July 27, 2026

Reptoids Under Pittsburgh 11

Session 11: Secrets from the Deep

Posted by The Game Master | Category: Campaign Playthrough

The pinned Alpha beast growled, a low, vibration that rattled Danny's teeth. Thousands of pounds of industrial metal kept it securely glued to the warehouse floor, but its tail still thrashed weakly. While Uncle Morty’s crew scrambled around the warehouse to prepare for a deep-tunnel breach, Danny and Sally walked right up to the monster's snapping jaws.

Danny drew his new surplus pistol and held it dead center between the creature's yellow eyes. “Give us a reason, gecko,” Danny warned, his grip steady. Sally knelt down safely out of reach of its teeth, her fingers sweeping across the creature’s rubbery hide. She wasn't just guessing—she noticed something artificial fused right into its thick leather collar.

🎲 Sally's Tactical Extraction Check (Level 1 Intellect Check - 3d6)

Target: Sally's Intellect (IT) is 12. She needs to decipher the bizarre subterranean device attached to the beast to pinpoint the hive's staging area.

The Dice: [1] + [4] + [3] = 8

Modifiers: Sally applies her Notice Details (Lv1) talent, letting her subtract 1 from the total.

Final Total: 8 - 1 = 7

Result: 7 is an incredible roll, well below 12. CRITICAL SUCCESS!

Experience Gained: Target (12) - Final Roll (7) = 5 EP earned for Sally (Current Total: 16 EP).

With a satisfying click, Sally pried open a crude, brass-cased compass-like tracking apparatus bolted directly into the beast's scales. Inside wasn't a standard magnetic needle, but a pressurized fluid vial that pointed directly toward a specific subterranean junction. “This is it!” Sally gasped. “It tracks the pressure differentials in the water main. It’s pointing right toward the forgotten service hatch beneath the 31st Street Bridge. That's their direct backdoor into the power substation grid!”

While Sally mapped the exact route, Uncle Morty thudded a heavy wooden footlocker onto the hood of the van. Inside lay the real hardware—heavy tactical options for a final push into the darkness.

“If you're going into their nest, you're going loaded,” Morty grunted, spinning the combination dial. “Carl, give the boy the backup 12-gauge. Sally, take these fragments. We don't come home without winning this.”

💥 The Armory Unlock & Final Gear Prep

While the team uncovers the location, Morty unlocks his premium stash. Danny and Sally pool their remaining $30 cash and trade in some favor tokens to maximize their firepower:

Danny's Weapon Upgrade: Swaps his small blade for Carl's Shotgun (Damage: 3d6 at Close Range, a massive upgrade for tunnel fighting!).
Sally's Special Inventory: Receives 2 Homemade Pipe Grenades from Morty's locker (Damage: 4d6 explosive radius, perfect for clearing tight tunnel corridors).

Brenda slung her hunting rifle over her shoulder and checked the battery on her tactical headlamp. “The water grid is already fluctuating on the radio. If we don't drop down into that hatch and seal the primary main within the hour, Pittsburgh is going dark permanently.”

Danny pumped his shotgun with a satisfying, metallic click, locking eyes with Sally. The preparation was finished. They had the target, they had the heavy artillery, and the sewers were waiting.

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July 26, 2026

Reptoids Under Pittsburgh 10

Session 10: Shock and Awe

Posted by The Game Master | Category: Campaign Playthrough

The nine-foot Alpha behemoth lunged into the warehouse, its massive black-scaled frame shaking the concrete foundations. Behind it, a sea of glowing yellow eyes rushed through the blown floor drain. Water from the underground rivers began to flood the floor, swirling around the boots of the defenders. They were vastly outnumbered. Survival required splitting up and executing two desperate plans at once.

“Danny, lead that giant thing into the loading bay! I'm going for the high-voltage breaker panel!” Sally screamed over the deafening roars. Utilizing her athletic flexibility, she took a running leap onto a stack of steel drums, pulling herself up toward the exposed conduits lining the warehouse wall.

Danny drew his freshly oiled surplus pistol. He fired two loud warning shots into the ceiling, the muzzle flashes illuminating his terrified but determined face. “Hey, ugly! Over here!” he bellowed, backing up rapidly into the narrow loading bay where a heavy, three-ton motorized forklift stood parked under a raised crate crane.

🎲 Sally's High-Wire Grid Hack (Level 1 Skill Check - 3d6)

Target: Sally's Skill (SK) is 13. She needs to leap across the scaffolding and safely rewire the 220V breaker line into the flooded water below without frying herself.

The Dice: [4] + [3] + [2] = 9

Modifiers: Sally applies her Gymnastics (Lv1) talent to navigate the high pipes effortlessly, letting her subtract 1 from the total.

Final Total: 9 - 1 = 8

Result: 8 is well under 13. SUCCESS! She tears open the panel and drops the live wires into the rising tide.

Experience Gained: Target (13) - Final Roll (8) = 5 EP earned for Sally.

A blinding blue arc of electrical energy detonated as the live high-voltage cables slapped into the ankle-deep water. The current tore through the room instantly. The smaller Reptoid scouts, standing directly in the wet pooling water, let out simultaneous, high-pitched shrieks as hundreds of volts convulsed through their bodies, knocking them completely unconscious or sending them scurrying back down into the depths.

But the nine-foot Alpha was too insulated by its thick, rubbery black hide. It barely flinched, its furious yellow eyes locked entirely onto Danny as it thundered down the loading bay corridor. Danny reached the forklift controls just as the behemoth bared its massive rows of fangs.

🎲 Danny's Forklift Trap (Level 1 Intellect Check - 3d6)

Target: Danny's updated Intellect (IT) is 10. He must time the release of the massive crane load perfectly to crush the fast-moving Alpha.

The Dice: [2] + [2] + [4] = 8

Result: 8 is less than 10. SUCCESS! He pulls the lever at the exact microsecond required!

Experience Gained: Target (10) - Roll (8) = 2 EP earned for Danny.

Danny pulled the emergency release handle. With a mechanical snap, a massive, steel-strapped crate filled with obsolete mill gears plummeted from the ceiling crane. It crashed with absolute, devastating precision directly onto the Alpha Reptoid's back, pinning the howling monster flat against the concrete floor under thousands of pounds of industrial metal.

The warehouse fell dead silent save for the hum of fried circuits and the agonized, muffled wheezing of the trapped beast. Danny and Sally locked eyes across the room, panting heavily. They had broken the vanguard—but the core of the hive was still pulsating below the city, and they had little time left to stop it.

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July 25, 2026

Reptoids Under Pittsburgh 9

Session 9: The Calm Before the Swarm

Posted by The Game Master | Category: Campaign Playthrough

With only a precious few minutes before the heavy scratching inside the floor drains turned into a full-scale breach, the warehouse became a beehive of desperate activity. They couldn't afford to waste a single second. The final countdown had begun—this nightmare was going to end tonight, one way or another.

While Carl and Big Mike dragged heavy steel beams and welding equipment to reinforce the trembling garage doors, Danny stepped down into Uncle Morty’s subterranean armory. He counted his crumpled cash onto a green ammo crate. “Give me something that punches hard, Uncle Morty,” Danny muttered, hands still shaking from the chase.

Morty tossed a heavy, matte-black handgun onto the table. “Surplus pistol. Heavy stopping power. Take the trench knife too.” Danny immediately traded in his hard-earned experience to sharpen his focus, feeling the cold steel of the weapon settle his frayed nerves.

🛠️ Danny's Gear Purchases & Character Progression

Danny's Current Total EP: 10 EP

Stat Upgrade: Danny spends his 10 EP to upgrade his Intellect (IT) from 9 → 10 (Cost: 10 times current score of 1). His mind is sharpening under fire.

Shopping List:

Pistol: Costs $60 (Damage: 1d6, Range: 300 feet)
Small Blade (Trench Knife): Costs $20 (Damage: 1d6-1)
Remaining Pocket Money: $110 - $80 = $30

Meanwhile, back on the main warehouse floor, Sally wasn't squeamish. While Brenda kept her rifle trained on the twitching, dead scout, Sally knelt over the carcass. She used a scrap piece of metal to pull back the creature's thick lips, analyzing the venom glands, before turning over a detailed map of Pittsburgh's water systems that Morty had pinned to a nearby corkboard.

“Look at the layout of these sewer intersections,” Sally called out, her voice tight but focused. “They aren't exploring randomly. They are pooling directly beneath the city's power grid!”

🎲 Sally's Investigation Check (Level 1 Intellect Check - 3d6)

Target: Sally's Intellect (IT) is 12. She needs to decipher the Reptoid's tactical movement from Morty's chaotic files.

The Dice: [2] + [3] + [5] = 10

Modifiers: Sally applies her Notice Details (Lv1) talent, letting her subtract 1 from the total.

Final Total: 10 - 1 = 9

Result: 9 is less than 12. SUCCESS! Sally uncovers the horrific objective.

Experience Gained: Target (12) - Final Roll (9) = 3 EP earned for Sally (Current Total: 11 EP).

Sally spun around to face the group, her face pale under the halogen bulbs. “They aren't just looking for food topside! The heat signatures Morty tracked... they are migrating toward the Duquesne Light subterranean substation. If they breach the main transformers, they won't just shut down the power—they're trying to flood the lower grid with river water to create a permanent, dark, boiling wetland right beneath our feet!”

Before Morty could even answer, a violent explosion tore through the back wall. The heavy iron floor drain cover blew fifty feet into the air, crashing into the ceiling. Two bulbous, yellow eyes emerged from the steaming hole, followed instantly by another... and another. The main pack had arrived, and they brought a monster.

Towering over the others was a massive, nine-foot behemoth covered in pitch-black scales, its jaw dripping with steaming, acidic drool. It roared, a sound that shattered every lightbulb in the back half of the room.

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