Tower of Dread — Halloween Hootenanny XV

Game summary for October 29, 2022, Tower of Dread campaign, Dread Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Ace Dargen (Human played by Dylan Whittinghill), Daniel Porter (Human played by Preston Harmon), Donnie Brockovich (Human played by Casey Scruggs), Jayson Gould (Human played by Parker Harmon), Opal Quinn (Human played by Kaliegh Belda), and Wade Marshall (Human played by Andrew Renfrow). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The Marketing Department at Harper Mills took an evening to relax at their favorite skyscraper bar.  Their not-so-stellar co-worker Damon went around filming some video, and everyone had a good time.  The next morning after flying in to work on their corporate transport choppers, they discovered Damon was not in the office.  Siobhan from Human Resources went into their boss, Michael’s, office for a few minutes and then came out and told Marketing to go see him.  They went in, and Michael told them Damon had been let go.

The group went back out to their cubes and talked about Damon for a few minutes.  Then, a video came online showing Damon being escorted to the front doors where some of the mutant animals outside swarmed and ate him!  Then, a notice came over the PA telling all Harper Mills employees that the company was downsizing to 20% of current staff.  Employees could either voluntarily walk out the front doors to be eaten by the animals or they could come up with “their own way” of reducing their numbers.  Scattered throughout the building were safes that would open to your fingerprint scan, but you could only open one safe.  One of the admins in the cubes next door opened a safe, pulled out some scissors, and killed a co-worker!  The other admins said it was crazy to fight each other, and they turned their heads toward Marketing!  The admins swarmed forward!  Ace hit one with a computer and another with a keyboard.  He then dragged him, Michael, by a cord wrapped around his neck and threatened to poke his eye with a pencil if they didn’t back off.  They didn’t back off. 

The group retreated to the stairs and ran into Norman Russnak who was waiving a pistol.  They shoved Michael into Norman, and both tumbled down the stairs, killing Norman.  They ran down and grabbed his pistol and found it empty.  The admins started piling into the stairwell, so the team ran up a floor and wedged a chair under the door handle, temporarily blocking it. 

The team went about frantically searching offices and rooms for safes, finding a few and getting a collection of bizarre “weapons.”  They encountered several co-workers, and violence ensued.  They figured out they could open more safes with the help of other people, or at least their fingers!  Frail old Opal used a yo-yo to eliminate her office rival.  In one office, Wade came face-to-face with Axel Aaron, his office fight club competitor!  Twice, Axel had beaten Wade.  But neither of those times did Wade have a ball pein hammer!  It was the last time Axel squared off with Wade. 

They continued working their way up the tower thinking they would take the helicopter and escape.  Several times they saw Siobhan with a submachine gun shooting people, but the team avoided her.  They found several people dead throughout the building.  They found Jimmy, who had just thrown someone out a window.  They tossed him out too.  An announcement told them 20% of the required cuts were complete and you couldn’t just hide due to “surprises.” 

Not long thereafter, they watched a group of people get burned up from flames shooting from the sprinkler system.  The group had found some firearms but no ammo for them and some ammo but no matching firearms.  They came across a floor where an axeman had gone crazy on some co-workers.  They saw him down the hallway with a fireaxe and wearing a football helmet!  The team lined up in the hallway and prepared to engage.  The big man charged them while Opal squirted him with Windex.  Meanwhile, Ace tripped him but got his foot cut off in the process!  Daniel jumped in with a kabob skewer and suffered a bad shoulder injury, but he took the crazed man down! 

They used a belt as a tourniquet for Ace and a stapler to close up Daniel’s wound.  They then continued trying to ascend the tower.  At the food court they were attacked by a quadcopter drone that wiped out a whole group of admins!  They fled up several floors and were chased by a horrific hybrid monkey mallard monster.  They outran it and found some people prying open the elevator doors.  A hissing spider-mallard-rattlesnake emerged and killed one of the men, but his pistol fell to the ground!  The snake creature killed Jayson!  However, the group killed it and got the gun but were attacked by some kind of bullfrog-squirrel-bat creature. 

The group found the server room, and it was guarded by more drones!  Some quick shooting destroyed them, and much of the building infrastructure was destroyed.  The team then rushed the roof and found there was no helicopter there!  They rushed back down the stairs and came face-to-face with Siobhan!  She opened fire with her SMG as Ace opened fire with the pistol!  Donnie was gunned down, but so was the fearsome head of Human Resources!  Off in the distance, they could hear a helicopter.  An announcement came over the intercom saying they had reached their 20% and would see everyone bright and early in the morning!