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Episode 26: Issaries Throws a Party - 23 Jan 2021 14:32
Setting
The group was still trying to set up to play a Heroquest in which Kallyr's guilt could be removed. Taflith Eurmali was a prisoner of the Earth Temple, after trying to break in there.
Plot was largely a continuation of the last week, with twists I added for good fun. Mostly GM fun.
IC Play
Kosa woke up in a comfortable bed, and not on an altar, and therefore worked out that the Maran Gor sect had not taken her prisoner.
The Earth Temple asked the group to persuade Taflith to stop making trouble. They went along, Aria already with a look of defeat on her face. Kosa threatened him, but all he did was make suggestive comments and leer at her.
Inkala attempted to divine things that might go wrong with the Hero quest. Results were inconclusive, with the question probably being valid but too wide.
They set up for the quest.
Inkala headed out to be a traveller from a distant land, and the others began the dances.
Kosa was a member of the bodyguard
Aria was the Host
Varaema was a friend, Chalana Arroy
Androus was Elmal (the bouncer)…
Inkala was tapped by the GM to be the secret traitor, playing Yinkin. Meanwhile, as the play began, Eurmal was very well behaved indeed. Yinkin insulted the other guest quite a lot.
Eurmal did not, but did secretly steal (and hide) a crown. Yinkin's behaviour got worse and worse, and Eurmal was still the soul of courtesy.
Eurmal got grabbed and searched when it turned out that the crown they were after was missing. He had a lot of other crowns, but not the one that was stolen. He then pointed out he had been falsely accused of theft, by the group - the heroes - that did it. This was rather awkward. In the end, Yinkin *nearly* found the Eurmali's trail, and Androus checked the privy for the crown. It was in fact out in the snow, having been thrown there. Ah well. At least there had been a betrayal that involved it, meaning that it was no longer binding Kallyr so hard.
The Eurmali ran off back to Boldhome with the crown, which he picked up out of the snow when he left the party, and he crowned Prince Kallyr; the combination of it being a Satrap's crown and it being marked with betrayal was enough to let her slide out from under the weight of honour, and throw out the Lunar influence that had been invited in.
All was good. Kallyr gave gifts.
Other Things
"Invite everyone to share in a sauna? is that a thing? I'm guessing that it would be super rude to accuse a guest of being a thief?" - Inkala
Episode 25: Those Who Don't Learn From History - 26 Dec 2020 18:46
Setting
The PCs were getting back to the Earth Temple. All was safe, all was good!
Plot was mostly to do with the Eurmali who was trying to get a Heroquest happening, but also based on the fallout of Kosa getting massively captured.
IC Play
Aria talked to the High Priestess of Ernalda, Ereneva Chan, about the Hero Quest they were considering. Sensing the chance to have a Prince of Sartar in her debt, Ereneva agreed to put the considerable resources of the Temple behind them.
However, people were still worried about the mysterious group that had been following them, so Inkala and Kosa set out to look into that. Androuranos stayed at the Temple, and Aria went to the market to trade; Varaema followed her, to heal people.
A man by the name of Taflith showed up at the market, saying The Eurmali in Boldhomewas bringing a court case because Aria stole something from him. "But I’m sure it’s a total coincidence and if you give me a few Lunars then I’ll go away."
Aria allowed herself to be blackmailed, and then fled. Varaema remained behind, and Taflith asked where Aria was staying, claiming that he was in love. Varaema fell for this hook, line, and sinker, and threw in a free riverside bothy to fish from.
Androus attempted to borrow some armour to go incognito, but instead horribly offended an axe lady at the Earth Temple.
Kosa and Inkala, meanwhile, tried to sneak up on a camp of people. It did not go brilliantly. Kosa was rendered unconscious by some form of magic and captured. Inkala was able to tell what had happened, but not effect any rescue. Instead, she followed the man who took back a ransom request to the Earth Temple.
Inkala attempted to get everyone to ambush the ransom requester, but everyone else was too honourable. Kosa was ransomed by her temple.
Varaema ended up convinced that Aria wanted to avoid Taflith because she was in love with Saronil, to the amusement of all as she attempted matchmaking.
Androus and Aria went shopping for armour that was not bright gold.
God-Emperor Kallyr Starbrow - the Eurmali from Boldhome - invaded the temple and was captured. He may of may not have been Taflith all along. He agreed to help in the hero quest.
Other Things
Fumble count: 4
Inkala survival - she fell in a river
Inkala swim - she started drowning
Androus talking - he offended an axe lady
Varaema Insight Human - she believed the Eurmali about him being in love with Aria
"Do we need to disguise Kosa?" - Inkala
"Kosa's not worried about disguise." - Kosa
"That would be a yes." - Varaema
"Varaema's following Kosa. Partly to keep her safe and partly in revenge." - Varaema
"Oh no! I said a bad thing!" - Aria
"There are no good things you can say. Just to reassure you." - GM
"When an axe-wielding woman in bronze tells you you're conspicuous, you might want to listen." - Andros
"What if we lure ALL of them into following us? That wouldn't be so good." - Inkala
"The cogs in Aria's brain turn, trying to comprehend the Eurmali point of view." - Aria
"You lot need to deal with the healer yourselves. How did you manage before me?" - Kosa
"'Manage'. A new word for it." - GM
"I was wondering if you were talking to each other." - GM
"Oh, that's a good idea, I'd probably have done that." - Aria
"At least you owe your life debt to your Temple, and not some disgraced rich guy." - Aria
"And those Lunar crucifixions - they're civilised too, right?" - Fargast
"Yeah, I mean the Praxians would just murder you and dump the body in a ditch." - Inkala
"The proper legalities of murder are important." - GM
Episode 24: Getting out of (and by) Dodge - 13 Dec 2020 22:17
Setting
The group were holed up with an assassin and needed to find out some things.
Plot continued to be built from the Journey of the Heroes work.
Inkala's Log
Library fines
Androus and Inkala go to the library.
Androus speaks to a grey bearded lady who says “oops, you spilled a whole lot of info to everyone, now everyone wants to kill you, but I can help”.
Inkala speaks to a library fine person (Argonet the Prolector) who says “Androus spilled a whole lot of info to everyone, now everyone wants to kill him, he (and everyone who knows him should stay away from the library) so that no mess happens nearby”.
The assassin nearly got assassinated, her life is saved and she is released into the wild.
Everyone leaves.
(No-one liked my idea of camping out in the library and refusing to leave until they solved our problem)
Back in Whitewall, the party decides to trick the chaos that was invited in, into breaking hospitality by failing to reciprocate in a gift and to travel to Clearwine to do this.
The plan for the gift is to give a great sacrifice to the Hero Sartar in the name of this chaos/lunar thing.
On the way to Clearwine, there are some suspicious warriors on horseback looking for someone. The party sneaks off into the hills and avoids them. Kosa spies on them.
The warriors are suspiciously lacking in identifying marks and are very obviously searching for someone.
The suspicious warriors either headed off to clearwine, or to the sundome temple.
IC Play as the GM remembers it
Kosa got lost in the city while looking for her Temple (unless that was the week before; there was a LOT of Nochet to be lost in).
Several of the group went to the Knowledge Temple to try to find out what they could about Quests and actions that might help Kallyr. The assassin work enough to be questioned, and cast a massively multispelled Disruption on herself. At least one other outside the room was trying to kill either them, or the assassin, with bolts from afar.
The library had a few interesting details and ideas - Kallyr could either break hospitality, or invite the problem in and then get IT to break hospitality, effectively. They decided to get a Lunar, or someone else, and to perform some kind of quest that required hospitality breaking, to that Kallyr could get out from under her curse. With that, they fled North. They were, of course, followed. They got to Clearwine safely, although the party was a bit split, with Kosa not there.
Other Things
"Can you even swim, Varaema?" - Inkala
"I expect so. I've never tried before." - Varaema
"Varaema has concocted an even worse plan than the water pilot one." - Varaema
"It's lacking quite a lot of details, Varaema." - Inkala
"This is such a spectacularly bad idea that she won't agree." - Varaema
"And the GM is grinning." - Varaema
"I'm always grinning. It's just sometimes you can't see it." - GM
"What could go wrong?" - Varaema
"Have you got a day?" - Andros
"Depends how much you talk." - Kosa
"And when we get back, you'll be out, riding other people." - Andros
"Out-riding. OBVIOUSLY." - GM
Episode 23: Arrows and Sensibilities - 13 Dec 2020 18:28
Setting
The group had found that Kallyr had invited in an item and something had to be done about it.
Plot was largely based on the adventures in Journey of the Heroes - the PCs there had faced the same problem in Nochet, and I was testing it here as a GM.
Summing up by Androranous, which may or may not be accurate:
Kallyr attempted the Short Lightbringers' Quest during Sacred Time. She needed a Lunar-tainted item, which had been provided by Varaema. Unfortunately, and unknown to Varaema, the taint was far vaster than it appeared. Additionally, Lord Eril had involved himself in the ritual, which was not part of it, and appears to have adversely affected it. Consequently, some form of Lunar demon was summoned in the middle of the ritual, causing devastation. Those affected were cursed, and not healable with normal magicks. Kallyr has placed some of the blame on Varaema, who had also been tainted by that item, with a greed curse, for the ritual's failure. Kallyr has told her to make the damage good, or accept exile. We are here to discover how to purge Varaema of that curse. When she is ready - she is presently Healing in the city - we will bring her to this Temple and consult your wisdom.
IC Play
The PCs decided that they had to go to Nochet to find out about Kallyr's curse. It was not a hugely eventful journey, although Varaema did get the chance to talk to Jaldis again, which pleased her. Saronil was not available. Inkala, cousin to Varaema and just as enthusiastic but rather more adventuous, met with the crew. Both of them had to leave their High Llamas behind. In Nochet, they found an inn, and Androranous went off to the Temple of Knowledge to see all of his friends and tell them - in great detail - about what they were doing and their mission. Within half a day, everyone of importance in the city knew, and assassins attacked the group.
They managed to capture an assassin - an archer - after cutting off one of her arms, while they were all separated as Androus was in a semi-impatient sulk over wanting to get information, and Kosa was very protective of Varaema. There were other attempts on them as they holed up in their room trying to question her. Varaema absolutely refused to allow her to be harmed and reassured her against threats.
Other Things
I was ASTOUNDED that Andros told everything to half a dozen of his friends, but on the other hand, that did make planning easier. Varaema protecting the assassin was massively on-brand. I didn't get to penalise apparently honourable people who wanted to commit acts of torture, but I had decided to if they did that. A pass on Honour would mean they had to damage their score just to start, and then damage inflicted would have meant extra losses.
Quotes and Notable Things:
Kosa attempts sign language, with an axe.
"Should we Scan?" - Kosa
"No?" - GM
Episode 22: Where are you going and what are you doing? - 21 Oct 2020 10:21
Setting
Saronil was still apart from everyone else. The rest of the PCs were still investigating the crown given to them by the Eurmali.
Plot was a mix of PC actions and underlying cosmological knowledge. Thanks to Saronil for the write-up notes..
IC Play
Saronil interrogated the prisoner he kept longest, and found out they had probably been hired by the Lunar 'Merchant' Dagryr who had crossed their path before, most notably just outside Boldhome before Sacred Time.
The rest of the group tried to work out their options for ridding Varaema of a taint of Lunarism. There was a Heroquest which involved swimming the length of the Zola Fel, but possibly the best option was visiting Esrolia and the Great Library there to look up more. They went to the local library in Boldhome itself, to try to get the Eurmali Crown identified, and traded knowledge about the Dwarf of Dwarf Mine, and the story of the North Gate; Aria was understandable nervous of telling everyone how she got people into Dunstop. Aria and Varaema got into a bargain-off as they both tried to pay.
The crown was, apparently, designed to be worn on a Heroquest, and would be very useful to Kings. It bestowed Satrapy rights on the wearer, and could enforce a right of existence. Everyone decided to avoid the Stormbull method of cutting out Chaos.
Androus had an interesting encounter with a Yelm person who made a cryptic comment about his shield torc, and about reaching 'his' potential in that context. His temple refused to help him interpret this until he has helped Varaema.
Saronil got lost in the Donalf Flats and lost his left arm to a teleporting sabretooth lion thing. He was not happy about this. However, he reached the dwarf safely, and gave him the package from Eril - it turned out to be a lump of Truestone. The Dwarf said that Eril's debt was paid, and talked a little about Pharandros and Fazzur. One of them would take Aldachur bloodlessly, he reckoned, and the other would go into Sartar through Runegate. They were currently maneuvering around Aldachur.
The rest of the group went to Whitewall on the way to Esrolia. Jaldis told Varaema that the problem really was not hers to solve, that Kallyr ought to be solving it, that everyone in Sartar ouldl be making bad decisions and that Kallyr probably needed to make friends with the lunars she invited in, or break hospitality with them (presumably tricking them into breaching hospitality would also work).
Somehow Varaema thought that she ought to go back and tell High Healer Beneva this…
Other Things
I really do like monsters that are from the bestiary but have one extra weird thing about them. Sabrecats that move through patches of moonlight are not massively over powered, but they can be surprising. If you get lost by fumbling survival, you're likely to meet something hostile.
"The armring was destroyed, by which we mean, turned into a six armed red demon." - GM
Episode 21: Winging it and Legging It - 27 Aug 2020 11:43
Setting
The group were trying to work out what the hell to do.
Plot was created from a mix of PC action and underlying cosmology knowledge.
IC Play
Varaema was visited by Tennebris to organise a meeting with Kallyr Starbrow, in the Temple of the White Ladies. Varaema had the others present as friends, and Aria did some of the talking. Kallyr was in a bad way, only able to move because of the Flight spell. She told the group that they were not exiled, but only because they were linked to her, and needed to solve the problem they had helped to create. She wanted the problem dealt with by the end of Sea Season, however. They discussed various ways they could do this, as it was essentially a Lunar taint on the Heroquest which had effectively invited the Lunars into the kingdom.
"It could be dealt with by dealing with the symptoms.
If you choose to treat it as chaos there is the Praxian cleansing of the river.
You could possibly cut it away - but exile is cleaner
You could chase out the Lunar parts with some form of quest." - GM or possibly a White Lady…
Having agreed to this, the group went off to watch Androuranos fight the Great Troll he had challenged. The terms of the duel, as Yelmalio understood it, would be that he would not need to challenge any further Darkness Creatures while present - it was understood that the duel itself was a holy time-out. The great troll, Vragjak, was waiting along with an Argan Argar minder and her bodyguards. Saronil, knowing trolls to be untrustworthy, kept an eye on them. Aria worked the crowd, making a small profit.
After a couple of exchanges of blows, Androus wounded Vragjak, and the great troll got called off by the merchant priest who had brought him. The group went to research how Lunar effects might be cleaned away. Saronil got sent to Alda Chur by Eril to do the usual message-running up to Gallem there. He was followed by four bandits, and managed to find a ravine he could slither into where they could only come down one at a time.1 He managed to cripple a couple, force them all to surrender, and take them prisoner. The horses they were on had cancelled owners' marks from the Culbrea tribe. He went cross-country to Herongreen after that, to avoid more attempts on him.
The rest of the group went to the Lightbringers' Temple to look for help, where they were met by a Eurmali who called himself God-Emperor Kallyr. In greeting Varaema he embraced her, and stole all her money, which was noticed by some of the others; Kosa grabbed him and put his leg into a lock hold.
His leg fell off. Kosa's immediate reaction was to hit him with it, although it was a terrible weapon. However, He then disappeared, leaving them with only a leg, and proceeded to complain about assault and theft. After they had argued for a while he agreed to give them some of the money back, which he did, including a circlet that looked a bit like a battered crown.
Other Things
"Staying within the magical confines [of the market] may be a good idea, and indeed you have been doing that religiously…" - GM
"Kallyr is a very good monarch and a very sensible person!" - Varaema's reality distortion field
"I managed not to die, and it looks like you made a small profit." - Androus
"We each did as our gods pleased." - Aria
"We need to find someone we can trust." - Aria
"I can find someone I trust very easily." - Varaema
Someone's leg coming off was the funniest way of introducing a new Eurmali that I could have come up with. Also this session I revealed that blaming Eril for the Sacred Time disaster had happened because the High Priest of Lhankor Mhy in Jonstown had fumbled his Library Use. People laughed. Mostly. Some wept.
Episode 20: Playing a Trick - 24 Jul 2020 21:47
Setting
Sea Season 1626.
Saronil was away OOC for a portion of last session, and therefore sent off with a message IC. I think. This was folded into the current session.
Did I get the plot from somewhere? If so, where?
IC Play
Saronil had been sent off to Boldhome with a note from Jaldis.
In Whitewall, Varaema Divined on the question, "How can the trouble that the arm-ring caused to the heroquest be fixed?"2 She did not get an answer she could understand.
Jaldis took the liberty of making a few enquiries of Chalana Arroy herself:
"Who means harm to Varaema?"
~Orlanthi, in his madness, strikes out.~
"What is the biggest danger to Varaema?"
~That the polluted idol claims her.~
"How can the danger of the polluted idol be removed?"
~Lunar Magic is strongest when they are waxing.~
She interpreted this to mean that Varaema should take her advice, and go back to Boldhome rather than be hunted - Kallyr was not the biggest threat to Varaema, but needed healing.3
Saronil, in Boldhome, went bravely up to the palace to be arrested merely for turning up. Kallyr was in horrific pain, only able to move because she was using the Flight spell, and was accusing Varaema of causing this. Eril and Tennebris moved swiftly to have Saronil arrested, with Kallyr refusing to let Saronil be taken from the palace. Most of this was, of course, lost on Saronil.
The others, travelling back, saw an airborne duel in which one of the participants fell from the sky. They had to scrape him together to prepare the corpse, as they passed by where he had landed. They recognised him as being dressed in the clothing of the Culbrea Tribe. Varaema remained firmly tied to her high llama through all of this. The group approached the border of Sartar, and found there were two sets of people there; one Culbreans in Kallyr's colours, and one under the local Thane, Lord Silor Cracksrock. One of Silor's two sons was incredibly similar in looks to Lord Eril, the High Sword of Boldhome. There were a lot of storm clouds around, and people had obviously been pushing Orlanthi magic around. Rain happened. The Culbreans were unhappy and were trying to make everyone uncomfortable.
While it rained on them, Varaema stood under the llama, with Kosa next to it. Silor explained happily that he was here to make sure that the peace of Sartar's roads was enforced. Eventually the Culbreans stopped making it rain and agreed not to kidnap Varaema, who would be under Silor's protection.4
Saronil, in his cell, had a couple of visitors. First, Eril came to say that Saronil's life was in danger, and by serving Eril's temple, it would be easier to save him. Saronil agreed to this, and Eril left to go do politics. After that, Tennebris came to make sure Saronil could leave the Palace - and Boldhome - by casting Flight on him. Saronil was to take an invitation to Varaema to talk with Tennebris at the Temple of Orlanth.5
The group minus Saronil spent the night at Silor's house in Wilmskirk, a large place in a walled compound. Silor's wife was there, and Aria sold her a surprising amount, which Silor wincingly paid.6 They planned how to get Varaema into Boldhome safely, not getting too far.7
Saronil went to the Sun Dome Temple and sent a message to Whitewall with the words of Tennebris, but did not manage to catch up with the group.
Silor suggested that his Trickster could disguise Varaema to get her into the city.8 Meanwhile, other groups could distract guards at the gate. This was agreed on as a plan. Naturally, the trickster then made Varaema invisible and walked her away from Kosa, helping her over the wall with some magical paint. Androuranos, on the other hand, noticed a giant troll at the gate and had to challenge it, while the others were scooped up pretty easily and sent towards the Palace. Androuranous was flown there by a capturing Orlanthi.
Varaema got over the wall, although it set off an alarm, and the trickster then claimed to be her. She found herself able to walk to the Temple of Chalana Arroy with no problems save the trickster's obscene grafitti on her face turning out to be tattooed on. Nobody ended up very arrested at all.
Other Things
Tricksters are awesome. Tricksters who lie to you for your own good are even better.
Episode 19: Air Waves - 24 Jul 2020 19:19
Setting
Early in Sea Season.
The entire plot of Sea Season was the GM attempting to get the adventurers into the correct position to play The Duel at Dangerford while the adventurers blithely ignored IC hints and attempts at political guidance.
IC Play
The group returned to Sartar, and Androranous went towards Boldhome, which was preparing for war, judging by the reinforcements on the wall. Saronil and Kosa went to the Temple of Earth,9 as Daravala wanted to talk to them, and Varaema and Aria went with them, but paused to do trading on the way.10 Daravala wanted to know from Saronil about some people who had fought Zorak Zoran before.
The new Light Priest of Yelmalio had been confirmed as Hardeep. Androus went to see him, but was given Light Son Norang, a Rune Lord, instead. He braindumped, telling everything he knew of what had happened when he was away.
On his return to the training enclosure, Andros found a Humakti at the gate, trying to catch his attention. The Humakti had a message from Lord Eril for Androus with a request he deliver it to Saronil, in person. It was apparently, "To your mutual advantage." There was a slightly tetchy exchange, as Androus explained he is due to do a weeks' temple duty, and could act without the temple's consent. The Humakti expected Androus to go and get consent. Light Son Norang and Androus conspired to agree to the delivery, and arrange for the Humakti to see the Norang and demand a service for a service. Lord Eril was not going to get his man back for a while.
Saronil, in Clearwine, had told all he knew about the meeting with the Troll that had bent his sword, and was meeting his nephew for the first time. He was delighted by the small bundle of snot and big brown eyes that his sister presented him with. He gave her the gifts he had bought on getting the news of the birth, and introduced them to Varaema.
On his way, riding a decent horse, Androus overtook some warriors who looked to be of Kallyr's household, making their way on rather shorter horses to Clearwine. They said nothing to him. Androus reached Clearwine about a day after his friends, who had been travelling slowly.
He delivered the message to Saronil, and then read it out, as Saronil could not. "For your information: Order for detaining of Varaema-all-healer issued. Recommend being absent. Lord Eril Sambar."11 It did not use his Humakti title, so could be construed to be an informal tip-off, either advice to get out of the way and let it happen, or advice to get Varaema out of the way. Daravala ordered Kosa to leave - protecting Varaema - and thus stay away from the High Priestess of Maran Gor, who was still after her as a sacrifice.
They got Varaema out of the way, despite her protestations that she was sure all would be well, and were far enough from Clearwine to watch the warriors arrive to start looking for her. They hoofed it down to the Yelmalian Temple in Sun Dome County. They asked for protection of a patrol they met. Jaynrii, its leader, was not pleased either with Andros telling him how to behave or with the request. However, he agreed to lead the party into the city and Temple.
They told their various stories. The women were put into women's quarters and the men were put into men's quarters, and for that night at least, they were safe. ((There was an attempt by someone to get some information here about Daravala's request, but the GM forgets.))
On the way to Whitewall the following day, the party was eyeballed by centaurs along the Beast Valley road, but when they proved no threat, the demicavalry band moved on. They were observed by a very large alynx from the same direction,12 towards nightfall.
As Yelm ascended the next day, they spotted an Orlanthi flying, landing some distance away. The party moved off, and the Orlanthi, flying again, attempted to levitate Varaema - and would have succeeded, had Kosa not grabbed her and wrested her back down again.
Late in the day, the group arrived in Whitewall, where they rested a week and took political advice from Jaldis, who then carefully wrote to her allies to make sure she knew what was going on. Androus spent the week in prayer and sacrifice, after finding a Yelm Priest who was interested enough in him to sanctify a Temple and let him do that.
Other Things
I am particularly proud of the attempt to steal Varaema, which nearly succeeded, and resulted in people having to be tied to their saddles…
Tags: 1626 andros boldhome eril hardeep jaldis kallyr kaynrii kosa saronil sea varaema whitewall
Episode 18: Diggy Diggy Trench - 28 Jun 2020 17:22
Setting
Notes provided by Androus. Thanks, Androus
Plot was created by adding a few seeds - the Broo and the wild dwarf - and letting the adventurers deal with them or not.
IC Play
The party enters the mine. Androus and Aria give their reports. Saronil reports via the medium of interpretive dance.
T'Dwarf sends a scouting party of his own to Snake-Pipe Hollow.
In the rec room, the party has an unfamiliar arrival. Kosa Everlaughing - Babeester Gor. Dark eyes, dark hair. Red hands. Axe. They meet. Kosa is looking for Saronil to tell him that the Earth Temple in Clearwine wants to talk to him.
At the Snake-Pipe Hollow road, the party finds what appear to be remnants of dwarfs. They return with them to the Dwarf, who says there should have been five, but there are the remains of only four.
"That means there's a wild dwarf. They do not do well on their own. I would like it back."
"Dead or alive?"
"Alive, preferably."
In the morning, Androus asks the Dwarf how to deal with his errant colleague. "Normal human methods should work. If those fail, destroy it as defective, and return the parts to me."
Back to the path to Chaos they go. Varaema heads up the path, towards a trollkin at a turn in the path. It's wounded, hence her interest.
Except, when Androus challenges it to first blood, and does a pulled attack, it morphs into a broo and attacks. It managed to miss him and hit itself, and when it is crippled Androus drops it. Three others pop up at the same time Saronil tries to fall into the spike pit trap. After a bit of a punch-up, the party kill the broos without further harm to themselves.
A small troop of Storm Bulls is coming back from Snake-Pipe Hollow. Androus manages to annoy them by telling them the party sorted out the broos for them13. Once the situation is calmed down, and the two are being kept apart, the rest of the Storm Bulls help the group to burn the bodies. The party returns to the Alda-Chur path, but encounters the errant dwarf, digging. Party members do everything they can to stop it digging, but it's unstoppable. Saronil grapples its waist, Androus its legs and someone binds the legs, freeing Androus to try to knock it out. Unfortunately, he's too successful and the dwarf dies. The party takes its remains back to the Dwarf, receiving 25W ransom for their troubles.
The group returns to Alda-Chur, tarries a short while for worships, then onwards to Clearwine and Boldhome.
Other Things
The trollkin broo who fumbled and struck himself hard enough to be crippled was the most Runequesty thing that ever Runequested. It was perfect.
Tags: 1626 androus aria broo dwarf kosa mostali saronil sea varaema
Episode 17: Politics and Pedestrians - 13 Jun 2020 21:26
Setting
Plot was created by letting the player characters do things, with a little understanding as to what. Saronil was cut off from the rest, helping Eril to pay reparations to the Dwarf, but this went OK as he was able to explore the problem with the roads himself.
IC Play
Saronil got very very lost on his way out of Boldhome. Something didn’t seem to want to let him go north. He spent an entire day just trying to get out of Dangerford, and even managed to cross the river twice because he turned back halfway. He detoured via Alone while trying to get to Alda Chur from Herongreen.
Androuranos and Varaema went to the library, it was full of people celebrating. After working out that neither of them had any significant amount of money, they went and found their bankroll, Aria.
Issaries (Aria) went to meet Lhankor-Mhy and look for someone, according to their sacred duty at this time. And also, not by coincidence, to pay for the research into what the hell went wrong in Boldhome and how to fix it.
In the library there was line dancing to help teach the stories.14 Androus, as a lay member, joined in. The others got to be bored for some time.
When he finally reached Alda Chur after three more days than it should have taken, Saronil went to the Temple of Humakt, where Gallem was just finishing a sacrifice. The worship of Orlanth being forbidden here, he was in no way performing the rites that would send Orlanth into the underworld as a dead god. However, the rabbit he was sacrificing *was* dyed red.
Saronil gave a summary of events to Gallem. He was horrified, mostly at the thought that Saronil might be exiled enough to have to move to Alda Chur. Gallem suspected that the problem with roads was because the Prince of Sartar had been wounded, and was magically part of the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, back in Jonstown, the others finally had an answer from the library, in Fate week.15Eril’s protection of the HeroQuest had been mythologically flawed, as Humakt should not have been asked to help. The solution was not to have Lord Eril any more. This caused some consternation within the group.
As they began to make their way back, they went astray again. Fortunately, they were very close to a Temple of Knowledge, and therefore after a single further day, they were able to understand what had happened. The connections within the Royal Roads had been severed - in this case, the forks and intersections were not doing the job they should have.
Vareama and Aria deliver the information from Jonstown to the Hospital. From there, they take that to Lord Tennebris. He tells a messenger to go down to Androus’s temple RIGHT NOW THIS SECOND to try to stop the news spreading.
Meanwhile, Androuranos is telling lord Farenor all of this… The messenger comes in with a letter from Tennebris. Faremor tells Androus to tell Captain Hardeep and only then reads the letter, thus ensuring he cannot be silenced.
On the last day of sacred season, Lord Farenor challenges Lord Eril over the matter. Lord Eril wins, despite being badly wounded, and is a dickhead about it. Varaema saves Farenor’s life, earning enmity from a number of very powerful people between 0 and 5 inclusive. As Farenor falls to Death, the burden of communicating with the Cold Sun becomes Hardeep's. He rises to the occasion; Lord Hardeep becomes the new Light Son of the Temple.
There is a whole bunch of walking around talking to people. Aria revealed to her High Priest what the problem with the roads was, as far as the Jonstown Temple could work out, and the Issarians prepared to go tell people and help keep the road system working.
Other Things
The politics here was very good fun, and I am exceedingly proud that I managed to keep a straight face despite the Chief Priest of Lhankhor Mhy having fumbled a Library Use roll. Eril's entirely justified anger at all of the accusations he had been sloppy about ensuring Humakt was not damaging to the quest were looked on as a means to make political capital - right up until he proved that he could still defeat the lord of another Temple in combat.
