Post Apocalyptic Mars Actual Play - Rumble At The Temple Of Apollo

The temple of Apollo has been the center of healing & health for the war torn city state within my game. Apollo is a relative new comer to the face of Mars & his temple has been hard hit by the recent skirmishes with the Sarmak & though them the tripods.  Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more.
The characters have been healing up from their encounter with the gas spores last game. The bard was the hardest hit & took more then a week to heal up. 

The temple has been sheltering the characters & giving them the medical attention that they needed. 

That all changed tonight! 

A clan of Desert Orcs has been asking around about the party after they stumbled upon the Ruins of Char'realra. You can read about that right Here
 The temple was desperately trying to recover more staffs of healing from the ruins. In the last 100 years  before the destruction of the Dwarven colony there was cooperation between the Dwarfs  & the temple after on of their priestesses healed the clan leader of the Dwarfs. Within the temple itself is a carved alter of Dwarven manufacture. A gift to the temple in better times. The colony contains a pool of power which will recharge any magic item placed within the skull power that floats above the pool. 

The clan had taken the colony & had tracked the party back to the city state. These orcs were in the employ of the Sarmak & though them the Endorrians. The Desert Chal'a (The Venomous Ones) were using hover bikes & after a lengthy fight with the party they brought out their wizards.
The trio of wizards were using a nasty magic item called the Crystal of Spun Destiny.

The Crystal Of Spun Destiny 



This item of ancient Mars is seldom seen but was once common to the Dead Sea bottom cultures. This item allows a magic user or psionist to bound their life essence together as a group of three. The users will gain +2 on all damage spells effects done to the targets as the crystal acts as a micro planar lens to the macro planar energies of the target.
The down side to this item is that all of the psionic energies of the target are magnified as well. The lens will expand any spell effects or psionics used by the caster! Holes can be torn in the local space time continuum allowing all manor of creatures & effects to come through the breach in time & space.
In the ancient past these items were believed to have been used to power or control space gates & planar engines of incredible power. Many retain the thoughts, life essences & breath of those ancient Barsoomians
There is a 45 % chance of possession by these life forces of the ancient past each time the crystals are used. Unless a save versus death is made. 





The party managed to roll a natural 20 on an attack on one of the wizards of the orcs! He had been in the middle of casting Cloud kill. The crystal magnified this effect & the wizard's body was ripped to shreds as the effects of the spell took hold! 
City blocks were filled with poison gas as the magic of the crystal began to tear the molecules of the wizard



The party left town with the rest of the clan in hot pursuit! They managed to lose them within the mountain trails from last game after several long extended drive rolls.. Seemingly a strange dark alien figure on a hover bike watched the proceedings with interest. The dwarf cleric caught sight of  him/it. Its dead dark eyes staring into his soul.





The Temple Of Apollo 


There were favors asked & artifacts to be recovered from the very ruins of the Dwarven colony that the party stumbled upon last game. The orcs mysteriously melted away & their dead recovered by the clan just as the Red Amazon warriors of the temple appeared!
They're after the characters & the temple cleaned up & began the process of healing the locals from the gas attack. 
Apollo himself was the god of light and of music, but in popular religion he had a strong function to keep away evil. Any orcs left behind were killed without mercy by the Amazons 



They have no idea what became of the party. They were forced to flee down several streets seemingly to keep ahead of the cloud of poisoned gas!
Now the ruins of Ruins of Char'realra 
await with a blue Dragon, an orc clan, & endless tracks of wasteland! 

What the Players Don't Know 


The temple of Apollo is tracking them & was able to contain the planar rip by means of divine help. They are also tracking the party by means of their prophetesses

 For now the ruins of Ruins of Char'realra await them!