Triften's Game: Session n+5 - 4/4/2007

After dispatching the baby dragon, the party gets to work surveying the mess. Flacco and Kurako carry the carcass to the carts (dragon parts can fetch quite a bounty) while Terrence and Jared examine the interior of the Shrine without being harassed by large reptiles.

Outside, Kurako notices a reptilian figure attempting to hide behind some rocks and notifies her sister. The twins give chase as the figure makes its way down the west road and encounter a group of lizardmen. Kurako spots a familiar face among them and Stetta steps forth to greet the twins. After brief introductions and Stetta showing off the hood made from the t'k'zha'khu, they all head up to Shrine.

Meanwhile, Terrence observes the stopped up spring and decides to build a fire, heading out to the cart for supplies. Jared discovers the wyrm's nesting area featuring what appears to be a body frozen into the ice. Holostarchander is still barely conscious.

As he emerges from the carts, Terrence sees a band of lizardmen marching up the western road with Flacco, Kurako, and Stetta. Not knowing what to expect, he yells to warn Jared and Holostarchander.

The lizardmen arrive quickly and are mildly aghast to see the Shrine in its current state. The tribe's assistant (hereafter referred to as the shaman) asks Terrence not to build a fire (for some reason, the request from the 6 foot tall lizard carries more weight than the one from the nearly dead sorcerer) and binds Holostarchander's wounds. He sends his men to begin chipping away at the ice plug on the spring and then most of the party goes to the cart to get mallets and spikes. With a powerful blow, Kurako splits the plug, allowing the spring to be cleared. The spring flows in a torrent and, while the water from it is rather cold, it begins to melt the ice surrounding it.

The lizardfolk shaman thanks the party for their help and him and his men clear out to join their kin in the valley below. Stetta rejoins the party to pursue the destiny from her vision.

Terrence notices that the ice covering the ceiling of the shrine has glints of metal in it. This is brought to his attention when a piece of silver drops out of the melting ice. Stetta looks up in time to dodge a large chunk of ice breaking away. The other party members notice this and some stay clear while others pursue the treasure more aggressively. Flacco quickly rigs up a rope climbing rig and despite being battered by falling ice (dislocated shoulder, blows to the head) makes her way to the ceiling to begin pulling coins from the ice. Kurako, while dodging ice, watches in horror as her sister is nearly killed. Eventually, the celing is clear and the Shrine is scoured of coinage. The loot tally comes to about 280 (gold?) and one very nice shield. The body is placed on a funeral pyre and, after much debate a tithe is made to Tyvia.

Holostarchander discovers that the spring has healed his wounds and refreshed him, prompting the rest of the party to drink from the spring and refill their water skins.

The party begins preparations to continue their travels along the mountain road heading west so they can make their ways to the Hills of Hanyard in search of the old king's wizard.

UPDATED: The first large chunk of ice nearly hit Stetta, not Terrence.

Triften's game: Session n+4B -3/21/2007

Stetta runs off into the woods after being snubbed, yet again, by Terrence. She heads roughly north, avoiding the town, and, eventually, crossing over the road and entering the swamp. After almost a full day of slogging through the swamp, Stetta rests in a shaded area finding calm in the dappled sunlight and buzzing insects.

During this moment, an enormous venomous snake calmly rises out of the water in front of her before calmly flaring its multicolored hood and not-so-calmly hissing. Stetta fights the snake, expertly dodging its lightning-quick strikes while slicing it up with her sickles. The snake manages to get a clean strike with its vicious fangs before Stetta kills it, sending venom coursing through her body.

Stetta is swiftly weakened by the poison and, before blacking out, she sees lizardfolk stepping out from behind nearby trees. While unconscious, she experiences a number of hallucinations and visions similar to Jared's

Stetta awakens inside some sort of lean-to structure with a lizardperson watching over her. When it sees that she is awake, it hands her some food (some sort of mush and a couple roasted beetles) and some clean-looking water (a rarity in the middle of a swamp) and calls over a couple of other lizardfolk.

The pair approaching appears to be the leader and his assistant. The assistant is able to make himself understood in Common and he translates for the leader, explaining that Stetta has bested t'k'zha'khu or, more accurately pronounced, !*zha#u (! = alveolar click, *= velar implosive, # = uvular fricative, IPA pronunciation: !ɠʒaʁu), an avatar of the Snake god. Additionally, she has survived her travels through the dream world (induced by the poison) and is recognized as a member of their tribe.

Stetta spends the next few days talking to the chief's assistant, who analyzes her vision for her. Stetta also learns that these lizardfolk had been hiding in the mountains for sometime but, when the area started to dry up, they were forced to head back down into the swamps. After being sighted, the Black Talon moved in and has been preparing to attack them. While normally at an advantage in the swamps, their numbers are greatly reduced and would likely be wiped out if they stayed and fought.

Lizardfolk scouts have spotted a Shrine to the Goddess of the Spring which was evidently the source of water for their hiding place in the mountains. The lizardfolk have decided to flee the swamps, sending a small contingent up to the Shrine to figure out what went wrong, while the rest will head back to their old hiding place in hopes that the other group is successful. Additionally, a small group will stay behind to provide token resistance to the Black Talon.

Stetta marches withthe lizardfolk out of the swamps, to the NW, and joins the small contingent heading up to the shrine.

Triften's game: Session n+3 - 3/7/2007

Continuing up the coastal road by moonlight, Kurako (I believe) spots some movement in the water below. Holostarchander uses his magical abilities to send a flare of sorts down to light things up, but what ever Kurako thought she saw had managed to flee. After some further investigation, the party continues onward.

The party, now on high alert is able to spot the kua-toa (frog men things, NOT merlocks or any other WoW enemy) waiting to ambush them farther up the road. Their large eyes practically shine in the moonlight. Despite the characters and players being bogged down in combat, things are made slightly more exciting due to the kua-toa's sticky shields. From what I recall, Flacco does some slinging, Holostarchander lets loose some flames, Stetta nearly looses her club, someone else does lose their weapon, and the last kuatoa goes sliding, face-first down the cliffside to the water.

The part is victorious, Flacco finds a ring (IIRC), and Stetta gives Terrence a gift. The gift consists of a kua-toa hand on a string as a nice trophy of the battle. Terrence rejects Stetta's gift and, this being the last straw, Stetta runs off into the night, broken-hearted.

(Is this all we got done?! Sheesh, I really need to figure out how to streamline combat or something.)

Triften's Game: Session n+2

The party regroups outside of Portsmouth and follows the coastal road north through the night. In the early hours, they are attacked by a few lean and hungry looking wolves. Terrance screams a lot. Terrance gets chewed on a lot. Not in that order. Jared sings.

The party decides to skin the wolves and, despite no party member having any real tanning skill, manages to do a halfway decent job. Wanting to stop being covered in wolf's blood, Terrence wanders into the woods, in the middle of the night, with no survival skills, to find a stream or spiring to wash up in. He makes his way to running water and cleans up, then realizes that he has absolutely no idea which way leads back to the carts. He enacts plan B: Curling into the fetal position and sleeping until morning.

Stetta notices Terrence's absence and, with the twins, wanders off into the woods looking for Terrence. They find Terrence and discover that they too are lost. While pondering their predicament, a strange mote of light floats through the forest towards them. It seems to drift towards the closest person and, after some weaving and dodging, it floats into Stetta's head. Stetta blacks out and regains conciousness a few minutes later with a strange lump of crystal/glass in her mouth. The lump is clear except for a small shining speck in the middle. The lump is dubbed the "tongue baby".

The twins try to wander back towards the carts and instead become lost somewhere else in the woods. Terrence returns to plan B and, when Stetta tries to join him, he enacts "plan B over there... where you aren't." Eventually the two fall asleep and are able to make their way out of the woods come morning. The twins return to the carts exhausted after having wandering around all night.

Meanwhile, Holostarchander stays with the carts, wipes his hands off, and gets a good night's rest in his bed.

After changing hands for a bit for people to look at it, the tongue baby eventually returns to Stetta's possession.

Triften's Game: Session n+1

(This will be edited to correct mistakes as my notes are crap.)

Most of the party is hungover after a night of heavy drinking and grumbling about the Black Talon. Jared wakes first and, using a piece of wood, jams the door to Stetta's cart. Meanwhile, Holostarchander decided hang himself upside down in hopes of inducing a vision to provide guidance for the party. He awakens, inverted and numb, with a splitting headache.

Terrence awakens to find himself in Stetta's strong embrace. Fight-or-flight instincts kick in when Stetta informs Terrence that he has made her a real woman, causing Terrance to fling himself, screaming, at the stuck door. Jared watches and listens from outside. Eventually, Terrance free's himself from Stetta's den of iniquity and retreats to the near-safety of his own cart.

After Terrence's screaming quiets down, Holostarchander regains feeling in his limbs and begins his own bout of screaming. (I can't remember who helped him down from his suspension.)

Jared grants Stetta the day off, suggesting she have a picnic with Terrance, before wandering into town to find an apothecary who might provide a love potion. Terrence desperately searches for alcohol, finding that Jared has moved or emptied all of the stashes. Jared finds an apothecary who asks for a rather high price for a love potion and decides to convince the rest of the party to chip in for it to help smooth over the dynamics.

While Jared is gone, Terrence impersonates Jared to try and convince Stetta that Jared is also interested in sleeping with her. When Stetta sees Jared, after he returns from his trip to the apothecary, she lets him down easy and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

Jared recovers from the kiss and pitches his idea to the others regarding the love potion. The rest of the party is skeptical.

(There may or may not be a session break here.)

At this point, it is nearly mid-afternoon, and Serpentia is nowhere to be found. Flacco and Kurako take a look around in the nearby grove of trees (druids have a habit of wandering off you know) and Kurako discovers Serpenta's snake by itself. The snake is sluggish and lethargic. The twins attempt to sell the snake (rocks nearly fall) but eventually just return to camp with it to show the others.

Before the discovery of the snake, Terrence bumps into Steve in town. Steve also dresses up (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) and has a small traveling act, so Terrence suspects that Steve has stolen Serpenta away from their show.

Regardless, the show must go on and the troupe has already reserved a section of the marketplace in which to perform. After setting up the tent (and having someone with the Use Rope skill check over the work) and getting ready to start, two small birds fly into the tent. The birds alight on Prima's shoulder and, speaking in Serpenta's voice, deliver a message explaining that Serpenta was kidnapped by the Black Talon and being carried off, possibly northward but she is unsure. She provides information regarding the possible location of King Ordna's wizard who might be able to help them. (I can't remember what the second bird did, but it might have told off Prima and Donna.)

The show is excessively average and after the crowd clears out a number of soldiers remain (I think they may have been from another tavern excursion by the twins.) Thinking fast, someone unties the shoddy ropework, collapsing the tent. Thinking homocidally, someone else lights the tent ablaze. In the ensuing havoc, the party is able to slink away into the night, heading northward.

Triften's Game: The First n Sessions (n ≈ 3)

(This will be edited to flesh out events.)

The story begins in the capital, unimaginatively named "Talwar". The party has been performing together for a few months.

(Jared's vision happens here, correct?)

(Something happens causing them to head down the road after a couple shows. I believe it may have involved pissing off a Black Talon officer.)

The party heads down the road towards the coast. Portsmouth-on-Lides is known to be a little more cosmopolitan and more appreciative of the arts. Along the way, the party spots an ambush up ahead. A small group of PCs circles around and surprises one of the bandits. The rest of the bandits had heard the PCs' approach and stepped aside, leaving "Deaf Gilroy" to be found. After 3 bandits are taken down, their leader, Rigg, flees, leaving a 4th bandit to be captured. The party gives the bandit quite a scare and, in return, receives information on where to find Rigg.

---

The party stays in a small village along the road for a few days to hold a couple of shows. Earnings are mediocre compared to the city but passable considering the locale. (NOTE: This may have occured before the bandit encounter.)

Farther up the road to Portsmouth, the party encounters a regiment of Black Talon marching down the road. Taking up the whole road. Demanding the party clear off the road. The oxen, being oxen, move slower than the Black Talon would like and so one set of carts is unceremoniously shoved off the road. Thanks to the sloping terrain, the cart ends up listed a little over 45 degrees. The oxen are used to pull the cart upright once again and, after a bit of swearing, the party continues toward the coast.

---

It is night when the party arrives in Portsmouth, so they convene on a tavern and get in some heavy drinking (getting sloshed on the slush fund). Flacco has an encounter with some dishonest folk who attempt to drug her. Luckily, Kurako has her back and keeps anything bad from happening. Terrance gets especially drunk and is carried back to camp by Stetta. Stetta and Terrance kiss. (This statement in no way implies that a particular party initiated the contact, just that it happened.) Upon return to camp, everyone heads to their carts, except for Terrance, who is carried into Stetta's.

---

Additionally, somewhere in all this, it was established that five consecutive days of the week are: Odinswag, Throggsday, Freersday, Gundersog, and Gundersoth.

Triften's Game: Intro/Character creation - 8/9/2006

Intro:

The Kingdom of Talwar spent a few centuries as a mish-mash set of warring provinces, always worrying about the next orc incursion, the next lizardfolk raid, or the next kua-toa encounter. 50-some years ago, through brilliant tactics and diplomacy, Ordna of Lides united the human provinces and he was crowned King of Talwar. King Ordna formed an alliance with the eastern and western elf kingdoms so that when an aggresive campaign by the now-united human armies drove the orcs into the forests, their respite would be short-lived. The few survivors retreated to their old strongholds deep in the western swamps.

Throughout this time, Talwar saw increased trade with the dwarves of the northern mountains. Ordna's diplomats were able to enlist the assistance of the dwarves in the form of the great mountain wyrms. The dwarves revered the great wyrm, Falbjynsthfar, and with his blessing, were able to ride others of his kind. With the help of the dwarves and the wyrms, the Talwar army, led by their elite Black Talon soldiers, swept through the western swamps, bringing death to the old Orc kingdoms. The week of genocide would be known as "The Purge" and, for a time, would be celebrated for bringing a new peace and safety for humans, dwarves, and elves.

As the campaign concluded, General Haldren, Captain of the Black Talons, saw his opportunity and, thanks to the massive military machine Ordna had constructed, seized control of the kingdom. Ordna was executed and martial law was declared, enforced by dozens of newly promoted Black Talon regiments. His lieutenant, Kalrid, was promoted to General of the Black Talon, and served his new king well in the coming reign of tyrrany.

However, King Ordna was no fool and had instructed his most trusted assistants and advisors on what to do if these events should pass. Though Haldren got the crown and the kingdom, there were many secrets that slipped through his fingers. It is hoped that one day, these secrets can be his undoing.

The world:

Generic D&D (magic works "normally"), demi-humans rather rare, with dwarves and elves staying hidden away from the insanity of the human kingdom. Dragons/Wyrms are smaller than regular D&D and the most intelligent specimens are a few notches below elephants.

The players:

I wanted as many people to be at the character creation session so everyone could work together and make sure the characters had a good reason to travel and stay together. Attendance was less than spectacular but Noah and Sean came up with the concept of being a band of traveling performers.

• Terrence and Jared, bards played by Noah and Sean, tear up the stage as the prima-donnas, Prima and Donna.
• Stetta, a fighter carrying the burden of an abused childhood played by Emmy, performs feats of strength to wow the crowds.
• The Great Holostarchander, a sorcerer played by Jake, amazes with spectacular pyrotechnics.
• Serpenta, the snake-charming druid played by Katie, charms more than just animals with her incredible show.
• Flacco and Kurako, a rogue-fighter duo played by Tanya and John, astonish with acrobatics, dancing, and acrobatic dancing.

The characters have pooled their money to start their careers with 4 wonderful carts and two pair of the strongest oxen their money could buy.