There was a lot of talking to sages in freeport. To explain all this, I need to go over some Kor Kammor Kosmolo... er... Cosmology
First there was nothing at all. The nothing eventually became aware of itself, and by doing so created something. This is the first act of the universe, and the priniclemunder which all magic is possible )something from nothing).
Since the something was aware there was only it and the nothing, it was also everything. In realizing this, it became everything. These two fundemental forces, nothing and everything, are known to sages as the Void and the Maelstrom.
As the Maelstrom considered itself, it refined the everything into finite bits. As this was the beginning of all things, first it considere donly basic questions like matter and thought.
Where it cpnsidered matter, the inner (elemental) planes were create., Where it considered thought, the outer planes were created.
The void never created anything again, but bits of the inner and outer planes brke off into and absobred much of its nothingness. These became the Void Gods, about which more much later.
Since the Maelstrom was in part a conscious thing, the parts of itself it refined were conscious in part. Thus cme the Greaterr Gods in thee outer planes, and Great Elementals in inner planes. Since the gods were born of relams of thought, they were based on issues of thought – good, evil, law, chaos, neutrality and later all the domains, and then subsets of the domains. But at first, just the five extremes of alignment.
With this the Maelstrom had given of itself so much, it ceased to be aware of itself. It became astral, etheral, and shadow, and was no more. Now, its children the greater Gods and elementals were the only source of thought.
So they fought a war.
Long story short, the gods won, the greater elementals were confined, and the material plane was created from their corpses. All acts of creation during the war -- djinn, demons, archons, rakshasa, barghest and so one, were native to the inner and outer palnes. But now, the gods could create thigns on the material planbe, and they did so in great numbers.
Most of the things they created were tied to a thought or form of matter. Dwarves were made of rock, nymphs made of love, elves made of water, dragons of fire, and so on. But in the balance of the material realm, their spirit (thought) was more important than their matter, since the gods won the war with elementals.
Everyone got that?
At first, the mortal races (mortal = made equally of matter and thought) could do only what the gods let them. Then, the Four Martyrs changed everything.
Since fire is a concept as well as a form of matter, there was a greater god of fire. Same with air, earth, and water. These four gods were saddened that the mrotals, who like them were of both matter and thought, were essentiallyt salves to the will of the gods. So, they went and sacrificed themselves to give all mortal creatures a little divinity. They became the Pyre of Knowledge (which granted the divine power to learn and apply knowledge, thus allowing mortals to have ideas and emotional drives of their own), the Breath of Life (allowing mortals to procreate on their own), the Tide of Change (allowing mortals to act outside of their initial nature) and the Monument of Eternity (giving them a mrotal form even into the afterlife, so they didn't just become more godstuff). When the greater gods tried to stop the Four Martyrs they killed them, thus making them martyrs and allowing their powers to flow through all the mortal lands.
But the gods had some tricks up their sleaves too. The greatest changes, the ones that would alter the course of mortal historyk, could only happen with a divine spark, which the Four martyrs weren't anymore. So the mortal socieites were free, but made only very, very slow progress. Only when one of the four martyrs was reincarnated (they are gods, after all, and really hard to destroy) coudl a major change in their area take place.
Each has been reborn many times, but were almost always sought out and killed by agents of evil gods, seeking to maintain the status quoe.
I want to hear more about thisKosmology you are writing about. It sounds extremely interesting, most especially the part that caught my attention was this...
"Since fire is a concept as well as a form of matter, there was a greater god of fire..."
That is one of the most intriguing ways to categorize what makes a god deific that I have read in a long time I think.
Here is another question for you Dungeon Grrrl, is this an actual campaign setting of some kind or is it just a very immersive Homebrew setting? I'd be very interested to know. Freeport, obviously, I recognize, but individual cities are easy to drop in for the most part.
Now that you have opened this door... ^_^
Whenever you have the opportunity, perhaps in a companion article to go along with your Journal posts (kinda like in Pathfinder) also do a short article about Kor Kammor? I doubt I am the only person who would like to hear more about this particular world. Well...let me calm down. Of course, this is just a suggestion. I wouldn't want you to get overworked just keeping up on this journal, so just drop things in when you have time.
Thank again Dungeon Grrrl, you are awesome.
Thank again Dungeon Grrrl, you are awesome.
::Blush::
Kor Kammor is a homebrew, with big chunks stoeln from publishes settings. I use Freeport (obviously), a lot of cities from the Scarred Lands, Liberty (from the City Quarters books by the Game mechanics), haven (Thieves world), Steelport (Freeport from EQ, renamed to prevent confusion, and the only EQ element I use I think), a little Grayhawk, a little Forgotten Realms, a lot of Midnight and Swashbuckling Fantasy, and hundreds of things from trashy fantasy romance novles my players don't read.
And the ususal mix of LotR, Conan, King Arthur, and things inspuired by superheroes, with the names changed to protect the DM.
We've run several Kor Kammor games, so the setting keeps growing. Each one is considered separate from the others, and we almost never run more than one at a time. But it's useful for players to know that we have a world where orcs, ogres, trolls and grey renders are all Rageblood humanoids, fey and gaints are the same thing (and thus affected by the same bane weapons and favored enemies), ad Bugbears aren't the biggest, nastriest goblins (leaving that claim to Arlkang).
The Kosmology came about after I needed to know how and why magic worked, and it's come up a lot since.
For note
In Kor Kammor, there is only one greater God for each domain, and they are often from different pantheons. So there may be twelve goddesses (and one god) of sex,, love, and pleasure, but only Erosia is a Greater God of sex and pleasure. Often, the tone of a pantheon is determined by what greater gods it includes. Greater gods are all using the powers of original gods, from the days of Void and maelstorm, though many have forgotten that fact themselves and others inherited those positions from gods that faded away. But there are 27, and only 27, greater gods. ever.
Very interesting Dungeon Grrrl. Again, not to press you too much, but is you should feel the inclination to share more and more about Kor Kammor, then please by all means do. I've done my own attempts at designing a Homebrew at various points, but seeing as I suffer from an aggravated case of accute procrastinatory disorder...it hasn't been the most successful of ventures. I completely understand just how rewarding it can be though, especially if you have a group, or set of groups to help you build the world and make it grow into its own.
Also to mention it, most other folks Hoemebrews that I have come into contact with in the past have made me want to cringe. Depends of course on the feel and ideas behind the world, but most end up totally skewed or random in some fashion. Especially if you are starting to play in a Homebrew...only to find it stinks. Thats a real letdown. Yours on the other hand has so many interesting elements in it, as well as the incredible feel of the world that you have created, that make it a delight to read about. I am a sucker for gritty, dark worlds and reimaginings of normal Campaign Settings so...
Oh, I almost forgot. I wanted to ask, especially since your group is so well put together. What is the general age range of the players you game with? They seem to be a very mature bunch (I don't mean old) seeing as what kind of campaigns you run. Just curious...
Oh, I almost forgot. I wanted to ask, especially since your group is so well put together. What is the general age range of the players you game with? They seem to be a very mature bunch (I don't mean old) seeing as what kind of campaigns you run. Just curious...
For BlacK days, the range is 19 to 41, with all but two being 22 to 26.
We also have two teenages (16 and 17 I think) in the bigger gorup, but they aren't in Black days, nor would we run it with them. No extreme intensity games for the underaged. :D
Hmm...I am definately impressed.
Then again, I was a serious gamer when I was 15. There are still people that I have known who are much older than that now who couldn't take even a semi-serious game. Its strange to see just how much variance in taste and maturity even amongst gamers who, in my experience, are either far more mature for their age than they should be, or whom are so immature that even bringing up mention of female anatomy or really getting into character causes incessant giggling.
We gamers are a strange lot. At least we are interesting people though.
Game Six
Recap
The heroes have incurred the wrath of the goblin Blood Hoard, and are being pursed by the forces of bugbear Bhog Bloodbeard. Seeking to investigate the diabolst Scara Holthel, who lives in the Pirate City of Freeport and is supposed to be a sage the Blood Hoard wish to speak to (as discovered in papers carried by agents of the hoard and Bhog Bloodbeard), the party cuts through the Monument Stones (shale-covered hills with scores of cheap tombs from the last days of the Catchos Empire).
After passing through the Stones, the party is attacked by two behir, which devastate them, and then captured as slaves by half-gnoll pirate Mange Mangletooth of the Ill Wind. Despite great suffering and the death of Auriji the party manage to free themselves, kill the pirates, burn the Wind to the waterline, and make it to Freeport. They gathered as disparate heroes, but are now the Heralds of Dawn, a tightly-knit and quickly becoming well-known adventuring clan.
Here, they raise Auriji, buy pretty things with their loot, and undertake some serious sagacious consultations. (Read the cosmology post before proceeding if you want to know what the fudge is going on with these answers).
Freeport
Voronex consults Gunden Two-Beard, a 510-year-old dwarf of the otherwise long-dead dep, who long ago declared neutrality in affairs of the world and retired to freeport as a guest of the Captain's Council. Gunden is the last disciple of Jargamesh, who invented the art of cuneiform (the first non-magic writing) more than an eon ago and was himself 745-years-old when he trained Gunden. Gunden is the last dwarf skilled in reading the Mahrestine Tablets, crumbling cuneiform prophecies inscribed in clay just before Jargamesh's death. In the tablets, supposedly, are the answers to all threats against the dwarven race until the days of Angarok, the Anvil War, which is to end the race.
Though Gunden sees less than 1% of those who seek his council, he changes his schedule to accommodate Voronex, supposedly as a reward for the dwarf's victory over Mangletooth. Gunden reveals that Voronex's dep is having their divine spark, the part of them that is thought rather than matter, separated from their stoney material form. They are vulnerable to such attacks because their form has been corrupted by fire material (they are fireblood dwarves). However, if they are all turned to stone, they will form a wedge which can be used to turn all dwarves to stone, and from there all matter and thought can be pulled apart, destroying the material plane. Voronex is immune, because his essence is different at its core – he is not a perverted dwarf, but a pure new thing.
Such an attack could only be undertaken by someone with ancient knowledge and vast numbers of followers to focus their will and perform complex rituals. They would also need some sort of link to Voronex's dep. For these reasons, Gunden believes the attack is being performed by the Alchemical Lictors (or Alictors), a cult that worships the Great Elementals and wishes to free them (destroying the world in the process, likely so it can be rebuilt from the corpses of gods the Great Elementals would then kill) as judgement for the failings f the god-driven world. The Alictors control an ancient and evil duergar stronghold, Kazakrem, at the base of the Firestorm Mountains, 1,000 miles south from Voronex's dep in the same range. To save his dep, Voronex must travel to Kazakrem and stop the Alchemical Lictors. Sadly, there is no safe way through the Firestorm Mountains, and a guide is likely to be a smuggler, brigand or wanted man.
Glidda, Auriji and the Twins go to speak to Scara Holthel, an insane diabolus (Dragon Compendium) diabolist (the Dragon Compendium mountebank with deceptive attack replaced with a demon-based lore and rebuke abilities). Often raving, often homicidal, often friendly to the point of force amorousness, she is still a powerful sage and demon-based magic item creator. She is leased out by the hour by her handlers, a lawful monastic order of mohj (Arcana Evolved[.i]) psions known as the Keepers, who are often intrusted with creatures too important (or too tough) to kill, but too dangerous to let loose.
Scara is in a particularly difficult mood, but the Twins manage to keep her entertained enough with simple (but unique) tricks to calm her. While they juggle cats and balance wooden wands floating upright in glasses of water, Glidda grills Scara about her temple, and Auriji grills her about the plans of the goblin Blood Hoard.
Scara tells Glidda her temple was marked for destruction by a Grand Advocate of the Abyss (while creatures in hell are rules by evil lords, the Abyss is a giant bureaucracy) in a search for the [i]Erosium, a statue of the greater goddess of love and sex with vast powers (raising the dead from any fate, miracles, and even holding gods at bay) as long as it is used to further the cause of mortal love. As an artifact the Erosium can't be found through magical means, so forces of the Abyss must find it through brute force and research. But demons are bad at research (too disorganized), so they are first striking major temples of love in hopes of stumbling across it. Their efforts will get worse before they get better.
Auriji is pretty straightforward, and wants to know if any goblins have spoken to Scara before, and if so what they wanted to know. For some reason this amuses Scara greatly, but she refuses to answer for some time. Eventually, the diabolist admits she has been communicating with several bugbear clerics and redcap shamans, giving them information on how to become a god. The king of all goblinkind, the Marrow Lord, wishes to become a true divinity, and Scara knows how it can be done. The Keepers let her, because they think she's wrong, and the goblins are wasting time and resources seeking godhood for their Marrow Lord. But Scara confesses there is a way, and the expansion of the goblin Blood Hoard's holdings have been part of a seven-generation long quest of the goblins to make a god. It requires seven sons to each perform seven rituals every year for seven years, and then seven final fitural must be cast any time after that. All but one of the 349 rituals are done, and the goblin king, the Marrow Lord, just needs one more to be a god. But that one is a real doozy, because he must...
At that, a retriever bursts into the room, decapitates Scara's head, and heads out through the far wall.
The Twins and Glidda are simply stunned, but Auriji explodes into combat. She jumps after the demon construct, leaping atop it, raging, and unleashing serious damage with Majah Gada. The retriever is on the move, so it can only attack her with one melee and one eye attack each round, which is still a lot of damage. Since she's riding atop it, Auriji keeps making full attack routines, getting frozen, burned, shocked and slashed every round. The demon rolls poorly on damage, Auriji makes every save, but even so it seems impossible she'll defeat a creature with more than a hundred hit points and fast healing five.
(A note on riding foes. There are no rules for it we can find. Grapple checks are useless, since the big creatures always win. But heroes have been jumping on tanker bugs, cave trolls and dragons in adventure stories since before we were born. We make it a Ride check opposed by the target's Reflex or Fortitude save, whichever is greater. The ridden creature can gain a +10 bonus by taking a full round to knock off a rider, and can gain bonuses by smashing itself into things.)
However, Tiera is not too far behind, and her spirit familiar is with her. Now accessing the War and Wrath domains thanks to her wolverine totem, Tiera throws divine power on herself *and her familiar* (share spells), then puts heroism on her wolverine, and the next round casts rage on it (which is not, after all, the same as its own frenzy ability). Then Tiera begins slashing into the demon construct as well. The three of them do far more damage than anyone (players or me included) would have thought.
Glidda stays behind at the Keeper's compound, and demands to know if this is how they keep the world "safe" from dangers like Scara. They are extrmely apologetic (massive Diplomacy check makes them Helpful to glidda), and promise to make up for their failure to Glidda, somehow. Glidda asks for, and receives, a log of everyone who has seen Scara, and how long they spoke to her for. She is horrified to see that bugbear shamans have been speaking with the diabolist regularly for two-hundred years, in seven-year bursts. Suddenly, Scara's claims of impending goblinoid godhood seem more reasonable...
(These are word intensive entires, I'll wrap up game six in the next post)
Melikes ... alot. These are some GREAT ideas Dungeon Grrrl, do not be surprised to find them stolen. After all, you have publicly posted them here...
In case it needs to be said:
Any gamer should feel free to use any of this for their own games. I steal shamelessly, I expect nothing less of the rest of you.
And, since I realize I never mentioned it, I also get some help I guess I would have to call professional. There's a game designer I know the chat name or, who I pester sometimes when he's free, and ask for plotline help. A good chunk of the cool stuff about Kor Kammor was his idea. (He claims actually fleshing things out is the hard part, and I'll take that credit, but he did give me some great ideas on metaplot. So from him, to me, to you.)
No, I didn't say who. I don't want him swamped with requests for plot help. :-)
In case it needs to be said:
Any gamer should feel free to use any of this for their own games. I steal shamelessly, I expect nothing less of the rest of you.
And, since I realize I never mentioned it, I also get some help I guess I would have to call professional. There's a game designer I know the chat name or, who I pester sometimes when he's free, and ask for plotline help. A good chunk of the cool stuff about Kor Kammor was his idea. (He claims actually fleshing things out is the hard part, and I'll take that credit, but he did give me some great ideas on metaplot. So from him, to me, to you.)
No, I didn't say who. I don't want him swamped with requests for plot help. :-)
In that case, I expect said designer to claim proper bragging rights when the realization has been made about "yep, the skeleton of that is my idea, yep yep". Or maybe not, although hope springs ever infernal...
Honestly, I don't think he posts here. Is there any way to do a member seerach?
Of course, he might just post under Plot_Master_3000 or something
Okay...that one was fun. I knew something was going to happen when they were talking to Scara, but the Retriever caught me by suprise. *SNIP* Off with her Head!
I can just imagine the look on your players faces right then! It must have been a great GMing moment.
Now for some highlights...
Grand Advocate of the Abyss (while creatures in hell are rules by evil lords, the Abyss is a giant bureaucracy)
This has to be one of the greatest comments ever! It is making me think of the Dark Assembly from the game Disgaea. Now I am having some rather disturbing thoughts about Abyssal politics and Prinnies. O.O
"demons are bad at research (too disorganized)"
Nothing specific here, such a true statement...and so fun to hear it said like that. I just woke up so....
Now for this Public Service Announcement,
Sory about the delaty. Hollidays.
Also, you all need to let me know if you'd rather have the occasional lengthy post, or more frequent shorter posts. I'm not sure how mcuh detail you want, vs. how fast you want to see the story unreel.
Now:
Game Six (cont.)
At one end of town, Auriji and Tiera are hammering a retreiver, while Glidda and the Twins gather information from the prison o fhte (recently) dead diabolist, Scara.
Meanwhile, Quince and Humtum are seeking Unjhohn the Ugly, a wanted murderer who is also a famous bounty taker abnd scout. Quince has a warrant for Unjohn dead or alive (which is meaningless in freeport, but still important to Quince), and papers the herpoes took from agents of Bloodbeard suggest that bugbear commander wanted to hire him. That's too many questions about one man, so the party wants him found. (Quince asked Humtum to come allong largely to keep him away from Voronezx). This leads them to some very shady parts of town. Oddly Humtum has a much better time talking to people than Quince, since he's not carrying any obvious weapon, and looks a bit scruffy at this point. Howeever, when a group of blood-jackers (bandits who bleed victiems dry and seel the blood to a small coven of vampires and ghouls hiding in the dark basements of the city) jumpo the two of them , it's Quince who does the most damage. He orders Humtum to hit every blod-jacker at least ocne for nonlethal damage, allowing them to capture the whole group.
Quince does some pointed questioning, with very little bargaining. He offers them a quick death of they cooperate, and doesn't ever say what's ging to happen if they don't. (Apparently Quince couldn'lt think of any honorable alternative to a quick death, so he just left the threat hanging unsaid. The player decided that was the edge of honorable, and marked off a knight's challenge for the day. I wouldn't have required it.)
The blood-jackers know where to find Unjohn, and quince dispathces them all as a reward for telling him. Humtum gives him a hard tiem for it, but can't offer any good alternative.
Thus Quince and Unjohn must go to darker sctions of town, and end up grabbing voronex as additional muscle. The three track down an unseer (a mystic able to change your mystic reality, such that your name is changed at a magic level, or your description. This prevents divination magic based on your old information from functioning. (So if someone casts a locate creature to find you in particular, because they know you, but they don't know your new name, it doesn't work. A generic locate creature to find a member of your species still pings you normally, as do things like dectect magic or detect evil .) The unseer, a disreputable gnome named Spurious Spyrgut, reveals Unjoyhn lacked the funds to payt for his services, but did buy passage on a privateer named the Merwhore as a baiter.
(DM note. I want Unseers to play a more major role later on. By having Unjohn try to get a name change and fail, I introduce the idea to players without them being annoyed by it yet, as it hasn't impacted their current goals. When it coems up again later, they'll nod sagely because they already knew about that option).
Baiters are fighters who are tied to ropes that run beneath the ship, and are dragged under to fight off underwater attackers (such as deep one, awakened octopi, merfolk, and so on). Baiters are the sailors with the worst survival rates, and no one takes on such a job unless they're desperate. The Merwhore ois a big, slow warship headed to Hallowfaust. The city is famous for disallowing goblins within its walls, as they refuse to sign over their bodies (a requirement of the undead-driven city). Putting these two thigns together, Voronex concludes Unjohn has been scared off by the hobgoblin who were supposed to hire him as a scout. But Unjohn is also one of the few people to make multiple trips through the Firestorm Mountains, so Voronex wants to find him anyway. And Quicne wants to know what the bugbears are up to. And Humtum wants to know why Auriji is riding atop a giant spider.
And the group is back together.
At which point the fight takes only a few more rounds, the girls having badly damaged the Retreiver already. Glidda gets a look at Scara';s diaries, and sees the seeress wished to die soon, for fear of the "Black Days" soon to arrive.
(This freaked out my players, because they'd known the name of the campaign for two months with no reference to what it meant.)
That all dealt with, Humtum manages to find the herbs needed to cure Tiera, who in turn manages to get him before the sage able to identify the Pyre reborn. The sage is hopeful at first, suggesting Tiera HAS met the opyre reborn. But after a few tests (all done in secret, so Humtum doesn't know he's being tested for anything -- poor NPC was dipped in vinegar, crusted with salt and feed gel of wyrvern blood in secret, just thinking he was having a Really bad day), the sage determines Humtum IS something odd and special (a gnome spirit in a dwarv body), but no where close to the Pyre Reborn.
(DM aside note, this surprised very few of my players. If an NPC turns out to be something special and legendary the PCs normally end up having to protect him, not work with him or under him like Tiera was hoping for the Pyre Reborn. But I have violated that rule in a couple of games just to be different, and a few players really thought that was my plan this time. Always keep ';em guessibng!)
Despite the commotion, the heralds of Dawn find they are still very much welcome in Freeport. In fact, killing a major demon that's decapitating citizens (no matter how unreputable) brings the thanks of the Captain's Council. Since Unjhohn is on a fairly slow warship, the PCs decide to wait until a faster ship headed to Hallowfaust comes along, and book passage on it. They figure this will get them to hallowfaust ahead of Unjohn, and allow them to make contacts and do resea4rch while in freeport.
(Which is fine, but I didn't want them to lose the sense of competing with the Bloody Hoard, so they needed a reminder that a major political entity was setting its sights on them)
Two days later, word comes in that a large complement of bugbears and goblins are sitting half a day from freeport. The PCs investigate, and confirm this is Bloodbeard (who went the long way around the Monument Steps, but was headed this way). Bloodbeard sends in a few of us agents, who claim Auriji is a murderer out to kill them, and hire professional witnesses to watch them while in freeport. Auriji is amused by this, but it alsop means the PCs don't dare take any actions against the hobgoblins while they are withinf reeport's walls. The hyobgobs try to see Scara), and are very agitated to discover she is dead, and they are not given access to her diaries. They make demands, but are rebuffed by the Keepers and sent away. They stomp off to Bloodbeard, and the PCs get a good chuckle over it.
Until the next day.
Bloodbeard is offering 1,000 gp to anyone who brings him a PC's head (though not Tiera or Humtum, since he doesn't really know anything about them, or Glidda, who was sneaky enough to stay beneath his radar during the initial fight) . Mhyssi's head is worth 2,000 gp. Mhyssi alive is worth 5,000. And, anyone who brings her spell component pouch gets 1,000 for it alone. And, anyone who can truthfully state they stabbed, blinded, or raped any of the heropes also gets 1,000 gp, even if they don't bring them in. Quince complians about this bounty to the local authorities, but since it is done outside Freeport's walls, there's nothing Freeport's rules choose to do about it. They do confirm that anyone trying to COLLECT within the wals is in trouble, but they won't move against Bloodbeard. Obviously though, with that much money, someone is going to make the effort. The PCs wonder what to do.
Glidaa gets Mhyssi and the Twins together for a sting operation. They bring Humtum, sicne he fights unarmed. The girls go carousing and get visible (but not really) drunk, and wonder half-dressed down a dark ally. Unsurprisingly, some thugs try to jump them, hoping to collect rape money even if they can;t sneak them out of the city. Humtum and the girls soundly trounce them, though Mhyssi ends up knocked unconscious and dragged off for most of the fight. Tiera's wolverine finds and rescues her while the other girls chase down fleeing assailtant.s The whole process takes several minutes, and Mhyssi wakes to find herself violated, and her spell component pouch missing. she manages to communicate her need to find her assailant to the spirit wolverine, who tracks down the man with her pouch. She kills him very publically ([hold person/] followed by a greatsword coup de gras), and takes the puch back.
This event angers Quince and Varonex, who both feel it was unwise and immoral. They feel no pity for the assailants (who clearly deserved what they got), but point out bystanders could have gotten hurt. The Twins and Mhyssi apologise, but Glidda nad Auriji feel any innocent bystanders should clear out of the way, or live in a different city.
However, the event does makr the Heralds as potntial troublemarkers. Though they fought in self-defense, the price on their head and their willingness to bait those who would claim it makes them a public hazard. A representative of the captains Council tells them that as long as Bloodbeard is offering such outrageous sums for their capture or harm, they are no longer welcome in the city. The council also offers them free passage on a ship to anyplace it goes, as long as they leave the next day, or two dozen men to go roust Bloodbeard if they;d rather deal with things that way. Auriji is all in favor of a stand-up fight, but Varonex points out Bloodbeard still has more men than them, and the freepor5t guard might turn on them to collect the bounty once outside of Freeport's line of sight.
Unfortunately, there aren't any ships headed to Hallowfaust that are fast enoguh to beat Unjohn's ship. However, it is possible to take a Hornhead caravan (triceratops) through The Grey, a temperate desert cursed with little twisted fauna and flora, to Liberty. From Liberty, they can get on an elven courser to Hallowfaust, and still beat the [i]Merwhore. These arrangements are made by the captains Council, to boot the Herlads of dawn out of the city without angering them. The Heralds agree to leave the next day.
But Glidda, as it happens, isn't going with the Heralds. She wants to find the Erosium before demons can, and believes her best bet to do that is currently in Freeport. She has joined a local temple as a senior priestess and temple prostitute, and can use her growing influence to encourage sages to do her research, pirates to bring her rumors, and young adventurers to track down dangerous leads. Once she has it or knows where it is, she'll bring the Heralds back to decide what to do next. Also, she can come if they need her for something specific, or if she needs to track down a lead with some back-up. While the Council would rather see her go, the fact she is not named by Bloodbeard's threats, and that they have no intention of setting off a prostitutes strike, forces the council to let her stay.
End game Six.
Aside
Game Six was another really long night, where we played until dawn. None of the fights were quite epic (though the girls against the retreiver was pretty impressive, they had is 80% dead before Voronex, Quince and Humtum stumbled onto the scene).
Glidda didn't go with the other heroes because her player expected to miss several games in a row, and this seemed a good stopping-off point for a bit. Since Auriji was already a level lower than everyone else, and Mhyssi still more than a level higher, Glidda's player didn't think missing one campaign arc would be a big deal. We all agreed to put a level floor on the game — no matter how often people died or missed games, no one would be more than three elvels lower than the highest-level charater (likely to be Mhyssi). That's also the level new characters would come in at barring other arrangements.
The hornhead caravan was loaded down with silver, slate (from the Monument Stones), sandsilk (a fine cloth that can't get wet – think of something with the feel of silk but the properties of a raincoat) and fine crafts. The hornheads range from rhino sized to full triceratops size – the upper end of large to the lower end of gargantuan. They are used for very heavy loads, both covered in packs (even strapped to their legs) and pulling huge wagons, and because they dont spook and are tough. The trip is considered dangerous, but it's a short path through the Grey, which covers a big penninsula and thus takes time to sail around, like anyone else headed west has to. Mhyssi had several whole outfits made out of sandsilk while along with caravan.
We decided to start a tad earlier for future gams, and spend less time catching up and joking around. We passed out various duties – picking up ice, soda and thai food or whatever before each game, calling everyone to make sure they all had their characters before coming over, arranging rides, and so on. We also agreed not to go as late, sicne that was making the next day a total wash. The hope was that with better planing we could get almost as much gaming in but take 3 less hours. I also planned sessions with more cut-outs and stopping points.
So sets the stage for games 7, 8, and 9.
RPG Superstar 2013
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Okay, as I make time, I am trying to catch up and digest the whole thing, but I will say this much now and give you a well-deserved bump to the top of the Journals threads:
Your campaign is off to a great start. It looks like the kind of game where people say 'Instead of seeing this movie, why don't we have a quick session for our Kor game?
The twins seem as though they are consistently hilarious.
Lot of hooking up in your games. I am not sure I have ever been with a group where that was expressed in an interesting or mature enough manner, so I am intrigued and impressed. Ever have a session break out into a pillow fight?
Bad Steve. Just kidding.
I think your ideas for the game, the moving conflict early, and the character dynamics are fascinating, and it make for a great read. I'm definitely interested in joining your cult if this keeps up.
I HAVE had a game break out into a pillow fight, but it wasn't Black Days. And that was the girls-only gaming group, which tends to do more overnight gaming (we only manage to get together without the boys about every 6 weeks, so we try to make it an event). I think that started with a joke which had to be punished, followed by a sofa cushion, and then because it was 4 am things got out of hand.
As for hook-ups, they're pretty common in our more adult aimed campaigns. I think it was Cordellia on Buffy who said "I don't mean to get together, but we keep being in danger and it's all sexy and stuff." Sex is pretty common in adventure movies other than fantasy (watch Shoot em Up), and I think it would be more common in fantasy movies if people accepted they weren't fodder for 12-year-olds. Wow sex-fic also convinces me there are a lot of fantasy gamers who think about sex and their characters, but can't handle discussiong it face-to-face with another person.
My group doesn't have that problem. We're sensual, confortable, friendly people, and we've gotten to a very happy place with our ability to game out anything we feel is part of the story. I have other groups, and other games, for which that isn't the case, but Black days is the game I was refeerring tyo on a post when someone said they wondered what my games were like, so I decided to show an example.
Hopefully I'll get more sessions logs up before or right after the new eyar. I expect to be too hung over to type on the 1st. ;)
BAD, AncientSensei! In all seriousness, this is one campaign that I'd love to be a part of as well. You know my sentiments Dungeon Grrrl.
Happy New Year to all the readers of this thread, with a special Hope you don't have a Hangover for you, Dungeon Grrrl. I seem to have just the opposite, no hangover, I am however, still drunk. Too much Scotch...good Scotch though.
I have to admit it still amazes me just how focused you characters are about their story arcs. Their devotion to following the supposed later goal in the story would probably already be side-tracked by all the other stuff going on in most peoples games. So once again, Bravo.
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RPG Superstar 2013
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If I win the lottery, I'm thinking about tapping DungeonGrrl to run a new evil campaign. She seems to have what it takes to focus on a well-conceived story while still balancing the mature content. Sounds like a fantastic game. Kudos.
You should run IronDM at gencon. Last year there was a woman GM with plenty of confidence, and a great introduction, but still my wife actually heard someone at her table say 'why do we have to get the girl GM?'
I don't know if the iron dm heard that, but she clearly rocked their unfairly low expectations - she finished in the top 10 (out of 19 I think) in voting. And that's with zero slouches present, and no below-average scores. Clearly she had chops and they were retarded to suspect otherwise.
I never caught her name, but I hope she's lurking here somewhere. It would be good to say hey, and congratulations.
The Cult of DungeonGrrrl ... hrm ... digs out certain Chaosium cult-based reference materials and starts refreshing his memory...
We begin game 7 in media res. The Heralds of Dawn (minus Tiera) and three horntops are surrounded by six huge monstrous scorpions. One horntop wrangler (NPC) is already down, slowly dying from poison. The spellcasters have used one spell of every level, and the fighrers are down 25% of their hit points. No horntops are injured yet, but the trumpets from the rest of the caravan suggest they're nearly an hour away still. This scene will play out before help arrives.
(And before Tiera's player arrives. She called ahead to warn she would be late, so I threw a quick scene together so the time we cafully saved wouldn't be wasted).
Voronex takes a flying position over the battle, catching scorpions in his breath whenever he can. Though he doesn't do a lot of damage on each attack, he normally manages to catch two or three scorpions every round, racking up an impressive number of total hit points dealt over the course of the battle. Auriji sets herself by the smallest hyorntop, using Majah Gada to hold the horrid vermin at bay as long as possible. Quince actually does very little fighting, instead spending each round using his excellent handle Animal check to keep the horntops all facing outward, forming a defense of triceratops horns and boney heads.
Mhyssi remains atop the largest honrhead, firing spellfire down to hamper and damage the scorpions, and aid her allies. The Twins actually opt not to inspire their allies ("There's nothing funny about giant bugs. Excapt that I said that,. And that. And..."), and dance through the monstrous legs, slashing and stabbing anytime they gain a tactical advantage (and often trying to trip the scorpions with whips, just because they can make the effort safely). Humtum stands his ground opposite Auriji, fighting defensively but trusting his poison resistence to save him from the creature's lethal stings.
The most damage is actually done by the horntops themselves, under Quince's direction. Mhyssi heals them if they are injured, and the others keep scorpions from flanking them orconcentrating on just one of them. Once one scorpion goes down, Auriji jumps into the breach, and has Humtum and the Twins focus on a single target with her. This begins a cascade of dead vermin, and just a few rounds later the Herlads of Dawn have won.
Then, I explained what was going on.
The Grey is a dangerous and monster-filled land, with few constant landmarks or accurate maps. The hornhead caravan often sends small groups ahead to scout potential pathes, so as not to risk the whole caravan. The Herald's volunteered, except for Tiera who was doing shaman-stuff wkth her totem. They came across the scorpions stalking the caravan, and attacked rather than allow it to bypass them and reach the main column. The caravan guards were coming to their aid, but arrive after the fight is over.
By this time Tiuera's player had arrived, and I moved (seemlessly I think) to the main adventure.
One of the other scouting parties found no direct threat, but a small trading post and water depot the caravan had used before abandoned, with no sign of violance. It's already late, and the caravan master (a centaur named Keeneye Speaks-to-Wind – my centaurs are of an amerind culture) decided to camp for the night, since he's not sure if he'd rather go the route with monstrous scorpions, or the route with an abandoned trade post. Since the trade post route is a day faster, the herald volunteer to check out the trade post before morning, to see if it's safe to go that way.
(If they hadn't done that, a cute caravan girl was going to ask Quince to check it outbecause her brother works there. Since I didn't have to do that, I saved the cute girl asking for help card for later).
Checking out the trade post takes much less time than I expected, because Tiera sends her insubstantial wolverine spirit toem to fly through it, and the ground nearby, to look for anything unusual. Thus the spirit find the tunnel dug directly under the post. A quick investigation shows the floor was cunningly cut out and turned into a giant trapdoor. In the tunnel heading down, there IS signs of foul play. The heroes send word back (they had a carvaner with them), and decend into the depts.
Come on, it's DND. I had to sneak a dungeon in at -some- point.
As the players delve down, they find a series of fairly simple traps (a pit with spikes covered by a tightly=-stretched rug with dirt thrown over it, a heavy rock set to fall on anyone who moved a mid-sized log out of the path) but nothing that worried them in particular. The Twins handled all those without breaking a sweat (and carefully re-rigged the pit so it could hold heavy weight, unless they pulled a supporting rope out of it). Because the traps were so crude, the players became convinced this would be an easy adventue.
(I do run groups through things at much higher or lower EL than their own periodically, so people don't assume all threats they come across are level-appropriate).
When the group begins to come across strips of clothing, clearly torn or cut away from stuggling victimes, they become more worried. Mhyssi, in particular, feels there is something foul down here. The group hurries forward.
They come to a large cross-section, with a low pit full of rotting vegetation and raised lip with many passages leading out. Convinced the vegetation is a refuse pile, they carefully look for any sign of otyughs. Not finding any (and rolling poor Spot checks), they proceed through the rot to the far passage.
The rot turns out to be three shambling mounds, and attacks. The fight is surprinsgly brief, but the heroes use a lot of resources.
Ignoring any treasue that might be laying around, the heroes press on, driven by Mhyssi's urgency. Then, they heard strange moaning noises, followed by a woman's shreiks. They rush forward, Auriji letting lose a battle-cry.
They find themselves in a large chamber, there are naked bodies scattered about. Heavy, black cloaks or tarps are plastered to the ceiling and hanging from the walls. Two women, bare and shivering, are huddled together in the center of the room. The group rushes to them, and Mhyssi tries to find out what's wrong. They are clearyl suffering severe abuse, and can barely speak. I describe how the light from their torches flicker, and how a few small fires in the room add to the dancing, long shadows. The Twins go to investigate the existing fires, and find them crude but long-present.
Mhyssi finally gets some of the story out of them. Horrible shapes took them in the night. They were engulfed, the women while they slept, and carried away. Their attackers have been torturing, terrifying and abusing them forhours. They have no sense of time.
Voronex manages to ask where these attackers are. The human woman looks at him in confusion, wide-eyes filled with shock and near-insanity, and points to the cloak-strewn wall.
"There. They're right there. Listening."
Then the flock of 16 cloakers attack.
(The traps were crude because cloakers don't have hands, and have to work with two claws and a spiked tail. The shambling mound pit is a watchpoint for the flying cloakers, who just go over it. The fires were to provide shadows, so their shadow manipulations would work. And they were torturing the people they took, because they kill wihtout remorse "except to plan cruel amusement." I also made thma an all-male species, that need to drive potential breeders insane with fear to make a needed connection to the plane of Dread (Ravenloft lives) before impregnating them.)
The Heralds are taken totally off-guard. A surprise round allows all the claokers to get off their dancing images (mirror image). Many of them also win initiative, and begin to attack. One Twin is engulped immeidately. Humtum drops to nausea, and Auriji falls to a stupor, but quickly recovers. The rest are all unnerved.
Voronex tries to take the battle to the sky, but that makes him a big target. He's quickly engulfed, and basically out of the fight. Tiera tries to protect the two captured women, which reduces her overall effectiveness, but she does enrage Auriji, who also goes berserk. Majah Gada proves a godsend, and the cloakers can't get close to Auriji without taking an AoO, and they never manage to engulf her.
The remaining Twin realizes those engulfed take damage when she tries to cut her other half out, and she immediately tells people to use nonlethal damage for such efforts. Thus saves Voronex's life, as Quince is cutting him free. Mhyssi has few spells left, but realizes the shadows are making the cloakers impossible to hit, and fills the whole cavern with light spells. Though the player immediately decides this was a waste of three spells, two rounds and an action point, everyone later decided it was the turning point of the fight.
Its clear neither Voronex nor the engulfed twin is going to be freed before the heralds are down. A desperate fighting circle forms around Tiera, of Quince, Auriji and the Twin. (They both dropped their masks, so no one knew which twin it was). Mhyssi actually makes a second stand on her own, using her greatsword and last defense spells to good effect. Tiera makes Quince prpomise to kill her rather than let her be taken by the cloakers, and he agrees.
Tiera then falls to nausea, and her totem (immune to being engulfed) is the focus of enough attacks to is knocked out. The remaining twin is knocked out the next round. But, suddenly, there aren't many cloakers left. Having heard how the fight is going, voronex successfully bluffs unconsciousness (having been bitten many times while engulfed). His cloaker flies off, and Voronex immediately joins the fight. He targets a group of injured cloakers with a break weapon, and drops them all. The remaining cloakers flee.
And Mhyssi runs after them.
Talking the pebbles she had cast light on, Mhyssi charges after them, screaming at the top of her voice. The other heralds are stunned for a moment, then voronex yells at Auriji and Quince to follow Mhyssi, while he tries to get the others up and functional.
The heralds charge after Mhyssi. Auriji throws Majah Gada once a round, killing a wounded cloaker with each throw. Qwuince and Mhyssi protect her from any attempts to engulf her. In surprisingly little time, the fleeing cloakers are killed.
(If I hadn't maped the whole complex, I would have had the claoker's split up. As it happens, they fled down a dead end. Sometimes, things go the PCs way.)
Everyone eventually recovers. Tiera, upon examining everyone, discoveres the engulfed Twin was never bitten while engulfed ebcause she was being abused, but keeps that to herself at the twin's request. The rescued women (a human named Hetta and a half-elf names Feilia) identify their dead co-workers and family, and the heralds scoure the subterrainin lair clean. Much treasure, all minor, is recovered, and most is given to the survivors of the trading post.
Upon doing some math, Voronex realizes there is one missing cloaker. He keeps this to himself.
End Game 7.
If the end sounds a bit rushed, that's because it was. we had set a new, hard stop time, and we came pretty close to it by the time the fight was over. So I glossed some things in order to get everyone a good night's sleep.
Thanks folks! I do appreciate (and enjoy) the kind words. feedback is what keep me transcribing and posting these things 9as time allows).
I do read many of the other campaign journals, though I tend to do it in waves. I don't think I've read that one, though. Can you give a link?
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Well, I'm through page 1 so far (so I'm sure I'm a little behind in this thread) but I just had to take time and post after reading about the battle with the pirates. First off I have to say I am really impressed, both with your skills as a DM as well as with the abilities of your players! Impressed and super jealous ;). You can believe that I will continue reading this journal.
The player's tactics were nothing short of brilliant, and I especially loved the way that they dealt with Agdrenel. I would think however (and perhaps this is coming and I just haven't gotten that far yet) that once the sun went down that vampire would be making her way to Freeport for some bloody revenge.
Other random things I liked:
- The Secret Venture / wandering tavern idea - this is just a great idea. It's going to be used by me at some point.
- The Monument Steps. Very cool place with a backstory that fits perfectly. It's a great excuse for having all of those undead running around.
Random questions:
Just out of curiosity what was the player of Auriji doing while the rest of the party was captured by pirates? Would she have had to roll up a new character if the PCs did not make their escape attempt?
It seems like you are able to get the players to provide you with plenty of hooks in their character's backgrounds. Do you have a set of rules that help your players do this, or is this one just chalked up to experience and creativity?
I'm off now to keep reading. I'll post again once I've caught up.
Thaks for your interest!
My players know if they don;t give me hooks, I either create them (and you'll see some of that coming up soon), or, worse, ignore them in favor of other characters. Some players prefer that. Auriji's player doesn;t have many hooks, and that's fine. She just goes with everyone else's
As for what she did during the fight -- she hung around, went on soda runs, missed part of the game, and helpoed run NPCs at one point, as I recall. If the PCs hadnt won. they would have been hauled to Hallowfaust, where she would have been raised as an undead, and the party would have had to fight to get her returned to full life. If that didn't work, yeah it's time for a new character. (She was thinking of making a female dwarf paladin, to both fall in love with and be suspicious of Vorenex. I think that would have been cool too, but I love Auriji.)
The vampire didn't jump the party in freeport because there are lots of clerics in Freeport. Plus, she just suffered a major setback and lost her fall-back position. But once some time has passed and the PCs are outside the city...
Welll, we're getting ahead of ourselves. But not by much.
Game Eight
The horntop caravan is through The Grey, and the two rescued women (Hetta and Feilia) have largely recovered from their ordeal. A few claokers were spoted dancing in the shadows at the end of the caravan's nightly bonfires until they were out of the Grey, but none have attacked. Mhyssi has concluded the deep horrors are being driven up from their nromal dwellings places deeper in the rock, closer to the Dimwald (think Underdark then combined, if you go far enough down, with the uppermost reaches of the Abyss -- if you dig too deep you can actually unleash balrogs in Kor Kammor).
This suggests something in the Dimwald is stirring, a fact no one finds comforting. The caravan masters decide this is their last trip through the Grey anytime soon. Quince ensures the caravan masters plan to send word back to Freeport by magic means to warn others, and that Glidda will be informed. As a gut hunch, he suspects whatever is stiring up the cloakers may be connected to her search for the Erosium. (He's right.)
From here, the caravan just needs to travel a few days through the Outlands, before hooking up with the South road into Liberty. There, in the protected Liberty harbor, the Herlads of Dawn are supposed to hook up with an Elven Courser, which can take them swiftly to Hallowfast, arriving before the Merwhore is schedule to bring UnJohn there.
As the caravan finds a place for the night, one of the caravan gaurds spies a rope lying on the ground, shiney and silver. He reaches for it, just as voronex yells for him not to. When the guard torches the rope, it yanks him off into the underbrush. The Heralds run after him, and come across a monstrous spider and her swarm brood. While most of the heroes take on the mother before she can consume the guard, voronex pretty much deals with her brood swarm solo (breath weapons are *very* effective against swarms). They find loot from the spider's previous victims (as a hunter, it knows where the caravan routes are, and tries to pick off one or two at a time).
End Random wilderness encounter.
That night, a storm slowly rolls in from the nearby coast. Thunder rattles in the distance, and the air is thick with the promise of rain. Then, the camp is awoken by the sounds of horrible bellows, sounding like a great beast screaming so loudly it's gone shrill, off in the wilds. As minutes pass, it comes closer. The caravan comes to arms, and the Heralds have plentu of time to strap on armor and cast spells. Auriji suggestsd voronex go fly out and see what's going on, and he suggests she think of some *other* way to divide the party, at night, when they *know* a threat is coming.
She laughs.
A thin wisp of mist drifts in from the treeline. Just as the heroes prepare to determine if its magic, a pack of 8 owlbears charge them!
(This is Agdrenel's first attack on the party, and they didn't even realize it. She is the mist. Having attacked the owlbears, who fight to the death, she then slipped away as a mist, making sure they could keep up. All she had to do was drift into camp, then float off and watch the fun. No one ever made a good enough Spot check to notice her, or throught twice about the mist. Not this game, anyway.)
The largest owlbear is Huge (12 HD), an old male that has rules this pack for years. There are four 8 HD and three 6HD owlbears following him. They burst from the woodline, and Mhyssi opens up with spellfire. As the guards work to keep the horntops in a circle facing outward, the big male (they named him Bloodshot in character, ebcause I described his eyes as red. I had meant for all their eyes to be red with rage, but the name was so cool I waent with it and made it a distinguishing feature of the big male alone) smashes the wagon mhyssi was on, and knocks it over. The caravan defensive ring is immediately breached, and the owlbears swarm in.
Of course, the Heralds aren't going to allow that! Quince and Auriji jump down from the wrecked wagon, and get between Bloodshot and the caravan herders. Again, their fighting style of Auriji using Majah Gada at range and Quince standing between her and the foe works well – but they have their hands full with Bloodshot and have nothing left to deal with the other 7.
Tiera lets lose her spirit wolverine on a straggler that stayed outside the circle (there just wasn't room for it inside the caravan on our map). For the first time, she unlimbers call lightning, taking advantage of the storm to get maximum effect. Since the bolts come from the sky, the owlbear doesnt realize she's the threat, and her wolverine just goes insubstantial in the thrid or so round of combat. The enraged owlbear keeps attacking it, uselessly, as Tiera lightnings it to death.
That leave six owlbears for Voronex, Mhyssi, Humtum and the Twins. The Twins do their best to lure three away, attacking and taunting them, then dancing off through tents and cooking fires (taking maximum Combat Expertise shifts *and* fighting defensively). Humtum stands between the other three and Voronex and Mhyssi, letting them get off breath weapons and spellfire. However, this means Humtum is taking most of the damage, and keeps just narrowly avoiding being grappled. After a few rounds, he decides he can't fight like that, and runs. Leaving Mhyssi and Voronex, as well as a group of caravan merchants, exposed.
Mhyssi and Voronex are immediately grappled. (I'm *sure* I had Humtum tell them to run, but the players either misheard or misunderstood, or just forgot. Since things worked out well this way, I let it ride). They take massive damage, and a caravan merchant is killed by the third owlbeard.
Bloodshot gets tired of being stuck with Majah Gada, and decides to ignore Quince and focus on Auriji. She Quickdraws Phrit Fi (action point) and keeps stabbing, but is taking heavy damage. Quince pounds on Bloodshot, but the thing has too many hit points to go down quickly.
The Twins run out of camp to run the owlbears chasing them through, and must decide between bringing them back around to the fight, or running off into the woods. They decide to run them back towards camp by way of Tiera. (If theyd gone into the woods, Agdrenel would have gottne them I suspect. As it is, this is a free opportunity for her to see the Heralds fight from safety, and she's taking it).
Tiera finishes the one outside just as the Twins arrive draging in three more. She runs out of call ligning, and throws spiritual weapons as them. When Humtum jumps into this frey (having drunk a healing potion), she gives him battle rage. Tiera, the weapons enraged Humtum and the twins eventually clear out these three bugbears.
Quince has to go deal with the bugbear that Humtum let get in among the caravaners, leaving Auriji for a moment. Auriji goes enraged, both to give her more hp and to icnrease her chance of getting out of the grapple. She goes down anyway, beginning the timer until her rage ends and she dies. Quicne grabs Majah gada (Spring Attack grab, thanks to an action point), and runs from Bloodshot while taunting it. It charges him, like it has everything. He readies to receive a charge with the longspear, Power Attacks, and scores a big hit for double damage. Bloodshot pulls itself along the spear, ready to rip Quince apart, but dies just before it reaches him (dead by 2 hp, I drew out the drama).
Mhyssi manages to get to her greatsword charm dispite being grappled, and maneuvrs it to face her assailant before triggering it. I thought this was clever, so I let her make the *one* attack with the 2-handed weapon while grapling. She scores a crit, and kills her bugbear. She turns to aid Voronex, but Quicne comes bounding up and tells her to see to Auriji, *he'd* help voronex.
Voronex, meanwhile, has been breathing regularly while grappled, but getting bad damage rolls. Right after this he finally rolls well, and torches his bugbear. Quince is surprised when the "helpless" voronex blows out the guts of the bugbear, and steps free of the burning corpse. Mhyssi heals Auriji.
Fight over.
Sort of.
Voronex stomps over to Humtum, and slaps him. Humtum left Mhyssi and Voronex undefended, and as a result the only casualtiy of the fight happened (the caravan merchanter). Humtum is stunned, but Mhyssi and Quince agree with Voronex. Humtum tries to explain his actions, but Voronex rips him apart (I was arguing badly, I ran with it). Voronex flatly states Humtum will NEVER be a dwarven defender – he has lost the right. Humtum storms off, intending to walk to Liberty on his own. (Again, Agdrenel was waiting).
But Tiera catches up to him. She promises to speak to the spirits, and see if Voronex is right or not. That night, she casts see destiny (campaign specific spell) and discovers that Humtum is forbidden by the dwarven ancestors from becomign a dwarven defender until he protects Mhyssi and Voronex in a moment they cannot defend themselves. Humtum is horrified, and quietly spends the rest of the night helping set camp back up.
On a side note, the Heralds of Dawn discuss what's going on with the attack, if it has anything to do with Bloodbeard, and whether this is going to follow them all the way to hallowfaust. And Agdrenel hears it all.
Auriji makes everyone fur-and-feather owlbear cloaks on the last few days into Liberty.
End game eight.
First to comment on session 7. Leave it to you Dungeon Grrrl to make Cloakers a horrifying monster again. Personally, I have always loved the mood and creepiness they evoke, but your method with them is just incredible. Purely inspired evil, well done.
I've been meaning to bring this up before, but had never gotten around to it. Have you ever seen/read the Anime/Manga Berserk? Your campaign seems to capture the spirit of it so well that I have to wonder. Much like your campaign, it is a very very brutal story in which all kinds of terrible things happen to the main characters, no punches are pulled. Exactly the reasons that I absolutely love this campaign so much.
As for Session 8, don't you just love it when a deception (hiding Mist-form vampire) goes over so well on the players? Especially when they start talking about all the other suspects, its hard not to smirk at the table during situations like this. Again, well done.
And, as always, I eagerly await the next installment of the Black Days of Kor Kammor.
I've been meaning to bring this up before, but had never gotten around to it. Have you ever seen/read the Anime/Manga Berserk?
I bluish under your impressive praise. Thanks, Yasha!
I have indeed read some Berserk. I may have seen some of the anime, but if so it made less of an impression.
However, you must understand that I'm just a poor working girl, doing what's needful to get my college classes paid for. I don't have spair cash for anime and manga. There is, however, a member of our group who's more... spendy. He is our main source for manga and anime. I read some English Berserk a few years ago, though not everything. (He's well off, not organized. I'll read more when that layer of his lair is unearthed.) So most of my anime and manga exposures are spotty.
However, I do love the manganime look, and use it for visuals for many of my campaigns. And Berserk did tickle a particular evil bone I only bring out when DMing.
I'm still working on Game Nine, which had less organized notes. I think my computer was down that sessions, so I'm having to dig up actual notebooks. I hope everyone will bare with me. (And feel free to comment on sessions seven and eight -- your feedback is my motivation ot go on. ) :)
Wow, this a great journal. It allows me to vicariously enjoy the kind of game that I'd like to play in or run. Too often do I have to tone things down and not go with my first evil DM instinct because the rest of the grou wouldn't appreciate it. You are a very talented DM and I bow before your skill. You are also very luicky to have players who get into the game and immerse themselves in your world.
I was especially impressed by the fight above the Merwhore. The whole time I was reading it I was expecting something to go south but no, they actually pulled it off. Kudos to your players for getting themselves out of that situation.
Black days of Kor Kammor
Game Nine
Liberty. City of Terms. A mid-sized port on the Storm Sea, renowned for being an even mix of many different races, having laws that favor none, and being a convinient neutral ground for agents of different city-states and free duchies to treat with one another. (Not to mention having the only port well enough protected to save ships from the sea's rare but terrible Death Storms.) Unlike Freeport, Liberty is no lawless city that ignroes the outside world. Much the contrary, it's more than willing to enforce warrants from neighboring or well-respected governments, as Liberty sees itself as grown beyond the simple captain's law of Freeport, despite Libnerty having started as just such a pirate city.
The Herlads have arrived at last, and their duty to the caravan is done. The Elven Coursier due to take them to Hallowfaust isn't due for three days, so the Heralds have some time to spare.
They quickly agree to split up while safely within the walls (Tiera immediately sneaks back out to the local stone circle to speak to druids there), and to re=-gather in a few days. They've seen only each other for days, and need some time apart. Humtum, in particular, bids the other fair-the-well, and states he won't be seeing them for some time. Voronex says good riddence, but the other Heralds try to convince him to stay. They fail.
Liberty is broken into many different sections, each with its own predomenant business or building type. While their players weren't there yet, I knew Quince was going to the noble district to speak to local authorities about the threat of the cloakers, Mhyssi to the temple Quarter to seek training with priests of Sem, a strength and war god and (one of the rare) allies of her own deity Hyarl. Lyssa and Ryssa were headed to the old quarter (out of their motley) to blend with the "Twilight Folk" who work after-hours: barbers, beggars, bakers, thieves, assassins and porters. Tiera wanted to speak to people who understood spirits about the effect of her spirit totem on her attitude.
That left me with players for Auriji and Voronex, and a new player. As they wondered about, Auriji made for the mercenary district, which made perfect sense for her, and as her blood brother Voronex tagged along. (New player was working on a character). I described the arena, the training grounds, and the people calling out for mercenaries to work for more or less silver or gold. When Auriji's player asked me for a specific, I mentioned an older boy, trying to find mercenaries willing to kill the terror of his village for a share of the winter harvest.
Auriji strode up to the boy, and told him she'd save his village, and slay their terror,k at no cost. So swore the Heralds of Dawn. (Or at least, so swore Auriji in their name.)
This was one of those moments you should see coming as a DM, but don't. The young man and his pleas were designed simply to show that both mercenaries and heroes in general can be found and hired in the Mercenary Quarter of Liberty. I do stuff like this all the time, and normally characters just accept it and go on. Things like slavery, poverty, and opression are pretty common in most of my games, and most characters accept they can't fix everything, every time. And Quince's player wasn't there yet. In fact, the whole reason I was letting Auriji and Voronex run around town was that the other players were late. Now, Auriji had gone and decided to take a side quest, and I needed it to begin, build, and complete in just a few hours.
So, to my file of mid-range plot ideas I did go. This next bit was largely off-the-cuff. It also worked in the new player's character brilliantly. (If I do say so myself).
The boy was a half-elf (and thus older than he looked) named Juiren. He had come here to meet a family member due on a ship. He had hoped said family member would help deal with the "terror" a spell-casting giant named Okoruk. He and his brutish minions have taken control of the town of Greenneck, two days upriuver. They have taken a head count, and do so again every morning. If anyone is missing, they'll wipe out the town. Juiren managed to hide for a few days, so he wasn't ever counted. A town elder sent him to Liberty hoping he could bring help. But since he's a young man claiming a town *nearby* has been taken over by a *giant wizard* no one takes him seirously. He hasn't found his relative, and is desperate for help.
And now the heroes are his only hope.
Auriji is driven in a way that surprises Voronex. She wants this done, and fast. She decides to spend some of her treasure from the caravan trip to pay a wizard form the local magic academy to teleport her, Voronex and Juiren to Greenneck, so no time is lost. Voronex begins to object, but she calls on the debt he owes her for getting her involved in the fight in the first adventure, and he agrees. They go to the academy.
There they explain the problem. The wizards are unconvinced Juiren is right, convinced he got confused and frightened by some low-level illusionist from the school on a weekend bender. But since Auriji has the coin, they'll do the teleport. A young, halfling-ish woman named Yesuva Yelloweyes (tibbet mountebank) suddenly decides to join the party, to the obvious annoyance of the local wizards, but Auriji will accept any help. The group teleports to a clearing near Greenneck, and their wizard promises to scry on the spot for the next three days. If they are there, he'll show up and offer to teleport them back.
Yesurva is obviously an accomplished sneak, and slinks off out of sight to check out the town. Auriji and voronex warn Juiren to stay near and behind them, but the boy bravely proclaims he's not as inexperienced as they seem to think. He hid from giant wizards and their brute allies, and got two days across rough country to Liberty on his own. Auriji shrugs, and agrees he's proven he can take care of himself, though voronex points out that even if Juiren doesn't get himself killed, a careless act might harm those in towen. Juiren agrees to stay close and in back.
Unbeknownst to Auriji and Voronex, Yelloweye has become a housecat (tibbets do that) and sniffed around with Scent. She smells ogre, and something like ogre by cleaner and less earthy. She uses Scent to find some tracks, then comes back as a short humanoid and brings the grouo to the tracks. Auriji and Voronex agree they lookm like big footprints in hide boots. Caution is called for.
The group sneaks up to Greenneck, and spies on the town from the trees. Ogres in heavy chain suits (armor cobbled together by cutting chainmail for Medium folk apart and bolting it to hide armor) with crude morningstars (clubs with broken bits of blades shoved into the wood) are driving the townsfolk to clear the buildings from the center of town. Several oxes and thunderfoot (small brontosauruses used by farmers) are being roasted in fire pits, with ogres occasionally ripping off hunks to eat. There's sign weaker townsfolk have been in the pits too, though the Heralds aren't *sure* the bones aren't from pigs.
Then, they spot Okoruk. He is an ogre, no doubt. It is also a foot taller, jet black in skin, well-dressed in studded leather robes with a wide belt made of braided human and elven hair. A huge broadsword hangs at his side, and he has a horned helm. His broad gloves are covered in orcish runes. Clearly, Juiren was right – he is both a giant, and a spellcaster. (Though ogres are related to orcs in Kor Kammor, and don't count as the giant type. They are humanoid (rage blood), just like orcs).
Okoruk has clearly led a raid from the Northlands, likely under the patronage of a Winter Elf. Taking a shallow-bottomed serpentship, he has brought a group of raiders (h'orcs, which is where the word orc comes form, since most "orcs" are farmers and cattleherds up north) to raid greenneck. Since he's clearing the center of town, Voronex decides there's something under the town – an old dungeon or even a dungeon-fortress from when the ragebloods had cities here. Once he has any treasures within, the townsfolk will be taken as slaves. Clearly, Okoruk plans to be done and gone before anyone in Liberty notices, which means he can't be planning to stay more than a few more days.
Auriji doesn't intend to wait, and forms an immediate plan. Yelloweye is to sneak into town, and distract Okoruk when the others attack. Then Voronex will sweep down by air and Auriji and Juiren by foot to make sure they are the primary threat, so the ogres won't have time to hurt townsfolk. Then Yelloweye and Juiren start freeing townsfolk while Auriji and Voronex take on everyone else.
To my amazement everyone agrees.
End game Nine, part One. Stay tuned for Part Two!
I stand in awe of your ability to take a simple scene and turn it into a mission for the PCs so quickly and skillfully. I salute your efforts, m'adam, and look forward to future tales!
Thanks, L!
Truth be told, and as I mentioned, I have a box of plots. Adventure seeds, really, and not much more. things like "Chimera hunt drives mated pair of chimeras into town" or "Mad bakler decides wizard's familiar is final ingrediant in the ultimate meat pie." I have index cards that divide the box by El range (1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and so on). Anytime I have an idea that doesn't fit the current campaign, it goes into the box.
Then, when the players throw me for a loop, I make them go get me chips and a diet Pepsi, and flip through the box while they're gone. Done properly, they're never sure if I had this game in mind or not, and even when they know (like this time), they can't be sure if I've just shuffled a planned adventure to another time-frame.
Still, it is a bit of an art, and I do take pleasure in being praised for it, so again...
Thanks!
In Kor Kammor, elves come in two varieties. (Keeping in mind my evles are immortal, by which I mean immune to age).
Spring elves are young at heart, able to see hope and happiness, and enjoy life. They explore the ever-changing world, and have a few island kingdoms on the great sea, and are renowned sailors.
Winter elves are brooding, hopeless, bored, evil sons of botches who seek any new sensation. They are involved in torture as an art form, breeding with anythign that moves just to experience something new, and generally being depraved for the sake of the slight quickening of the blood it gives them. They are powerful in magic and martial skills, and control both massive ice fortresses and iceberg castles that float through the northern (and sometimes southern) seas, raiding wherever they do, and doing their best to destroy younger races, especially Spring elves.
What the common public doesn't know is that these are the same speciies. It's just that Spring elves almost always get bored after a few centuries, and slowly become winter elves. most spring elf adventurers are hoping to either find some way to prevent this effect, or get killed before it sets in. Spring elves sometimes have their memory entirely wiped by magic, so they can experience the worl anew again (often leading to older elven heroes still getting to be 4th or 5th level beginning characters).
But winter elves? hate the world, and want to find new ways to ruin it.
I like that you've done away with the Tolkien-esque tree-hugging hippie elf stereotype that's seen in most fantasy. Its a refreshing change to have elves become cruel bastards instead of the wise masters of magic and friends of nature that they're usually portrayed as.
Thanks, Arctaris!
My elves are also creatures of water, and masters of the seas. They do like forrested islands, but that's just a practical matter of wanting wood to build ships. Their greatest cities are towering cliffside ports, where the building rise straight up out of the water of some protected cove.
Spring elves *do* have a great deal of attunement with nature, but it's the nature of wave and storm, not tree and deer. They use birds and water animals as their symbols, rather than wolves or leaves or unicorns.
Winter elves are attuned to the cold lands. They hate change,. Because to them it's just a repeat of things they've seen before. As creatures of water they hate deserts, and the only other unchanging lands are the frozen north and south. They embrace death in all things but themselves (and are happy to kill each other for a laugh). It is, to spring elves, a fate worse than death. To winter elves, it's just the truth, and the sooner everyone else dies, the sooner they'll stop bothing to fight it.
Any cruelty is acceptable to a winter elf, if there's even a small chance it'll be entertaining, or even new. Being revolted is as good as being delighted, maybe better.
The only thing the two groups agree on is their terrible hatred of undead. To spring elves undeath is a perversion of life. To winter elves it is a perversion of death. Death is the only possible solice winter elves hold out for themselves, and the idea of being denied even that ticks them off enough they'll even work with spring elves to prevent it.
Lol, I've got a player who loves playing the traditional elves. The look on his face would be priceless if I informed him that elves were now like this.
Very interesting! Does the Wheel of Time turn, is there a Circle of Life, and do Winter Elves ever become Spring Elves again?
Ah, one of the critical questions of Kor Kammor. In the previous campaign, Long Winter in Kor Kammor, the players discovered that while wiping out a Spring elf's memories as he gets bored with life, but not yet full of hopeless dispair, does restore him to full spring elf status, the dreary and deadly apathy of winter elves survives even having their memories wiped. You just get a 1st level winter elf, who doesn;t even know why nothing seems new or exciting.
So far, no one knows how to restore a winter elf. But, because of divination, they know it's theoretically possible.
I doubt that'll come up in Black days, but I could be wrong.
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Just made it all the way through the thread and I'm still hooked. Can't wait to see what happens in #9 part 2. And it wasn't even a fully planned session... I love it!
And kudos to the misty vampire attack. That is just the kind of thing that makes the world a little bit more real. Many times DMs will just gloss over all of the mundane things that a villian will do to get to know the party. I like the fact that you drop hints as to what might be going on. :D Of course it's not your fault that none of the characters managed to notice any of them.
Hey fans and fems!
Well, I should be sleeping now, but since you've all be soooo good at giving me feedback, and I had to stop mid-session, I'm leaving the heels and make-up on just a little longer. Once they come off, I'm, hitting the sack! But first, let me take the time to present:
Black days of Kor Kammor
Game Nine, Part Two
While the other members of the Heralds of Dawn explore the Neutral City of Liberty, Auriji, her blood brother Voronex, the young half=-elf Juiren and the mysterious Yesurva Yelloweyes have gone to the town of Greenneck to aid against a h'orc (northern raider) invasion, lead by the rageblood ogre mage Okoruk. Auriji's plan bpils down to distracting the ogres, then attacking from the treetops.
Yelloweye sneaks off, becomes a cat, sneaks into town (Voronex sees the cat sneak in and is suspicious, but not yet convinced it's anything but my color description), gets into the building Okoruk has taken as his HQ, gets into a closet, and becomes a humanoid. Then, she carefully envenoms a rapier. She's set.
After waiting a few minutes, Auriji triggers the attack. While voronex takes off on his draconic, misshappen wings, Auriji screasma t the top of her lungs, and jumps OFF The TREETOP to charge an ogre, while enraged, by falling on him with the longspear Majah Gada. This is the first time she has ever opened a fight by going enraged, and she does enough damage to kill the ogre in one shot.
Okoruk rushes to his doorway to see waht's going on. Yelloweye activates a cloak of blur, then rushes out to attack Okoruk. He hears her and spins, and she hits him with her beguiling stare, then stabs him with her deceptive attack (+2d6) and the poisoned rapire. She crits, and does Con damage with the poison. Okoruk tries to nail her with his cold iron Large braodsword, but she is missed thanks to her cloak, and ducks into another room. Concerned that's a trap, Okoruk becomes invisible.
Meanwhile, Voronex targets some ogrees on the ground, and begins alternating breath weapon attacks, staying out of range by flying. Auriji is slashing through ogres with vicious skill, leaving a pile of the creatures in her wake as she tears through them toward town. Juiren doesn't even get to the ground until the nearby threats are dead, which was Auriji's plan all along.
Yelloweyes fails to notice the inivisble Okoruk, and rushes past him to the open town square. She provokes an attack of opportunioty, which he takes wounding her badly. Then he drops a cone of cold on her, catching voronex as well. Yelloweyes barely manages to escape through stealth, and Voronex is badly hurt.
Auriji makes it to the square, killing more ogres, she is a mess, but still has more than half her hit points. She throws the magic Majah Gada, hurting Okoruk badly, and he goes inviisble and flies up. Juiren, meanwhile, finds Yelloweye and cures her, revealing he is a healer (Minimatures Handbook).
Auriji kills another ogre or two, and shrugs off a charm person from the briefly visible flying Okoruk. Voronex nails the ogre mage with a fire breath weapon, from which Okoruk can't regenerate. (Nor can he heal the lost Con from poison) Juiren gets Yelloweyes up and running, and coup de gras' a not-dead ogre. He and Yelloweyes begin freeing townsfolk.
Auriji randomly throws her spear at points in the air, and screams for Okoruk to face her, calling him a coward, but Okoruk is busy drinking admixed potions (potions with two spells in one draught, a Kor Kammor witch's special ability, and a big hit with villains and PCs everywhere). As Oboruk gives himself cats grace and mage armor along with admixed cure light wounds and lesser restoration, Aurji rants that she'll hunt him to the end of his days if he flees. Voronex instead marches into Okoruk's tent, and finds his treasure chest. He hausl it out, and sets it on fire with his breath weapon.
Okoruk, needing treasure to maintain social station, sceams in rage and polymorhp's himself into a manticore. He fires six spikes at Auriji while invisible, hitting with most of them and becoming visible. Now the ogre mage is a regenerating, flying, spike-flinging monster with an armor bonus and 4 extra Dex. Plus, the polymorphed healed the last of his (non-fire or Con) damage.
For the next three rounds, Voronex tries to nail Okoruk-manticore with a breath weapon, while the aleady airborn monster keeps out of range, and hurls six spikes a round at the deformed dwarf dragonfire adept. Auriji throws Majah gada once each round, but can't score good damage. Just as Okoruk-manticore runs out of spikes, he lands *two* critical hits on voronex, who falls out of the air. Juiren manages to push a cart of hay into the plummeting dwarf's path (action point), preventing ther fall from killing him.
Okoruk-manticore now falls on Auriji, making the fight tooth and claw against spear and flesh. Auriji is nearly out of rage rounds, but keeps hammering the beast. Then, as she scores a critical hit, she throws Majah gada aside, pulls Phrit Fi and grapples the large monster-shaped-ogre-mage, grappling and attacking with the punch dagger. She takes terrible damage, but manages to maintain her grapple and keeps stabbing. I was surprised she gave up her more damaging spear, until I realized Okoruk-manticore was close to unconsciousness. With a successful grapple, it can't fly away to escape. It does, however, retain its spell-like abilities, and takes gaseous form. This, I rule, ends its polymorph (That's a complicated rules question, but I'm still happy with that answer.)
However, it's escape is not to be. Auriji retreives Majah gada, and charges the gas cloud, which is not yet very high off the ground. She leaps, gets within her spear's reach, and does a full-value Power Attack. Since her weapon is magical, she bypasses the ogre's DR, and slays it. It's corpse forms out of the vapor, and drops to the ground. (Then, the poison goes off again, so he's double-dead.)
Greenneck is saved. Voronex tries to arrange for the town elders to gather to begin rescue and healing operations, But he botches a Diplomacy check, and is shunned as a demonic freak. Auriji is outraged, and tries to Intimidate the town elders, but also botches. The elders decide the Heralds of Dawn are clearly an evil influence, and blame Juiren for bringing them. Indeed, they decide his healing talent is a cover for darker powers, and banish him as likely in league with Okoruk.
Auriji is ticked off to the max, and decides to thrash the villages until they captiulate,. Voronex restrains her, pointing out that they may see the error of their judgement given time, but not if she conquers or kills them. She does, however, demand all loot from the ogres. When a town guard tries to stop her, she backhands him (Power Attack unarmed attack for nonlethal) and KO's him in one shot. The town is cowed, and the Heralds get the loot. Juiren is distraut, but obeys his people's edict.
Auriji, Juiren, Yelloweyes and Voronex go back to the clearing, where they teleport away they next day. They then meet with the other Heralds, except Humtum who has taken a position with anouther caravan going back through the grey to seek more cloaker nests and take them to make magic cloaks.By unanimous vote, Juiren is made a Herald, and he is quickly taken under Mhyssi's wing, with whom he is much smitten. Lyssa and Ryssa distrust Yelloweyes, which seems mutual, so the tibbet is made a friend, welcome to stick arond, but not currently a full herald.
(By now the other players had shown up, and they made popcorn and rooted for the ogres jokingly during the end of the fight, which didn't take as long as reading it seems).
Tiera returns from time with the druids of the standing circles, at least somewhat restored to sanity. She has accepted that she is the ravaging fury of nature abused, the servant of the earthquake, avalanche and hurricane. And from her destruction, new life can be born. Tiera now paints her face with blue claw-marks across her cheeks, so those who see her know of her violant nature, for most things are marked in nature.
(The player came up with all of that, and I thought it was cool as ice. I added it to my shman notes for Kor Kammor.)
Ryssa and Lyssa have discovered a number of fifinels(1) have snuck into town and attached themselves to some of the less savory criminals in town as molls./ A bit of digging shows the fifinels are spies for the Blood Hoard of the Bugbears, and are making offers for Mhyssi's spell component pouch, and offering extra if it is taken without Mhyssi knowing it. Mhyssi concludes Bloodbeard is afraid he'll lose stature if it's discovered a slave of his family got away with a Redcap's spell pouch.
[[(1)Fifinels are female gremlins, and gremlins are elf/hobogblin crossbreeds. Gremlins are short for Medium creatures, but not *quite* small. They are pastel green or blue, and actually fairly attractive by human standards. They are most often the agents of evil winter elves, but some also work for the Blood Hoard. Fifinels in particular are often used as spies and seductresses, despite rumors (correctly) suggesting they are cannibals.]]
Mhyssi, meanwhile, has a unified set of light armor that goes over her sand silk clothes, she is now a well-equipped, un-ragged young woman wearing an outfit that is both alluring and practcial. Her training, even for just two days, has helped her confidence greatly.
Quince is satisfied that the cloaker threat is being taken seriously, and has sent word to glidda for her to send them word in Hollowfaust, their next destination. (While this all takes very little time to tell, it was hours of roleplaying, and some shopping was done as well).
Then, the elven cousier ship, the Hawksail arrives. On it is Juiren's kinsperson, a spring elf ranger/scout named Daronelle. Daronelle is horrified to discover Juiren has been kicked out by his human family and town, and thanks the Heralds for helping him, and taking him in. As Daronelle is an officer on the Hawksail, she arranges for their passage to be free, and for the Heralds to get better rooms (small, but clean). Quince and Auriji share a room. The Twins share a room. Mhyssi and Juiren share a room, which starts out innocently enough. And Voronex initially gets a room all his own. Yelloweyes takes passage (paying for it herself), but doesn't mention it to any of the Heralds. She tells the captain she'll mostly be skulking, then becomes a cat. None of the Heralds know she is onboard initially.
The Hawksail is in port for two days, then sets off for hallowfaust, It should be a six day trip, getting them inot the city of Necromancers two days before the Merwhore arrives, with UnJohn on board.
Experience is handed out, and everyone gains a level. (By my backwards figuring, that makes Mhyssi tenth, most characters eighth, and Auriji seventh. Juiren is now 7th, as is Yelloweyes and Daronelle).
I *do* appreciate the commentary. The more I get, the more often I'll post. :)
Ah, the POV NPC. I had such plans at this point. But then one player decided to add a secondary character, a new player joined and was writing his character as I was running, and the players never went to where my POV npc was waiting.
So, at this point we have three new characters -- Juiren, Yesurva Yelloweyes, and Daronelle Tradewinds.
I had a brilliant POV NPC all set to repalce Humtum. None of these three are her. I also had a player adding a secondary character, a new player who was only going to be around for a few games, and I had to spin up a POV NPC on the fly. I made up backstories abnd twisted things as needed to get the three new characters into the group. NPCs turned into PCs, characters changed write-ups as the games needs altered, and nothing really went as I had planned. Oh such is the dungeon grrrl's life.
So, none of these characters were planned at the beginning of the session. One is my POV NPC, one is a s econdary character, and one is a character for a temporary player. Anyone care to guess which is which is which?
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Juiren, Yesurva, and Daronelle... which is which...?
Juiren is, obviously, the split second POV character: you yourself said that the sidequest was unintended. Therefore, you put together the quickest temporary character that could help the adventurers, and still fit the young half-elf. Since they had more than enough muscle, you gave them some well needed healing mojo.
According to your first part:
It also worked in the new player's character brilliantly. (If I do say so myself).
The boy was a half-elf (and thus older than he looked) named Juiren. He had come here to meet a family member due on a ship. He had hoped said family member would help deal with the "terror" a spell-casting giant named Okoruk. He and his brutish minions have taken control of the town of Greenneck, two days upriuver. They have taken a head count, and do so again every morning. If anyone is missing, they'll wipe out the town. Juiren managed to hide for a few days, so he wasn't ever counted. A town elder sent him to Liberty hoping he could bring help. But since he's a young man claiming a town *nearby* has been taken over by a *giant wizard* no one takes him seirously. He hasn't found his relative, and is desperate for help.
And now the heroes are his only hope.
Auriji is driven in a way that surprises Voronex. She wants this done, and fast. She decides to spend some of her treasure from the caravan trip to pay a wizard form the local magic academy to teleport her, Voronex and Juiren to Greenneck, so no time is lost. Voronex begins to object, but she calls on the debt he owes her for getting her involved in the fight in the first adventure, and he agrees. They go to the academy.
There they explain the problem. The wizards are unconvinced Juiren is right, convinced he got confused and frightened by some low-level illusionist from the school on a weekend bender. But since Auriji has the coin, they'll do the teleport. A young, halfling-ish woman named Yesuva Yelloweyes (tibbet mountebank) suddenly decides to join the party, to the obvious annoyance of the local wizards, but Auriji will accept any help.
Since you obviously knew what your new (and, apparantly, temporary) player was planning, it seemed likely that you would try to tie this unexpected NPC to him.
That, and Yesuva's breaking and entering into the group doesn't seem to me to be "working in the new player's character brilliantly. And I know of only one male who would ever want to play a cat as a PC, two if you include the guy who built the flying cat for said player.
Therefore, I submit that Daronelle is the new PC, and Yesuva is the secondary character.
Do I get bonus points if I suggest that Yesuva is Auriji's secondary character?
Oh, SO close.
I'll start by saying you are quite right about Yesurva being Auriji's second character. The gruff, front-and-center barbarian woman wasn't as fulfilling as Aurioji's player had hoped, so she asked to make a more off-the-wall secondary. I put it to a vote of the players (secondary characters are fine by me, but not if EVERYONE has them, so I wanted to know if the players were cool with Auriji's player getting one more. Given how lettle extra time Auriji takes up, with no spells and no complex background, everyone was fine with it. It didn;t turn out as expected, as you'll all see later.)
However, Juiren is the temporary character. I was, in fact, thinking of making him a POV npc, and was running him like a low-level scout at first. But while I was doing that, the new player was working on a healer to add to the group. When he was done with the game emchanics, he said he had everything but a name and background. Auriji and Voronex had already teleported off with Yelloweyes, and I didn't want to introduce him as a wandering healer, or a already supressed member of Greenneck. So I asked how he liked Juiren, and he loved the kid, so that became his character just before the attack on the ogre mage. Yoiu may notice there's almost no suggestion Juiren is a healer at first -- that's because he wasn't initially. But since no one had been hurt yet, and none of his "scout" abilities had come into play (any more than a Knowledge local or nature could explain), suddenly becoming a fully-fleshed PC healer instead of a roughly conceived npc scout wasn't a problem.
By then I was halfway through a scout/ranger half elf POV NPC write-up. So I changed from 1/2 elf to full Spring Elf, and established Daronelle. I had originally ruled out any npc from the Hawksail being a POV npc, because they'd have no reason to leave the ship to travel with the Heralds. But by making Daronelle the cousin of Juiren, who just became a PC and full Herald, Daronelle is suddenly doing the Heralds favors on board the ship, wanting to look after her banished cousin, and showing obvious interest in Voronex, who the rest of the Heralds want to settle into a relationship with *someone*. If I do say so myself, brilliant.
I really need to get my tail back here on the forum more often recently.
So much has happened since the last time.
^_^y
Allow me to say again fellows...what we see here is something rare, Dungeon Grrrl is a GM that shines when she wings it. How you quite manage it is beyond me. I understand that everyone has their moments, I've had an entire impromptu campaign that was apparently one of my best, but you have consistency. For someone who's winging it, thats not to be expected, but somehow every time you manage it.
Also, lets not detract from your planned GMing either. That we've discussed at length before though. You are a devious genius, and you know it.
Session 9 is a good example of adaptive GMing. I'd actually be curious how long it actually took you to set up the 'Save the Town' Sidequest. Oh, and having the town accuse them of being evil monsters after having just been saved!? Priceless! This is exactly what PCs need to see sometimes! Not everyone wants to be saved, or even if they do, they want that loot for themselves! Absolutely wonderful.
To respond to my Berserk! comments and your answers...The anime is questionable. It only runs a very short period into the story and ends on a VERY abrupt note. The Manga on the other hand is still coming out in Japan. A friend of mine gets copies of the chapters (translated into english) off the internet. If you have the time and inclination, its not a bad way to get a hold on manga that either isn't coming out in the US or isn't licensed yet. I will say this though, I KNEW IT! I knew you'd seen/Read some Berserk! If you really want to make the players cry, introduce them to some of the characters. ^_^ I know, I'm evil.
A few quotes of note from Session 9, Part 2.
'Mhyssi and Juiren share a room, which starts out innocently enough.'
It seems our young man is in for a rather intensive educational experience. It always nice when a shared interest in the healing arts promotes awareness and attentiveness towards the humanoid form. I'd suggest a semi-permanent 'Fatigued' condition be placed on Juiran.
And this isn't a quote...Voronex 'Initially?' has a room to himself.
Nothing like the Brooding Stranger type to attract a woman. Though Voronex is going to need to be careful, sooner or later he is going to be targetted by a black widow type. Or a Red Widow. Anyone else remember that old Ravenloft monster? Nasty nasty.
Also, not trying to spoil anything, just in case something is in the works Dungeon Grrrl, but you seem to be drawing the group into a sense of complacency. I don't mean in the main, but their personal dealings with one another have been rather peaceful and quiet recently. I smell a setup!
I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen...but I have to wonder what its going to be.
Damn!