Rotvalan Reveries Ep23: Logistical Concerns

Run Date: November 24, 2024

PCs
Lysalia: Lv4 Witch
Francisco: Lv4 Fighter

Hench
Julius: Lv1 Fighter
Hurriya: Lv1 Explorer
Leighann: Lv1 Bladedancer
Phaoros: Lv1 Fighter
Dhaivol: Lv1 Ruinguard
Bellara: Lv2 Fighter

Logistical Concerns

This is hardly worth calling a session, but due diligence requires me to report it nonetheless.

The party, such as it was, had a couple wounded henchman. The thinning of the front line and general lack of numbers resulted in hesitation to venture out of town. Instead, the players discussed logistics and used the time to build up their core of information, connections, and adventure opportunities.

The first point of discussion was assisting Lysalia with building her repertoire to be more useful in combat scenarios. Given Rotval’s hatred of witches, this would be a difficult task. The group began by hitting up the cathedral and inquiring about available stock. The players rolled out the scrolls and spells, discovering that a “Monster Scroll” (22 spell levels) had a lot of things they wanted. Such an item was outside their current fund, but Francisco floated the idea that they may be able to pay for that single spell instead of the whole scroll. Would the church take such a deal?

Lysalia was also Rotvalan (human) instead of Arken (Dwarf), meaning she’d reveal herself as a Witch and likely be hunted. Luckily, she had made a contact in the Bitchsteel Barracks: Master Katja (Craftpriest), and the party decided to leverage her for a letter of recommendation and weave some half-lie about doing commissioned work. A reminder that the Chthonic Witch is an evil enchantress, a Morgan le Fay type, with a particular knack for these sorts of negotiations. Charming Katja was one thing, but charming the Priest handling sales was a huge in, especially backed by the LoR.

Quick side moment to talk about time management. The players aimed to burn extra time and push forward the calendar so they could have their full group ready for battle (the wounded were recovering, remember). Since my family’s Thanksgiving will be on session day, we had about two weeks to play around with. Resolving all the back and forth in town ended up eating what session time we had, though. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on your players; but I tend to lean on quick and simple town stuff so we can get out and hit the wilderness.

With Lysalia’s combat spell problem solved, the players began looking into deciphering a Treasure Map they forgot they had. The group headed to the University to hire the services of a Sage for translating the scratchy foreign language, and paid 40gp to an aloof Khana that handed the map back and said, “It isn’t in any known language, probably a cipher.” Francisco demanded more information, but the Khana just shrugged. Francisco added him to his growing book of grudges.

Deciphering, turns out, is a class power (Thief 4, Venturer 4). So the players went to chat with Nina, the merchant who owned the Opal Mine. She didn’t have the skills, but knew a guy. She charged them a “discounted price” of 30gp and offered to act as mediator. The map was left with her, and a day later the group received a marked up version of it with the details. With that, the players decided to call it early.

Rewards (Totals)

None

Afterword

I find myself less and less engaged, and I am having trouble identifying quite why that is. My initial thoughts are a lack of vision, foundational preparation, and a weakening imagination. I haven’t quite built a workflow I am comfortable with regarding ACKS II, and the background calculations and constant overhead of “what if I forget this” may be paralyzing my mind. Perhaps I’m too far into mechanics and losing the ability to connect them all with adventure or narrative flow.

That’s all for now. Take care.