LFG Session 20: Remnants of Randomness

 Run Date: November 29th, 2022

PCs

Renaran: Lv1 Magic User

Peril: Lv1 Bard

Xena: Lv1 Barbarian

Remnants of Randomness

During the adventure last week, I rolled up some rough weather that set the pacing for that session: a blizzard. Said blizzard roll(s) lead into this week, putting a damper on the PCs desire to venture too far from town. As a result, everyone brought new Lv1s and decided to try hitting up the Anthill hook in Weebury.

With the blizzard still raging, the party decided to do a bit of shopping in preparation for the excursion (except for firewood... one day they'll learn). Their movement was slowed to a crawl, however, and the party arrived just before nightfall. Weebury's buildings were disassembled save for several walls and rock foundations, and the party wasn't interested in diving into the giant anthill and potentially being forced to trek back in the night. To this end, the group set themselves up as best they could in the corner of an old house. They set up a miniature camp and used their tents and tarps to house and protect a fire, as well as avoid the precipitation. The person on watch had the duty of tending to the fire. Oh but wait... No firewood.

LFG Session 19: Not So Clear Skies

 Run Date: November 22nd, 2022

PCs

TAG: Rogue Lv1

Willow: Cultist (Laurenia) Lv2

Not So Clear Skies

Our third was missing today so the players decided to head east of Riversmeet to explore the hills. Also, I learned TAG stands for Totally A Goner.

LFG Session 18: Return to Area 51: Babysitter's Club

 Run Date: November 15th, 2022

PCs

Arken: Lv2 Artificer

Willow: Lv2 Cultist of Laurenia

TAG: Lv1 Rogue

Return to Area 51: Babysitter's Club

We opened the session as normal; with the players going over their downtime and figuring out what to do. Rebel was still training and would be out for another week so Arken suggested they go check out Area 51: the unlisted hamlet they happened across a few weeks back. Willow hopped in, figuring she had nothing better to do, and Rebel's player brought her rogue TAG (I forgot what it stood for).

The PCs meet up to discuss their plans and goals. Arken, due to a result of the Carousing table, has a two year old boy in tow. He does a quick introduction and explains that he wants to hit up Area 51 and see if he can't gain some "insight" into the experiments they were running. When the party happened upon it last time, a pillar of black smoke was filling the air and they discovered an experimental warship running on a black, flammable substance. They'd help the foreman rescue some of the workers, and were rewarded with some hush money.

I've mentioned before that I've been using 1:1 time. Well, I've also been using our weather patterns. Today was dark, cold, and miserable. It seemed that the players didn't quite remember that, however, as Willow and Arken gathered the old cart Arken had in his backyard and headed out. Meanwhile, TAG was on babysitting duty. Her role while they were gone was to do a bit of information gathering and try to find any rumours of Area 51; be it supply caravans or movements.

LFG Session 17: The Descent

 Run Date: November 18th, 2022

Note to self: learn how to run a dungeon crawl.

PCs

Rebel: Lv3 Monk

Baldur: Lv2 Barbarian

The Descent

Last week, the players successfully defended the gates of the Oldtown Graveyard with a slew of henchmen, militia, and guardsmen. The blow they dealt was heavy enough to allow a respite, and the session opened with the players going over the letters they received during their downtime. Richard was absent today, but received a promotion to Lieutenant. Some of Baldur's buddies from the gate guard pooled their savings and purchased a barrel of Redmead from the Sunwood. Rebel, meanwhile, brought in the next hook: the Laurenian Priest in Oldtown has a plan to sanctify the graveyard.

With the hook set, Rebel and Baldur hit up some of their henches and headed out to see what Henri (the priest) had in mind. When the party arrived at the graveyard, they found the gates wide open and a small crew building a burial site. Rebel stepped in and greeted Henri; then introduced Baldur and asked about the plan. Henri explained that her fallen friend, the Khairnite James, was going to be used as a cornerstone. Enter Agatha, clad in shining plate befitting a holy warrior. Rebel recognized the old lady and complimented her on her gear, to which the old lady joked about it being heavier than she remembers. Baldur, meanwhile, stumbled in his introductions and wandered around the area while the others talked.

LFG Session 16: Battle of Oldtown Graveyard

 Run Date: November 1st, 2022

The activities of today's session actually took place yesterday (Oct 31st), but the group wanted to play things out in session time.

PCs

Rebel: Lv3 Monk

Baldur: Lv2 Barbarian

Richard: Lv2 Fighter

Battle of Oldtown Graveyard

Admittedly, I'm at a bit of a loss as to how I want to write this out. The long and short is that the entirety of the session was consumed by the battle, and the various rounds/turns kind of melted together at some point. Perhaps I should start with the idea:

LFG Session 15: Dawn of the First Day

 Run Date: October 25th, 2022

PCs

Richard Lv2 Fighter

Rebel Lv3 Monk

Baldur Lv2 Barbarian

Dawn of the First Day

The session began with the dissemination of information. First, a few characters (both in and out of session) drew their lottery cards. One drew the Chariot and another the Hanged Man; the rewards being a Cathosian Gecko and 3 vials of a flying potion commissioned from the Khana. After that, the players went over the variety of news posted by the Riversmeet Review and a letter that Rebel had received the day prior.

The letter and its contents were the focus of the session. In it, the sender apologized for their previous conflict and offered condolences for Rebel's lost friend. It then re-extended the offer from the week prior. Rebel wanted nothing to do with it. At this time, Richard brought up something he'd heard from the Captain of the Guard: the call for assistance was newspeak to cover the situation at the Oldtown Graveyard. The Captain planned to organize whoever he could to mount a proper assault.

LFG Session 14: A Request From An Old Friend

Run Date: October 18th, 2022

I've been rather mechanical with my reports of late; coming home and just jotting down things before I forget. I find it difficult to get into a flow, and then writing everything out ends up taking longer than I expect. Nonetheless, it's been fun and I hope to one day view these records for insight of how far I've come.

With that out of the way: Today's session was one on one. One player was busy managing things at the library, and the other couldn't make it. The bright side is that managing things with 1:1 timekeeping and "return to base" means I don't have to mess with cancellations. This is new territory for me, and I hope to learn what I can.

PCs

Baldur: Lv2 Barbarian

A Request From An Old Friend

We began the session with updates on the situation with scheduling and the missing players. After that, P (Baldur's player) weighed what he wanted to do and which character he was going to play. He decided on his now-level-2 barbarian Baldur. His first action? Hit up the Tankard and ask around about work.

The Red Tankard has been busy of late with the festival season in full swing. Baldur found himself squeezing between patrons and trying to speak above the din of the inn. What he found was one of the first henchmen ever hired by the group (only one PC of which is still alive: Rebel). The man with a (former) death wish invited him over to munch on some fried peppers. Vance, as the man introduced himself as, noted they'd be out of season and his former drinking buddy used to love them. Baldur's mind was on money and would have preferred a quick and direct command, but he let the ex-pirate reminisce.

LFG Session 13: A Change of Plans

Run Date: October 8th, 2022

PCs

Rebel Lv3 Monk

Willow Lv1 Cultist

Baldur Lv1 Barbarian

A Change of Plans

We opened with the players reviewing a variety of hooks and rumors that have been running for a while. To my surprise, they decided to hit up the Oldtown Graveyard and try to make some progress. The usual henchmen the party hired were unavailable (still out on the Red Water Sanctum mission), and they didn't want to take time recruiting more so it was a three man crew today. It was also raining.

The party set out to the familiar gates and chatted with the on-duty guards about what they've been seeing of late. They covered the old information regarding the strange glow, and noted that the creatures have continued to become more numerous and organized. The guards even mentioned several lieutenants among the horde, one of which sounded familiar to Rebel. With the pleasantries aside, the gates opened and SHUNK, down the barricade went.

LFG Session 12: What To Do?

Run Date: October 1st, 2022

I burned a bit of session time with brownies and ice cream for a bit of pre-birthday fun, and topped it off with some bad news about my schedule changing.

PCs

Rebel: Lv3 Monk

Karthalion: Lv1 Ranger

Hallow: Lv1 Cultist

What to do?

With Richard and Arken out for quite a while, it was time to rotate in some secondary characters. Hallow made a return after her investigation wrapped up in Alfstead a few weeks back and Karthalion joined the crew anew.

We opened with a bit of discussion about what to do. Today was the first day of Corvis Rising, and the beginning of the festivals that would be running all month. The group decided to check out some of the festivities and see if anything interesting was going on. Onward to the riverside.

Crowds had gathered along the bridges and traffic was beginning to slow to a crawl. While none of the events had officially kicked off yet, there were no shortage of entertainers, travelers, and revelers. The party noticed a particularly large crowd around an eight foot creature with massive horns, a red face, and open mouth with curled white fangs. They could only see it from the shoulders up, but saw that the creature was making dramatic poses, scaring some of the crowd, and signing... autographs. Rebel and Hallow found this last bit particularly interesting and decided to pick up a flyer and purchase an "autograph" from the creature. The flyer read: "The Trade Council is proud to present: Pact of the Tengu! A Heian story performed by the Ishiku City Actors! Performances will be held weekly starting on the first day of Corvis Rising at the landing docks across from Miller Street!"

Alongside the demon creature were other costumed actors dressed in all sorts of Heian garment and mask (the aforementioned Tengu being the most prominent). Kathalion had little interest in the ladies' little side venture so headed outside of town to camp out and wait out their shopping spree. Meanwhile, Rebel and Hallow moved around to various stalls to purchase some new clothes.

LFG Session 11: Return to the Red Water Sanctum

Run Date: September 24th 2022

Today's session was a lesson in player freedom and time management.

PCs

Arken[Pa]: Lv1 Artificer

Richard[Sh]: Lv2 Fighter

Return to the Red Water Sanctum

Rebel was out today so the other two players had to decide what they were going to do. Arken proposed spending some of their gathered gold on a couple horses, a wagon, and some supplies so they could return to the Red Water Sanctum. The plan involved mining out the Gold Digger Guild's claim and selling what they could on the black market. "Claim" is probably a strong word since the GDG were still trying to hire people to clear the area out for them, and the dice decided that nobody else had completed the job. After hiring a few henchmen, the party headed out (Aisha, Hap, Kumin, and Hawk).

The last time the party tried to find their way to the Red Water Sanctum, they got lost for several days. This time ended up no different: It took 6 days, and they only found the place by accident (random rolls for veering swung them into the appropriate area).

Day 2: Kumin was navigating: The group came across a wide path between two rocky hills. It was both a shortcut of sorts and one of the only places to get further along their path. Kumin and Richard were driving while the others chilled in the wagon until a small tremor caught their attention. A massive, plated creature burst from the rocky hillside and landed a little over a hundred yards from them. As it raised its head to sniff the air, the party went into defensive actions: they pulled the wagon aside, tied pelts over the horses' eyes, and hid under their hundred pelts as best they could.

They peeked out of their hiding place and observed as the bulette casually walked toward them with its nose still in the air. The creature didn't appear aggressive, but inquisitive. The group managed to keep the horses calm as the hulking mess stopped beside the cart and threw half its body over the edge. It nearly threw them out, and started taking bites out of their property. By the time it wandered off, it had consumed 30 of the 100 shoddy animal pelts they'd purchased (their plan was to hide their haul under the pelts to dodge prying eyes). The rest of their day was uneventful.