim of the well-shaft, taking his grenade with him.

The blast stopped the flow of green gas surging forth from the gaping maw of the well-shaft.

More defenders wielding a variety of pole-arms pushed the remaining attackers back to the well-shaft and drove them back over the rim.

The last Grunter went over squealing as Bujilli finished re-loading his pistol a second time.

The defenders encircled the well-shaft, forming a bristling barrier against any of the Grunters returning to the surface. Three of the tallest defenders, each one wearing an elegantly plumed helmet over some sort of gas-mask stood off to one side and conferred with a shorter, stockier member of their cadre, one that wore a flat, round white helmet and a heavily-reinforced suit similar to what the Grunters wore, only of much better quality. The one in the white helmet made three quick signals to his squad who rapidly trotted out from the base of the Keep carrying a variety of mechanisms and tanks, hoses and poles. They set up a heavy tripod-frame over the well-shaft then began lowering hoses over the side in-between the struts. One of them wrestled a block and tackle into place at the apex of the frame.

Bujilli nearly dropped the pistol.

They were rigging up some sort of bomb to be lowered on chains down to the level where the Grunters had broken through.



Meanwhile...
Niobe ran through the dark woods, her white hair flashing and flaring out behind her like a banner in the gloom. She held her left arm as still as possible, wincing with every jarring step, twist and turn as she fled through the dimness. Blood ran down her velvet jerkin from where the ivory arrow jutted out of her shoulder. Drops of blood formed a trail leading right to her. She could see the glimmer of her lifeforce as it evaporated from each tiny drop. Her wound was weakening her with each step, slowing her down. She needed to extract the damned arrow. But where could she do that? If she stopped now they would be right on top of her. She had to keep moving. Running. Then she saw it. An opening in the murksome twilight beneath the ancient trees...  




A knock at the door. Leeja re-slung her gonne and looked at Bujilli; "You ready for visitors?"

"I guess." He finished re-loading his pistol, slipped it into his sash then picked-up his bow. He'd need to replace the missing arrows. Once unstrung it slid back into place alongside the now empty quiver. He wondered if they had any more of the barbed-ones in the Keep's stores or arsenal. He liked how the flexible yellow-metal fletchings worked. He had a feeling that they might respond to his direction if he could only figure out how to connect with them.

"Good of you to lend a hand. I do apologize for the ruckus. The Grunters have gotten to be quite a nuisance of late." Idvard floated in the doorway; "May I come in?"

"Yes. Certainly. Thank you for your assistance with my..."

"Your recent injury had us all quite worried my young friend. I am pleased to see you up and about so soon and already making yourself useful."

"Is the Keep secure?" Leeja scowled at Idvard.

The sirens sounded the all-clear.

"I would say so. My forces, with your help, have driven the Grunters back again, and this time we're prepared to do something more than just seal them off."

"The Fungal Tyrant didn't wipe them out?"+

"Unfortunately no." Idvard floated over to the window. He kept his third eye focused on the defenders efforts around the well-shaft.

"Do you know what happened?" Bujilli sat back down on the bed. Leeja remained standing. She seemed agitated. Her hair swished and swayed like a pack of angry white cats.

A lot had happened while he was out of commission.

"I have learned a few things, partly from interrogating some prisoners and the reports of those scouts that have managed to return from below."

"Prisoners? Scouts? What has been going on?"

"The Fungal Tyrant betrayed us all. It no sooner began to disrupt the Grunters than it tried to negotiate an alliance with their leader. The thing had killed or infected more than two-thirds of their Legion before the Grunters managed to eradicate it or eliminate it somehow."

"They adapt to infections rapidly. And poisons. That's what allowed them to take over the Blade Maze on Kalkendru. They raise their offspring to breath poison gasses, to suffer through horrid poxes and plagues, in order to make themselves stronger."

"You are sure of this?" Idvard screeched.

"Yes."

"Pardon me." He floated through the window, over the balcony and streaked towards his defenders.

"Apparently Idvard thought it would be a good idea to fumigate the lower levels." Leeja smirked.

"A terrible idea. At best it would only annoy the Grunters...at worst, it would make them even stronger." He shivered at the thought; "The competing hordes and armies of Grunters fighting over the toxic terrain of the Blade Maze routinely exchanged volleys of chemical weapons, Black Smoke, even poxes and plagues their shamaness-sows bred like prize-winning dogs among the slaves their raiding parties took from along the Borderlands."

"Lovely."

"If the Grunters have been able to cast-off the Tyrant's influence, then they aren't going to be driven off so easily. Idvard referred to them as a 'Legion.' That's another bad sign."

"How so?"

"The Grunters only form Legions when they intend to hold some territory. Legions are defensive, they guard, protect, fortify..."

"Scheiss. Idvard has a much bigger problem than I thought."

"Yes and no. The Grunters lost quite a few of their troops...how long has it been since we left here?"

"I'm not sure. time works slightly differently. A few months, not more than a full year. Why?"

"The Grunters are matriarchal. When they take severe losses, they go into a breeding frenzy. If Idvard doesn't drive them off very soon, there will be a lot of newborns down there and the Granters will fight like demons to hold onto their new spawning grounds. If one or more of their shamaness-sows survived the assault by the Fungal Tyrant they will accelerate the birthing process. Not only will more of the offspring survive, they'll mature much more quickly. Grunters begin military training before they reach three years of age."

"Three years...that means we have time--"

"No. You don't get it. The sows can use their spells and serums to breed a replacement army in only a few months."

"Scheiss."

"Time is of the essence then." Idvard floated back into the room from the open window.

"We must take the fight to them." Bortho settled to the floor beside his mentor-master. He wore a mail hauberk and a blue-plumed helm that he removed so he could shake out his mane of thick hair. He smiled as he strode over to clasp Bujilli on the shoulder.

"Bortho!" Bujilli was pleased to see his one-time delving companion again.

"It is good to see you again Bujilli." Bortho clasped Bujilli on the shoulder. His chain-mail was formed from a semi-translucent chitin or similar material. It clicked slightly as he moved.

"You've done well for yourself since last we saw you." Bujilli grinned.

"Not well enough. The Grunters threaten to wipe us all out if we don't destroy them first. We will have to go down into the lower levels and hunt them down, exterminate them like vermin."

"It will be brutal. The worst sort of tunnel-fighting imaginable. Grunters are vicious beasts. Vicious and clever and quick to adapt both physically and strategically. You'll only get one real chance at this. If you fail, they'll begin breeding another generation, and another, until finally they manage to overwhelm you. Time is on their side." Bujilli massaged his right temple. His head was beginning to ache.

"No. They expect to fight a war of attrition, to wear us down while building-up their forces..." He disappeared only to reappear next to Bujilli; "...But it is we who have time on our side." Bortho grinned broadly.

"You can move through time?" Bujilli remembered that Idvard had told him how Bortho's people were somewhat 'flexible' in how they related to time.++

"Only to a limited extent. So far." A woman also clad in chain-mail and with a vivid crimson plume on her helmet stepped up next to Bortho.

"Zutissa?" Leeja took up position on the other side of Bujilli.

"Yes. It is good to see you both again. I wanted to thank you for saving our child." She reached out and took each of their hands in hers. Her gratitude was genuine.

"and Zutissa's life...as well as my own." Bortho grew suddenly serious.

"How is your child, Bortho?"

"She is well. I intend to make sure she remains that way."

"You speak much better than when last we met..." Leeja tilted her head askance.

"Ha. Good. We have been studying. There is much we need to learn about this place and what remains of our ancestral domains."

"Have you learned much about what lies below?" Bujilli looked past Zutissa at the third leader of the Keep's defenders. It was the specialist in the round white helmet and gas-mask. They unclasped their mask and pulled off their zinn-plate armored-gloves revealing heavily wrinkled and orange-speckled yellow hands. It took him a moment to recognize this third leader as a Vinkin.

"So this is the much vaunted Bujilli we've all been hearing about?" The Vinkin kept her distance.

Bujilli struggled to his feet, pistol in-hand.

"Bujilli; what are you doing?" Leeja was beside him, her claws extended but unsure what was happening.

"Is this your 'specialist' you were going to hire to tend to the Fungal Tyrant?"

"Yes. she is. And she has done an excellent job--"

"Of setting you up. The Vinkin serve the Fungal Tyrants. They're fruiting bodies of a collective fungal intelligence. Everywhere they go they colonize."

"Is this true?" Idvard demanded.

"You don't know the half of it." The Vinkin pushed a button on one of the clunky boxes attached to her harness.

VATHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The bomb only recently removed from the tripod exploded.

Bortho drew his long sword. Zutissa had a long-hafted fighting-sickle in each hand. Leeja slashed out with her hair. Idvard erected a green disk of light between himself and his former employee.

Bujilli began firing his pistol.

The Vinkin traitor laughed as she ran out to the balcony and leaped off of the rail.

Bortho appeared. Swung his blade. Missed.

Zutissa appeared. Slashed. Missed. Slashed. Caught the cuff of the Vinkin's suit which then ripped as she plummeted down out of sight.

Bujilli arrived at the railing in time to see the Vinkin carried away by a cluster of winged monkeys. He emptied his pistol but wasn't sure what good it did. Then he felt Hedrard's amulet throb slightly--a clear signal that She wished to contact him.

The gardens below were filled with toxic vapors. The defenders around the well-shaft were scattered; many were incapacitated, possibly killed. Shapeless figures moved about tending to the wounded, replacing guards around the well-shaft, sorting through the damaged and broken equipment or examining the singed but still-intact well-shaft.

Bortho and Zutissa disappeared. They reappeared down below calling out orders and getting things back under control. Someone was positioning large fans and some other device made up of bunches of tubes and cylinders to drive off or neutralize the lingering green gas.

KRACK-KOOOOOM!

Leeja's overcharged gonne split open the sky like thunder.

The fleeing villain screamed. She hit her target. The traitor plummeted down through the trees and was quickly lost in the roiling toxic vapors.

The winged monkeys scattered screeching and chattering in fear and agitation...


What should Bujilli & Leeja do next?

You Decide!



* Grunters are described in this post.
** Bujilli discovered a set of barbed arrows beneath Idvard's Keep in Episode 41.
*** Bujilli described some of what happened to him wduring his time within the Blade Maze also in Episode 41.
+ As seen in Episode 44.
++ As revealed in Episode 49.


Synchronocitor Status: Fully Recharged.


What should they do now?

First we need to Roll for Initiative: 1) Bujilli, 2) Leeja, 3) Bortho, 4) Zutissa, 5) Zulli the Vinkin Specilist, 6) the Grunters, 7)Idvard's Defenders. (1d6 each as per LL p. 50)

If someone wants to do so, we could have a Reaction Roll for Zulli (2d6 as per LL. p.52). If the results are low enough, she might not be as much of a traitor as she first appeared...

IT is also time to roll Morale for Idvard's Defenders (2d6 as per LL p. 56). They gain a +1 bonus for having successfully driven off the latest Grunter attack. If you like, someone can also roll Morale for the Grunters, and they have a -1 penalty due to having taken some serious losses. Depending on the result, they may be conducting a fighting retreat...or just waiting for the signal to resume hostilities.

We'll also need a few d20 rolls...say 6 or 7.

So...do they run after the fallen traitor? Or ask Idvard to order some defenders or drones to go after her? Should Bujilli cast a spell perhaps? Maybe Idvard can use a spell to slow down or capture the traitor?

Or do they ignore the traitor and focus on the well-shaft and whatever the Grunters are up to?

Bujilli could also check on the amulet, he might want to contact Hedrard, if only to verify if they're still on good terms and what She might be up to now.

Bujilli also needs some fresh arrows. Perhaps he can request some from Idvard directly. There are servant-drones in the place that carry such supplies to the defenders, so it isn't anything out of the ordinary.

We also still need to find out what happened to the Cuckoo girl (and whomever her ambush had actually been intended for), and it might be a good idea to check-in on Headmistress Shael. 

Leeja was about to tell Bujilli something about what had happened while he was unconscious. Should he try to find out about that, or would you prefer to let it go for now?

Do you have any other ideas or suggestion?

Feel free to ask questions or to discuss the situation in the comments. I'll do my best to respond to comments in a timely manner.

Let me know what you think they ought to do in the comments below, or via email and we'll resume things next week!

What do they do next?

You Decide!

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Series Indexes
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six  |  Seven


About Bujilli (What is This?) | Who is Bujilli? | How to Play

Bujilli's Spells | Little Brown Journals | Loot Tally | House Rules

Episode Guides
Series One (Episodes 1-19)
Series Two (Episode 20-36)
Series Three (Episodes 37-49)
Series Four (Episodes 50-68)
Series Five (Episodes 69-99)
Series Six(Episodes 100 - 111)
Series Seven (112 - ongoing)

Labyrinth Lord   |   Advanced Edition Companion

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Bujilli: Episode 116

Previously...
Ambushed by a pack of Feral Children, Bujilli and Leeja find themselves out-numbered and surrounded. One drone is ruined and another is seriously damaged. They are not far from the entrance to the building where the Weak Point leading to Idvard's Keep is located...but can they survive the onslaught or the cruel machinations of the Cuckoo leading this particular pack?


He remembered falling. A stone had struck him in the head. Rotten kids.

Bujilli winced in pain. Blood was matting the hair along the side of his head. The rock that had struck him had hit harder than he had at first thought. He knew from experience that he was lucky to not have a fractured skull. then again there was no guarantee that he didn't. sling-stones are grossly under-estimated weapons. He'd seen an expert cave-in the breast-plates of Jalvani invaders one after another, but that was long ago and a world away.

He tried to sit up. Nausea disabused him of that notion. Dizziness. The impact to his head was worse than he'd hoped. Something wet spattered across his back. Blood. It wasn't his, not this time.

The ringing in his ears subsided enough for him to hear the screaming all around them. Leeja was hissing, her white-flame hair lashing out to slash, to rip, to sting and to strike one after another of their young antagonists. She ducked and dodged, twisted and turned, avoiding the stones slamming down into the pavement all around her. He gold-green eyes smoldered in the dark as she went after the Feral Children like a fury from their wildest nightmares.

She was buying him some time. He knew that. Sitting up took more effort, but he managed it. Eventually. Every movement took longer than it ought to, but he forced himself to rise. He fell back on his right knee. Twice. Then he stood. Wobbly, but standing. He looked down at his hand-axe. No way was he going to try to bend down and pick it up. He'd use a spell instead. Even with head trauma, it beat falling face-first into the pavement.

Something hot was pressing into his chest. Bujilli swatted at his armor, pulled open his collar. Hedrard's amulet. It was glowing deep red. The hair on his chest was singed and curled. The pain cut through the haze he'd been settling into. It grew worse. More intense. His skin blistered. He grabbed hold of the flexible-metal cord and pulled it away from his skin and called upon his Counsel.

///Machine! Help me! Why is the amulet burning me?///

Flash Analysis Indicates Deliberate Third-Party Interference

///Interference? Who?///

There. Counsel overlaid a soft yellow glow over the form of his adversary that only Bujilli could see.

Not three steps away from Shael was a dirty girl wreathed in rags, her face streaked with tears of rage. She clutched a rusty length of reinforcing bar taken from the rubble of some fallen building as a staff of sorts. She needed it--her left foot was twisted at a bad angle. The girl glared at Bujilli, virulent sorcery flowing from her eyes in a shimmering, spiraling stream that clutched his amulet and sought to sever his connection to Hedrard.

///Machine. Can you neutralize the pain long enough for me to deal with this matter?///

Counsel responded by causing the intense pain to quickly fade away. His hair and skin were still singed badly, but for now it would not hinder him.

Bujilli took a deep breath. Loosened up his shoulders. Stopped himself from shaking his head--that would be a bad idea right now--and flexed his fingers. He looked at the girl, past her clumsy auric defenses, the cluttered and unstructured jumble of her innermost self. She knew a few spells, but she was no sorcerer, not really, not yet. Self-taught and unguided, she considered herself far more clever than she really was, which was a common failing for those caught-up in ignorance. He smiled; this girl had a lot of potential. She might become somebody with a capital S...someday...but not today.

He quickly jammed the girl's flawed defenses into a swirling vortex of feedback and flux. A push here, a tug there, everything was so imbalanced and out of order that it was all too damn easy to disrupt things and make an even worse mess of it all. For a moment he felt almost guilty for crashing her internal processes but then he smelled burnt hair and his injured flesh twinged. For a moment he considered completely extinguishing her mind. It wouldn't take very much effort. He could strip her of the little power she had accumulated unto herself...but no...such a thing was beneath him.

His Uncle's cruelty toward him began to make a twisted sort of sense to him. Standing there looking directly into the soul of this young girl Bujilli realized the full extent of what he could do to her and it made him ill. Or perhaps it was the blow to his head. In either case he felt nauseous. The girl was a Cuckoo whose mental powers had developed far too rapidly, too quickly for her to adapt. She had sought to sever his amulet's connection out of some instinctual awareness that it held a type of power she desperately wanted but would likely never have. She was jealous. Spiteful. She intended to ruin the amulet in order to deny it to him, knowing full well that she could never use it, never wield it for herself. She wanted to spoil the thing she could never have.

The amulet went cold. Her link to the amulet was broken. Bujilli caught the flashing, flaring tendril of her magical link and directed the severed end of her spell to collide with her makeshift staff. The steel flared red-hot. She screamed. Dropped the thing. Fell to her knees. Collapsed onto the street. Unconscious. The pain had been too much for her.

Bujilli turned slowly to survey the other children that had ambushed him and his friends. Leeja was disarming them or scourging them with her hair as it writhed and flared and flashed about her like a cloud of angry cats in the dark.

He closed his eyes and drew upon another spell. Wrathful Facade. It proved to be the last straw; the Feral Children broke off their attack. Two or three turned and ran away. Then another five or six. Soon all of them were gone, except for their leader who remained face-down and passed-out.

Bujilli grinned. He hadn't cast that spell in a while. It really did the trick. Then it popped into oblivion far more quickly than it should have done. Then he dropped. His knees weren't working right any more. He wasn't sure but he might have vomited as he collapsed. It certainly smelled bad, over and above the burnt hair on his chest. He wondered if the amulet would leave a mark where it had burned him.



Meanwhile...
Old Man Putney squatted down behind the broken section of wall. The Sewer Militia would catch up with him before too much longer. He'd left enough of a trail for them to follow. He rummaged around in his haversack and pulled out a can of green-peaches in syrup. The hilt of his trench-knife made short work of the lid. He sipped the syrup and kept an eye on the bridge below his position. The whole damned place stank of at piss and rotting flesh. At least he was used to the smell. The peaches were too sweet. He ate half then dumped the remainder onto the ground for his friends to get their share. A dozen glossy black rats squirmed and jostled one another as they fought over the peaches.

"Eat up you little bastards. You'll earn it soon enough."

A pebble skittered and skipped down behind the old man.

"Scheiss. They were waiting for us." He lunged for his war-lamp.

Three Nosferatu Tunnel-Fighters charged down the slope. One fired a blunderbuss packed with random metal-junk, mostly nails. Then blood and fur flew everywhere as one shrieking horde of rats collided with the other. Putney and his pets were outnumbered five to one. Then the grenade exploded.




Bujilli couldn't sit up. Something held him down. He opened his eyes. He was in a bed. It smelled like fresh-cut rhododendrons and apple blossoms. White hair was wound about his torso and shoulders. Leeja's hair.

"He's awake." She sat up from beside him.

"Excellent." A man wearing a much-patched old suit came over to the bed-side and examined Bujilli.

"What--"

"Happened? Ah. Well, you have suffered a nasty injury to your head my young friend. A concussion, slight fracture, some bleeding; the usual sort of thing in these cases."

"Relax. Doktor Niemann is here to help." Leeja placed one hand on his shoulder and slowly, carefully, delicately withdrew her hair from around him.

"You are most fortunate to have such a good friend alongside you in such endeavors. Her hair made a much more effective restraint than any jacket or truss I have on-hand. It was most essential that you remain still during the surgery." Doktor Niemann unwound some sort of wrapping...a bandage...from around Bujilli's head.

"Surgery?" Bujilli closed his eyes and examined his aura, his repertoire of spells, his defenses. There were some lingering traces of the Doktor's intrusion into his head, but it made him slightly sick to try to examine them too closely. Like most sorcerers, he had grave reservations regarding anyone cutting into his skull. He knew all too well how a simple flick of a scalpel could be used to strip him of his power, of his very identity. He hated the thought that he had been vulnerable to this surgeon.

"Yes. Nothing much, mostly alleviating some pressure in order to give your own body the chance to rectify things for itself. By now your skull has settled back into place nicely. Yes. Indeed it has." The Doktor felt along the side of his head just back of the temple; "Very good. Excellent progress. You should be able to resume your usual escapades in two or three weeks. Possibly sooner, if you take care not to re-injure yourself."

"Weeks?" Bujilli croaked. The idea that he had been much more severely injured than he had imagined coming as quite a shock.

"It's okay. Idvard has been more than gracious in receiving us both. This room is yours to use whenever you like, for as long as you want." Leeja's hand grew warm on his shoulder. Comfortable. Comforting.

"Can I get out of bed then?" He had things to do...

"But of course. Do go slowly at first. No need to rush anything right now. You need to heal." The Doktor nodded his farewell and left the room.

Bujilli sat up. There was a funny bare-patch on his chest where the amulet had burned him. The wound was mostly healed underneath a glossy greenish coating of some sort of salve. It smelled of roasted olives. The scent made him hungry.

"My clothes? Armor? Other things?" He looked at Leeja.

She smiled. Stood up from the bed and walked over to a heavily-carved antique wardrobe. The doors snicked open. She stepped back and he could see all his gear carefully stored in there. Except his hand-axe. That was lying on the floor, on a rug, next to the bed. Like a faithful hound watching over its master.

"It would not leave you. they gave up trying to put it away after it nearly sliced off one of the attendant's fingers. Very loyal."

"Yes. We've been through a lot together." He tried to picture Stril...what she would have looked like now...if she had lived.

"If you like, we can join the others for a late breakfast. Shael is doing much better--"

"Damned Right she is!" A rude woman in rough clothes barged through a side-door.

"Mildred. I told you--"

"You insisted that I wait until the quack was gone before I came in to check on the boy and make sure the old swindler didn't remove his thumbs or some other form of grievous malpractice. He's gone. So I'm here. Let's take a look at you then." Mildred waddled over to Bujilli and began to poke and prod his head where the surgeon had done his work.

"Ach! You'll need to be repairing that hole in your aura, but even so, it's filling-in much more smoothly and cleanly than most folks manage, so that's some good news. You must have had a good teacher."

Bujilli snorted. "No. Not good. My Uncle taught me quite a lot, but only in the course of terrorizing me until I could stand up to the old bastard."

"And did you?"

"Yes." He had fought with his Uncle the night he left. It had gotten ugly as much verbally and emotionally as physically. He won. Finally. Releasing one of the little demons trapped in a seven-metal cage had been a dirty trick, but it had worked. He'd enjoyed flying off into the sunset on a stolen carpet while his uncle was distracted...too bad the damned thing frayed away before he had reached the Sea of Tears. He was only just able to get the thing low enough so as not to break his neck when it finally fell into dust and shreds. The scratches and scars had been worth it.

Mildred fixed him with her stern left eye; "These knife-jugglers and organ-grinders don't know squat about matters of the soul. They can re-attach a limb, sometimes, or fix some broken bones and such, but even so a Seamstress is far better for stitchery and you'd be a damned fool to let those uppity snot-weasels at the Medical College try to cure your aches and pains. They rely entirely too much on White Powder derivatives and solutions to deal with everything."

"Mildred. Is...will he be..." Leeja seemed nervous.

"The burns are mostly healed. No lasting damage there. That little girl pulled quite a stunt there. Quite clever. Might have caught nearly anyone with that one."

"I know that much. It's the other injury that I'm concerned about."

"You've been nothing but a bother all this time, so I know full well you're 'concerned' about the boy's head. As it happens, I have some friends who are quite gifted in brewing-up curatives and cure-alls far superior to the poisonous scheiss those--"

"Did you bring it?" Insisted Leeja near frantically.

"Of course I brung it girl." Mildred pulled a small vial on a tiny golden chain out from beneath her fish-scale corset.

"Good."

"Here. Drink this boy." She held out the vial to Bujilli. It smelled horrible.

"What is it?"

"If you don't want to be wasting the next couple of weeks lying around being useless then you'd best drink it." She pushed it toward him more insistently.

"I don't know..."

"Drink it." She scowled at him.

He took the vial and drank down the contents. Thankfully there was as little of the stuff as it was nasty-tasting.

"What was it? Or don't I dare ask?"

"It'll fix you up right as rain in a jiffy. No need to thank me. Your...ahem...this one...she pestered me night and day until I was finally able to get my hands on it."

"Thank you."

"Oh don't thank me. Not at all. You can thank her. Leeja. She can be thanking me."

"And I will. Later. Once Bujilli is fully recovered and we've had a chance to talk."

"Talk? All you want to do is talk? Coulda fooled me--ACK!" Leeja forcibly escorted Mildred back through the side-door.

Leeja closed the door and locked it. She held the key in her hand. A silver key. It was ornately carved and seemed to almost flow in the late morning light streaming through the window.

Bujilli slipped out of the bed and walked over to the window. Four steps. It wasn't much, but it felt good. He looked out on a garden surrounded by hedges, a maze of sorts, which was in turn surrounded by trees. Beyond the trees...a wall...and ruins that stretched on and on for as far as the eye could see. It was like an oasis in the midst of a cold, dead landscape.

They had made it to Idvard's Keep after all.

Leeja was there beside him.

He turned to look at her.

"It's beautiful."

"Yes," she turned to look out the window at the gardens below.

Sirens shrieked. The window rattled. Something exploded down below.

Smoke filled the garden.

Dozens of Grunters* charged out of the smoke...


What should Bujilli & Leeja do next?

You Decide!



* We saw the Grunters beneath Idvard's Keep in Episode 41 to Episode 45We also learned more about Grunters in this post.


Synchronocitor Status: Fully Recharged.


What should they do now?

First we need to Roll for Initiative (1d6 each): 1) Bujilli, 2) Leeja, 3) Bortho's People (Idvard's Guards). (as per LL p. 50)

We won't require a Reaction Roll this time out as the Grunters are not just another random encounter. They are a well-organized invasion force.


Bujilli is pretty-much ready to go, but will probably want to pull on a pair of britches before running off to fight vicious pig-things from the underworld. Just saying.

Should Bujilli and Leeja let the guards deal with this recent incursion? They do need to talk about a few things. Or should they help defend the Keep against these porcine aggressors? Maybe they should check on Shael, or try to locate Idvard (If only to verify the parameters of their contract), or maybe they ought to consider finding the Weak Point and abandoning this place? Maybe they should look up Bortho and his family? It's pretty much wide open. Bujilli could also check on the amulet, or maybe he'd be wise to try to contact Hedrard, or at least find out what happened to the Cuckoo girl who burned him...

Do you have a great idea or suggestion?

Feel free to ask questions or to discuss the situation in the comments. I'll do my best to respond to comments in a timely manner.

Let me know what you think they ought to do in the comments below, or via email and we'll resume things next week!

What do they do next?
You Decide!

Previous                            Next

Series Indexes
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six  |  Seven


About Bujilli (What is This?) | Who is Bujilli? | How to Play

Bujilli's Spells | Little Brown Journals | Loot Tally | House Rules

Episode Guides
Series One (Episodes 1-19)
Series Two (Episode 20-36)
Series Three (Episodes 37-49)
Series Four (Episodes 50-68)
Series Five (Episodes 69-99)
Series Six(Episodes 100 - 111)
Series Seven (112 - ongoing)

Labyrinth Lord   |   Advanced Edition Companion

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Bujilli: Episode 115

Previously...
Down through the Mushroom Caves beneath the Secondary Kitchens, Ulricht left behind to guard the barred door behind them, Bujilli and Leeja lead the stretcher-bearer constructs and drones along the route illuminated by Ulricht's sorcerous orb. They come to some sort of ancient bridge or aqueduct-type structure that spans a dimly lit gorge. The Orb leads them along until at the very middle of the bridge the Orb fades, leaving them in the echoing darkness with a Sewer Militia patrol rapidly approaching from the other side...

"Who Goes There!" barked a Corporal's voice as four galvanic lantern-lances clicked on, flooding the section of the bridge they were on with a harsh actinic radiance.

"Scheiss!" grumbled Leeja; "It's the fucking Sewer Militia."

"Silas Grompf's people?" Bujilli glanced at Shael. She was not in any shape to do much right now. He wasn't sure if she was still on good terms with the old man in charge of the Sewer Militia.

The harsh lights approached on the double. Even on the gritty, mucky surface of the old bridge they did not make much noise. No creaking of harness, no clatter of armor, no scuffing of boots on the concrete or metal grating underfoot--these were not green troops.

Bujilli's hand stopped half-way to his hand-axe as a cool, blue breeze buffeted his skin, raising his hackles and sending an electric chill down his spine. He could see every glyph, rune and symbol impressed upon Leeja's mind, brain and aura as they orbited the major nexii and plexii of her nervous system. Leeja flinched as though stung. Her new-found sword was out and viciously snickering to itself. He knew without doubt that if not for his Uncle's lessons in sorcerous self-defense, his own repertoire would stand revealed just as crisp and cleanly as Leeja's...he would have to spend some time with her soon, teach her how to cloud her aura, veil her thoughts and obscure the details of her inner-workings from those who pried into other people's skulls with such spells as they were now experiencing.

"We're friendly!" yelled Bujilli, suppressing a sly smirk as he examined the spell surrounding them. A light tug here, a twist there and he rendered it a very pretty, but ultimately uninformative display. He wasn't sure what secrets Shael might be holding on to, so it seemed best to err on the side of caution. Besides he had a reputation to consider...a sorcerer can't let just anyone poke around in their business. Not even the sewer Militia. Probably especially them.

"Sergeant! He's neutralized my spell--"

"Of course I did. You did not ask permission before your intrusion." Bujilli watched as three figures approached through the actinic glare.

"Stand down Kallas. They've got wounded in tow and seem to be headed somewhere other than the Academy. A very sensible decision...what with all the fuss and bother going on lately." The Sergeant looked them over with a sardonic gaze that missed nothing.

"We've just come from there. Our...friend...is hurt. Badly. We're taking her to someone we hope can help." Bujilli could feel another four members of the patrol watching their every move from behind the intense glare of the actinic lamp-lances. He almost missed the other three that were taking up positions at various points along the superstructure overhead. Snipers? He didn't want to find out.

"You heading up and out, or down into the dark?"

"Up. Out. Our friend--"

"Good enough for me. I don't intend to waste my time wrangling over jurisdiction or any of that crap. If you're headed out then I'll send along an escort to get you to the nearest exit-point. We've got bigger fish to fry--"

Sizzle. CRACKLE. ZZZZZZZZZZZZiiiiittttttttttCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHH! pop.

"Got one!" Called out one of the lancers.

"Jovin. You help these students find their way then catch up to us at the next junction. The rest of you get moving. There's a lot more of these rat-bastards scurrying around down here and we need to clear them out while we've got the chance."

"Thank you." Leeja did her best to look as demure as possible, despite the all too sinister sword.

"I hope your friend can help Shael out. We'll have the lower-levels surrounding the Academy-grounds cleared and secured as best we can. Then the fighting will really begin." The Sergeant raised his fist overhead and the sniper and sappers smoothly rappelled down from their positions and rejoined the rest of their unit.

"You. Knew." Bujilli felt a momentary shock. He had blunted their spell before it could reach Shael. He was almost certain of it.

"Thank your friend Putney. He told me you lot might be coming this way, before he went hunting with his little friends." The Sergeant grinned broadly. It was anything but a comforting gesture. He turned back and began bawling out fresh orders. The lamps clicked off. The patrol was gone.

"Ahem." A thin-limbed woman in splotchy-gray leather scowled at them in obvious distaste.

"You're Jovin then?" Bujilli extended his hand. She snorted in disdain, turned and started trotting along the bridge with nary a sound to betray her passage.

"Not terribly talkative." Leeja shook her head; "but at least she can lead us to where we need to go."

"Only if we get moving." Bujilli motioned to the constructs and they got moving again. Every step crunching in grit, scraping against the old, pitted metal...they sounded like a noisy procession of drunken clowns compared to Jovin's silent movement.

The bridge ended in a fortified abutment. Sewer Militia sappers and combat engineers were busily repairing and upgrading the emplacement. Bujilli was curious, but didn't dawdle. Jovin didn't seem like the sort who would take kindly to any delays in her rejoining her unit.

Shael moaned. Even with the stretcher-bearer drones she had been jostled and bounded around quite a bit. He hoped she wouldn't suffer too much more before they finally reached Idvard's Keep.

Jovin led them along a well-trod military road set with harshly-faceted concrete pylons and other defensive structures, most of which he couldn't get a clear look at even when he slowed down. He almost stopped, but Jovin was getting too far ahead of them and he did not want to run afoul of another patrol.

They turned off of the main road. Jovin led them across three smaller bridges in quick succession, each one set-up to rotate away from their moorings and thus serve as a make-shift firing-platform/fortress as needed. The second one showed signs of having been shot-up pretty badly in the past and another detachment of sappers were busily making repairs. She turned a corner and they hustled to catch up before she got too far ahead and they lost her.

She was waiting for them at the arched opening to a huge, squarish shaft. The path led around either side of the yawning gulf that faintly echoed with distant voices and machinery. The air was cool and humid.

"Watch your step. It gets slippery around here."

She headed off along the left-hand side. The path here was a series of small, rectangular platforms, each one hinged and set to drop on command in any sequence or order or all at once. A huge raft-like pallet was being lowered on stout chains by some sort of derrick or crane mounted overhead. Another group of people trotted along the opposite side of the shaft. At least half their number were Morlocks. The one in the rear carried a heavy lime-caster. Nasty stuff.

Jovin snapped-on a gleaming-orange lumostick and led them along a series of inter-connected tunnels, some of which were tiled or had brick walls. A ramp slanted upwards and they crossed over a drainage channel, part of the storm sewer system. They passed through a couple of round, juncture-chambers set with heavy valves and hatches. Then Jovin halted beneath a round spot marked-off with green paint.

"The elevator will be along in a minute. Take it to the surface station. Three floors up from here. Take the left exit. You should recognize the neighborhood, but just in case, half-way down the block on your right is the door you want. Think you can manage?"

"Yes. Thank you. We apprec--"

"Save it. Just following orders. I've got to get back right away--our other Pathfinder is wounded and I need to round-up a medic to take back with me." She slipped back down the ramp and was gone.

"I wish I could move that quietly." Leeja watched Jovin make her way down the ramp.

"Something tells me she's had a lot more practice than either of us." Bujilli could hear the dull whine of the elevator descending. He motioned for the drones to get over to one side, so there'd be room for whomever was coming down on the thing. They were close to their destination now. No sense getting bogged-down in some pointless hassle with another patrol or some more Morlocks.

The elevator crunched into place. It was empty. They got on-board the thing and Leeja pushed the button next to the little graphic depicting what she thought was a surface street. The other options looked like rail-roads, unterrail or some sort of sewer or maintenance passageway. In any case it was the topmost option, three spots over the one marked with a green circle like the paint on the floor.

Chains clanked. The cables hummed. They passed a platform where half a dozen people waited for one of the few subterranean trains still in-service; passed a very dark and cold level; passed a noisy concrete channel where a work-crew was removing obstructing debris that had caused the dark waters to back-up dangerously. The work-crews were yelling and hammering and dragging and making quite a racket as they struggled to forestall a flood. Then the elevator clanked into place. A smaller platform or station than the one they had passed below. The left exit was less than thirty feet from the elevator.

The door leading out to the street-level was rusted shut but they got it open with a little effort.

It was dark. The crescent moon overhead with only a few fluffy clouds. There were no lights along this stretch of street, though they could see the hazy yellowish-glow of sodium-lamps off to the left on the other side of a cross-street. The nearest street-lamp to the right was at least two blocks away and seemed to flicker as though it was damaged or faulty.

"Yes. This looks right." Leeja led the way. She recognized some of the boarded-over shops near them.

Bujilli led the drones out. Shael seemed to be sleeping; her breathing was deep and even, a good sign.

"It isn't far at all."

Then the sling-stones began to fall like hail.

One of the fighting drones squealed as its head cracked-open from an egg-shaped rock striking it.

One of the stretcher-bearers stepped into the jaws of a trap set near the door. It nearly sheared-off the thing's leg and it stood there until three stones hit it in rapid succession. Bujilli barely grabbed the stretcher in time to keep it from slamming to the ground. He lowered it and drew out his hand-axe.

Another stone struck Bujilli in the shoulder. Hard. He started to form a Shield spell when a stone struck him in the head.

He fell.

Leeja hissed in anger. Leaped over his body.

Something wet spattered on his back and arm. All he knew for sure was that it was not his blood. Then he was alone in the dark except for the screaming. Something hot was pressing into his chest--


What should Bujilli & Leeja do next?

You Decide!




Synchronocitor Status: Full Recharge in 1 hour.


What should they do now?

First we need to Roll for Initiative (1d6 each): 1) Bujilli [-3], 2) Leeja [-2], 3) The Feral Children [+4: It's their ambush after all]. (as per LL p. 50)

A Reaction Roll (2d6) might come in handy. (as per P. 52) Be aware that a really bad score on this will mean that the group in question may well recognize Bujilli & Leeja from before, perhaps some of them were present at the Film Repository or heard the story from one of the survivors.

Six or seven d20 rolls will get the violence addressed, for the most part. Bujilli has now taken 5 points of damage. He was slightly stunned but can still move, attack or carry the stretcher once his turn comes around. One fighting drone is ruined (natural 20!) the other one is automatically defending Bujilli's flank and will continue to act as an ambulatory shield until given new orders. One stretcher-bearer drone is down to one leg, the other one remains in pristine condition, for now. Shael is unconscious and so far oblivious to the situation.

We need to determine how many Feral Children are involved. That would be 3d6+3. There is also a 30% chance of there being a Cuckoo in their midst, most likely as their leader.

Once all that is taken care of...what should Bujilli and his companions do next?

Should Bujilli check out the hot-thing pressing into his flesh or ignore it since he has people lobbing stones at his head at the moment?

Would you like for them to go on the offensive? Unleash a few spells? Rush the nearest slingers? Or should they consider using the drones as a distraction and make a break for the entrance to Idvard's old place--keep in mind that they'll still need to make it up a few flights of stairs to reach the Weak Point. But maybe Idvard has a sentry on-duty and they can request some assistance?

Do you have a better idea or suggestion?

Feel free to ask questions or to discuss the situation. I'll do my best to respond to comments in a timely manner.

Let me know what you think they ought to do in the comments below, or via email and we'll resume things next week!

What do they do next?
You Decide!

Previous                            Next

Series Indexes
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six  |  Seven


About Bujilli (What is This?) | Who is Bujilli? | How to Play

Bujilli's Spells | Little Brown Journals | Loot Tally | House Rules

Episode Guides
Series One (Episodes 1-19)
Series Two (Episode 20-36)
Series Three (Episodes 37-49)
Series Four (Episodes 50-68)
Series Five (Episodes 69-99)
Series Six(Episodes 100 - 111)
Series Seven (112 - ongoing)

Labyrinth Lord   |   Advanced Edition Companion

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Bujilli: Cast of Characters


Bujilli has met quite a number of different people over the course of his adventures. Below you'll find a brief biographical sketch of the most significant characters that have shown up so far...I shall do my best to keep this all up-to-date as best I can. If you spot a glaring omission or error, please feel free to let me know in the comments or via email. Thanks!



Cast of Characters


Bujilli
He has his own Character Sheet.
There's also a rough bio of Bujilli: Who is Bujilli?
An unwanted half-breed child raised by his unscrupulous maternal Uncle, Bujilli began life by being used as bait--lowered in a rickety basket to distract centipedes and other things away from slightly older children who were sent down into dark places in search of shiny-bits and treasures. Despite the conniving, the lying and the scheming of his treacherous uncle, Bujilli survived, even thrived after a fashion, until finally he was old enough, strong enough, and clever enough to escape...with a little help from a strange green gem he had taken from an already mostly-looted tomb. Quite a lot has changed since those early days....

Leeja
First Appeared in Episode 27
An unsanctioned outcast from Aman Utal, Leeja has become Bujilli's trusted partner, the one person he really does trust. Her nature is not entirely human, having more than a passing touch of Deep Dendo in her blood and bones...she has writhing white tendril-like hair and shimmering gold-green eyes that resemble those of her mother...
She has her own Character sheet.



Secondary Characters...in alphabetical order


Bathurst
We have only heard of him in passing.
No one knows what he looks like. All anyone knows is that he may or may not have something to do with a wide variety of mysterious disappearances, making his reputation as sinister as it is mysterious. He has also taken an interest in Niobe and may have recruited her to his service...

Bortho
First Appeared in Episode 40
We do not know very much about Bortho or his folk, other than they are descended from a group of survivors on an Adjacent World that fell into ruins in the course of a global bombardment by massive blocks of stone, possibly of lunar or asteroidal origin. Bortho and his kin have exhibited an instinctive time-slip ability, allowing them to move forward in time to a limited extent, most often when under duress. They have accepted a contract to explore the underworld regions beneath Idvard's Keep.

Counsel
First Appeared in Episode 18
A machine-spirit, possibly a Thinking Machine, imprinted upon Bujilli's bones. Counsel is part of his inheritance as a human being as recognized by the ancient Transveyance Mechanism beneath Zormur's Palace. Counsel has been helpful at times, but rarely interferes unless specifically asked or ordered to take particular actions. Bujilli has yet to fully understand just what Counsel is and what it might be capable of doing...

Mistress Eberhard (Beatrice)
First Appeared in Episode 22
Mistress of the Arenas, Chief Administrator of the Entrance Exams for the Academy at Wermspittle; Beatrice Eberhard has had quite enough of being manipulated by those who cling to the shadows. But she is not the type to waste energy on getting angry...not when she can strike back...and can she ever strike back!

Gem of Muktra
First Appeared in Episode 1
Last Seen in Episode 
Bujilli discovered this strange gem while exploring a passage leading from the Cave of Centipedes to a series of tombs dug into the sheer face of a sheer cliff overlooking the valley of xxx. The Gem whispered to the young half-almas and taught him a few spells, in order to prepare him to go to a place it called Zalchis...

Gnosiomandus
First Appeared in Episode 19
Bujilli (and Leeja's) one-time mentor and sponsor at the Academy in Wermspittle, Gnosiomandus has left the city and is currently making his way through the Kalaramar Drifts. Gnosiomandus was the focus of a story at Burrst, and will be featured in a serial at another site in the near future. He has hired-on two familiar travelling companions to accompany him on his trek through the Ten Thousand Plateaus and beyond...

Gudrun
First Appeared in Episode 21 (as the Crying Girl)
The daughter of an Antiquarian with a mysterious past, Gudrun was manipulated into attacking Bujilli by her one-time mentor's simulacra (Not-Sprague). Once freed of the psychic manipulation by the impostor, Gudrun found herself facing-off against Sharisse (See: Of A Feather), however in the course of their battle the two managed to sort out a few things and have since become fast friends and stalwart companions. Gudrun has disappeared from Wermspittle. Perhaps she has gone off on an adventure with Sharisse?

Hedrard
First Appeared in Episode 23
One of Bujilli's earliest friends and supporters, she is an ancient hag with ties and links to the Midwives, Seamstresses, Blau Engels, Gardeners, Strixin, and other factions. The Chief Administrator of the Living Collections, Menageries and Bestiaries, Hedrard has several serious rivals and enemies among the Conservators and the Chiefs of the Medical School who have always insisted upon their independence from the rest of the Academy. Hedrard was recently Imprisoned within the Gormenstille of New Chillon; Bujilli and Leeja have gone there to rescue Hedrard and Lemuel...

Idvard
First Appeared in Episode 37
A Triloo Librarian who maintains an exclusive private library they have collected and assembled by looting the ruins and sifting the wreckage of book-shops, libraries, and private collections abandoned in the wake of the bombings, the riots, and the Second Occupation. Idvard has claimed a defunct Keep accessible via a weak Point located in an attic where he used to keep all his books. He has become the guide and protector of Borthos' people who have only just begun to explore the depths below Idvard's Keep in earnest. He has a contract with Bujilli and Leeja and considers them both to be very valuable assets. Triloo do not use the word 'friend,' except ironically.

Lemuel
First Appeared in Episode 21
Has gone on his own solo adventure into the depths of the Gormenstille
Lemuel was a naughty boy fresh off of a low-land farm, belly full of Hard Candy and his head full of bad advice from his cousins when he attacked Bujilli on first sight in order to better his placing in the Entrance Exams. Bujilli defeated the boy, then saved him at great personal peril. If it can be considered that...as Lemuel was irrevocably transformed into a vaguely humanoid gellid mass by his massive overdose of Hard Candy. Hedrard crafted a werm-hide truss to help the boy retain his humanoid form and he has gone on to serve as an apprentice to the Keeper of Atrocities...
Due to their having somewhat shared the deep transformation brought on by the White Powder derived Hard Candy, Lemuel has a deep psychic bond with Bujilli, which he rarely uses, except in direst need...

Lyhydris
First Appeared in Episode 66
Bujilli's father...a malevolent sorcerer from Tsan Yian...you just know this guy is going to return one of these days, probably at the worst possible moment...

Middle-Sized Bear
First Appeared in Episode 93
A very well-educated and quite wise bear who seems to have a lot of connections and a good reputation as a scholar despite never having set foot on the grounds of the Academy...

Morquin
First Appeared in Episode 85
Keeper of the Athenaeum in Wermpsittle, Morquin is a tall, elegant Tsalalian noble who has stood apart from the usual politics of the Academy for most of his time as the Keeper. Shael used Bujilli and Leeja to draw him out from behind his defenses and embroiled him in the recent kerfluffle...but Morquin is no fool and things did not go quite the way Shael expected...

Mama Rudta
First Appeared in Episode 87
An old, one-eyed woman wielding a gnarly-stick who leads a band of Wanderers. She and her followers left the city as of Episode

Mishka
First Appeared in Episode 87
Returned to her people in Episode

Nemo 112811
First Appeared in Episode 101
An Eloi roof-runner...they were last seen fleeing wildly down a dark corridor in the Gormenstille in Episode 107...when their conditioning overcame their desire to escape. We never did find out why they were sent here...

Nemo 22722
First appeared in Episode 101
A Blue-Blooded scion of one of the secret Ignoble lineages of the Gormenstille, she has yet to recover from the emotional shock from having her Iron Mask removed in Episode 102, and cast-off in Episode 106. she ran off screaming into the darkness in Episode 107.

(Kapitain) Nemo 362436
First Appeared in Episode 101
Last Seen in Episode 102
A Nulgarrian cavalry officer, she was swallowed-up by something prowling the outerwalls of the Gormenstille. Her fate has yet to be decided...

Niobe
First Appeared in Episode 47 
Went to see Bathurst in Episode 90
Leeja's sister, Niobe may or may not be on a mission for Bathurst. She originally went after him with violent intentions, but he was expecting her and made her an offer she couldn't easily refuse...

Shael
First Appeared in Episode 57
Last Seen in Episode 98
Former Headmistress of the Academy at Wermspittle, Shael has been horribly punished by the Privy Council who have condemned her to a slow death as her flesh transmutes into cloudy glass. She has left the Academy and taken refuge in one a half-ruined tower at the edge of the Burned Over District where she tortures mirrors and torments reflections trying to find some way to track down the Mirror-Born spy who passed himself off as Sprague...the man who married her then left her once his cover was blown.
She is also Leeja and Niobe's Aunt, and has familial ties to Deep Dendo. She never wanted her nieces to follow her into this place. It breaks her heart to know that she might be in any way responsible for them coming to Wermspittle...

Sharisse
First Met in Episode 31  (though she was part of the group of students trying to assassinate Bujilli in the previous episode...)
Gudrun's constant companion and best friend, Sharisse was released from her thralldom to the Wermic Host by Bujilli in Episodes 32 and 33. Sharisse will never starve again, nor can she be parasitized by the Werms...and she may well possess other capabilities we have yet to see revealed...

Sprague / Not-Sprague
First Appeared in Episode70 (as Not-Sprague)
Really First Appeared in Episode 75.(as Actual-Sprague)
Sprague is now boneless and can only operate physically by virtue of a host of sorcerous and mechanical interventions that are slowly destroying his body. He is a Master Oneirist and is contemplating some rather extreme options for his continued viability and effectiveness, including becoming more of a dream-thing. So far his loyalty and love for Shael has kept him from abandoning his self-destructing flesh. For now.

Not-Sprague has returned to those who sent him into Wermspittle on his mission of sabotage and subterfuge. We still do not know who his masters are, nor what their ultimate plans are...

Ulricht
First Appeared in Episode 112
A Pact-Bound entity who remains adamantly loyal to The Academy. Ulricht appears as a chain-mail armored hunchback astride a War Dodo, both of which are extravagantly plumed. He still recognizes Shael's authority and has decided to buy her some time to heal and gather her forces in order to re-take The Academy from those who would destroy it.

Urmigan
(Has yet to actually appear)
Drone-Maker who supplies Idvard with workers and defenders for his Keep. Idvard arranged for Bujilli to have a set of twenty drones held in reserve for him at Urmigan's shop.

Vushka
First Appeared in Episode 96
Presumed Lost as of Episode 98
Once a bar-maid, Vushka bought-out the old owner of the Grampus-and-Krampus Tavern with her winnings from fighting in Underground Arenas. Large-boned and burly, this sensibly-armored woman is a trusted friend to Leeja, having shared some sort of adventures during Leeja's first year in Wermspittle. Vushka is the person who got Leeja into the Academy, as best as she could, back before she had quite the resources or reputation she has gained since those days. Vushka brought replacement armor to Leeja in Episode 97 before heading out into the streets to go fight the Tripods single-handedly...then in Episode 98 we saw Vushka damage the Resonator-mechanism of the Tripod she was attacking, causing it to fade out...taking her with it to who knows where...

Lady Yushgra
First Appeared in Episode 85
Consort-Protector of Morquin, a scheming Perdu with Ignoble blood and myriad ulterior motives...we have not seen very much of this Lady yet...but she will undoubtedly be very much involved in Shael's efforts to re-rake the Academy...and of course, Yushgra may well have her own agenda and plans in this regard...



The Dead and Deceased, both honored and not so much...


Ahven
First Appeared in Episode
Expired in Episode
A child of the Purple Horde, he and his 'sister' were sent into Wermspittle with orders to assassinate Bujilli. They failed, though Ahven managed to severely poison Leeja with his Purple Exhalation.


Miasmagaster
First Appeared in Episode
Expired while spawning in Episode 
We never learned the stinky things' name, but it did play a mean game of chess.
Miasmagasters are monstrous beings


Triddel
First Appeared in Episode 96
Destroyed in Episode 97
Triddel was a green-toothed bar-maid at the Grampus-and-Krapus Tavern. She was werm-ridden and Bujilli destroyed her with the Purging Green Flames spell in an attempt to release her soul, if not her body from enslavement to the Wermic Host.

Uncle (*)
First Appeared in Episode
Killed in Episode
Bujilli's Uncle forbade him from ever saying his name, fearing it might be used against him. He was killed, but as a sorcerer with an extensive repertoire of pacts, attunements and other resources...one has to wonder if it will stick.


Unfred
First Appeared in Episode 
Dissolved into Loathsome Mass in Episode 
Leeja's former employer at the Beast Pens. Unfred had connections to the Corruption Trade and tried to sell Bujilli to the Butchers while he was suffering from the effects of Salted Shot and inhaled White Powder.




Each Series of Bujilli's Ongoing Adventures is being collected, revised (and slightly expanded) and hopefully will be available very soon.

Series Indexes
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six

Introduction: The Story So Far...

Starting Page  |  Central Index

About Bujilli (What is This?) | Who is Bujilli? | How to Play

Bujilli's Spells | Little Brown Journals | Loot Tally | House Rules

Episode Guides
Series One (Episodes 1-19)
Series Two (Episode 20-36)
Series Three (Episodes 37-49)
Series Four (Episodes 50-68)
Series Five (Episodes 69-99)
Series Six(Episodes 100-ongoing)

Labyrinth Lord   |   Advanced Edition Companion