Final Fantasy XIV, Part 12 (One Week Owlbear Diary)

Wednesday, April 29. The Owlbears gather their forces and advance upon the Crystal Tower in eastern Mor Dhona. Together with an alliance of NOAH operatives and free company sellswords, they encounter ancient magitek devices and bizarre cryptids from a bygone age. The occasion marks Drippy's first real test as a Samurai.

Thursday, April 30. Truffle McCabe watches as the sun set as a stand of tree-sized flowers rustle softly in the distance. For a brief moment in the Cloud Sea, the winds are still and the sky is at peace.

Friday, May 1. Today is a quiet day. The weather is warm and the sun is out, so little work is being done. Even so, in the colder regions of Eorzea, Aladbross takes some time to appreciate the natural beauty of his surroundings, and takes a photo of the mists rising up from the canyon floor at an unnamed point in Dravania.

Saturday, May 2. Drippy eats the last of Aladbross’s honey muffins. It marks the end of an era. The stack of 60 muffins had been a constant snack and companion for Drippy since level 15, traveling with him all from Lower Limsa Lominsa to the height of the Crystal Tower. While the muffins may be gone, the bonus 3% XP he gained from eating them will forever remain.

In Gridania, Aericka happens across a performance of synchronized ballroom dancers. Such sights are not uncommon, but to see one performed so beautifully, so impromptu, is a rare event. In a communal workshop in Coerthas, Aladbross finishes crafting his sunglasses.

Monday, May 4. Truffle finally catches the unicorn she’s been chasing, and together, they fly! It is a magical moment, one which few people have ever experienced. In recent days, Truffle has been training as a Conjuror, and while the path of the white mage differs significantly from the lancer's, she is catching on well enough. This unicorn trusts Truffle to safeguard its life. In time, others will trust her to safeguard theirs.

Not to be outdone, Aericka has taken up the path of the Dark Knight. Together with a lalafel thaumaturge, she and Truffle the Conjuror and Drippy the Samurai made an expedition into the haunted cellars of Haukke Manor, and there overcame all manner of ghostly creatures. 

Tuesday, May 5. Drippy attended an impromptu concert in the aetheryte plaza in Limsa Lominsa. The bard didn’t draw a very big crowd, but his fans’ enthusiasm made up for the low attendance. The set list included such hits as the theme from the Legend of Zelda and the overworld theme from Final Fantasy IV. The muscular fan in the chicken mask is named Absolute Chad.

Wednesday, May 6. A monumental day for Drippy! In the morning, he rescued a diplomat from the villainous Coral Tridents with the help of Novv, the Scarlet Sea Devil, and was rewarded with a trained elbst for his bravery. In the evening, alongside the Owlbears, he braved the final spire of the Crystal Tower and banished the Cloud of Darkness from the land. And somewhere in between those two events, he found time to party at Nakuma's new apartment. Oh! AND we explored the first three Turns of the Binding Coil of Bahamut! Fuck me, what a day.

Do you see that little sahaugin guy waving his trident around in the jacuzzi? *chef kiss* This game is so fucking good.

Forbidden Lands - Session 1

Last Saturday, a few of us played our first session of Forbidden Lands on Roll20.
Fun stuff. So far, I'm diggin' it. Anyway - here's the recap!

Forbidden Lands | Session 1, May 3^rd 2020

I am the Dwarf Rider, Harlgamaer

Harris is playing a Halfling Soldier, Arland

Bird is playing a Human Peddler, Orovald Shadwell
Willie is the DM (and also D”Than’y’yal the Elven Druid)

“Everything that isn’t a sword is irrelevant.” –Arland’s Family Motto

Somewhere along the plains of Moldena:

And so it came to pass that Orovald was chased out of town for all his cheatin’ and whorin’ and all-round indecent living, and now he’s forced to sell his goods in the outer regions. Harl and Arlond are escorting him, and several other merchants, as part of a caravan traveling from Lake Claye to a small village along the Elya River.

One morning along our journey, Harl goes foraging for water. Orovald accompanies him, and Arland hunts. Harl is successful, but Orovald struggles to find herbs and mushrooms, and is attacked by a feral cat. He flees for his life. Arland kills a big fat rabbit and brings it back to the caravan for lunch. It’s a pretty good morning. We break for lunch, then press on with some good hiking in the afternoon.

Some of our grain turns out to be bad. Our food stores lessen. Orovald regales the camp with tales of his encounter with six mountain lions, and the other folks in camp are so entertained that they tip us all with some of the better foodstuffs. Arland catches a fish from the nearby river, and Harl rides around on his goat for an hour or so, scouting ahead.

And it’s a good thing he did! A crimson mist floats above the ground, out in the distance – a Blood Mist!

Harl cuts his thumb just enough to catch the mist’s attention and leads it on a wild goose chase, well away from the camp. Blood mists are no joke. When a blood mist subsumes you, it practically drives you insane. Some folks fall into a rage, others into a catatonic state, but in all cases, its victims die in pain and agony. Blood mists are a left-over from the demon wars that were fought a thousand years ago.

Harl rides back to camp with a smile on his face and a bandage on his thumb.

The next morning, Arland and Harl go out to forage and hunt once more. Harl find some vegetables, [+3 vegetables], and Arland hunts a fox. [5 meat, 2 pelt total] Orovald haggles with the camp cook a little, and trades him a wet paper bag full of butter for some of the good rations, wink wink.

Harl rides out ahead, and finds himself surrounded by gray-green scaly skinned lizardmen. “Pigs… little ugly pigs… you speak!” Harl speaks. The lizardmen are out here hunting long pigs. They’re not particularly interested in dwarf meat, and Harl convinces them to scatter after a brief discussion on politics and better business practices.

We push on and arrive in the no-nonsense trading town of North Tersemnye, a place known for its incredible fashions. There’s a famous song it’s mentioned in, exactly once. Only a hundred or so people. Woods to the north, marshes to the west, some saurians and elves populating the countryside. No one in town wears shirts, but everyone wears broad brimmed hats and puffy pantaloons. We stay in an inn that’s also a lumber mill. It sends some mixed signals.

Orovald speaks with the militia commander, Olek, and learns that night worgs are causing some problems for the townsfolk. Night worgs hate the light; now that we take a closer look, the town’s watch-towers aren’t really watch-towers, they’re huge signal fires on stilts. Fires burn constantly in North Tersemnye. Orovald figures maybe we can do some good for the townsfolk…

At a tavern called the Grumpy Man, there’s a fellow called Sergei that Orovald wants to talk with. Harl is there. He saw an advertisement for bear stew, and he’s sitting in a corner eating a whole plate of shredded bear poutine by himself, and honestly, just loving life right now.

Harl goes to find a stables for Buttercup, and finds, to his shock, that there aren’t really any considerations made for draft animals in this village. He asks around, curious as to how an medieval agrarian society should lack such important commodities, and he gets this response:

“If you have stables, you’ve got walls. If you’ve got walls, you’re making shadows. If you have shadows, you have night worgs!”

Harl inquires further. D”Than’y’yal tells him that Night Worgs are wolves blessed by the Night Walker. Dangerous creatures! They travel from one shadow to the next, and this town seems to live in constant fear of them.

D”Than’y’yal – “Oh, to swing a sword instead of being so burdened by knowledge!”

We ask a few more folks about these night worgs, but they’re a little tight-lipped and superstitious. One of the townsfolk confesses, “We never had issues with ‘em, until about four months ago. And actually… About five months ago, we had an apprentice come through town. Sergei helped him go look for somethin’ but he said it didn’t feel right. He turned back. I don’t know if it’s related, but… Well, it doesn’t feel right, does it?”

Arland—Every time I take my shirt off around strangers, I find out three or four of my tattoos are super offensive. Different ones every time.

In the morning, we’re woken by the sounds of lumber being sawed in the mill attached the inn. Lots of shouting and banter, bright and early. Sergei’s out back. He’s the inn’s cook. He’s making vegetable soup when Harl and friends come to speak with him.

That bear poutine was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten!

We are blessed to have them as an extreme nuisance in the forestry business.

I’m interested in helping your town fix its night worg problem. People say you’re the man I should speak to. Can you provide me with any leads?

“I should hope that it isn’t true, but Tildiraz came to town five or six moons ago, and he said that he needed help to get a weapon for his master. Something something great powerful something something world threat, you know. Something a wizard’s apprentice would say to get people interested in a fool’s errand. He seemed genuine, but the more time I spent with him walking and talking… I’ve lived in this area for most of my life, and Tildiraz somehow knew where an underground chamber was that I’d never even considered being here, below my feet. He didn’t do anything wrong, but he definitely didn’t warn us. After the first trap went off, I said I was out. After that happened, I don’t know if he succeeded or failed, but that’s when the evening wolves came for the first time. It was such a sight! When they bit a person, they just froze. Not a drop of blood left their body, but the bite turned gray and death set in soon after. They fell to the ground. Usually, you think, “I’ve seen someone die before,” but no. They just turned into darkness that seeped into the ground. It was awful! We managed to kill one of them. And it was by divine grace. I was carrying a lantern, and it didn’t like that. Hitting it with that lantern seemed to hurt it more than the commander’s steel! But, the steel helped, because the commander was the one who finished it off. That was one of the two that I know of; I’m not sure if it lays about in the dungeon it prepared for itself or if it just circles us, howling into the night. It makes me shiver just thinking about the sounds.”

Where’s the dungeon that Tildiraz uncovered?

“It’s not more than a half-day southeast of here. It’s on the shores of the lake. If you go into the marsh, you’ve gone too far. The first trap was a standard swinging axe trap. Saw that cleave a man in half and I said nope.”

Do you know where a fellow might buy some lamp oil?

“The lord commander has decreed that there are to be no sales or discounts on lamp oil while the crisis continues.”

Orovald happens to have five small flasks of lamp oil in his inventory. With this in mind, we concoct a plan to confront the night worgs in their lair. Orovald buys a bear trap and a sling. Harl buys a metal chalice and two units of torches. Arland sharpens his blade. Whatever happens next, we’re going to need sharp blades.

And a lot of luck.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess – Better than Any Man, part 1

Bob                        The Referee

Me                         Hildigard, heavily armed lunch lady [Fighter]

Andrew                  Thilvos, 6’ tall blond wood elf [Elf]

Dave                      Otto, German bounty hunter with a mancatcher [Fighter]

Session One

Hildigard is traveling south. An army of invading Swedes pursues her. Not her specifically, but it’s not exactly a friendly army of invading Swedes, now is it? This is 1630s Bavaria. Shit’s about to get fucked.

Carrying most of her worldly possessions on her back, Hildigard stumbles across a band of travelers inspecting some termite mounds by the side of the road. They are two fair-haired Germans named Thilvos and Otto, and a pair of merchants bound for Venice, along with their three hired men.

Thilvos asks her, “Have you ever seen termites before?”

She answers, “No.”

Otto goes to poke the mound. “Do you really want me to take a look at this? Can we just leave instead?” We leave it instead.

We are all adults.

The caravan is headed all the way back to Venice to sell their inventory of dried fruits, as the market here has apparently dried up, what with the impending violence.

We arrive at the village of Lohr without further ado. It’s a large town, about the same size as Karlstadt. It’s known for its witch hunters’ fervor. There are people hung up on trees as we enter the town; they wear signs around their necks that say “WITCHES.” The folks here are very loyal to the Holy Roman Empire, and the city is full-up with soldiers. A couple hundred, easily. Not enough to handle 30,000 Swedes, but it’s a sizeable effort all the same.

Thilvos asks a soldier about the current situation, trying to gauge where all of us should go next. “Are you heading up to Neuendorf? Isn’t there a large army coming from the north? Supposedly the Swedes are coming from the north, and they’ll be here in days!”

Given that advice, we head south, down the river to Neustadt am Main, and somewhere along the way, we see a group of twenty unarmed people running panicked along the road. They came from the west. And they’re being chased by six ants the size of ponies.

“I hear ants are good eatin’!” Hildigard says, unslinging her bow and nocking an arrow.

https://sketcharound.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/attack-of-the-giant-ant/

Hildigard shoots at it with her bow and rolls a 1. Thilvos fires his bow and strikes one in the leg. The guards take aim with their muskets. People stream past us, screaming and begging that the end has come, so on and so forth. The ants close the gap – they’re quickly within thirty feet of us!

Hildigard fires again and misses. Thilvos rolls a 13 and it’s no good – it bounces off the ants’ chitin without effect! Otto grabs his mancatcher, wrings his hands, and waits. The guards open fire with their muskets. They connect and deal a bit of damage, but nothing lethal. Egads!

The ants crash into our wagon and begin to bite at us and harass our horses. Hildigard stabs one pretty good, and it’s almost dead, but not quite; she gets locked into a deadly shoving match with the beast. Thilvos kills in a deft attack, then charges in and slays another (12 damage on a charge! Woo!) One of the guards follows suit. The combat transforms into a deadly shoving match.

Then, an opening! Otto beheads one of the ants with a perfect strike from his broadsword (Nat 20 for max damage). He took a little bite (2 damage) but he’s otherwise unscathed.

The frightened townsfolk witness our act of bravery. They cheer us on, and inform us that their village was destroyed by these selfsame giant ants, and that their friends and family members were carried off. Off to where? Nowhere good, that’s where!

We decide to book it to Neustadt post-haste.

At the inn, Hildigard remarks of the giant ant leg she’s roasting, “They taste like what you get if you cross a pig with a lemon.”

An internet expert added: “It’s the formic acid. Gives ‘em that citrus tang.”

A grizzled, prophetic old woodcutter tells us some rumors over a flagon of ale:

“Water dragons out east, in the swamp. Ate my dog. I liked that dog. Giant insects claimed the village, and we started running. Most of the people weren’t killed. Poor wretches. They were headed to some place else… The Mound. An old pagan site of worship. I don’t know what’s out there. I don’t want to know.”

Thilvos has a map, and he’s really curious about a few places on it. He wants to see The Infinite Tower before the Swedes sack it. Hildigard, who has a copper piece and a bent spear to her name, is really curious about the abandoned village that the frightened townsfolk left behind. Surely, in their haste, they left behind some gold coins?

The prophetic old woodcutter says, “Swamps are a horrible place. Terrible, awful places, swamps. Not recommended.” Naturally, the abandoned village full of giant ants is in the swamp.

We try to convince the merchants to let us borrow their hired men for a little expedition, but they’re not really excited about the idea. Bavaria sucks. They want out as fast as their legs can carry them, and honestly, if we weren’t pathetically broke and psychologically unbalanced people, we would definitely be doing the same thing. They tell us they’ll be in Venice for about six months, once they get there, and after that they’re going home to Turkey. They let us know we’re all welcome to visit if we ever make it out of this godforsaken wilderness.

Who knows? With any luck, we'll be sipping espresso on a gondola by summer's end. But we're probably all gonna die in a swamp. We'll find out next time!

Hildigard's first-level character sheet
http://character.totalpartykill.ca/lotfp/

Final Fantasy XIV, Part 11 (Casual Friday)

I'm thinking maybe I need to make a tumblr or an imgur or something for this? Eh, whatever - blogger works. We'll make it work! Here's a shitload of screenshots!

Aericka's enjoying herself at the ol' fishin' hole.

Glock's been sight-seeing, and happened across some gorgeous vistas.

Aladbross has been shopping for a house for the Owlbears. For about twelve straight hours last Tuesday, this is pretty much all he saw:

And yes, that's Drippy in the background.

After that harrowing experience, he decided he needed some serious eye protection.

Worfina, Truffle, Drippy, and Aericka spent some time wandering around the Lost City of Amdapor. That place has a ridiculously high pollen count, but really, just take an antihistamine and carry a battleaxe you'll be fine. This happened about two weeks ago. Crazy how time flies.

Last Wednesday, we raided the first two levels of The Crystal Tower. We were part of a raid with a sardonic fellow called Yoyo who complained the whole time made himself into a memorable villain. We still crushed Labyrinth of the Ancients at a good clip, and segued into Syrcus Tower with some real momentum. Drippy rolled up with a katana because samurais are cool. Can't wait to go back next Wednesday and experience the thrilling conclusion.

Cinder Bin, session 4

...these are the materials we're working with... 

THE PLAYERS

I am Eli                                                                                                 

Julian is Deadeye Duncan                                                            

Willie’s out this session, but he’s Gorman normally         

Reuben joins us and takes over playing Rue                       

Scaddy is the DM                                                                            

session 4

Scene one, the campfire. We’re up a family of NPCs from town (a man, a woman, and a child). Everyone else has headed east-ish, but we’re sure that the next town’s the best way to go. Nothing happens overnight. It’s pretty peaceful. Probably the most dangerous things out here are feeders, or big lizards (it’s the wrong season for that really) or other people.

We ride off towards the next town over. Neither Eli nor Deadeye have any memory of the place. It’s only been there about six months or so. Most of the folks here used to be at a different dig site, half a day west of here, give-or-take.

In town, there are a pair of drinking establishments, a couple of scavengers, and a collection of hovels, rocks, tarps, plastics, and walls. Doctor’s office, too.

There are two horses piled high with trade goods. There’s a woman sitting in front of the horses with several large boxes and a plank of plastic. Her name is Amya, and she’s a traveler and a trader.

She’s got a few pieces of tech for trade; there are a bunch of things on the horses, also. Deadeye Duncan makes a beautiful introduction for us:

Deadeye—Y’know, lass, fifty’s the new forty. Which means I’m forty six and three, honey.

We haggle with her for a time, and after a couple castings of detect tech and detect radiation, we settle on a solar charger for our power packs, and trade away our street sweeper for it.

WE TRADED AWAY                                                          AND WE RECIEVED

Corona laser rifle                                             Crab Venom x10 w/Pre-Burn Medical Injector

Azmuth laser rifle                                            Solar Charger

Second Skin x2                                                Changes of clothes for Duncan and Eli,

     and a few small knick knacks

Deadeye—If you can’t help me find a type two power pack, maybe you can help me find out what you’re doing later tonight.

This line gets him tazed. Duncan rolls around in the dirt like a turtle for a bit, but we still manage to close out negotiations amiably and proceed to hit the town.

Duncan declares that every rest stop needs a bar fight. We stroll into the bar and we meet Jinx, and he tells us that a couple of Simplification street preacher folks were in here a few days ago, but he hasn’t realized that the other town got taken out by Simplification folks. He’s taken aback. Duncan tells him all about our fight with the simplification; Jinx says the Simplification hit a couple other towns, too, recently, but it was nothing so exaggerated as what happened to the other town.

Kess is passed out in the corner after fifteen minutes of hard drinking. Rue and Sunday go exploring the town; Sunday goes to see the doctor and inquires about his services and expertise.

Duncan tells Jinx all about the fusion bomb that went off, which, of course, Eli denies. Eli’s really wondering about how he’s going to strike back at the Simplification with this crew. Duncan’s dying for a fight, and neither Sunday nor Rue are really sure what we should do next, despite their know-how and their skill sets. Gorman’s an amnesiac. And Duncan, while a legendary fighter, is more intent on drinking and fighting than he is on grandiose tales of revenge. What to do, what to do…

Rue gives Sunday’s armor a buff, too, while they’re all hangin’ out that evening. Just a neat little thing she does. Y’know. Magic. Or tech. Or both. Anime stuff.

Digby and Xaiden are two dudes in the bar that Deadeye challenges to a game of cards. Amazingly, Deadeye wins. We drink for free. We start to talk about the Simplification and, well, Eli gives a pretty dang inspiring speech. It gets the townsfolk roused to action. Of course, we’re not quite sure yet what that action should be, but it’s definitely military, and it’s gotta happen soon.

There’s a real sentiment – the Simplification needs to be defeated! There’s a vehicle out there, in the town. We can probably use that. Lyric is a knife fighter, and he’s already killed a red-cloak. Nice to know. The mechanic and his brother would both be good in a fight. We’ve got horses, too. And laser rifles. We brainstorm a scenario where we leave a bunch of caltrops in the grass, and then bait the Simps into following us and cutting up their feet while we pick ‘em off with laser rifles.

Eli consults Haley about battlegrounds, and it turns out there are a few decently shaped flat plains nearby. Covered in grass, no less. Interesting…

The next morning. Kess is super hung over. Deadeye makes sure to encourage him with lots of loud noises. To escape Deadeye, he heads to the edge of town with his plane, and does a little scouting maneuver…

And discovers we’ve all got about ten minutes before fifty Simplification soldiers crest the hill and sack the town. Fuck.

Final Fantasy XIV, Part 10 (S L O W I N G D O W N: mid and endgame structure)

Continuing the summary and structure of A Realm Reborn begun in this post:

Final Fantasy XIV's mid- and end-game content is linear in its structure, but that linearity allows for some interesting embellishments and diversions. The progression goes like this:

[early game] --> [scions] --> Ifrit --> Titan --> Garuda --> [endgame]

After joining the Scions, the professional is tasked with investigating a series of strange events in the deserts of Thanalan. These events ultimately build toward a confrontation with the amalj'aa, the lizard-folk who worship the primal Ifrit, and then, naturally, Ifrit himself.

This formula repeats itself twice more: an odd occurrence, beast-folk causing troubles, some fetch-quests and maybe a dungeon run or two, capped off with a battle against a giant boss monster. There are a few false leads and storytelling flourishes which prevent it from feeling too formulaic, but the structure is easy to see, and honestly, it's satisfying in the same way as a classic Nintendo game: Navigate the level, beat the boss. The levels are open-world areas, sure, and the bosses are a team event, but the basic idea remains intact.

You could rephrase this to make it even more transparent (though this is definitely too simplistic):

Desert level (Boss: Ifrit) ---- Forest level (Boss: Titan) ---- Snow level (Boss: Garuda)

By the end of the mid-game, the professional has faced (and defeated) the primals Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda. After Garuda, Gaius van Baelsar, the evil legate of the Garlean Empire in Eorzea, shows up in a dramatic fashion and lets the player know in no uncertain terms that he's the villain, now. This marks the start of the endgame: All of the main characters have been introduced, and most of the exposition has been handled. What remains, now, is to defeat the Garleans and topple van Baelsar.

The endgame follows a similar structure, though it's more like Dr. Wily's Castle from the Megaman series than a big, open-world exploration game ending in boss fights. Rapid fire, one after another, you go from one big battle to the next, fighting a series of bosses who, until now, have only been featured in cut-scenes being jerks to NPCs. They get their comeuppance in the form of raiding adventurers.

Playing this game in 2020, seven years after A Realm Reborn's re-release, means that defeating these original end-bosses isn't as much of a challenge, now, as it was then. But it's still a satisfying thing to do, if only for the sense of narrative closure. Finishing a story feels good. Doubly so, when it's a story as massive and detailed as this one.

"Detailed?" you exclaim. "Why, you've shared almost none of the details!"

In summarizing the plot of A Realm Reborn, I've left out all but the most essential elements. If you'd really like to dig into the meat of the story, play the game. If you want the cliff's notes, this site does a fine job of it (https://landofodd.net/ffxiv-arr-story-summary/).

I want to appreciate and talk about the structure of the story. Especially, where it concerns other hobbies, like D&D or writing fiction. Honestly, this game's structure is solid gold. If you shave off the serial numbers, the plot structure - as applied to D&D - could resemble something like this:

The campaign kicks off with an introductory module, Lost Mines of Phandelver or whatever. Something short that gets the players' feet wet and lets them figure out their roles within the party. From there, the players are introduced to some important NPCs who offer them an opportunity to join a secret society: something chronically under-funded and a little misunderstood, but they know all about dangerous rumblings and evil omens and magic, and they're in desperate need of heroes. Assuming the PCs are "in" (and that's a big assumption in D&D, but let's pretend), the organization then sends them to go investigate some mysterious disappearances. One thing leads to another, and within a session or two, the players are all facing down a suitably intimidating boss monster! If you stop there, you've got a great set-up for a monster-of-the-week campaign.

If you've got players who love investigation, tactics, and big boss battles, this campaign could go for a really long time. When you're approaching a natural end point, you ramp things up: Introduce a Big Bad who has been watching from the shadows (in a perfect world, the Big Bad ties neatly in to the player characters' backstories) and gives them an ultimatum: Surrender or die! And also - they've got a clockwork dragon! Or a tarrasque, or a pit fiend, or the kraken, or something else suitably epic, the point is this -- Your endgame content is a test of everything the players have accomplished thus far, and plays out in a suitably grandiose way.

This is, of course, a perfect world scenario for a D&D campaign. But if you're looking for a map, or just some place to get started, you could do a lot worse than borrow from A Realm Reborn.

The devil's in the details, of course. And as I've shared with every other post, the details are plentiful in these games. But those details need a place to live; devoid of structure, they're just noise. Though... they're pretty sweet noise, sometimes, regardless...

Cinder Bin - Session 2 ½ and 3

Cast

The Storyteller [aka, everyone who isn’t Deadeye, Gorman, or Eli] :: Ryan

Deadeye Duncan :: Julian

Gorman Sterling :: Willie

Eli Tabasco :: Me

notes from session 2 ½

Fleeing the fallout on foot, across the desert, we take a moment or two to consider our circumstances.

Kess—I know a shortcut, but here’s the catch. It takes us near a nest of feeders.

Eli—I think it’s worth half-a-day to find out if we can make it past those feeders.

Eli speaks with Rue later on, once everyone’s made camp and settled in for the night. Eli knows that there was a cult in town, destroyed a few years back. That cult was called the Church of the Sorrow. And Rue and Sunday have left hints that they used to be a part of the Church, but maybe not willingly. Not wanting to pick at scabs, but curious nonetheless, Eli asked Rue a few questions. Sunday got defensive on Rue’s behalf, but

Rue—They’re all dead. What does it hurt?

And Duncan wanted to know what we were babbling about

Eli—This has nothing to do with fightin’ or drinkin’, Duncan

Deadeye—What’s life without fightin’ or drinkin’, though?
Eli—It’s a little quieter. Sometimes.

Eli explained how his knack worked, and lamented that he’d never met another living soul with a knack.

Eli—Your power comes from something outside of you, y’know?

Rue—Different for me. The world’s all blocks. Sometimes I can put ‘em together.

Eli—(looking at Duncan) I can make his blood grow back.

Rue concentrates, and some bits of dirt and stone start to re-arrange themselves on the ground.

Later, Rue and Kess set about making some of Kess’s stuff feel more intact. Kess instructs her that it’s more intact, but not correctly more intact. They start over and try to get closer the next time.

We set watches, but nothing really happens.

The next morning, before anyone else wakes up, Sunday and Eli have a conversation. She speaks coldly about the Church.

Sunday—Let’s go with cult. That’s accurate.

Eli notices she has a brand on her forearm with a loop and twist motif.

Sunday—We ran away. The church in town was a branch. One little one. But as an organization, it was devoted to the death of the world before. Interested in tech, but—

Eli—To gather new, or to destroy like the Simps?
Sunday—To gather. To know everything that happened at the instant of the Burn. To do that, it collected people. Like us. Like Rue. So, you said Rue’s the first you’ve met with a knack? Everyone we knew growing up had a knack. Mechanics made up more than half.

Eli asks her about her armor. Asks if she made it, or knows how to make it. “We didn’t make this, exactly. We took it off the crew of the hummingbird. But… we also can change it in ways you can’t. The Sorrow could, I guess?”

Sunday has a blade with a wood-handled sheathe. She’s never reached for her pistol in our presence.  She also selected the sword from the dropship equipment as the only thing she was really interested in picking up.

“The sword is made out of ship-metal. Took Rue almost 3 years to shape it. Every night, just a tiny fraction came off, and bit by bit.”

“I knew how to open the ship because I’d found one before. Hummingbird.”

“They were devoted to learning everything, and they couldn’t even protect themselves. They were not good people, but they didn’t deserve to go out like that either.”

“I guess the Simplification had one thing right. Living off the bones of a dead society is no way to live.”

session 3

We need to hop the canyon. There’s really only one spot we can cross, and there are a few little switchbacks and a winding path that we need to take in order to be able to make it. About an hour in, we notice that there’s a guy, wearing yellow, standing on the cliff above us. He’s wearing a pendant that has a crystal on it.

Do we run? Hide? Kill him fast? Gorman tells us to go on ahead, and when we make a bit too much noise, the Simplification guy produces a device. Gorman takes a las-pistol shot at him and nearly kills him, but doesn’t. The device goes up and turns into a loud bang and a cloud of smoke.

Deadeye takes a shot. Not dead. Eli uses his telekinesis at finishes him off with a rock. Nice shot, Eli. We truck on, leaving the body behind. This is a bad spot.

Eli produces Haley and asks her a couple of questions – any feeders nearby? Who’s following us? She explains she doesn’t have those sorts of sensors any longer, and Eli puts her away.

Ahead, we see the feeder nest. Behind us, we hear footsteps. We concoct a plan to try and slam our enemies into each other by making a stand near some fallen stones. We wait in ambush until we hear a masculine voice shout out, “Tech worshippers!”

This fight went worse for them than it did for us.

Gorman fires a sniper rifle shot and hits one for 26! Duncan tries to finish him off, but misses. The simplification dudes all rush in. One of them gets cleft in twain by Sunday. Another one uncorks a flask, and out pops a weird creepy ghost. It looks like one of those black-clad Simplification priests! Spooky!

A wreath of red fire pours out of one of the red-clad dudes’ chests, dealing us all some freaky damage. We respond by killing him with guns. The ghostly dude does a trick that knocks Sunday and Eli flat on their asses, then he proceeds to maul poor Sunday.

The feeders show up, then. They swarm the remaining Simplification, and we all escape, even Sunday. The ghostly dude gets mobbed and, before going down, turns into a yellow-clad normie. How strange.

Deadeye—A cave!

Eli—Shut up!

The feeders aggro and chase us a bit, but ultimately, we get away. We leave the battlefield behind us.

Later, we camp. Rue took a crystal from one of the dead Simplification dudes. Eli examines it and casts identify.

When worn, the crystal lets us see more purple. Very good quality crystal, commonly found nowhere ‘round here. Connected to something south of us. It has some sort of mystical bond to something… south-ish. We decide to keep it.

We head to bed. On watch, Gorman notices a cylinder on a SmartParachute™ floating down from the sky. Inside, a small sheet of paper with some writing on it, and an object folded in thirds. Gorman reads the note. He says to himself, “Oh, great. Now I need to think of more plans.”

The object is a pair of glasses. “Oh, glasses! I’ve done one of these before.” Thermal vision. Neato.

Duncan fails a Perception test on his watch, right before dawn. Later, on our way to town, we spy a column of smoke. Kess spies it with his drone, and then freaks out, and starts running.

Every building in town’s been knocked over, burned. Lines of bodies on the road covered in sheets. People trying to dig out buildings. There are fifteen foot tall posts in the middle of town. Mel, Olegard, Doc Peska, and Tyro the mechanic have all been crucified. Their corpses are still nailed up on those posts.

This was Simplification. Fifty came to town, maybe more. A passerby says they came into town yesterday and just started killing. They killed everyone who fought, then grabbed these guys – called ‘em out by name – and killed ‘em in front of everyone.

Even the metal looks like it’s been rusted or corroded somehow. There’s nothing here that couldn’t have been built in the dark ages.

Gorman checks on something… The doctor’s hut has been leveled. No scanner. Dang.

Deadeye—Step one, recover moonshine. Step two, recover bike. [Sees moonshine jug, all shattered] Noooo!

Olegard’s place has been burnt. Totally looted. Backroom is smashed up, tech's corroded. All gone.

Rue brings a kid, maybe nine, covered in mud, crying, to stand before Eli and Kess.

He says, “It was Jethro. It was your brother, Kess. He was pointing people out. Calling us out, just yelling at all of us, saying we were evil.”

Rue pats him on the head and he slinks away.

There’s another settlement north-east from here, and the sea’s east after that. We don’t really know what’s south of us, but the Simplification comes from that region, so… North, far far north, is the frozen forest, and after that, the ice. To the west, there’s the mountains. The Storm Spires. Where do we go from here?

Sunday muses, "Most of those Simplification folks aren't fighters, they're farmers who figured that the way of the Great Above is something better than scraping cattle shit off the ground. If we can kill those reds, they'll scatter, and maybe we've got a shot."

We go north and gather some of the horses that ran off, then head off to the town to the north-east. Some folks just followed us and grabbed horses as well. Sunday drops back and starts talking to a small family. They’re planning to head to a smaller town, along with us. City means a bigger target in their thinking.

Three townsfolk join the party.

Evening. We cluster together and make camp. Sunday’s training in earnest. Rue and Kess work on the radio and, that night, they get it to work. Maybe, just maybe, we've got a shot at getting some revenge.