howdy, howdy, howdy! we've been having a lot of fun playing this dragonbane rpg. so far i'd pretty highly recommend it for anyone who wants an easy-to-learn fantasy rpg, especially since it comes with a mini-campaign that's off to a great start for our group. (not that i think we've gotten all that far in the campaign part ...) if you haven't been following so far, you can go here to start from the top. or if you want to just jump right in, our characters are right in the process of arriving in the town of outskirt, which is the only real settlement in a place called the misty vale, where we've been drawn by the siren call (you know, rumors) of ancient treasure!
GM Elle: All right. The gates of Outskirt stand open before you. The three adventurers you ran into on the road have already headed inside while you were introducing yourselves to the guy at the gate. What are you going to do?
MSG: Dour Dolora will ask the guard where we should take these two bandits. Is there a sheriff or a jail?
GM Elle: He kind of scratches his head and says maybe you should go talk to Vagnhild at the Three Stags Inn. "We're not the largest of towns, you know. Not yet big enough for a sheriff or jail. Vagnhild organizes the watch, which I'm captain of. So we're about the closest thing to authorities you'll find around here. Won't surprise me too much if she says since you caught 'em, they're your problem."
MSG: I guess I'll ask directions to the Three Stags, then.
Ariel: And I'll ask directions to whoever does the trading around here! We've got loot to sell off!
GM Elle: He says if you follow the street that goes more or less north from the gate, it will curve around to the village square. "The Stags is the big two-story inn there -- you can't miss it. And there's Ulvar's place and the smithy for trade, just across the square."
MSG: I'll thank him and lead the two bandits through the gate.
Claire: It sounds like all the action in this town is in the same direction, so Filvius will follow along.
Ariel: Fidu too!
Sasha: Sir Q is ready to see if that inn has anything to drink.
Akane: Zedeja looks for alternative destinations. Is this really a town of only one useful direction? Last time, we saw ruins on a hill?
GM Elle: Yes, and in fact, there's a weathered old path stairstepping its way up the town's central hill right in front of you. The street to the village square curves around it to the right, and another one angles west-southwest from the gate. Here's part of the map.
GM Elle: All right. The gates of Outskirt stand open before you. The three adventurers you ran into on the road have already headed inside while you were introducing yourselves to the guy at the gate. What are you going to do?
MSG: Dour Dolora will ask the guard where we should take these two bandits. Is there a sheriff or a jail?
GM Elle: He kind of scratches his head and says maybe you should go talk to Vagnhild at the Three Stags Inn. "We're not the largest of towns, you know. Not yet big enough for a sheriff or jail. Vagnhild organizes the watch, which I'm captain of. So we're about the closest thing to authorities you'll find around here. Won't surprise me too much if she says since you caught 'em, they're your problem."
MSG: I guess I'll ask directions to the Three Stags, then.
Ariel: And I'll ask directions to whoever does the trading around here! We've got loot to sell off!
GM Elle: He says if you follow the street that goes more or less north from the gate, it will curve around to the village square. "The Stags is the big two-story inn there -- you can't miss it. And there's Ulvar's place and the smithy for trade, just across the square."
MSG: I'll thank him and lead the two bandits through the gate.
Claire: It sounds like all the action in this town is in the same direction, so Filvius will follow along.
Ariel: Fidu too!
Sasha: Sir Q is ready to see if that inn has anything to drink.
Akane: Zedeja looks for alternative destinations. Is this really a town of only one useful direction? Last time, we saw ruins on a hill?
GM Elle: Yes, and in fact, there's a weathered old path stairstepping its way up the town's central hill right in front of you. The street to the village square curves around it to the right, and another one angles west-southwest from the gate. Here's part of the map.
Sasha: So the town's basically a big shoe.
GM Elle: No, that's just the part that's in view at the moment. It looks like mostly residences lining either street here, except for a building down the way that has a windmill attached to it.
MSG: I'm continuing up the street, hopefully far enough to be out of earshot when Zedeja starts ordering everyone to do whatever it is she decides we ought to do.
Claire: I'm down with that plan.
Akane: What! Cravers of knowledge ... you're mis-titled. Here are curious ruins! Very close!
Hettie: Dilfriida is going to hurry over to the stairs before Zedeja can order her to. "Come on, then, Z. Let's see what we can find!"
Akane: Unacceptable. Zedeja has leadership, not lackey-ness. No orders from you, scoundrel!
Hettie: I start up the stairs. "You sure you don't want to investigate?"
Akane: There is grumbling from Zedeja about agedness and all the marching of this day. "We should take all loot and trade for gold, then rest at this inn of stags. Cease detouring!"
Hettie: All I've got is some rank-smelling goblin leather. It's probably not going to fetch much coin anyway. I wave and tell Zedeja I'll be along in a bit.
GM Elle: So you're going to go up and explore the ruins alone?
Hettie: No, that sounds like a terrible idea. I'm just going to wait long enough for Zedeja to get well up the street and then follow along where she can't see and yell at me to catch up.
GM Elle: Roll your Sneaking, opposed by Zedeja's Awareness.
Akane: No, Zedeja has turned her back to this person and now ignores her existence.
Hettie: I roll an 8, well under my skill level of 14.
GM Elle: Then you easily manage to follow Zedeja without attracting her attention. Meanwhile, the rest of the group has followed the upward grade of the road around the ruin-topped hill and now sees the village square laid out before them. At its center, you see a weathered statue -- looks like a warrior in armor, but it's obviously been here forever, since both arms have fallen off and the whole thing is pitted and cracked. To the right of the statue is an oblong log building with a grass-covered roof where several goats are grazing. A sign over the door of the place says, "Master Ulvar's." Next to it, beyond the statue, is a open-fronted log building with a smoky interior through which you can see a glowing hearth. Clanging and banging and dwarven songs ring out from inside.
MSG: Dwarven songs? Sounds sort of like Dolora should investigate, except that I've got these bandits to dispose of. Any sign of that inn?
GM Elle: Yes; it's on the opposite side of the square from Master Ulvar's, a sturdy two-story building with warm light and raucous laughter issuing from its downstairs windows. Above the door is a great wooden plaque graven with three noble stags.
MSG: I guess that's where I'm heading, then.
Claire: I'll go check out that statue and see if there's any knowledge to be gotten from it.
Ariel: I'm going to check out the goat-roof place. The gate guy said something about Master Ulvar's being a trading place. Maybe he'll trade for some of these swords.
Sasha: I'm going in the inn to see what they've got to drink.
GM Elle: Claire, make a Myths & Legends roll for Filvius.
Claire: Pretty easy success -- I roll a 4.
GM Elle: You think the statue is likely meant to be the Dragon Emperor Eledain, who supposedly ruled these lands long ago. you can see on his head a horned crown like those on the mileposts you passed. The statue also bears some resemblance to the four pieces drawn on your map. Aers, inside Master Ulvar's you meet the shopkeeper, who seems brisk and industrious, and his hulking son, who's sweeping the place unenthusiastically. It doesn't take much discussion with the shopkeeper for him to tell you that the smithy's the place to trade weaponry and armor. "Here at Master Ulvar's, we deal in more peaceable wares.
Ariel: Oh, gosh. I'm sorry! I mean, I guess maybe Fidu isn't all that sorry since he's just out to trade. I feel bad for the kid sweeping though. That looks tiring. Well, it's over to the smithy then I guess.
GM Elle: As Dolora and Sir Quackenscrump enter the Three Stags, a rumbling female voice and cheerfully tells them to enter. But when the woman it belongs to sees the bandits being led in tied up, she lifts a hand and asks what's going on. She's a middle-aged woman with a lined but jovial face and her hair done up in burly, graying braids. You notice her other hand goes to the head of a large warhammer that hangs at her belt.
MSG: I tell her the guard at the gate said I should see Vagnhild about how to turn these bandits in to the authorities and I ask if that's her.
GM Elle: She laughs and says it is, but that she's not the kind of authority that wants to babysit bandits. She says you should either turn them back out the gate or march them over to old man Mifaldor's place. "He could probably use a couple of hands to help him bring in his cows since his gout's acting up again, and he might let them sleep in the barn, then pay them a couple of silvers at the end of the week. Assuming honest work's of interest to them now they've had their asses handed to them for thieving."
MSG: Damn it, I really wanted to just get rid of these guys. I find out if it's closer to old man Mifaldor's or to the gate.
GM Elle: She gives you directions to Mifaldor's place, which is not far from the north gate, so you'll have your choice.
MSG: I guess I'll lead the bandits over there.
Claire: If I'm done looking at the statue, I'll head go wherever I need to to unload the bandit loot, goblin leather, and shortbow I'm hauling around.
Ariel: Probably I'm coming out of the store around then and I'll wave at you to go in the smithy with me!
Claire: Sure, sounds good.
GM Elle: Sash, do you go with Dolora or --
Sasha: Hell no. Anybody in this joint look like they need a drinking partner?
GM Elle: Vagnhild offers you a tankard of mead on the house since you're new in town. You see those three adventurers at one table, looking downcast and nursing their own drinks. There are also three or four villagers at another table, drinking boisterously.
Sasha: I'll go sit with Gualmond and his buddies and try to cheer them up with a drinking song. My Performance is pretty decent ... I get an 11.
GM Elle: You manage to raise their spirits at least a little.
Sasha: Obviously, it's a song about monster-killing.
Akane: Does Zedeja cross the path of a dwarf towing two bandits?
GM Elle: If you head toward the inn when you reach the town square, yes.
Akane: I demand to know where she is taking them now.
MSG: I tell her.
Akane: What?! No punishment for banditry? This place offers injustice. We should take them to the wall, where the magic of Zedeja can levitate them high up and drop them on the sharp ends of wall-logs.
GM Elle: The bandits look alarmed and start to object.
MSG: I tell them Zedeja's offer doesn't sound too bad to me, but I'll take them to Mifaldor's farm if they promise they'll go straight. If we find out they don't stick to the deal, we'll track them down and turn them into palisade decorations.
GM Elle: They swear they'll be more than happy earning silver for tending cows, considering they have no food, money, or weapons now. Look, I'm not even rolling a die, so you can feel pretty sure they're not bluffing.
MSG: Great. I'll drop them off at Mifaldor's and head back to the inn to drink, then.
Akane: Zedeja does not accompany the dwarf to this farmer. She continues inn-ward with shaking of the head.
Hettie: If I had the chance to while they were talking, I'd try to sneak past and get to the inn before Zedeja does. 7 on my Sneaking if you allow it.
GM Elle: Sure, but Zedeja and Dolora do get Awareness rolls.
MSG: My awareness is terrible. I tie you with a 7, but it's still a failure.
Akane: Zedeja of Mind is the most with Awareness! 5! Great success! I see you, sneak!
Hettie: Does she spot me before I pass them or after?
GM Elle: After.
Hettie: I'll dash on ahead to the in and call back, "What was that? I didn't hear you!"
Akane: Is the distance more than six meters? Possibly I must Levitate her for insolence.
GM Elle: No, she's definitely out of range.
Akane: Zedeja grumbles alone to the inn, then.
GM Elle: Meanwhile, inside the smithy, Fidu and Filvius meet Okald, a heavily tattooed dwarf woman who cheerfully engages them in trade. She'll offer you half of the book price for whatever you're trying to sell her.
Ariel: I have Bartering skill, though! Umm ... yes, a 13 is less than my skill 14.
GM Elle: You can haggle her into paying 20% more than her initial offer, then, but it comes at the extra price of having to listen to a lot of long-winded stories in the process. She jokingly complains that your negotiating tenacity reminds her of times she out-ate cave trolls in her homeland, or wrestled basilisks in the depths of the mountains.
Claire: Basilisks? I'll ask if she has any advice on fighting them, since we think we know where one is.
GM Elle: She says she'll happily trade that information for the 20% Fidu talked her out of.
Ariel: Claire! You're ruining my good roll!
GM Elle: Okald is actually joking, Aers. But she doesn't have much more to tell you than you already know. Her main advice is to get some really powerful antidote for their gas. "Not the cheap stuff -- it won't do you any good. Probably need the kind that's 20, 30 gold a dose."
Claire: Yikes. There would have to be an awful lot of treasure in that cave for us to shell out that kind of money to gear up.
Ariel: Like, even if we pooled all the money we've got now, we couldn't buy more than a dose or two of it! Does Okald know who's got it for sale? Maybe I could roll a dragon bartering with them and get it for half price.
GM Elle: She laughs and says poison antidote that good is pretty rare. The best place to buy it would be in some big city out beyond the vale.
Ariel: Well, we just got here, so for sure we're not going all the way back to civilization and making ourselves broke again for one or two doses of medicine.
Sasha: You two should have your characters come over to the bar. Sir Q is getting plenty of medicine for a lot less than 20 gold a pop.
GM Elle: Speaking of which, Sash while you're singing and drinking with Gualmond and friends, the inn's serving maid comes by to make sure you've all got all you need at the moment. She says, "You're a new face in town, I see! Any word of the wider world lately?"
Sasha: I'll ask for another tankard of mead and tell her that I and my pals have come to rid the vale of all its monsters.
GM Elle: "Goodness!" she says. "You must be quite the heroes!" She introduces herself as Annabelle. She has kind eyes and deep dimples, with a bit of a haggard look that makes her age hard to pin down. She tells you a task like that would surely require the legendary sword Um-Durman, forged eight centuries ago by the Dragon Emperor himself, Eledain. "Very useful against monsters, I'm sure!"
Sasha: I tell her if she happens to know where it's lying around, I'd love to have directions.
GM Elle: She laughs and says that actually it's well known that the sword rests somewhere beneath the ruined temple on the hill. But the crypt is hidden and can't be found without the statue of the Dragon Emperor, broken into pieces and lost long ago.
Sasha: Hmm. That sounds familiar. Good thing I'm only on my second tankard or I might accidentally spill the beans that we found one of the pieces.
Hettie: Has Dilfriida shown up yet?
GM Elle: Probably just about now ... right about as Fidu and Filvius get back from the smithy. Vagnhild welcomes everyone, and tells Annabelle to bring you each a complementary mead.
MSG: Have I ditched the bandits at old man Mifaldor's place yet? Or do I have to role-play through that.
Claire: Talking to a farmer with gout might be a sure-fire way to learn something Dolora hasn't yet found out, you know.
GM Elle: We can skip it if you want.
MSG: Great. I'd like to go to the smithy and unload this heap of stuff I've been carrying around, then.
GM Elle: You can make a Bartering roll if you want to try to get a better price. But I'm going to give you a bane because Okald already stocked up on stuff from your other party members.
MSG: Well, that's not happening. My Bartering's only 7. I'll give it a shot, though ... holy moley, 6 and 6!
GM Elle: She's apparently in a very generous mood today! You can collect 60% of book price for whatever you're trading in. But you get another earful of her long-winded stories about hunting dragonspawn in abandoned mines and so forth.
MSG: For the extra gold, I won't complain about listening. She is a fellow dwarf, after all.
Claire: Well, I'm taking my free mead and sitting down with my companions to tell them what I learned about the Dragon Emperor statue in the middle of the village square?
Ariel: Oh, boy, what did you learn?
Akane: It is armless. Also, old and broken.
Hettie: Is this Akane talking, or Zedeja?
GM Elle: Zedeja's not quite there. Probably just now entering and being offered the customary free mead for first timers.
Akane: It was Akane anyway. Zedeja would have said, "Tell them of its armlessness and other poor conditions!"
Claire: Either way, Filvius is going to excitedly say the statue looks similar to the one we have that busted hunk of that matches the pieces on the map.
GM Elle: Gualmond and his two friends sit up a little straighter when you say that.
Sasha: Smooth move, blabber-elf.
Claire: Hey, I wasn't there to hear the story of the temple crypt and using the statue pieces as a key.
GM Elle: Sash, you can make an Awareness roll.
Sasha: I think you mean, I can attempt an Awareness roll. Cause I sure as squat don't make it with a 14. My Awareness is 5.
Akane: With bane for helmedness!
Sasha: I'm assuming I took off the full-visor helmet to drink my tankards.
Akane: Ah, sensible. Since Zedeja is now arriving, she approaches the table of companions.
GM Elle: You can make an Awareness roll too, Akane.
Akane: 9 is a success of no effort for Zedeja.
GM Elle: You notice a serving maid at a nearby table who seems to be distracted by your friends. She's looking away from her customers toward your group with an expression of surprise on her face.
Akane: Zedeja goes to scold everyone. "What trouble are you causing? This place has a staff so friendly -- look, see the gift of mead! Why alarm these kind people?"
Sasha: I'll say I don't know what she's talking about.
Akane: Zedeja nods at a serving girl.
Hettie: I don't think she's actually a girl. Elle referred to her as indeterminate in age.
Akane: All are youthful in the eyes of so-very-old Zedeja. I tell Sir Duck about this girl's look so startled. "One of you is a culprit!"
Sasha: Does she look startled?
GM Elle: No, she's actually headed back over toward the bar and isn't looking your direction anymore.
Sasha: Then no harm, no foul.
Akane: Yes! The fowl is you! How can a duck forget he's a fowl? No more tankards for you!
GM Elle: Gualmond's human friend leans in and says quietly, "Did I hear right, and you've got a map to the four pieces of Eledain's Key?"
Claire: Oh, no, it's just an old map of the Misty Vale. But it has drawings of some statue pieces in the corners. You want to see it?
GM Elle: Gualmond shushes you -- which is not as subtle a sound coming from a mallard as when a human does it. He tells you there aren't any complete and accurate maps of the vale these days -- just rough ones pieced together from the sketches of adventurers who've traveled here and there. "If you have a complete map," he says, "it's got to be old. Especially if the statue key figures on it." The wolfkin of the group growls that lots of people would be interested in a map like that ... Sathmog cultists and the Keepers of the Immaculate Flame ... even some of the orcs that haven't left the valley yet. "There's word a band of them's looking for the way to get at Eledain's magic sword."
Claire: Filvius asks them to tell him all about this stuff. He's dying to know more.
GM Elle: They tell you the Sathmog cultists are a weird sect that seems to have been popping up more and more lately. When they set their sights on something, they'll take on anyone who gets in their way, which is what happened when this group ran into them on the way to Dead Eyes Cave. The Keepers of the Flame are a very different sort of group -- the human, Hengrik, says, "Zealots, all the same!" But they're apparently a bunch of knights and monks devoted to Eledain's ancient cause, working toward a day when the reign of the dragon knights might be reestablished in the Dragon Emperor's name. The wolfkin is called Fleetclaw, and she says with a shrug, "As for the orcs -- they're orcs." Gualmond says it's not as simple as that, but she just knocks back her tankard and ignores him as he tells you about the remnants of several orc and goblin tribes banding together under a General Maladûk, who seems to be a very effective leader. Whatever it is Maladûk's about, she's got goblins out looking for something, and no doubt a magical sword would appeal to her regardless of her specific ambitions.
Claire: Filvius is eating it all up and asking for more details.
Sasha: Unless they start talking monsters at some point, Sir Q keeps drinking and calls the serving maid over for a refill.
GM Elle: Claire, they don't have a lot more information, but they tell you anecdotes of other adventurers they've met who had run-ins with one or another of these factions. Sash, when Annabelle comes over at your signal, she leans in close and tells you to be careful what you believe out of stories about that statue. But she says she knows some of the real truth, and would like to discuss it with you under more private circumstances.
Sasha: I tell her if it doesn't involve monsters, I'm not sure how interested I am, but either this loose-lipped elf or our more sensible dwarf bard would probably love to hear more.
GM Elle: She nods and goes to get your next drink.
Ariel: Is it late yet? Fidu is tired. Actually, I'm a little sleepy myself -- me, me, not Fidu me.
Sasha: What? We haven't even fought anything yet.
GM Elle: No, but this is probably a good stopping point if anyone else wants to call it an evening too.
MSG: I'm easy either way.
Claire: Me too.
Akane: Ending means more experience questions and marks, so more improvement before more fighting arrives. And Zedeja is also old and tired.
Hettie: Sounds like it's best we call it a night, then.
GM Elle: All right. Everyone gets a participation mark. You explored a new location in the form of Outskirt. No dangerous enemies defeated, but I think figuring out what to do with the bandits counts as solving a problem without violence. So three marks to start, and I'll leave it to your discretion whether you think you gave in to your weakness tonight.
MSG: Not me. Dang, I guess I should have taken advantage of Okald's gabbing about her glory days to pump her for information.
Claire: I think Filvius did enough knowledge-craving for the both of us, so I'll take the mark.
Ariel: I was pretty slothful, wasn't I?
Sasha: For my money, yep. And if anything, I'm thinking I might be overdoing it with Quackenscrump's monster obsession.
Akane: No, lots of amusement in this monster-fixating duck. Meanwhile, plenty of overbearing from Zedeja for a mark, I think.
Hettie: Not much thin-skinned behavior from Dilfriida, though. Honesty suggests I should skip that one.
GM Elle: All right. Well, everybody roll to see if you advance your skills, and we'll start off from here next time!
Hettie: Has Dilfriida shown up yet?
GM Elle: Probably just about now ... right about as Fidu and Filvius get back from the smithy. Vagnhild welcomes everyone, and tells Annabelle to bring you each a complementary mead.
MSG: Have I ditched the bandits at old man Mifaldor's place yet? Or do I have to role-play through that.
Claire: Talking to a farmer with gout might be a sure-fire way to learn something Dolora hasn't yet found out, you know.
GM Elle: We can skip it if you want.
MSG: Great. I'd like to go to the smithy and unload this heap of stuff I've been carrying around, then.
GM Elle: You can make a Bartering roll if you want to try to get a better price. But I'm going to give you a bane because Okald already stocked up on stuff from your other party members.
MSG: Well, that's not happening. My Bartering's only 7. I'll give it a shot, though ... holy moley, 6 and 6!
GM Elle: She's apparently in a very generous mood today! You can collect 60% of book price for whatever you're trading in. But you get another earful of her long-winded stories about hunting dragonspawn in abandoned mines and so forth.
MSG: For the extra gold, I won't complain about listening. She is a fellow dwarf, after all.
Claire: Well, I'm taking my free mead and sitting down with my companions to tell them what I learned about the Dragon Emperor statue in the middle of the village square?
Ariel: Oh, boy, what did you learn?
Akane: It is armless. Also, old and broken.
Hettie: Is this Akane talking, or Zedeja?
GM Elle: Zedeja's not quite there. Probably just now entering and being offered the customary free mead for first timers.
Akane: It was Akane anyway. Zedeja would have said, "Tell them of its armlessness and other poor conditions!"
Claire: Either way, Filvius is going to excitedly say the statue looks similar to the one we have that busted hunk of that matches the pieces on the map.
GM Elle: Gualmond and his two friends sit up a little straighter when you say that.
Sasha: Smooth move, blabber-elf.
Claire: Hey, I wasn't there to hear the story of the temple crypt and using the statue pieces as a key.
GM Elle: Sash, you can make an Awareness roll.
Sasha: I think you mean, I can attempt an Awareness roll. Cause I sure as squat don't make it with a 14. My Awareness is 5.
Akane: With bane for helmedness!
Sasha: I'm assuming I took off the full-visor helmet to drink my tankards.
Akane: Ah, sensible. Since Zedeja is now arriving, she approaches the table of companions.
GM Elle: You can make an Awareness roll too, Akane.
Akane: 9 is a success of no effort for Zedeja.
GM Elle: You notice a serving maid at a nearby table who seems to be distracted by your friends. She's looking away from her customers toward your group with an expression of surprise on her face.
Akane: Zedeja goes to scold everyone. "What trouble are you causing? This place has a staff so friendly -- look, see the gift of mead! Why alarm these kind people?"
Sasha: I'll say I don't know what she's talking about.
Akane: Zedeja nods at a serving girl.
Hettie: I don't think she's actually a girl. Elle referred to her as indeterminate in age.
Akane: All are youthful in the eyes of so-very-old Zedeja. I tell Sir Duck about this girl's look so startled. "One of you is a culprit!"
Sasha: Does she look startled?
GM Elle: No, she's actually headed back over toward the bar and isn't looking your direction anymore.
Sasha: Then no harm, no foul.
Akane: Yes! The fowl is you! How can a duck forget he's a fowl? No more tankards for you!
GM Elle: Gualmond's human friend leans in and says quietly, "Did I hear right, and you've got a map to the four pieces of Eledain's Key?"
Claire: Oh, no, it's just an old map of the Misty Vale. But it has drawings of some statue pieces in the corners. You want to see it?
GM Elle: Gualmond shushes you -- which is not as subtle a sound coming from a mallard as when a human does it. He tells you there aren't any complete and accurate maps of the vale these days -- just rough ones pieced together from the sketches of adventurers who've traveled here and there. "If you have a complete map," he says, "it's got to be old. Especially if the statue key figures on it." The wolfkin of the group growls that lots of people would be interested in a map like that ... Sathmog cultists and the Keepers of the Immaculate Flame ... even some of the orcs that haven't left the valley yet. "There's word a band of them's looking for the way to get at Eledain's magic sword."
Claire: Filvius asks them to tell him all about this stuff. He's dying to know more.
GM Elle: They tell you the Sathmog cultists are a weird sect that seems to have been popping up more and more lately. When they set their sights on something, they'll take on anyone who gets in their way, which is what happened when this group ran into them on the way to Dead Eyes Cave. The Keepers of the Flame are a very different sort of group -- the human, Hengrik, says, "Zealots, all the same!" But they're apparently a bunch of knights and monks devoted to Eledain's ancient cause, working toward a day when the reign of the dragon knights might be reestablished in the Dragon Emperor's name. The wolfkin is called Fleetclaw, and she says with a shrug, "As for the orcs -- they're orcs." Gualmond says it's not as simple as that, but she just knocks back her tankard and ignores him as he tells you about the remnants of several orc and goblin tribes banding together under a General Maladûk, who seems to be a very effective leader. Whatever it is Maladûk's about, she's got goblins out looking for something, and no doubt a magical sword would appeal to her regardless of her specific ambitions.
Claire: Filvius is eating it all up and asking for more details.
Sasha: Unless they start talking monsters at some point, Sir Q keeps drinking and calls the serving maid over for a refill.
GM Elle: Claire, they don't have a lot more information, but they tell you anecdotes of other adventurers they've met who had run-ins with one or another of these factions. Sash, when Annabelle comes over at your signal, she leans in close and tells you to be careful what you believe out of stories about that statue. But she says she knows some of the real truth, and would like to discuss it with you under more private circumstances.
Sasha: I tell her if it doesn't involve monsters, I'm not sure how interested I am, but either this loose-lipped elf or our more sensible dwarf bard would probably love to hear more.
GM Elle: She nods and goes to get your next drink.
Ariel: Is it late yet? Fidu is tired. Actually, I'm a little sleepy myself -- me, me, not Fidu me.
Sasha: What? We haven't even fought anything yet.
GM Elle: No, but this is probably a good stopping point if anyone else wants to call it an evening too.
MSG: I'm easy either way.
Claire: Me too.
Akane: Ending means more experience questions and marks, so more improvement before more fighting arrives. And Zedeja is also old and tired.
Hettie: Sounds like it's best we call it a night, then.
GM Elle: All right. Everyone gets a participation mark. You explored a new location in the form of Outskirt. No dangerous enemies defeated, but I think figuring out what to do with the bandits counts as solving a problem without violence. So three marks to start, and I'll leave it to your discretion whether you think you gave in to your weakness tonight.
MSG: Not me. Dang, I guess I should have taken advantage of Okald's gabbing about her glory days to pump her for information.
Claire: I think Filvius did enough knowledge-craving for the both of us, so I'll take the mark.
Ariel: I was pretty slothful, wasn't I?
Sasha: For my money, yep. And if anything, I'm thinking I might be overdoing it with Quackenscrump's monster obsession.
Akane: No, lots of amusement in this monster-fixating duck. Meanwhile, plenty of overbearing from Zedeja for a mark, I think.
Hettie: Not much thin-skinned behavior from Dilfriida, though. Honesty suggests I should skip that one.
GM Elle: All right. Well, everybody roll to see if you advance your skills, and we'll start off from here next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment