TOPIC: Savage Worlds - Wolfenstrahd

WOLFENSTRAHD 2 / Session 4 - Part 1

Victor Moonstruck completes his transformation into a savage werebear and lunges for Guy Hades. Guy II grapples the hulking lycanthrope and successfully pile-drives him through the floor. The Barenzerker recovers quickly and retalliates with a blow that breaks most of Guy's ribs. Guy II is incapacitated. Doctor Brack grabs Sophie as a hostage and drags her toward the exit. Veleda conjures a wall of ice to cover their escape, blocking the stairwell. Moments before she completes the barrier, Rex Ossa takes a shot through the rapidly shrinking opening and hits Brack in the neck. The doctor releases his hold on Sophie to apply pressure to the wound.

Dhrall Blood-Drinker hurls an empowered Bolt at the Barenzerker, blowing a huge flaming chunk out of the beast's flank - yet the enormous bear is already healing! Rex loads a literal silver bullet into his sidearm and takes aim at the furry space between the Barenzerker's eyes. Skeletal finger hovering over the trigger, Rex makes a final, desperate bid to get through to Victor - who he knows must still be in there somewhere (Persuasion -4 versus the Barenzerker's Smarts to break through Brack's mental conditioning). Rex's words quell the Barenzerker's rage, and remind Victor that he is more than just a mindless monster.

Cassius is retuning from the zoo when he spies Doctor Brack and Veleda escaping from the lodge. Even at this distance he can smell the blood spurting from the wound in Brack's neck. Commanding Frater II to stay put, Cassius charges into melee. The Hexenkrieger interposes herself between Cassius and the doctor, casting a spell to freeze the dhampir inside a block of solid ice. Cassius is Entangled + Bound. A portal appears and both Dhrall & Rex step through (Tom spent his last Advance to learn two new powers, one of which was Teleport). Rex shoots Brack in the leg to stop him running off. Veleda moves to defend the doctor, the tip of her icy spear tearing a hole in Rex's suit jacket. Rex rolls to persuade the Hexenkrieger that her manufactured loyalty to Brack is a sham, and manages to get through! Veleda freezes the metal cage around her head and shatters the bars, finally free of Nazi control.

Veleda tells Taskforce M that Alistair Crowley is holed up in Hotel Adlon, the swankiest lodgings in all of Germany - or at least, they were. The entire building has been displaced from our reality and now straddles the border between Earth and Hell, simultaneously existing in both planes - and neither. It's confusing. Don't dwell on it. All that's left in Berlin is a smoky/translucent shadow where the hotel once stood.

Dhrall opens a portal for the witches to leave Berlin without slogging though the sewers. Veleda gifts Rex her amulet, enabling him to cast his existing powers with the ice trapping. The party also plunder several other items from the sanctum; a Witch's Broom (fly speed 24"), a Bag of Infinite Toads and a Voodoo Doll.

The monsters catch Victor up on the events of the last five(!) years, and take a well-deserved rest. Taskforce M will continue to use the lodge as their base of operations while in Berlin. Victor hangs back to rest his brain and babysit Doctor Brack.



When the team are ready, Dhrall opens a portal to the demiplane Hotel Adlon has shifted to. They appear in a lavishly appointed foyer bustling with wealthy guests. No-one reacts to the appearance of four armed monsters, which strikes the team as mighty odd. Dhrall rings the bell for service, and an immaculately dressed man sporting a neat pencil moustache appears behind the counter. Dhrall catches the distinctive whiff of brimstone. The man introduces himself as the Manager, and asks the monsters to sign the guest book, gesturing to an elaborate quill and inkpot on the desk. The monsters all sign fake names. The Manager tells them Crowley is staying in the penthouse suite, on the top floor. Unfortunately the lift is out or order, so they will have to take the stairs.

The first floor is crawling with bugs. Rex casually strolls into the corridor and is immediately set upon by hundreds - if not thousands - of biting insects. He casts Blast to clear a path, but the swarm is completely unaffected. Rex backs up, empties a particularly large centipede out of his skull, then uses the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind to fly down the length of the passage. The rest of the team take it in turns to fly across using the Witch's Broom.

The carpet on the second floor is tacky underfoot and quickly turns into sucking mud. Again, the monsters bypass the obstacle via flight.

On the assumption the remaining floors are going to be some kind of skill gauntlet, the monsters force open the elevator doors. The space beyond is less an elevator shaft and more a bottomless pit, that is also very much on fire. Flames belch from the pit and Guy II is injured, despite his innate resistance to fire damage.

On the third floor, the monsters are confronted by their own self doubt and inner demons made manifest. Rex is reminded of how he failed to protect his wife and child from a cabal of wicked sorcerers, who targeted his family for no better reason than to get to him. Cassius recalls living rough on the streets of Florence, a filthy, flea-ridden urchin - before being adopted into the Barbastella clan and given the 'gift' of their cursed blood. Guy II is forced to confront the knowledge he was grown in a lab. Is he even a real person?! Does he have a soul?! Dhrall remembers the dozens of innocent people he slaughtered during his rampage through Ye Olde London Town following the botched ritual that loosed him into the world. He enjoys reminiscing over past glories and revels in the suffering he caused.

On the fourth floor, hateful whispers urge the monsters to turn on each other. Guy II gains the Suspicious hindrance and begins to watch his teammates warily, anticipating their inevitable betrayal.

The fifth floor is straight-up on fire. Cassius steels himself against his fear of open flames, then dashes through. Guy II pulls a door off its hinges and uses it as a fire shield. Everyone gets through the flaming corridor with superficial burns.

The Manager is waiting for them on the sixth floor. He offers to grant their innermost desires if they abandon their mission to reach Crowley. He promises Rex he can reunite him with his dead family. This - it turns out - was the wrong thing to say.

"Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth!" Rex yells, unloading his pistol into the Manager's torso.

The bullets pass through harmlessly in little puffs of sulphurous smoke. Contemptuously, the Manager turns to Dhrall Blood-Drinker.

"I can teach you how to break the church's binding!" he offers.

"I think I've got that covered." Dhrall shrugs. He has an inkling who the Manager really is, and knows making any kind of deal with him is a very bad idea.

Disappointed, The Manager disappears in a cloud of brimstone. Taskforce M ascend to the top floor of Hotel Adlon.

TBC

WOLFENSTRAHD 2 / Session 4 - Part 2

Taskforce M burst into the penthouse, interrupting a party in full swing. A long bar running the length of the suite serves complimentary drinks to dozens of carefree revellers, and a live band is playing the new hit single Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by The Andrews Sisters. The monsters spot Crowley reclining in a jacuzzi with a trio of scantily clad swimwear models, overseeing the bacchanal like a contemporary Dionysus. He is a short, sweaty man with a bad comb-over and a silver pentagram medallion nestled between his hairy moobs. Adam spends a Benny to establish Rex and Crowley are already acquainted from a past case.

"Good lord! Rex!" Crowley exclaims, clambering out of the bubbling tub and pulling on a silk robe, "How long has it been? Whatever happened to your organs, old bean?"

Rex introduces his old frenemy to the rest of Taskforce M. Dhrall takes this opportunity to cast Mind Reading. He rifles through Crowley's memories and witnesses a montage of disjointed events leading up to this moment: Crowley offering his services to King George VI as Royal Magician and being publicly humiliated by rejection > Crowley being recruited by Himmler as Germany's envoy to Hell > Crowley brokering an alliance between Azazel and the German High Command. However, having seen the might and savagery of the demonic host poised to attack Earth, Crowley has come to regret his role in facilitating the invasion. He wants out, but is being held against his will by the Manager - who is really the Greater Demon Mephistopheles!

Taskforce M agree to extract the diabolist in exchange for his help infiltrating Himmler's secret base. The Manager arrives to stop them leaving. He snaps his fingers and the other guests disappear - mere illusions conjured to trap Crowley in a prison of his own vice. That just leaves the hotel staff; the servers are revealed to be incubi (demonic gimps with wicked-sharp blade arms), and the swimwear models as sucubi (dominatrix demons with long whip-like tongues that inflict pain & pleasure in equal measure). The Manager teleports to the DJ's booth and starts playing music from the DOOM (2016) soundtrack (goddamn demons and their contempt for the linear passage of time!).



Dhrall produces the bottle of Sibirskaya he got from Marshal Zhukov and invites the Manager to raise a glass - hoping the Greater Demon will get as sloppy as he did in Week 2. Crowley snatches the proferred tumbler and tips the contents down his gullet. He immediately passes out. Lightweight.

The biggest incubi is armed with a club-like rubber phallus (ribbed for her pleasure), which he swings with wild abandon. Time seems to slow down as the business end slaps Guy II in the face and knocks him prone. Dhrall casts Banish (his other new power) to send the three sucubi back to Hell before they even get to act. Rex uses Veleda's amulet to cast Blast with a wintry trapping; several incubi are impaled by spears of ice emanating from the centre of a medium blast template. The Manager/Mephistopheles seems impervious to all damage, and the monsters suspect he has some specific/pre-determined weakness they have yet to discern.

Taskforce M defeat the demons. The party is over, it's time to leave. Guy II slings the insensible Crowley over his shoulder. With the diabolist out cold, the sorcery sustaining the demiplane begins to unravel. Hotel Adlon is split straight down the middle, one half of the building snaps back to its original location on Earth - the other half is left stranded in Hell. The monsters escape the collapsing building - except for Guy II who is entombed beneath a pile of falling rubble. He is buried alive, incapacitated and bleeding out. Fortunately, Frater II is able to guide the other monsters to where Guy is buried, and the rest of the team dig him out. Dhrall heals Guy II with a burst of blood magic.

The monsters return to White Rose Lodge. Once they manage to sober up Crowley, he should be able to give them the location of the S.S facility.

TBC

WOLFENSTRAHD 2 / Session 5

Guy Hades unceremoniously empties a bucket of cold water over Crowley to rouse the drunk diabolist.

"Where am I?" he splutters indignantly, "Why am I all wet?"

"Somewhere secret," Rex answers mysteriously, "We fulfilled our end of the bargain, now it's your turn."

Crowley reveals the S.S facility/Eldrite refinery is beneath the Reichstag Building in central Berlin (formerly the seat of power of the German parliament, before Hitler had all his political rivals arrested). Unfortunately, the Reichstag is the most heavily guarded location in the city - the monsters would need an army to get through the defences! They will also need an S.S Ehrenring to access the base, and these are only issued to members of the Schutzstaffel who have earned Himmler's personal favour. Conveniently, Taskforce M have a prominent Nazi doctor in their custody, and he is wearing such a ring.

The monsters plan to let the Red Army handle the remnants of the German military entrenched in/around the Reichstag Building - but a direct ground assault will undoubtedly draw the attention of the TitanFuhrer. Taskforce M will have to disable the giant robot for the Russians to stand a chance of victory. Armoured support has arrived - a batallion of T-34 medium tanks fresh of the production lines in Moscow - and Marshal Zhukov is ready to lead his men into glorious battle!



Thus begins the Battle of Berlin. Russian tanks roll through the ruined outskirts, scattering the untried recruits hastily conscripted to defend the Nazi homeland. The German defence grows more resolute as the Red Army advances on the Platz der Republik. As anticipated, the TitanFuhrer lumbers across the city to join the fighting.

Rex sprouts black wings and flies toward the titan, carrying Dhrall Blood-Drinker in his bony arms. Dhrall casts Teleport to blink himself and Rex onto the command deck inside the robot's hollow skull, getting The Drop on the suprised bridge crew. Rex holds a gun to the Commander's head and orders him to power down the TitanFuhrer.

Meanwhile, Guy Hades is flying erratically astride the Witch's Broom, and Cassius is scaling the outside of the mech like the nameless protagonist of Shadow of the Colossus, with Frater II slung across his chest in a modified baby carrier. Dhrall hits a switch on the command deck to pop open a maintenance hatch and let them in. They enter one level below the command deck, which appears to be a gun battery for the devastating Holocaust Cannon. Guy II orders the Nazi engineers out. The weapon continues charging and will explode in d6 rounds if not discharged, but Guy II is too dumb to register his imminent peril. Cassius heads down to the engine room inside the torso.

Warning klaxons screech on the command deck as the Holocaust Canon continues to overheat.

"Will someone do something about that irritating noise?!" Rex implores.

The Commander takes advantage of the distraction to lunge for Rex's gun. Rex shoots him in the face. Dhrall casts Burst, killing the remaining bridge crew and blowing a gaping hole in the side of the TitanFuhrer's head.

"If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself...." Rex grumbles, taking a seat at one of the consoles. The TitanFuhrer's head spins 180' to face the Platz der Republik. Rex fires the Holocaust Cannon, and a concentrated, narrow, and highly controlled beam of coherent light lances out to strike the Reichstag Building. The glass dome atop the building shatters like an egg as the laser slices through the 19th century stonework. Energy coils depleted by the blast, the warning klaxons finally fall silent.

Meanwhile, Cassius reaches the noisome engine room and faces off against burly Nazi engineers and spider-like Spinne Mech designed to assist with maintenance. Several Spinne Mech climb toward the gun battery. Guy II opens fire with his machine gun, then - dismissing the conveniently placed ladder - jumps down the 60ft shaft. He lands badly and shatters both his legs. He is Incapacitated and Bleeding Out. Cassius fights the urge to get down on his hands and knees and lap at the speading puddle like a nasty dog. Rolling his eyes, Dhrall climbs down to the engine room to heal his reckless teammate (Guy survived, but now has a permanent injury to his legs, and gains the Slow hindrance).

Taskforce M has disabled the TitanFuhrer! Everyone gets a Benny! The monsters disembark and head for the smoking ruin of the Reichstag Building. The Red Army controls the Platz der Republik, but Reich Marshall Hermann Goring and his staff are holed up in the German war room. The monsters bust in and negotiate Goring's surrender by threatening to sic Cassius' wolf on his Nazi balls.

The monsters clear the rubble from the entrance to the S.S facility, and use Doctor Brack's S.S Ehrenring to open the hidden door. A lift descends to the underground base. Halfway down, the Germans cut the power. Rex glides down the shaft and slides open the doors. The Nazis have barricaded the lobby and are positioned to ambush anyone exiting the lift. Rex casts Blast to clear the room, then restores power to the elevator.

Taskforce M raid the artifact storage room. Among the crates of esoteric tat they find a magnificent hammer discovered on a S.S expedition to Iceland. Electricity courses though the weapon as Rex tests the weight/balance. Taskforce M have recover Mjolnir, legendary hammer of Thor!

Next stop is the holding cells, where dozens of civilian prisoners exhibit painful growths of Eldrite crystal erupting from their skin. Dhrall knows humans cannot sustain prolonged exposure to Eldrite without being contaminated by its eldritch energy. Cassius tries removing the razor-sharp crystalline tumours by hand, but Dhrall warns that doing so will likely kill the host (not that he cares). The prisoners beg for the sweet release of death. The monsters promise to return after dealing with Himmler.

Continuing on, Taskforce M enter a laboratory where Nazi doctors oversee the transfusion of demon blood into the veins of German soldiers, creating hybrid Damonsoldaten (Demon Soldiers). Dhrall banishes the demonic donors back to Hell. The monsters round up the medical staff and coerce their co-operation treating the prisoners. Cassius leaves Frater II to supervise the operation.

Beyond the lab lies the Eldrite refinery. A conveyor belt carries large chunks of Eldrite ore into the grinding teeth of an industrial rock-crusher. A pale, bookish man with round glasses and an S.S uniform observes the monsters from a control room overlooking the catwalk they entered from. This is Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuhrer of the Schutzstaffel, and architect of the German alliance with the armies of Hell!



Rex draws his pistol and opens fire on the control room. Himmler is protected by a sheet of bullet-proof glass. He smiles condescendingly and reaches for a large, conspicuous lever.

"So you must be the infamous Taskforce M, ja? Thank you for dropping in."

He pulls the lever. The catwalk falls away beneath the monster's feet, dumping them onto the conveyor belt as it trundles inexorably towards the gnashing maw of the rock-crushing apparatus!

TBC

Hi all. No Wolfenstrahd game tonight as my youngest is unwell and I am on Calpol administration duty. Hopefully this is enough notice to pivot to Yu Gi Oh or something. See y'all next week!

WOLFENSTRAHD 2 / Session 6

Having fallen into the clutches of Herr Himmler himself, Taskforce M find themselves in a devious deathtrap. A slow-moving conveyor belt carries large boulders of red stone - and now the monsters also - toward the gnashing maw of an industrial rock grinder. The stone sparkles with veins of orange ore that Rex identifies as unrefined eldrite. Several Damonsoldaten (German soldiers infused with a cocktail of demon blood and eldrite dust) drop down from the catwalk. Himmler spins a dial on the control panel and the conveyor belt speeds up.

"As the Fuhrer once told Eva Braun; I think I have a crush on you. Auf wiedersehen, Taskforce M."

Suddenly, part of the ceiling collapses and reinforcements arrive in the form of Adelia Barbastella (Cassius' psychotic sister) and the disembodied brain of Walter Thiel (now piloting a large robotic suit of power armour). No Tom/Dhrall this week, but Morgan and Ted were without a game so they jumped in to cameo as a couple of former NPCs.

Rex sprouts wings and flies back up to the catwalk. Sparks fly as he wallops a Nazi grunt with Mjolnir. The soldier explodes in a fountain of gore.

"I love this hammer!" Rex cries in delight, not yet thinking of the dry cleaning bill for his blood-splattered suit.

Guy Hades decapitates a Damonsoldaten with a devastating uppercut, and loads the severed head into his rocket launcher. He then grabs an S.S warlock by his robes and tosses the screaming man into the rock crusher for 60+ damage!

Cassius is reunited wirh his baby sister - who is certainly not here to save HIM, thank you very much. The two fight back-to-back against a squad of Nazi grunts.

Walter Thiel approaches the control room and hacks the electronic keypad to gain entry. He is met with a hail of gunfire that leaves his mech-suit badly damaged.

Guy launches the Damonsoldaten head into the control room. The crystalline shards of eldrite sprouting from the skull fragment outwards from the point of impact.

Rex is having trouble with the other door into the control room, until Walter Thiel provides the passcode. The door slides open to reveal Himmler hunkered down behind a console. His guards are writhing on the floor with faces full of eldrite needles from Guy II's exploding skull gambit.

"You're too late!" Himmler crows, "The invasion has already begun! I only regret I will not be there to see it. Heil - "

Rex shoots Himmler in the head before he can finish that sentiment.

The entire base shudders as the Reichstag Building collapses on top of it. The elevator shaft Taskforce M used to enter is now completely blocked by rubble. Cassius checks in with Frater and the S.S doctors, they are using a hand-held laser to carefully destabilize the eldrite tumours growing within the prisoners.

An alarm sounds, and the power/lights goes out. The remaining Damonsoldaten have escaped containment and are now roaming the base, killing indiscriminately. The doctors believe a secret escape hatch can be accessed from Himmler's office, but they must first reach it without being killed by the rampaging hybrids. Adelia turns into a bat and uses echolocation to map the facility and avoid foes.

Himmler's office is well appointed with plush furnishings 'borrowed' from the German chancellery. An immaculately dressed man with a neat pencil moustache is seated behind the desk, smiling beatifically as the monsters enter. He smells old Old Spice and brimstone. Taskforce M last encountered The Manager - or Mephistopheles to use his true identity - whilst rescuing Alistair Crowley from Hotel Adlon, and did not part on friendly terms. However, Mephistopheles at least seems happy to let bygones be bygones.

Mephistopheles admits the deal with Himmler was negotiated without the knowledge/approval of Demon King Baal. Now that alliance is unravelling, it would be preferable if the blame fell on Azazel alone. Mephistophles offers Taskforce M a rare shard of green eldrite to weaken Azazel, so they can destroy him for good. With Azazel out of the picture, nobody in Baal's court will challenge Mephistopheles' version of events.

Rex takes the box containing the green eldrite. Mephistopheles disappears in a puff of acrid smoke. Taskforce M know they cannot trust the trickster demon, but they can at least rely on him to save his own skin, and it is in everyone's best interest to stop Azazel.

The monsters open the secret escape hatch. Walter Thiel's bulky mech-suit is too large to fit, so the monsters detatch his brain case and carry it with them. Upon reaching the surface, they immediately realise something is very wrong. The sky over Berlin is blood red, and the sun is a sullen/bruised shade of purple. Swarms of winged demons fly above the war-torn city, and the armies of Hell spill forth from a gaping rift between the columns of the Brandenburg Gate.



Taskforce M prepare for a Mass Battle (using the Mass Battle rules in SWADE). Guy II rallies the Red Army to face this new, otherwordly threat. Cassius calls upon the vampire mafia for reinforcements. While nobody wants to team up with the Nazis, Adelia convinces the less fanatical German conscripts to defend their city, framing herself as a Joan of Arc-esque figurehead who will lead them to victory (lead them to their deaths more likely, but they don't need to know that). Walter Thiel interfaces directly with the TitanFuhrer, turning the giant mech into an instrument of the monster's will. Rex tries to modify the Holocaust Cannon to draw power from the shard of green eldrite - creating a demon-killing super weapon - but the infernal crystal is incompatible with human tech.

The battle begins! TitanWalter breaks huge chunks of masonary off the nearby buildings to throw at the demonic host. Rex leans out of the hole in the mech's head to hurl spells at the winged devils filling the crimson skies. Guy II hitches a ride on a Russian tank and guns down countless demons with a mounted machine gun. Thousands of rats boil out of the sewers as the Rattenkonig joins the battle. A portal opens and Matron Veleda leads the Daughters of the White Rose into the fray, supported by treants from the Black Forest. The Ents are going to war!

Aided by their reinforcements, Taskforce M push toward the Brandenburg Gate. More demons continue to pour out of the open portal, a seemingless endless number. There is no sign of Azazel - or the power source maintaining the rift. Rex believes they must both be on the other side of the gate - in Hell! TitanWalter discharges the Holocaust Cannon, creating a momentary opening for the monsters to reach the portal. Without a moments hesitation, Taskforce M charge forward through the rift!

TBC

WOLFENSTRAHD 2 / Session 7 (Finale)

When last we left our monstrous heroes, they had just charged though a portal to the demon-blasted realm of Tartarus. The team are deposited in an arid wasteland of blood-red sand, rent asunder by chasms of bubbling magma. An army of devils numbering in the thousands converges on the gateway to Earth, surrounding the monsters on all sides. The black spire of Azazel's fortress rises beyond the teeming horde. Dhrall Blood-Drinker casts Greater Teleport to shift the team closer to that grim edifice without having to fight a single demon.



Azazel's fortress stands upon a rocky outcrop surrounded by a lake of lava. Vast chains anchor the structure to the surrounding cliffs, the links glowing red hot. A great fiery eye floats above the fortress, it's baleful gaze fixed upon the frontlines of the invasion.

The bridge across the fiery lake is a heavy stone block chained to the shoulders of a primordial giant, barely able to keep his head above the lava under the vast weight of its burden. This is Cronus, imprisoned by the Demon King Baal millenia ago for attempting to usurp the throne of Hell. The bridge is currently positioned to prevent access to the fortress. Rex offers to release the Titan if he rotates the bridge so the team can cross. Dhrall thinks this is a very bad idea. Cronus scoffs; the chains binding him to the stone were forged by Belphegor and can only be sundered by a weapon of god-like potency. Being a skeleton, Rex doesn't have eyebrows - but if he had, he would have raised one sardonically as he brandishes Mjolnir, legendary hammer of Thor.

"Aye, that could work." Cronus admits.

Guy Hades II notices movement on the battlements. A squad of demon soldiers launch a flaming boulder from a trebuchet atop the walls. The fiery projectile arcs over the bridge towards the party.

"Don't worry," Dhrall says, unconcerned, "Their aim is terrible."

The rest of the team hurl themselves clear as the rock falls unerringly toward the gnarled diabolist.

"Huh." Dhrall grunts, "I guess they've been practising."

With a sickening crunch, Dhrall is pulverized into a wet, red smear along the ground as the boulder crashes down on top of him, and eventually rolls to a stop some hundred feet away.

RIP DHRALL BLOOD-DRINKER

Rex takes to the sky and drops an ice blast on the demon soldiers on the ramparts. Guy II aims his bazooka at the trebuchet, hoping to destroy the weapon before it fires again. He misses. Mounted on the witch's broomstick, Cassius flies up to engage the demon soldiers. The disembodied brain of Walter Thiel (replacement PC for Tom - back in a smaller suit of power armour) joins the fray, launching a barrage of heat-seeking missiles to destroy the trebuchet and crew.

Giant hellbats awkwardly carrying cauldrons overflowing with magma release their fiery payload over the monsters. Guy II is Incapacitated, his already injured legs near burnt away to nothing. (Guy's pace is now effectively zero).



Cronus finishes rotating the bridge. Taskforce M stagger toward the fortress. The gates burst open and Warlord Azazel marches out to meet them. The General of Hell's armies looms over the monsters, three golden eyes blazing in an otherwise featureless face. Three of his four hands wield over-sized weapons, the fourth is a mangled stump missing several fingers from when he lost them in Week #1. Though Azazel has no discernable mouth, his voice batters the monsters like the roar of cannon-fire.

"THE SHEER FUCKING HUBRIS! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST WALTZ IN HERE AND CHALLENGE ME IN MY OWN DEMESNE?!"

Rex unveils the shard of green eldrite the team got from Mephistopheles. Azazel is Fatigued and unable to soak damage while exposed to the shard's vile luster. Being half demon, Guy II also feels somewhat nauseated by the green eldrite. Taskforce M whale on Azazel with everything they've got!

Ordinarily, a solo boss encounter versus a team of PCs is screwed over by the action economy - which is why I introduced homebrew Boss Retalliation rules (similar to legendary actions in D&D, or special actions in Outgunned)!

Every time the PCs inflict a wound on Azazel, he immediately retalliates from a pre-determined list of actions, usually triggering some kind of save from the heroes. For example, upon suffering his first wound; Azazel roars in fury/disbelief, all heroes must roll a success on Vigor or be Shaken by the Warlord's savagery.

The fight continues. Azazel snatches Rex out of the air and tries to crush him and the eldrite shard into dust. From where is propped up, Guy II blasts off a few more of the Warlord's fingers, enabling Rex to extract himself from the grapple.

Azazel summons a squad of demon soldiers from inside the fortress. Cassius throws a bandolier of three live grenades toward them, rolls snake-eyes on his Athletics die, and somehow manages to blow himself up instead.

After taking his penultimate wound, Azazel calls down a ruinous storm of eldritch lightning to smite the monsters. Rex raises Mjolnir and absorbs the fury of the tempest into the hammer - then unleashes that power in a devastating strike that punches a hole clean through Azazel's chest! Unable to regenerate whilst exposed to the sickly glow of green eldrite, the General of Hell's armies is defeated! Azazel totters backwards, falling over the side of the bridge into the lake of magma. The monsters gather at the edge to see if he's gonna' do the obligatory 'thumbs up as he sinks into the lava', but he does not.

As promised, Rex uses Mjolnir to break the chains binding Cronus to the bridge.

"Free at last!" the Titan cheers, "Free to pursue my bloody vengeance!"

"I'm sure that will be fine and have no future repercussions for us." Rex says assuredly, as Cronus stomps across the hellish landscape.

Taskforce M (what's left of it) enter the fortress. Two dozen diminutive hellpriests (imagine Jawas, but with glowing red eyes) channel energy into a ritual maintaining the portal to Earth. Rex snaps his fingers (Blast), disrupting the incantation. The surviving Hellpriests scamper around in an adorable panic as the ritual unravels around them.

The portal is closing (Dramatic Task to reach the gate before it is sealed)! Each monster must accumulate 4 successes over 3 rounds, or be trapped in Hell!

Rex organises an ordely exodus. Cassius drop-kicks a hellpriest through a window to create an exit. Walter Thiel cradles Guy II in his strong robot arms and powers up his jetpack. Cassius + Frater escape on the broomstick. The fiery eye atop the fortress swivels round to track their trajectory, charging a powerful beam attack to shoot them out of the sky! Rex casts Barrier to blind the eye and protect his comrades.

Walter & Guy are nearing the portal when the jetpack runs out of juice. They crash down some distance shy of their target, surrounded by the demons milling around the deteriorating portal. Walter's mech suit is damaged in the impact and unable to move. Guy II ejects the braincase and lobs it through the rift.

"Thank-you for sacrificing your own compromised meat sack to preserve my invaluable intellect for future generations!" Walter cries as he sails through the air, "You're making the right decision!"

Unable to reach the portal himself, Guy slumps against the frame of Walter's inoperable mech suit, resigned to take out as many demons as he can before being overwhelmed by their greater numbers. Rex sees Guy II alone, surrounded by enemies. Despite having a clear path to the rift, he swerves to fight alongside his friend. Cassius dithers, unable to decide if he should stay too, or return to Earth. Rex makes the decision for him, buffeting the dhampir through the portal with the draft from his powerful wings moments before it closes for good.

"You had better come back for us!"

EPILOGUE

The portal to Hell is sealed. The demon army has been defeated, and Warlord Azazel permanently destroyed, but at what cost? Dhrall Blood-Drinker is straight up dead, and both Rex Ossa and Guy Hades II are stranded in Tartarus. Only Cassius + Frater (and the disembodied brain of Walter Thiel) made it out.

Allied Forces and the Red Army share out control of Berlin like they're cutting up a birthday cake. Marshal Zhukov is named a Hero of the Soviet Union and gets another medal to pin to his uniform. Vatican mercs parachute into Berlin to suppress the spread of esoteric lore collected by the S.S. Doctor Josef Brack catches a long overdue bullet to the head. Victor Moonstruck opts to stay dead and hikes across the lonely fjords of Eastern Europe where he cannot hurt anyone else. Alistair Crowley also takes this opportunity to slip away unremarked. The Daughters of the White Rose return to the Black Forest, except for Sophie Scholer who joins Taskforce M as the team's new potion specialist.

Cassius returns to Rome to debrief his Vatican handlers. Cardinal Gunn congratulates him on a job well done. It's a shame about the rest of his team, but they knew the risks, and some losses are to be expected in an operation of this magnitude. Plus, they can just defrost another Guy clone anytime they want. Cassius seeks authorisation to lead a rescue mission to save his missing comrades. Gunn denies his request; the risk of further weakening the barrier between Earth and Hell far outweighs the benefit are recovering two damned souls.

Cassius delivers his resignation from Taskforce M. If the Vatican won't help him get his friends back, he'll find someone else who will.

"You can't quit!" Cardinal Gunn blusters, "Do you think we're just going to let you walk out of here?"

"Try and stop me."

Sometime later, Cassius emerges from the dungeons beneath the Holy City. Adelia is idling nearby in Rex's new Bentley. Cassius slips into the passenger seat beside his sister.

"Where to?" she asks, revving the engine.

"Home. We're going to visit Mother."

TBC... in 2027

Taskforce M will return

in WOLFENSTRAHD 3: Guilty as SIN

(It's a shame we didn't get around to doing the assault on the Fuhrerbunker. I had it all planned out, but we ran out of time cos' we missed a week midway through the rotation. Maybe we can squeeze it in in the odd weeks/no man's land before Christmas.)