The below information is strictly Out of Character and relatively little of it will be publicly known, except (in most cases) by the characters involved. Please do not assume that, just because it's written here, your character might know about it. Also, much of the below information has been written from memory, so there are likely to be any number of errors and omissions. If you can help correct any mistakes or fill in any gaps, then please email the webmaster to let us know.
Run by Helen W & James W on 7th January 2006 (a Saturday in the winter vacation)
Players: Adanemoay (Xan), Bairoth (Peter M), Paulo (Tom)
Mission Brief: The morning after a grand Midwinter party held at the Whistful City Embassy, none of the guests have emerged from the Embassy compound. The windows are all darkened, and none of those who have entered the Embassy to find out what happened - including a full squadron of crack High Guard troops - have returned. Realising that subtlety may triumph where brute force could not, Rebecca De Courci promptly orders the High Guard to round up all the adventurers they can find who aren't totally incapacitated from post-Midwinter hangovers, and sends them in...
Original Plot Document (.doc file)
Adventure Summary: Rebecca, Duchess Lucilla De Almedia, Duke Ario Cristofori and Nerino Velasquez brief the party in a house near the Embassy. They all have relatives inside whom they are very eager to see again and offer generous rewards for their safe return, with a hefty bonus if the Embassy can be returned to normal and other notables are also rescued. The party are given descriptions (and in some cases shown portraits) of the people they are to rescue. After they leave one of Nerino's servants invites them to a private audience with him, during which he tells them in a fairly direct manner that while a reward is offered for the rescue of the Duchess Velasquez, a discreet and even larger reward is available should she fail to make it out of the Embassy alive. Paulo seems keen to collect, while the other two are noncommittal. They then go to the College of the Thousand Arts, where they consult floor plans of the Embassy and its compound before seeking entry.
Wary of the front gate, despite the apparently peaceful courtyard visible through it, they climb over the nearby wall - and immediately they set foot on the other side find themselves deep in a trackless forest. Since the Embassy should lie to their north they head north, and find a member of the High Guard badly wounded and beset by a pack of vicious wolves. They quickly slaughter the wolves and heal the guardsman, who says he is one of the crack troop sent in earlier that morning. After questioning him on his experiences in the compound, they wish him luck and press on northwards. After some time the trackless forest becomes a glacier scoured by a howling blizzard, which Adanemoay recognises from his dreams the night before. Fearing Snow-Riders, Adanemoay and Paulo huddle close to Bairoth, hoping that as a Priest of one of the Wind Princes they will fear to approach. But when a horde of Snow-Riders does appear Bairoth's presence is not enough to protect his comrades and they are forced to defend themselves, Adanemoay fleeing until he reaches the safety of the Embassy's main doors and his companions soon following.
Inside the Embassy they find a sleeping serving wench hidden behind some furniture in the entrance hall. Waking her up, she tells them about being assaulted by Oliviero Cristofori, whom she tells them is next door in the smoking room. They enter the room and find themselves on a battlefield where Oliviero is dreaming of heroically leading White City soldiers against an evil army. The adventurers, attacked by both sides, try to explain to him what's going on and endeavour to persuade him to wake up, but he dismisses it all as a trick by his enemies and, when they refuse to duel him to the death, just tries to kill them. As they are trying not to harm him, things go badly for them - until finally they are forced to strike him down to save themselves and the dream ends. As Oliviero slumps in a chair, the party pour healing potions down his throat to save his life and, when he comes round, explain what has happened. Then they set off for the temple to the Dream Powers in the Embassy's grounds, Adanemoay having had a vision of Ambassador Dumah lying on the altar surrounded by bubbles bearing the faces of the guests. The party manage to enter the temple and find things much as they were in Adanemoay's vision. Attempts to bypass the bubbles or throw things at Dumah through them fail, so they try to force their way through - Bairoth and Paulo immediately succumb to the touch of the bubbles, Adanemoay manages to take down two of them before succumbing to the third, at which point the three adventurers fall asleep and wake up to find themselves back at the entrance of the temple, a horde of bubbles still blocking their way. It occurs to them that, since each bubble bears the face of a dreaming guest they may be able to eliminate the bubbles by waking the guests, and they return to the Embassy.
Moving through the smoking room to the Apiary, they find that all the bees have merged into a single swarm that takes on humanoid shape and talks to them, demanding gifts before it will allow them to pass through its territory. These they give, stepping over the stung-to-death corpse of a High Guardsman on the stairs and making their way up to the first floor. Passing through the drawing room without incident they come to the library, where Godfrey Inskilling (the Senior Librarian from the College) dreams of being human. The Embassy's library has become the library of the College and is full of dreaming students. The party talk to Godfrey and explain the situation to him, he insists on being allowed to continue dreaming for as long as possible but theorises that the dream may be weakened if the students in it are wakened, so they go round punching and kicking the dreaming students until they've all woken up and left the dream, then endeavour to move on up the stairs to the second floor. Their first attempt sees them dreaming that they're climbing a high mountain path where howling winds try to blow them back down and Fears-of-Falling attack them. Roped together, the party tumble from the path... and find themselves falling a few feet back to the floor of the library, much to Godfrey's amusement. Their second attempt is more successful and they find themselves in a dark starlit web-strewn clearing in the Great Forest, where Nadia-Katarina De Courci has been cocooned in spiderwebs and hung from a great tree. The desiccated corpse of a High Guardsman lies on the ground and giant spiders attack from the trees. The party kill the spiders and cut Nadia-Katarina free, at which point she wakes. They explain the situation and send her down to join Godfrey in the library. Then they go next door to the embassy staff offices, which they find empty, and retrace their steps back through Nadia-Katarina's room to the solarium, where blinding light shines in through the windows and the charred corpse of a High Guardsman is visible on the floor. Bairoth and Paulo cover their eyes and stumble through to the far door, while Adanemoay bathes in the glory of the light and prays to the Light, which gives him its blessing.
On the other side of the solarium they find the boudoir of Lydia De Courci, now half-resembling a glade in the Great Forest and filled with an ever-so-slightly-transparent drunken orgy of Vinechildren and pretty young women. Resisting the lewd overtures (and undertures) of the revellers, the adventurers tell Lydia that she's dreaming and try to persuade her to wake up, which she doesn't want to do. Adanemoay is able to tell that only Lydia and a pewter chalice next to her are real, so empties the wine-filled chalice on the floor in the hopes that that will do something. It doesn't. Bairoth convinces Lydia to tell him a secret in a not-particularly-quiet stage whisper - that she used to be romantically involved with King Eric, who's a woman - and eventually the party refill the chalice with wine but spike it with a purification potion before passing it to Nadia-Katarina, which wakes her up with a jolt. She's somewhat miffed at losing her orgy, but after explaining the situation again the party manage to mollify her a little, and send her down to join Nadia-Katarina and Godfrey in the library. They find the ambassador's office deserted and Adanemoay insists that all the draws and papers are left untouched, much to Bairoth's chagrin.
Back downstairs, they find that the drawing room next to the library has become a pub in the Whistful City. They eventually manage to wake the various embassy staff (and one High Guardsman) scattered around the room, by various means, and tell them to join Nadia-Katarina and Godfrey in the library. Then they move on through an empty guest room and pass through the next door - to find it vanishing behind them and as they fall into the Shattered Plain. Two of them land in broken glass and one of them lands on a wounded High Guardsman who is lying face down on the broken glass, resulting in some unpleasant (but fairly brief) screaming as his face is driven into the shards and his ribs snap. Not far away they see Duchess Chiara Velasquez impaled on a five foot long glass spike that emerges from a mirror hovering in mid-air, bleeding badly and slowly Vitrifying. They go over to have a closer look, sensibly realising that it would be a really bad idea to look in the mirror, so Bairoth decides it would be a good idea to smash the mirror instead. Undaunted by his companions looks of horror and cries of "Nooo!" as they realise, too late to stop him, what he's about to do, the mirror is smashed and all hell breaks loose. They are forced to fight an incarnate Looking-Glass Hunter released from the mirror, Vitrimorphs and Splinter-Men, his comrades casting vituperations at Bairoth all the while. Eventually they have a moment's peace and again attempt to free Duchess Chiara, managing to do so by the careful application of purification potions to the shard itself and feeding the Duchess purification and healing potions. She proves singularly ungrateful for her rescue, lambasting them all as imbeciles and incompetents (which they don't take well), and striding over to the door which has now appeared. As she reaches the door a Glass Sentinel and a horde of Splinter-Men rise from the surrounding glass, so she orders these to attack the party for their impertinence. Another vicious battle ensues, the party barely managing to escape over the threshold with their lives (Adanemoay dragging himself painfully through the door by one hand).
The first and second floors have now been cleared of dreamers. Since the party aren't sure whether the swarm of bees in the apiary will let them back through without demanding more gifts, they tie some bedsheets together and descend to the ground floor via the embassy's windows. In the kitchens they find the cook, one of the High Guard and the kitchen staff fighting off the meat from the larder, which has animated as animal zombies. With the zombies butchered, everyone in the kitchen is also woken and the party figure that enough people have been woken that they should be able to make it past the Dream-bubbles in the temple to get to Dumah. So they return to the temple, fight their way past the three remaining (and now much weaker) Dream-bubbles and reach Dumah, who appears to be sleeping peacefully. When throwing things and shouting fails to wake him, Paulo tries to shake him by the shoulder - and vanishes instantly. Hesitating only briefly, Adanemoay and Bairoth follow his example.
All three find themselves in a bookbinder's workshop where all the books appear to be portions of Dumah's memories. Here they are faced with three versions of Ambassador Dumah, each claiming to be the real one and insisting that the only way to wake him up is to kill the impostors. By dint of some judicious questioning they manage to get this right and wake up in the real world, where everything is back to normal. Most of the nobles are grateful to the party, Chiara and Nerino are deeply resentful of them, and Godfrey Inskilling is hurt and reproachful.
Adventure Consequences:
The Ambassador from the Whistful City to the White City, Dumah Treeborn, resigns in disgrace. The Embassy's diplomatic staff quietly plot mutiny as they discover that their terms have all been extended by a year to "help the new fellow settle in". The Whistful City has yet to name a replacement ambassador.
Adanemoay, Bairoth and Paulo are publicly thanked for their heroic efforts by everyone except the Velasquez Family. De Courci-employed Low Guardsfolk, mercenaries and bandit hunters all over the City awake from their Festival hangovers some days later to discover their traditional Midwinter bonus not forthcoming, having been spent on the adventurers' rewards. Adanemoay, Bairoth and Paulo can expect to be buying their own drinks in bars for some time. On the other hand, they can afford to.
Nerino and Chiara Velasquez return to a state of happy animosity. Nerino's mistress receives a poisoned ear-ring as a late Midwinter gift. Chiara finds scorpions mysteriously hidden in her breakfast. Life is back to normal in the Velasquez household.
The Port of Glass Embassy is rumoured to be fascinated by the news that somewhere that looks a great deal like the Shattered Plain can be accessed through Dream.
The Head Librarian of the College of the Thousand Arts, Godfrey Inskilling, has been heard to mutter dire threats against the "traitors" who rescued him from the Embassy.
Run by Matt H & Rich on 14th January 2006 (Saturday 0th week, Hilary term)
A sequel to "The Name of the Rose".
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Helen L & Dom, hosted by Chris N.
See the Fiction section for the reactions of four of the world's cities to the conclusion of this LARP in "Dawn In The West", for Kit Fisable's thoughts on Toquell's fate in "Epitaph", and for Arik Blackthorne's somewhat idiosyncratic version of events in "Traditional Tales".
Players: Baragh (Paul), Belor de Velland (Peter M), Captain "Ripper" Bill McKenzie (James W), "Iago de Beus" aka Arik Blackthorne (Julian), Professor Kit Fisable (Helen W), Paulo (Tom), Selena Curiana (Vicky), Toquell Velasquez (Joe W)
Mission Brief: In the Great Forest, Lord Roderick Blakelock is searching for the mother of his young son. Meanwhile, rumours spread of the Exalted Church of the Light outfitting an army in and around the City of Silk. In the White City, Toquell Velasquez is asked to undertake a mission for a high ranking member of the Cloistered Brethren of Chains, and the Merry Band is called together once again...
Adventure Summary: In the White City, Toquell Velasquez calls together his Merry Bands of Bastards Heroes: Selena Curiana, Professor Kit Fisable, 'Ripper' Bill McKenzie and Belor de Velland. Also hired for extra muscle are perennial Band dogsbody Arik Blackthorne (currently travelling under the name Iago de Beus), taciturn Blood-sorcerer-for-hire Paulo, and doped-up part-troll mercenary Baragh. The situation, explained by Toquell, is this: a low-ranking member of the Cloistered Brethren of Chains (Brother Jara), while travelling in the East, had encountered a creature that was thought to be the young son of the Lady of Blood & Wine, along with its father, one Roderick Blakelock. Jara's reports to the Cloistered Brethren (which fell into Toquell's hands) indicate that the pair were travelling West, to the Great Forest, with the intention of meeting the Lady of Blood & Wine again. The Brethren's man in the City of Silk had recently submitted reports which supported this: Blakelock and the Child had passed through the city just a month ago. Toquell explains the mission: to travel into the Great Forest and retrieve the child, for the Band's own purposes. A cover story has conveniently been provided by one Gideon Anders of the Cloistered Brethren, who has asked Toquell to find his nephew Charlan, who disappeared in the Forest a few weeks ago along with an entire Brethren expedition. Hirelings are to be paid fifty Hexa for their trouble. The mission is accepted with little further ado, and the group depart for the City of Silk, with Bill McKenzie receiving a message from the Lord of Blood Fury to the effect that there is great slaughter ahead...
A short while later, the Band arrive in the City of Silk amid filthy weather. A tournament is in progress and the less salubrious members of the group take part in armed combat and outright murder of the locals for fun and... well, more fun. Meanwhile Toquell makes inquiries. It turns out that a huge army organised by the Exalted Church of the Light assembled at the city a few weeks ago and set off westwards, into the Forest. They were pursued a few days later by a group matching the description of the Chain expedition the Band are looking for. It also comes to Toquell's notice that Roderick Blakelock has been sighted living with Vinechildren a couple of weeks' travel into the Forest. After brief discussion, the party decide that screwing with the Exalted Church is far more fun than whatever they were actually here to do. The following morning, they pick up the trail of destruction left by the Light's army and follow it westward, into the Forest.
For some days they pursue the trail, undisturbed but for Baragh smoking the flowers that grow at Bill's feet. There may exist universes in which it is a good idea to smoke something that grew out of Bill McKenzie's feet, but this is not one of them. Baragh immediately flies into a psychotic rage and attacks the rest of the Band, stopping only when forcibly 'sedated', and is made to promise not to do it again on awakening.
Eventually the party arrive at a Vinechild village which has apparently been destroyed by the army of the Light; the ground is littered with slain Vinechildren and Light crusaders. It is also crawling with a carpet of suspiciously twitching, bright red briars, which according to Toquell have the name 'those called to destroy the invaders from the East'. Like any good group of adventurers, the party decide to solve the problem by setting fire to it. In response the carpet of briars rises up and attacks the party. Being the Vine child Merry Band of Bastards, they summarily hack it to pieces. Selena interrogates the ghosts of various of the dead. Apparently, the crusaders were here to destroy an 'abomination', the very same child of the Lady of Blood & Wine sought by Toquell. The village was destroyed; Roderick Blakelock fled to the south with one group of Vinechildren, while another group fled west with the child, pursued by the crusaders. Selena's examination of the tracks supports this; a group of Vinechildren travelled west, followed by the army of the Light, followed in their turn by the Chain expedition. The Band themselves continue west, along the trail of the army.
A few days later they are set upon by apparently murderously enraged and very highly skilled Weavers. A blood soaked melee ensues, in which even the Merry Band are barely victorious. Arik Blackthorne (a spider-friend whom the Weavers ignore) displays his talent for treachery to the full, refusing to help in the fight and viciously assaulting downed party members. Travelling further west, they find that the trail of the Light army simply disappears at a spot marked by the dismembered corpse of a vast spider. Swarms of tiny spiders pour from the corpse to assail the party, but are easily dispatched. Nonetheless, Arik Blackthorne (a spider-friend whom the spiders ignore) displays his talent for treachery to the full, refusing to help in the fight and viciously assaulting downed party members.
As they debate what to do next, a woman of pale complexion and dark lips approaches, accompanied by a horde of vast spiders. Her name is Xaralena the Queen. The spider queen explains that the body is that of her sister Xarachana, slain by the Light crusaders. The Verdant Lord, she explains, has caused the Forest to swallow the Child and the army alike. The Child has been taken to the mythical Heart of the Forest for protection; the Light crusade has been shut away to prevent it causing further harm. But Xaralena wants it seen to that the Light crusade is destroyed for their murder of her sister. She offers to give the party a way of finding the Heart of the Forest if they bring her the head of the man who leads the crusade. They agree, with Toquell barely restraining his burning desire to take the deity down a peg or two verbally. The Spider Queen directs them to a village of savages, and then to an ancient town, in the far west. The people there, she claims, know how to find an object called the Seat of Thorns; an object which grants the user a limited power over the Forest.
Arik Blackthorne (a spider-friend whom the spiders ignore) displays his talent for treachery to the full, refusing to help in the negotiations and trying to persuade the Spider Queen to kill Selena.
The party follow her advice and set out west. Selena notes that the trail of the Chain expedition veers away to the south, but eventually rejoins essentially the same route that they are taking. A journey of several weeks ensues.
Eventually, the Band stumble upon the village of savages referred to by Xaralena. The villagers are dedicated servants of the Old Powers, and respond with gusto to the rough-and-ready diplomacy of the Band. Bill McKenzie and the tribe's wisewoman have a shape-shifting bear-off which concludes peacefully, indeed passionately, as the two bears disappear into the woods to vigorous cries of "Cubs! Cubs! Cubs!" Having made friends with the tribespeople with one of the oldest instruments of diplomacy - sex - the Band rapidly move onto another, drink and drugs. Baragh makes play with the Forest mushrooms and a couple of troll-blooded 'maidens' of the tribe, while another tribesman tries to impress Selena with the power of his wood. It is discovered that Toquell is a 'chain man', and he is treated by great reverence with the tribe, who apparently honour Chain sorcerers. A good time is had by all, and the Band depart in the morning armed with all the information the tribe can give. Apparently the Chain expedition passed this way, and (like the Band) were searching for the Seat of Thorns. The tribe tell the party where to find the 'elder town' mentioned by Xaralena, and that the people there know the Woodcutter, who made the Seat of Thorns, and the Witch, for whom it was made. More worryingly, they mention that the Woodcutter made the Seat in the days when he and the Witch worked for the 'Name Lords in the East'. Completely unperturbed by the news that they are looking for a Namer artifact, the Band march on merrily westward.
A few days later they are interrupted by the discovery of the Chain expedition, or what's left of it. Charlan Anders is hanging from a tree by hooked chains, dead, while the rest of the expedition is blocking the path, eyes wild with pain and fear, saying nothing. Rolls of chains spill from open wounds in their sides. Toquell announces that they have been Renamed 'Abomination' and 'Dead-of-Chains'. Shouting at Kit to make herself scarce, he unleashes a high-level Shatter Chains, but to no avail; the creatures are unaffected. The party hack their way through the surprisingly sturdy undead. Arik Blackthorne displays his talent for treachery to the full, refusing to help in the fight, though just for once not viciously assaulting downed party members. Meanwhile Selena interrogates the spirit of Charlan Anders. It turns out that his expedition had been sent to find out what the army of the Light was up to, and had tried to find the Seat of Thorns in order to pursue the army further. Instead, they stumbled into another group of travellers, a group led by a man dressed in purple who identified himself as the Ambassador of the Unbound. Brief conversation revealed that he was the representative of the powerful empire of Name sorcerers from beyond the Great Forest. The Cloistered Brethren group showed their defiance, but were swiftly disabled by the Namer expedition. Anders was hung from the tree and left to die, and the rest were Named into undead and left to suffer.
Digesting Selena's news, the party travel on. Within a day, they arrive at the 'elder town', or rather what's left of it. The style of the buildings suggest that it had stood since before the first Naming & Binding War. Now, though, it has been laid waste. The buildings have been burned and the ground is littered with the bodies of the inhabitants. The arcane talents of several of the Band allow them to see the spirits of the townsmen still walking the site of their death. A few of them descend upon the Band, filled with rage at Name sorcerers and intent on ripping apart the nearest example, i.e. Toquell. Selena and Kit tear apart a couple of the spirits like tissue paper and continue into the town to converse with two less hostile dead people, happily oblivious to the fate of the rest of the Band. Belor, Bill, Baragh, Paulo, Arik and Toquell are all psychically defeated by the spirits and possessed. Toquell's body tries to stab itself while he stands paralysed and screams for help. The others descend upon the hapless Toquell and begin to hack him to pieces, burning blood spewing from the many wounds they inflict.
Eventually, all the screaming catches the attention of Kit and Selena, who come running. Selena handles the difficult situation as only Selena can: with zombies. Calling the Black Wind, she reanimates the corpses of the villagers, and sets them to form a wall of cold bodies around Toquell. Kit and Selena then exorcise and Glass Eye the spirits into submission, allowing their companions to regain control of their own bodies. Selena takes the opportunity to rob Arik blind. Once the Band is largely recovered, a few further conversations with the (now departing) spirits of the villagers reveal that this place had, indeed, stood since before the Naming & Binding War. It was destroyed by the Ambassador of the Unbound, who tortured the villagers for information about the Seat of Thorns before slaying them to a man. In the hope of spiting the Ambassador, the spirits tell Toquell that the Witch and the Woodcutter both know how to activate the Seat, and where to find each. The Woodcutter was bound in a nearby grove by the Cloistered Brethren of Chains in ages past, and only appears during the day; the Witch was similarly bound in a nearby lake, along with 'various other creatures of the Namers', and only appears at night. The Band give Last Rites to the villagers, and after some discussion set off to meet the Woodcutter.
The Woodcutter turns out to be a taciturn man who refuses to help the Band except on his own terms. Toquell attempts to Bind his Will but the process inexplicably fails. The Woodcutter sets two conditions: that the Band free him from the grove, and that they bring him to the Witch so that she can apologise to him in person. Exactly what the apology is for, he declines to say. Kit examines the binding around the grove and, using a novel combination of her knowledge of Chain sorcery and her unlawful entry skills, succeeds in breaking the ancient spell. Now freed, the Woodcutter accompanies the Band to the Witch's lake. The sun sets, and the Woodcutter disappears; from the lake comes a ravenous cacophony of voices, and the translucent form of a woman appears at the shore. It introduces itself as the Witch. Discussions follow, in which it emerges that the Witch and the Woodcutter are embroiled in an astoundingly petty tiff over the way they were imprisoned. Kit and Belor talk the Witch into 'being the mature one' and apologising first. Kit then breaks the spell binding the Witch into the lake. The broken bond also releases a tide of horrors from the first Naming & Binding War: silver skinned men who form their limbs into weapons, a red-mouthed Cannibal Queen, and a black dressed man who claims to be The Raven Whose Wings Are Night. The band butcher the Quicksilver Men and the Cannibal Queen, and Toquell Binds the Will of the Raven. The creature is found to be capable of producing small patches of day (or night), so Toquell commands it to create a patch of day; and lo, the Woodcutter appears. The dispute between him and the Witch is cleared up with just a little help from Kit and Belor, just in time for the Raven's powers to fail and the Woodcutter to disappear again. The Witch, however, agrees to tell the party the Oldest Tongues verses necessary to activate the Seat of Thorns, and they travel on.
Reaching the Seat of Thorns, the Band find the remains of a camp. Evidently, the Ambassador of the Unbound has been and gone. Toquell sits on the Seat, defeats the Great Forest itself in psychic combat, and wrests a route to the Heart of the Forest from the land. The Band travel eastward along Toquell's path for many days, eventually finding the tattered remains of the Light crusaders, now torn apart by the Forest. Finally, they come to the Heart of the Forest. In a clearing, beneath a mighty oak, is Sammy Blakelock, guarded by a couple of Children of the Vine. Also pacing the clearing are a number of great wolves with unnatural, blood-red kiss brands on their foreheads. While the Band digest the significance of this, the earth bursts open, and a shower of blood, soil, roots and stone forms into the likeness of Vincenzi Velasquez. And then, things get interesting.
As Toquell confronts the spirit of his brother, Bill McKenzie steps forward. Producing what the rest of the Band had assumed was a perfectly normal spare sword, he says "Vincenzi, I've brought your sword back." With that, he steps over to Vincenzi, slices his own chest open, and unleashes a Blood Curse of epic proportions on Toquell. Toquell's chest explodes in a shower of blood, and as he collapses all merry hell breaks loose. Vincenzi's Blood-Wolves move in and attack the rest of the Band. Belor tells Vincenzi that he will not fight him, and stands aside, unharmed. Selena repairs Toquell's injuries with her Dark Powers, and Toquell re-enters the fray as other members of the Band scream at Bill to reconsider. Unrepentant, Bill wades right on in with the wolves. Paulo and Baragh are both torn down by the wolves, fortunately passing out and being left for dead before taking fatal injuries. Arik is surrounded by wolves and shouts for Belor's help. But Belor de Velland displays his talent for treachery to the full, refusing to help Arik in the fight and dismissing him with a casual comment. Arik flees blubbing into the Forest. Belor treacherously turns on Vincenzi and attacks the wolves, but not in time to prevent Toquell being cut down. Bill uses the cursed cold granted to his fingers by the Light Corrupt to rip the heart from Toquell's chest; after some negotiation, he hands it to the Raven, who flies off, cackling. Spewing flame from the gaping hole in his chest Toquell is somehow able to stagger to his feet and rejoin the fray, but Bill unleashes Vincenzi's old Blood Vengeance upon him, and Toquell collapses once again. Vincenzi calls vines to string his hated brother up from the tallest tree in the Forest and slits his throat, draining out his enchanted burning blood. The fight seems poised on a knife edge; the Band have slain Sammy's Vinechild bodyguards and Bill has collapsed, but the wolves just keep getting up, and Vincenzi is turning his attention to the rest of the Band. Unfortunately he fails to notice Selena creeping up behind him, and the current physical shell of Vincenzi is Commended to Ash. With that, the wolves flee, and Selena, Kit and Belor are able to cut Toquell down from the tree, grab Sammy Blakelock, and run...
Adventure Consequences: With Vincenzi Commended to Ash, his wolves in retreat and Bill unconscious, the rest of the party flees the Heart of the Forest dragging Sammy Blakelock with them. Toquell is reeling; the gaping hole in his chest (where Bill ripped out his heart) and the many, many other wounds he has taken are spewing fire. Already he looks like a human torch. Barely able to speak, he asks Belor to hand the child to him. Producing a knife, he slits the child's throat from ear to ear. As Sammy's sacred blood spills onto the earth of the Forest and Toquell burns and dies, he slowly and deliberately
SPEAKS
A
NAME...
The ground tears asunder and great chains spring forth. In an instant, Toquell is wrapped from head to foot and dragged beneath the surface. With a roar, the ground closes; all that remains of Toquell Velasquez is a set of great chains stretching into the sky, like those on the Battlefields in the East, or the ones before the gates of the White City. All this happens in the blink of an eye. Then comes the explosion.
Baragh, Belor, Kit, and Selena (those in Toquell's immediate vicinity) are thrown into the air, and lose consciousness. They come to some time later, scattered across different parts of the Western Forest. Visible to them (and to everyone else in a radius of several hundred miles) is a vast column of black flame springing up into the sky from the site of Toquell's burial (next to the Heart of the Forest). All four are able to walk out of the forest, completely (indeed unnaturally) unmolested by any of the usual dangers.
Paulo, who had spent the last part of the battle with Vincenzi taking an unexpected nap, wakes up to find himself virtually underneath the vast pillar of black flame. Standing over him is a beautiful woman, looking angry. The Lady of Blood and Wine says, "Silly boy. Go home to master." and quickly kisses him on the lips. Everything burns, and Paulo passes out. He awakens on a mountain trail far to the North (in the domain of the King of the Eagles). Paulo's lips are now permanently bloody.
Iago de Beus hears the huge explosion and sees the pillar of black flame springing up. He can't find his way back to it and (unlike the rest of the party) does not get out the Forest molestation-free. His next few weeks are interesting and painful.
Bill McKenzie awakens at the Heart of the Forest. The pillar of black flame is immediately to hand. Standing over him are three figures: the Lord of the Blood-Fury, The Lady of Blood and Wine, and the Verdant Lord. The Lord of Blood Fury congratulates him on slaughter well done, and wanders off. The Lady thanks him for trying, and kisses him on the brow. Bill McKenzie now has a bloody kiss on his forehead, rather like Vincenzi's. The Verdant Lord thanks him for defending the Heart of the Forest and touches his tongue with one root-like finger. Bill's veins now run with sap as well as blood. He, likewise, is able to leave the Forest unmolested.
Much happens over the next few weeks and months.
Toquell named a new Power into existence - the Black Fire. To those with a sufficiently strong drive to withstand it, the Black Fire consumes and grants desires in return. For this use of the most powerful Name sorcery, he was Bound forever beneath the earth.
The Heart of the Black Fire is Toquell himself, Bound next to the Heart of the Great Forest. Over a few weeks, the vast column of black fire decreases, until only a man-sized flame remains, at the site where Toquell is buried. This, like the Heart of the Great Forest to which it is attached, shifts constantly; the only known reliable way to find it is using the Seat of Thorns.
The appearance of the vast column of black fire, which is seen almost as far East as the City of Crossroads, causes a vast panic in the White City and elsewhere. As no immediate doom befalls the world, this subsides into intense curiosity. Then Professor Kit Fisable emerges from the Great Forest, apparently with an explanation. At the same time, a cult of the new Black Fire begins in the Port of Glass, claiming that it is entirely compatible with Vitriarch worship.
Following some intense negotiations, Kit Fisable is made Chief Professor of the Faculty of the Arcane (the previous incumbent is none-too-subtly bounced into early retirement). She immediately begins publishing papers on the Black Fire. These bring the startling revelation that the Fire is an ancient Power that battled against the Namer Gods during the first Naming and Binding War. The Namers, apparently, imprisoned it at the Heart of the Forest, hurting both the Forest and the Fire. All record of this eighth Power has since been systematically suppressed by cultists of the Bound Ones, suggesting a worrying degree of infiltration by such cultists. Toquell Velasquez selflessly sacrificed his life to free the buried flame, thereby also healing the Heart of the Forest.
Kit's chain-mesh brand begins to burn with black flame, and over the next few weeks the mark of the King in Fragments is consumed, leaving only a black, burning, heart of chains.
The Temple of Ashes makes no statement on the new (old?) Power, other than to note that it is not connected to the Burned Lords. The Cloistered Brethren also remain silent; they have recently lost an expedition and Toquell Velasquez in the Great Forest, and are suspicious of something dodgy, but can't prove anything for now. The Exalted Church of the Light declare the new power to be dangerous to the purity of its worshippers but don't declare it an abomination, yet. They seem to be curiously cautious, in fact.
Everyone, from the Church to the Brethren to Rebecca De Courci, is frantic for more information on the new Power.
The remains of the Merry Band deliver news of Toquell's passing to his presumably distraught Family.
A sample of the Black Fire (which physically manifests as a black fire (!)) is in the hands of the Faculty of the Arcane, donated by Kit Fisable.
As only a few people will know, Lemuel D'Artois also appears to have acquired a sample of the Black Fire.
Toquell's heart was carried off by the creature known as the Raven Whose Wings Are Night, who presumably still has it.
Run by Julian & Joe W on 21st January 2006 (Saturday 1st week, Hilary term)
Part one of the "Child Of The Light" campaign, a sequel to "Best Served Cold (Part 1)".
Players: Andreas Garric (Fergus), Ambassador Constantine D'Artois (Nathan), Gex the Ratcatcher (Rich), Brother Jara (Xan), Marco di Falconi (Joff), "Roland" aka Erskine Uskglass (Matt H)
Mission Brief: Francis De Courci is seeking adventurers for a secret mission in the East: few think it is a coincidence that rumours of a great prophet of the Light arising in the City of Crossroads reached the White City only a few days ago...
Adventure Summary: An agent of the Low Guard recruits the motley gaggle of adventurers and briefs them in the back room of a quiet tavern in the White City. He reminds them of the massive explosion which destroyed the great Church of the Light in the centre of the city three and a half months previously (see "Best Served Cold (Part 1)"), which was believed to have killed the then High Priest of the Light, Marius De Courci, though his body was never found. Then the agent tells them that a devout worshipper of the Light named Demetria, who was not noticeably pregnant at the time, left the city shortly afterwards and travelled to Crossroads, where she claims to have given birth to a boy who was conceived by the Light, was born and continues to mature at an amazing rate, and is alleged to be Marius De Courci reborn as a messiah of the Light. A small cult has started up in Crossroads around the two of them, and the Low Guard want Demetria and her son kidnapped and brought back to the White City for investigation before the cult can grow large enough to present a danger to anyone. The agent gives the party a small amount of money in advance and hands each of them a small token to identify themselves to the Low Guard's agents in Crossroads.
Setting off East, the journey to Crossroads is uneventful but for a minor slaughtering of overconfident bandits. But as the party nears Crossroads itself they come across the site of a recent battle, one side clad in the uniforms of Crossroads guards and the other side clad in black tabards bearing an unfamiliar white sword device. A few of the incapacitated survivors are roused and questioned, and it soon becomes apparent that the cult founded by Demetria has recruited many fanatical followers of the Light (the troops in black tabards) and orchestrated a coup to seize control of the City of Crossroads! The Crossroads guards were escorting a member of the ousted ruling Council named Abruzo, who was fleeing to the White City to seek aid, when the Light fanatics attacked and slaughtered his guards, their surviving troops dragging the Abruzo away. It's also revealed that the newborn "messiah" has already become physically a teenager.
One of the Crossroads guards is healed up and sent west to warn the White City of these events while the party salvage the bloodstained tabards from the slain fanatics and follow the trail of the captured Councillor in hopes of being able to rescue him. They hope to first infiltrate the ranks of his captors by stealth, approaching with Andreas and Jara faux-manacled and the rest of the party clad in the salvaged tabards hoping that Marco and Roland can talk their way in. But the fanatics attack on sight with swords and sorcery and a fierce battle ensues. The last few wounded soldiers of the Light are just being finished off when Constantine, who has been carefully lurking well away from the front lines, calls forth the Blessing of the Vitriarchs... at which point the recently slain sprout shards of Glass and rise again as zombies, which the party are hard pressed to deal with. They are eventually victorious, at which point they turn their angry gazes upon Constantine and ask him what he thought he was playing at. A vociferous debate takes place, with several of the adventurers nocking arrows or raising swords ready to kill Constantine on the spot, but eventually they are grudgingly persuaded to let him live as long as he promises not to do it again.
Investigating the camp, Abruzo's charred remains (as well as those of several other prisoners) are found where he'd been burnt alive at the stake before the party's arrival. Pressing on to Crossroads, the city gates are seen to be guarded by several dozen heavily armed soldiers of the Light. Since their original mission (kidnap the leader of a small cult and her young child) has now become rather more challenging, the party consider just returning to the White City with the news. But since Gex is an expert on sewers and Jara knows Crossroads well (especially the sewers, having escaped from the city through them before during the events of "Patriot Chains") they decide to first infiltrate the city and gather some more information on the situation. So they proceed through the sewers, where they find several dozen heavily armed soldiers of the Light waiting for them. The initial clash finds the party outflanked through side tunnels and forced to retreat, but not before Gex has broken through the lines and got most of the way out of the sewers, nor before Jara is taken down and left behind by his comrades' better part of valour. His unconscious body is dragged away into custody as the rest of the party launches a second attack, being rejoined by Gex before they are beaten back again and retreat to seek another route.
Jara is stripped of his possessions (though after some discussion the fanatics stop short of cutting off his prosthetic arm), fruitlessly questioned and eventually, when he stubbornly refuses to pledge himself a loyal follower of the Light, sentenced to be burnt alive at the stake in the main square at dawn. Meanwhile the rest of the party again discuss returning to the White City but eventually manage to find an unguarded sewer entrance and rendezvous with some members of the city's resistance, including a former Councilwoman. Revolutionary songs are sung and plans are made for Jara's rescue. At dawn, after the fires have been lit beneath Jara and the other victims, a diversion is staged to draw away some of the guards while Roland takes to the air and swoops in to rescue him. He gets to Jara just as Jara manages to cut the last of his bonds (having extracted the concealed knife from his prosthetic arm under cover of the smoke) and the two of them fly to safety, pausing only for Jara to grab a new sword from the body of one of the distracted soldiers.
Regrouping at a resistance safehouse, the party share some of their spare equipment with Jara as they're told of a secret route to the cult's inner sanctum via an obscure branch of the sewers and a magic door. Following the directions given, the party manage to bypass the door and find Demetria, her son (now physically in his late teens) and a small group of guards all gathered together in an underground chamber. The adventurers battle with the guards as the cult's leaders try and persuade them to stop fighting, then Marco tries to subdue 'Marius'. But the man is inhumanly tough and proves able to raise the Light ten times as fast as a normal Light sorcerer. As Marco pummels him he tries to Refine Marco into pure Light, but by some lucky quirk of fate Marco survives, though all his clothing and possessions are destroyed and he briefly passes out from the shock. Meanwhile Jara uses the distraction to sneak up behind 'Marius' and cosh him over the back of the head, at which point he slumps to the ground. Demetria is also knocked unconscious, Marco is revived and the party flee the city through the sewers with their two captives.
The party are only a couple of days out of the city, having kept their captives bound, gagged and unconscious the whole time, and are setting up camp for the night when a group of the Watchful (Crossroads' equivalent of the Low Guard) emerge from the undergrowth and demand that the two captives are handed over into their custody. As agents of the rightful rulers of Crossroads they claim the right to enact justice on the instigators of the coup. The party are split on the matter and heated discussion ensues, with the Watchful threatening violence if they are not allowed to do as they wish, and eventually the party accede to their demands. One of the Watchful, with some ceremony, draws his sword and beheads the still unconscious form of Marius - but blinding silver light flows from the wound and hovers in midair above the body, growing in intensity. Almost everyone scatters for the undergrowth as Marius' body dissolves into silver light and then reforms... whole, apparently unharmed and fully conscious. He revives Demetria and destroys some of the Watchful before the rest flee. It soon becomes apparent that he bears his captors no hard feelings and even seems quite pleased to be going to the White City, which rouses no little unease. Once everyone has emerged from their hiding places Constantine extends formal diplomatic greetings from the Port of Glass to the new rulers of the City of Crossroads, earning himself hard stares from his comrades and nearly provoking fresh hostility from Marius and Demetria. Then the group continue their journey back to the White City.
Pausing only briefly to alert the Eastern Watchtower to the latest turn of events, the party head to the tavern where they are due to rendezvous with their Low Guard contact. Most of them decide that their experiences are best dealt with by getting thoroughly drunk. Soon a Low Guard agent does indeed arrive, showing his badge and giving all the appropriate recognition signs to Jara and Roland, and after debriefing the party takes Marius and Demetria into custody and departs. Just as the party are about to move on to a new tavern another Low Guard agent arrives, this one with a sizeable escort of troops, ready to take Marius and his mother into custody, and it is discovered that the previous agent was an impostor. A quick sweep of the city reveals that the impostor was seen leading Marius and Demetria into the tunnels beneath the ruins of the former Church of the Light, so the party are ordered to go in there and recover them.
The tunnels descend deep beneath the earth, leading to cellars and dungeons that have been abandoned for months. Eventually they reach an older section of the dungeons where Marius and Demetria are consulting with a man kept in a large cage with runes inscribed between the bars, guarded by a sizeable contingent of Knights of the Shining Order. Having seen what Marius is capable of, they consider giving up then and there, but eventually decide to have a go as much in revenge for what they've been put through as anything else. So they attack (except for Constantine, who takes the opportunity to sneak off to the pub while his companions are busy fighting), but by the time they've dealt with the first wave of Knights Marius finishes speaking with the man in the cage and transforms himself into silver light, shooting up into the ceiling and vanishing (witnesses aboveground later report that the silver light shoots into the sky and vanishes into the heavens). The rest of the Knights are dealt with (Marco even causing one to lose his faith), Demetria is subdued and captured again, and the party talk to the man in the cage. He calls himself The Oracle and answers some of their questions in a cryptic manner, eventually persuading some of them to free him from the cage by rubbing out a section of the runes (while others protest). Demetria and The Oracle are handed over to the Low Guard and the rest of the party go off to continue getting thoroughly drunk and cursing Constantine's name.
Run by Joe W on 28th January 2006 (Saturday 2nd week, Hilary term)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Ellie & James F, hosted by Chris N.
Players: Alain De Almedia (Lucy), Alex the Sociologist (Chris O), Dale Coth (Chris N), David Southpaw (Arthur), Eldron Haderas (Andrew P), Elias Vincenzi (Dom), Mrs. Hespera Pax (Helen L), Professor Kit Fisable (Helen W), Morgock Sarm (Rich), Thumbs McCracken (Marcus)
Mission Brief: Unknown.
Adventure Summary: pending.
Part two of the "Child Of The Light" campaign, a sequel to "Cult Activity".
Run by Julian & Rich on 4th February 2006 (Saturday 3rd week, Hilary term)
Players: Carmina Curiana (Vicky), Cassandra (Ellie), Diego (Joe W), various PC & NPC Knights of the Shining Order & Priests of the Light
Mission Brief: Marius De Courci, the great prophet of the Light who conquered the City of Crossroads, has taken control of the Shining Order and the Exalted Church of the Light. He sends a group of fanatical Light worshippers to assassinate the High Captains of the High Guard and Sir Francis De Courci before aiding the Shining Order in their assault on the Governor's Palace with the intent of assassinating Rebecca De Courci herself.
Adventure Summary: The Velasquez and Cristofori High Captains (a powerful Blood sorcerer and an accomplished warrior respectively) are having a planning meeting in a pub with some of their men. The party arrive at the pub and barricade all the entrances but the front door, set fire to the building and then stand in the street outside the front door Raising The Light while waiting for the High Guardsmen to emerge. In a hard fight the High Guardsmen are slaughtered to the last, the Velasquez High Captain struck down from behind by Diego before he can call down Blood Vengeance upon them.
The De Courci High Captain, a degenerate political appointee, is in another pub which is being besieged by a minor noble and his men, this noble seeking revenge on the High Captain for the deflowering of his daughter and insisting on being allowed to kill the High Captain himself. The party work with the noble and his men to break into the pub, slaughter everyone inside, then slaughter the noble and his men for trying to insist on taking the High Captain's life themselves and for not being sufficiently respectful to Marius and the Light.
The party then head for Sir Francis De Courci's mansion. A group of King Eric's Men are waiting for them on the way there to discuss possible future relations between Marius and King Eric, but after Diego goes up and does his 'Umble Beggar LadTM act and finds out they're waiting for the party he goes back and leads the party round them by some different streets.
Sir Francis' estate has large groups of High Guard standing watch at the gates. The party incite some of the city's pro-Marius citizens to start a riot at the estate's front gate, as a result of which a Low Guardsman soon approaches the guards at the side gate and tells them that they are needed to help quell the riot. But the four guards who answer the call haven't had time to get far before the party charge in to attack, and so come back to help. A protracted fight ensues during which two of the Knights are killed before the High Guardsmen are defeated. The rest of the party break into the grounds of the estate, where with many of the guards having headed over to the front gate to help quell the riot Diego is able to sneak them into the mansion and hide them all in Sir Francis' study without being noticed by anyone except Sir Francis' estranged wife, who is swiftly knocked unconscious. Soon afterwards Sir Francis conveniently comes to the study in his dressing gown (which is steelsilk, naturally) to check on some papers, having not heard the commotion outside, and the two guardsmen with him are almost immediately cut down by the party's ambush. Sir Francis runs for his life but is caught and killed by Diego. Then Diego grabs a bunch of Sir Francis' papers and the party flee the mansion, having to fight their way out past all the guards they managed to avoid on the way in, everyone falling to the guards but Diego, who loses an arm before finally finishing off Sir Francis' personal bodyguard and reviving his surviving few comrades (the party's non-Knightly Light sorcerer having been killed by the bodyguard) for their escape, setting fire to the building on the way.
The rest of Marius' followers now gather at Sir Francis' mansion as previously agreed. Marius uses sorcery to give Diego a temporary replacement arm and leads his followers in an assault on the Governor's Palace. There is a massive battle during which the party (bolstered by some more Knights of the Shining Order) manage to break through the lines of the High Guard and fight their way into the palace. They battle through the corridors, cutting down many High Guard and a De Almedia captain, before reaching the tower where Rebecca De Courci is rumoured to be holed up. The courtyard in front of the tower is defended by another group of High Guard, so Carmina stands in the narrow entranceway behind a shield wall of Knights and spends several minutes Raising The Light before firing off a huge blast of Light which demolishes the tower and blows a huge breach in the palace walls through which pour many more Knights of the Shining Order. The palace is soon overrun and the Governor's title claimed by Marius.
Part three of the "Child Of The Light" campaign, a sequel to "Night of the Long Knives".
Run by Julian on 18th February 2006 (Saturday 5th week, Hilary term)
Players: Belor de Velland (Peter M), Lord Belric Luxfrey (James F), Ambassador Carlos de Mamushi (Joe W), Ratrina De Almedia (Andrea), Yana (Ellie)
Mission Brief: Carlos de Mamushi, White City Ambassador to the Port of Glass, is called to Rebecca De Courci's military base on the borders of the Great Forest, where the armies that remain loyal to the old regime are being commanded by High Captain Matteus. He is joined by Lord Belor de Velland, Lord Belric Luxfrey (representing the Church of the Light Indivisible), Ratrina De Almedia and Yana of the Cloistered Brethren. They are taken to Rebecca's headquarters, where she briefs them personally that their task is to visit the Port of Glass and retrieve an artifact Duke Lemuel D'Artois has informed her may have the power to destroy Marius De Courci. In return she will use her influence to help the adventurers gain prestige and power in the White City, after she is Governess again of course.
She authorises them to use whatever force is necessary, but tells them to be very careful in dealing with Duke Lemuel.
Adventure Summary: On the way to the Port they encounter a number of members of the Shining Order. Despite a mistaken ploy by Lord Belor (claiming to be pro-Marius whilst talking to members of the Church of the Light Indivisible), Lord Belric and Ambassador Carlos manage to steer the Knights away from a confrontation.
As the party approach the Port, Lord Belric steels himself to enter the pit of corruption by Blessing his halberd to Bring Light To The Dark Places, and puts on a blindfold to stop him looking upon impurity.
At the entrance to the Port the party are stopped by members of the Broken Guard, who seem wary of letting an obvious Light worshipper into the city accompanied by a glowing halberd given the current political climate. Ambassador Carlos again talks the trouble around, and deters the Broken Guard's chaplain from blessing (cursing?) anyone. Lord Belor lends his cloak to cover the shining halberd, which is not entirely successful.
The party proceed to Duke Lemuel's palace, where he seems to be in a fine mood whilst dealing with petitioners. The party are very very respectful and careful, and he takes quite a shine to them. Especially to Yana. He informs them that the potent artifact to destroy Marius is The Light Corrupt, and that it currently sits in a lighthouse off the coast. He tells them to hurry to the docks, as he has had a ship prepared. He offers Yana the blessing of the King In Fragments - she declines and Carlos convinces his chaplain to give it to her staff instead. This results in Yana's staff being left in fragments.
As a present, Duke Lemuel gives her a crystal staff instead. She respectfully thanks him for his gift, although chooses not to use it as her main weapon. For some reason...
On the way to the docks they see a maniac hitting a dog whilst shouting "Damn You Kitten!" Ambassador Carlos explains that this happens daily, at the command of Duke Lemuel. It is always a female dog, apparently.
A brief sea journey (with much talk of sea badgers) later, the party arrive at the Lighthouse Corrupt, where they encounter lots of Splinter-Men. They battle their way up to the entrance of the Lighthouse, and find a strange scene. On the floor is a statue of a man, on the wall a mural of people cutting themselves, on the floor are lots of glass shards, and the door is made of three massive man-like forms entwined. After a lot of debate and discussion, all the party cut themselves. The three forms come alive, and step aside. The party press on into the dark.
After a brief glimpse of the Shattered Plain, the adventurers arrive in a village. It is curiously nondescript and tranquil. The villagers seem happy, and profess to worship the Light. However Lord Belric's staff is glowing rather heavily, suggesting all is not as pure as it seems. Sure enough a fight commences, as the villagers bulge unpleasantly into strange monstrous forms. The party eventually repel them, and Lord Belric does the Last Rites. The bodies dissolve into a greenish glowing goo.
The party proceeds through some woods, towards a distant lighthouse visible on top of a hill on the horizon. On the way they are haunted by monstrous noises, and are finally attacked by horrific beasts, which they fight their way through.
In the lighthouse they find a torture chamber, where humans are being slowly vitrified by an evil green glassy goblin, guarded by glass sentinels. Abnormally green and melted glass sentinels. The party eventually defeat them, but Ambassador Carlos reports that they are sadly too late to save the torture victims and puts them out of their misery. Lord Belor eyes their bodies hungrily, but manages to restrain himself.
Pressing on, they get to the top of the lighthouse. Here they find a glass-filled room where a mad scientist is doing experiments on a glass shard that is glowing bright green. Lord Belric's halberd glows extremely brightly. The party rush to the scientist, Belor snatches the glass shard, Carlos coshes the scientist and then Belric smites the heretic, mightily.
Unfortunately the glass shards on the ground at this point rise up to attack the party, and within seconds most of the party are unconscious and being driven mad by dreams. Carlos eventually defeats the monsters, and the party reawaken in a very fragile mental state.
They hurry away from the lighthouse, following a wind from the Hushed Princess sent to guide Carlos. And encounter the Bride of Brittle Tears and her retinue. They are very polite. She explains she is looking for the shards of the King of Fragments, and the Light Corrupt is in one of those shards. Much negotiation later Carlos convinces her that if she transfers the Light Corrupt into the crystal staff Duke Lemuel gave Yana and helps them escape the land they are in, she can keep the shard. Carlos then seduces her, giving everyone else vivid re-occurring nightmares involving horrible broken images of Carlos and the Bride. No-one's fragile mental state is improved by this.
They then fight their way through a flock of insubstantial glass birds.
Back in the real world they are 'escorted' back to Duke Lemuel by the Broken Guard on a warship. They are hurried to his palace. A rather tense meeting then occurs, during which Duke Lemuel claims the Light Corrupt is now his. Instead, a wager is suggested. Yana's life is one stake, the Light Corrupt the other. Duke Lemuel takes them to a glass-lined fighting pit, and puts Yana up against a massive monster wearing glass armour. Yana fights well, but is driven mad and (as she's already in a much-weakened mental state) knocked unconscious when the armour shatters. Lord Belor steps forwards to fight, and eventually wins by driving the monster back against the glass-lined walls to break its remaining armour and then hitting it lots.
Duke Lemuel is most impressed by the fight, especially by Yana, and agrees they can go back to the White City Embassy. Here they get their armour repaired and rest for the night (and Belor sneaks off to eat some children). They then head back to the De Courci military encampment to give Rebecca the staff, fighting their way through pro-Marius Shining Order knights on the way.
Run by Vicky & Matt H on 25th February 2006 (Saturday 6th week, Hilary term)
A sequel to "Bill, The Bodach & The Broken Guard".
Players: Adanemoay (Xan), Bairoth (Peter M), Harriet Pinter (Ellie), Marco di Falconi (Joff), Sir Pedoran of the Shining Order (Peter R), Phillippe D'Artois (Andrew C), Trintignan Dauphin D'Argent (Aubrey)
Mission Brief: A High Priest of the Lord of the Gardens has stolen an artefact from the Temple of Ashes and headed South. The Temple hires a group of Ash priests and adventurers to bring back both the priest and the artefact.
Adventure Summary: The party are summoned to the Temple of Ashes one morning and given confidential information as to the sudden disappearance of an important priest of the Lord of the Gardens named Melchior, along with a still more important scroll belonging to the temple, which he is believed to have stolen. Upon questioning by the PCs (particularly Marco, who considers himself something of an investigator), the temple explains that Melchior hadn't been quite himself prior to his disappearance- most likely due to the sudden and horrific deaths of most of his immediate family which culminated in him being forced to Commend to Ash their re-animated corpses. As to the nature of the scroll, the priest briefing the party refuses to comment, but asks them to locate it, and if possible Melchior as well, and return them to the temple. The scroll is not be opened under any circumstances.
The only information the temple can give as to Melchior’s whereabouts is that he headed south.
On Marco’s suggestion, the PCs proceed first to Melchior’s residence, a short distance from the White City. They find it surrounded by a number of people concerned as to what has happened to him, many of them also Ash priests. They decide to break into the house, and having broken the door down, Marco and Harriet enter. Harriet finds some piles of ash, and manages to call up the spirit of Melchior’s dead wife, while Marco looks for clues. Between them, they gather enough information to make a start at following Melchior’s trail. A day or two south of the city, the party are attacked by zombies. Harriet summons a cloud of ash and Adanemoay, Philippe, Harriet and Sir Pedoran hack many zombies to pieces. The cloud clears and the rest of the party joins in. Philippe summons up the spirit of one of the now-hacked-to-pieces zombies to question her and discovers that Melchior passed through here, and performed some strange ritual (which he promised her and the others would "make them better") involving shards of glass. This worries the party somewhat.
They proceed onward and come after some time to a village. The people there seem friendly enough, but seem not to have been able to sleep properly for a few weeks. They apparently had a plague there a month or so ago, which is now over, and had many dead bodies on which the last rites had not been performed. Melchior passed through the village, and gave the last rites to these people, and it was then that the sleeping problems began.
Harriet and Trintignan realise after a while that they can see faint spirits hovering around and near to the village and think that these may be the ghosts of the people that Melchior gave the last rites to and that they may be causing the villager’s problems.
In expectation of being attacked by these spirits, fighting them off, and freeing the village of them, the party prepare to spend the night in the village. Philippe insists on sleeping apart from the rest of the party, though he is a little vague as to why.
The party are indeed attacked by spirits, and though there are a lot of headaches next morning the PCs remain free of possession, largely thanks to Harriet and her skills at exorcism.
The party have a short encounter with a mad glass sorcerer leading some Splinter-Men, marked only by Philippe cutting the sorcerer’s throat after the party had subdued and bound him- something which both Marco and Bairoth considered reprehensible. He defends his action as being a less cruel fate for him than any other realistic option.
Further south the party encounter another village, this one almost completely devoid of life. The corpse of a woman hangs from a tree in the centre of the village, and there are other dead bodies all over the place. They all seem very malnourished. A woman (the only live person there) sits under the hanging corpse. She does not introduce herself, but upon questioning tells the party that most of the villagers committed suicide during a severe famine. Philippe
finds her oddly familiar...
Bairoth has a private conversation with the woman, the subject of which he does not discuss with the rest of the party. Philippe begins to grow frantic as he struggles to work out who the woman is and why he seems to recognise her. Bairoth tries to drag him (and the rest of the party) away from the village, telling him that it will be better to leave well alone. At this point the party, except for Philippe, are attacked by more ghosts, which they manage to fight off, though Bairoth appeared at one point to be giving in to one of them until Harriet exorcised it. Philippe then suddenly realises who it is that he faces, and falls on his knees before her. He grovels a bit, wondering whether he is worthy of this meeting, and asks he what he should do next. She tells him to continue following the party if he wishes. He tells the rest of the party who the woman is, and Harriet also bows to her as one of the Burned Lords.
Eventually Philippe consents to leave the village and the party proceed onwards. He is very quiet for some time after that, and Harriet tries to comfort him. They enter the Broken Garden, and shortly after so doing meet a man in armour, bearing a sword and a shield, on the bridge which they need to cross to continue. He insists that one of the party fight him before they may do so, and further insists that only Adanemoay and Harriet are worthy so to do. Adanemoay agrees to the single combat, and things do not go well for him, despite fierce encouragement from Sir Pedoran. Two of his limbs are hacked off, but he refuses to submit. Eventually the mysterious warrior kills him. He then congratulates the party on Adanemoay’s loyalty to his companions, and restores Adanemoay to life with a tear of ash. This is the Lord of the Faithful, and he then allows the party to pass.
Next the party encounter a small band of Black-Flame cultists. They want the PCs to sacrifice something to their power before they will allow them to pass, and after some consideration, most of the party and happy so to do. Adanemoay sacrifices a dagger, Sir Pedoran bravely offers anything the Black Flame wants, Harriet sacrifices her notebook, Marco sacrifices some of his time to help the leader of the cultists (who turns out to be a D'Artois called Lucien) achieve revenge on his brother, and the rest of the party, except for Trintignan, offer the leader of the cultists something, though nothing physical is obviously taken. Trintignan refuses point-blank to offer anything. He maintains that the cultists are nothing more than bandits and refuses to sacrifice to the Flame on principle. He attempts to run past the cultists, and there is a bit of confused fighting. Trintignan escapes, and Adanemoay pursues the cultists to defend him.
Several of the cultists are wounded in the fight, and Lucien heals them with Ash Magic. Adanemoay notices and is furious. He returns to the party denouncing him as a necromancer. Philippe hears this, and sees Lucien healing more of the cultists himself. Without hesitation he summons a cloud of ash and hacks Lucien to pieces.
The rest of the cultists then attack the party, which is forced to defend
itself, and all the cultists are killed.
Marco is now furious with Philippe, calling him nothing but a murderer. Harriet defends him, and summons up Lucien’s spirit to talk to him. Marco consents to continue the journey, but warns Philippe that if he ever sees him again after this mission is over, he will quite happily kill him.
The party have an unfortunate encounter with some more Black Flame cultists, rather less friendly than the previous group, and finally come to a clearing in which they find Melchior lying wounded surrounded by a contingent of the Broken Guard who are shouting at him to "Shatter". They swiftly attack the Broken Guard, and thanks to some Ashen Clouds and Marco’s Blood magic, the guardsmen quickly fall. Bairoth and Harriet talk to Melchior and Adanemoay takes possession of the scroll, which he still has. Melchior is not entirely sure what has happened, but agrees to accompany the party back to the White City. The scroll is returned to the temple, unopened.
Adventure Consequences: Melchior is returned to the Temple of Ashes, where he is put in a padded room with no sharp objects and fed potions. He is on the mend but his fate is probably now tied to that of his deity.
Adanemoay has the burnt mark of a hound on his shoulder and is considered
to have the blessing of the Lord of the Faithful, which may have further
effect at GM discretion. Harriet has also earned the favour of her deity
for behaving suitably in his presence.
Very shortly after the end of the adventure a number of letters turn up in Lord de Mamushi's study implicating an affair he had some years ago. Much to the family's embarrassment he is forced to confess this to be true and admit that the adventurer Bairoth is the product of that affair, effectively making him Carlos' half brother. He has also earned the enmity of the de Mamushi Family.
Marco has occasional dreams where Lucien D'Artois begs him for justice.
Part four of the "Child Of The Light" campaign, a sequel to "The Light Corrupt".
Run by Julian on 4th March 2006 (Saturday 7th week, Hilary term)
Players: Baren (Ralph), Captain Belor de Velland (Peter M),
Carlos de Mamushi (Joe W), Professor Kit Fisable (Helen W), Sebastian (Joff)
Mission Brief: As the armies of Rebecca De Courci approach the White City, several loyalists are contacted by her agents with a mission - the assassination of Marius.
Adventure Summary: pending.
Adventure Consequences: Marius is dead, and went on a mutated rampage before he died. Given this, he was repudiated by the Light, and by many of his former supporters (many of whom are given to believing that he was always a monster in disguise). Naturally, however, there are many who believe he was unjustly slain, and that his corruption was as a result of evil magics used upon him by the party.
Rebecca offers an amnesty to members of the Exalted Church of the Light and of the Shining Order who lay down arms - most do so. Some people higher in the echelons of the Church disappear shortly afterwards, and are replaced by known supporters of the doctrine of the Light Indivisible.
Calm of sorts returns to the streets of the White City... but who knows the long-term effects the revolution, short-lived though it was, may have. And let us
not forget, the increasingly unpopular True Servants of the Light still run
crossroads.
Part one of the "Shattered States" campaign, a sequel to "Raindrops & Roses".
Run by Helen W & Chris N on 11th March 2006 (Saturday 8th week, Hilary term)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Helen W, hosted by Chris N.
Players: Adi (Jessie), Eldron Haderas (Andrew P), Lord Fal-Kar De
Almedia (Rich), Lecturer Neara Therapainas (Helen L), "Roland the
Long-Winded" aka Erskine Uskglass (Matt H), Paulo (Tom)
Mission Brief: Strange portents have been seen in the Southern skies. Mad prophets have come from the North bringing dire and frustratingly non-specific warnings of doom. The Port of Glass has closed its gates, and merchants say that without a pass-port from Silvestre D'Artois, nobody gets through. The rumours say that the revolutionary fever which so recently infected the White City and Crossroads has been caught by the South; the Broken Guard, its forces severely depleted by operations in the Garden Lands and Southern islands, is barely keeping order in the streets of the Port. Despite all this, Duke Lemuel's state visit to the government of the True Servants of the Light in the City of Crossroads is supposedly still going ahead, to the mystification of politicians and diplomats. Meanwhile, the favoured D'Artois son, Emmanuel, is in the front lines of the assault on the pirates in the Southern Isles, while his mentor, the renowned sorcerer Thaddeus de Verlay, remains in the Port...
Some adventurers are hired by plausibly deniable agents based in the White City for a covert mission to head South and orchestrate a duel between Emmanuel D'Artois and his half-brother Niske, who has in his possession an artefact of some power which might be able to overcome Emmanuel's famed swordsmanship. Discretion is the order of the day, since neither the party's employers nor Niske can afford to be seen to back the revolution. The party will be expected to travel South, enter the Port, find Niske and escort him to the Islands so that he can duel with Emmanuel, preferably then bringing him back alive.
Original Plot Document (.rtf file)
Duke Lemuel's announcement (.jpg file), after the adventure, of a week of mourning for his son Emmanuel.
Adventure Summary: A group of adventurers are called together at a quiet pub in the scholars' district of the White City by a nondescript man who introduces himself as a "patriotic citizen". He explains that he is part of a group of like-minded patriotic citizens who are concerned about the current unrest in the Port of Glass, and who would like it to end as well as possible for the White City - that is, with Lemuel D'Artois deposed. To this end, the group of patriots have been sounding out Niske D'Artois, Lemuel's duellist son, who has a great many friends among the officer corps of the Broken Guard; these friends might be willing to help bring about a revolution, but want a display of capability first. Niske also wants something, but his goal is rather more personal - he wants a chance to duel and kill Emmanuel D'Artois, Lemuel's favoured son and Niske's long-term rival. Niske has also somehow come into possession of a sword known as the Breaker of Broken Blades, which might be able to compensate for the effects of Emmanuel's own arcane glass sword. The adventurers' mission, therefore, is to travel discreetly to the Port of Glass, find Niske, and escort him to the Breathing Isles, where Emmanuel is currently involved in the war against the pirates lead by Inigo Roberts. The party will have to be cautious entering the Port, since the main gates are currently closed against all those who do not have a pass-port from the office of Silvestre D'Artois, and the roads South are infested by Broken Guard and mercenaries; their best route might be to approach the Port by sea.
The party accept their mission, after some discreet questions about pecuniary recompense. The "patriotic citizen" encourages Lord Fal-Kar, who has contacts with various trading operations between the Southern coast and the Breathing Isles, to sort out transport to the Isles himself, although he does allow that there is a ship in the dock at the Port called the Youthful Indiscretion which might be sympathetic to the party's cause if they are unable to use the De Almedia operation. The party enquire about weather conditions in the South, having heard that the Maiden of Tempests' influence is being felt along the coast, and are advised to visit the Temple of Storms on their way out of the city. The party leave the inn, taking with them a few free Purification potions and a final warning that to allow Niske to duel Emmanuel head-on, without any sorcerous aid or trickery, might be very unwise, since Emmanuel's skill as a fighter is almost unmatched.
At the Temple of Storms, the party are met by Josiah Coronado, the High Priest of the Prince of Storms. He is a large, blustering man who seems very enthusiastic and rather rushed; the entire Temple of Storms, indeed, is in something of an uproar, dealing as it is with the Maiden's chaotic influence. Coronado tells them that the weather conditions in the South are currently atrocious, and that they should be careful on the crossing to the Isles; he might be able to help them on the journey over, but can't guarantee anything.
The party set out South from the White City, planning to avoid the Garden Lands and make directly for a small De Almedia-controlled smuggling port on the coast in the outskirts of the Great Forest. They meet some Weavers with a small herd of giant spiders, who are peaceful and polite to Lord Fal-Kar once he introduces himself as a De Almedia, and give them some information on a group of bandits who have been harassing local travellers. The party take a short diversion to find these bandits, with Roland - whose irises are entirely white - occasionally sniffing the Western wind and muttering about being able to smell "them". On the way to the bandits' encampment, the party are ambushed by a group of drunken and belligerent Satyrs, who burst from the trees to attack them, are fought off and then flee; Fal-Kar and Roland carefully administer the Last Rites, Roland claiming to be a Priest of the Princess of Stories, while Neara removes one of a corpse's defining organs for use as a cudgel. Further down the road, they come across the bandits, with whom there is a lengthy exchange of demands to "stand and deliver" before the first shot is fired and the party attack. They stun one, leaving him alive for interrogation; he claims to have important information concerning an agent of Three Rivers who passed through the Forest not long ago, but the party discover he's lying and kill him.
Soon, the heroes reach the De Almedia trading port, which proves to be a hive of scum and villainy. Captain Bellman, of the Flexible Demeanour, is certainly willing to take Lord Fal-Kar and his party on board, but manages to convince them that his rigging is in urgent need of repair, and will require twenty Hexa to fix the damage. The party pay up, re-stock their supplies, and converse with the dockhands and sailors, many of whom seem far more intent on the content of their pouches than their conversation. One rather dubious gentleman in particular seems very intent on Roland, who at first avoids his attentions but later has a private conversation with him, in which it emerges that they are both secretly followers of the Rattle-Prince. On board ship and on the way to the Port, Roland arranges with this priest to have one of the sailors who tried to pickpocket him poisoned, but Paolo uses his Blood Sorcery to cure her. Neara and the boatswain occupy their time with continually picking one another's pockets, including once during a dalliance in the boatswain's cabin.
Docking in the Port, Captain Bellman exchanges a few words and a quiet purse with the customs officers, then leaves the adventurers to deal with their own entry into the city themselves. Since Fal-Kar's last visit to the Port ended with his stealing Duke Lemuel's fiancé, he elects to stay on board the ship and keep his head down while the rest of the party go ashore. Neara, who has been teaching at Thaddeus de Verlay's academy for several months, is well on her way to talking their way past the customs officers when one of them notices Paolo's bleeding eyes; there is almost a serious problem, but some fast-talking from several different party members at once eventually convinces the guards that they should be let past and into the city. Roland helps the party greatly by dropping into a worryingly natural Port of Glass accent, for which he offers no further explanation.
Once in the Port, the party make for the Twin Lions, the pub where they have been told Niske habitually drinks. Their way passes first through Laughing Hill, where they pick up on the local gossip and narrowly manage to avoid a serious argument with some drunken nobles. The atmosphere is somewhat tense, with the few Broken Guard on the streets feeling seriously outnumbered and more inclined to attack first and ask questions later; the upper classes, however, are convinced that the rioting commoners can't possibly prove any threat to them, and are more intent on debauching, arguing philosophy and hunting in the Glass Wood than dealing with the situation. Moving onwards, the adventurers find themselves passing along the Avenue of Faiths, where something of a religious "debate" is in progress. Neara's plan to "pick a subject and start ranting" almost succeeds in getting the party peacefully through the Avenue, but suddenly all hell breaks loose when a young and nervous Priest of the Burned Lords feels excessively threatened by a pair of heretic Light sorcerers and Calls Forth the Ashen Cloud. The party scatter, Roland escaping the confusion by flying straight upwards until he finds himself outside the Cloud; however, realising that some thirty feet above the Port of Glass and rising is perhaps not the healthiest place to be from the point of view of casually-aimed crossbows or Storms of Shards, he quickly sets down outside the Cloud. There is a great deal more confusion, during which the pair of Broken Guard trying to keep order in the Avenue are killed and the party are forced to fight their way to safety.
Moving onwards, the party find themselves at the Sign of the Twin Lions, where Neara recognises the bartender, Tom, as one of her old... "friends". Niske is not only there, he's drinking the bar dry and being exceedingly loud and boisterous. He appears to be plagued by a multitude of small glass rodents, the result of his Blessing by both High Priests of the King in Fragments, which are disturbing him excessively. He drunkenly greets the party, and explains to them - after some time and confusion - that he no longer has any desire to fight Emmanuel; he thinks that any duel would be no true test of skill, but rather a test of the power of the two swords, which Niske has no respect for. The party do their best to convince Niske that he should go along with them, even taking such extreme measures as bribing Tom to replace his drink with a non-alcoholic replica and subtly using Blood sorcery to remove the alcohol from his blood in an effort to sober him up, but he is utterly resistant. Finally, the party give up, having obtained from him the Breaker of Broken Blades and the promise that if they bring back Emmanuel's sword - intact - they will receive two hundred shiny Hexa from him.
Without much further drama, the party return to the Flexible Demeanour and set sail. The weather worsens as they draw into the open ocean, and some begin to hear a strange singing sound on the wind, as of a woman chanting. As the storm comes up, Eldron, Paolo, Neara and Adi flee belowdecks to wait out the howling winds, while Fal-Kar flies up to the crow's nest to chant into the storm - where he finds the priest from earlier, also chanting - and Roland stands at the stern, laughing and praying. The influence of the Maiden of Tempests becomes increasingly obvious as the storm grows wilder and wilder, and although Roland makes some effort to calm the storm, its strength redoubles and soon the ship is in imminent danger of capsizing. Fal-Kar, meanwhile, is praying to the Maiden of Tempests, and hearing her voice whispering in his ear encouraging him to whip the storm up to even greater proportions. His companions try to call to him, to convince him to cease adding his power to the storm, but he is oblivious to all except the Maiden. Just when all seems lost, Roland prays to the Rattle-Prince to aid him; there is a bright flash of lightning, throwing the priest in the crows' nest to the deck and almost causing Fal-Kar to fall to the waves before he uses his sorcery to hover to safety.
Before the sailors or their passengers can recover, there is a second flash of lightning; as their eyes clear, they see a figure standing at the prow of the ship, next to Roland. The figure is revealed to be Josiah Coronado, the High Priest of the Prince of Storms, and as he speaks the air immediately around the ship begins to clear; the waves and winds calm as if the ship has just sailed into the eye of a hurricane. Immediately outside, the storm still rages, but for a small area around the ship all is calm. Josiah Coronado seems to speak in several voices at once - some maintain a sorcerous chant, while another speaks to the adventurers. Roland recognises the speaking voice as identical to that of his god, the Rattle-Prince, but reveals nothing. "Josiah" explains that while he is able to call a wind strong enough to get the ship safely through the Maiden's tempest, he is caught up in other matters and would rather the adventurers dealt with the situation themselves. Therefore, he offers to call up a Tempest and then to hand the spell over to Roland, who will maintain the chant he gives him until the ship reaches the Isles. The Tempest should be strong enough to counteract the Maiden's storm; of course, if Roland lets the chant drop, the ship will be ripped to pieces. The adventurers accept "Josiah"'s offer, and one of the voices which Josiah speaks in splits off from him, to begin speaking in Roland's ear; it repeats a chant in an ancient language, Vertens vertensque in dilatante vertice. Roland takes up the chant and control over the Rattle-Prince's storm; Josiah disappears in another flash of lightning, which throws Fal-Kar over the side - but not into the water; by the time his companions look for him, he has disappeared.
The ship gains speed as it re-enters the storm, and Roland bravely keeps up the chant as his companions desperately search for Lord Fal-Kar. The storm whips up around the ship as strong as before, but with "Josiah"'s newfound wind protecting them, the ship begins to fairly skim over waves that should capsize it. The lightning, however, is just as vicious as before, if not more so, and soon the ship is beset by the Maiden's Cloud-Runners, trying to reach Roland and distract him from his chant. The party and sailors fight off the creatures, who appear weakened somewhat by the Rattle-Prince's Tempest, and eventually the ship coasts safely into harbour on the Breathing Isles, having made the journey faster than would ever be possible under normal circumstances. Roland, exhausted by the effort of maintaining the chant, nearly collapses, while his companions try and work out what to do about Fal-Kar - and more importantly, what to do about the Breaker of Broken Blades, which he was carrying. Just as they are beginning to consider extreme methods, with Neara praying to the Prince of Storms and receiving only a curt response that the Prince is exceedingly busy and has no time for such petty mortal concerns, there is a sound of something falling from the sky and a loud thump on the sand. Once the plume of dust clears, the party discover Lord Fal-Kar De Almedia on the beach, lying on his back, exhausted, windblown and without his trousers. He has apparently spent the last several hours, between his disappearance and the ship's arrival at the Breathing Isle, in the company of the Princess - no longer the Maiden - of Tempests.
After pulling themselves together, and finding some spare trousers for Lord De Almedia, the adventurers start along the coast road to Frith Bay, where they have heard Emmanuel is leading the fight against Inigo Roberts' pirates. A short way along the road, they find a battlefield, strewn with the bodies of slain pirates. Roland, trained as an exorcist, can see the ghosts of the dead pirates still haunting their corpses, obviously furious at their murderers. The spirits attack the party as soon as they see them, and though they do their best to fight them off, Neara and Fal-Kar are possessed. They turn suddenly aggressive towards the rest of the party, who use a combination of fast talking and swift blows to the head to placate them. Roland manages to exorcise the spirit possessing Fal-Kar, but is exhausted by the mental battle and must rest for a night to regain his strength. For the first time during the mission, his companions sleep near him; they are all plagued by hideous nightmares of Glass, and none of them rest well. In the morning, Roland exorcises Neara and the party move on.
Further up the coast road, they run into a small squad of Broken Guard, who are immediately hostile and attack them, assuming that they are mercenaries hired by Inigo Roberts. The party swiftly dispatch the Guard, the Wind sorcerers discovering that, as expected, their sorcery is more effective than usual on the Breathing Isle. The adventurers steal the guardsmen's uniforms, although discovering that there are not enough undamaged tabards to go around, have Fal-Kar manacled and disguised as a prisoner. This subterfuge makes their lives rather easier when, somewhat further up the road, they run across a rather larger detachment of Broken Guard, including a pair of archers and a local guide from the faction of pirates allied to the De Almedias and hostile to Inigo Roberts' crews. Roland claims to be Captain Lucien de Verlay, the leader of his squad, who have been recently seconded from the Garden Lands following heavy fighting. They obtain further information on Emmanuel's location, and manage to convince the Broken Guard captain to hand over the local guide to help them find their way to Frith Bay.
Having discovered that the pirates with whom his Family have an alliance are working with the Port forces, Fal-Kar wishes to speak with the Pirate King before going after Emmanuel. Considering that the King might have some idea of how to best defeat Emmanuel, his fellow adventurers agree, and they convince the guide - who still believes them to be Broken Guard officers - to take them to the Pirate King. The guide leads them on a road skirting the edges of Frith Bay, along which they travel for some time, before - in the late afternoon - they meet a young man dressed in fencing breeches and shirt, carrying a superbly fine sword and main-gauche at his waist and toying with a yellow rose. Recognising the individual as the Rose Prince of the South, the party pay him proper respect; he tells them that he's aware they are there to fight Emmanuel, and that he desires the matter to be settled with a fair and honourable duel - no sorcery, no trickery, and no use of either Emmanuel's supernatural sword nor Niske's. The party try and negotiate, and receive an assurance that if Emmanuel breaks the terms of the duel first, the Rose-Prince might intervene.
Paying their respects, they move on up the coast-road, where they discover a pile of broken shards and a dead body. Cautiously investigating the body, they find some money, a letter of commission from Commandante Iarendo, and a strange pendant, made out of glass, in the shape of a human figure. Paolo, carefully using gloved hands, takes the pendant, wraps it in cloth and places it in his pouch for investigation later. Moving onwards, the party run into a nest of scorpions the size of men on the dunes. These creatures hiss and move to attack, oozing poison from their fist-sized stings. The adventurers fight them off, discovering that Fal-Kar's and Roland's Wind sorcery has little effect on the tireless beasts, but that Adi and Paolo can dispatch them most effectively with Blood sorcery - most of their strength comes from their tough outer carapaces. The party escape the scorpions with only minor injuries, but their guide, unfortunately, is killed in the fight, the party reaching him too late to heal him. They give him the Last Rites and move on in the direction of the Pirate King's encampment.
Unfortunately, before the party can reach the Pirate King, they are surprised by the squad of Broken Guard under the command of Emmanuel D'Artois. Recognising Fal-Kar, Emmanuel assumes that he desires a rematch after their last meeting; Fal-Kar agrees, and the adventurers drop the pretence of being Broken Guard. The Rose Prince of the South reappears, demanding that both duellists use mundane swords and hand over their sorcerous artefacts to him; after some deliberation, both nobles agree. Fal-Kar's companions and the Broken Guard form a circle, and the duel begins; although he fights bravely, Fal-Kar is eventually defeated by Emmanuel, who uses an underhanded trick to disarm him. One of Emmanuel's aides heals Fal-Kar, while the soldiers move to arrest the adventurers; Roland grabs Neara and Adi and uses Wind sorcery to flee, while Eldron and Paolo valiantly try to fight a rearguard action. Fal-Kar, meanwhile, is regaining consciousness to find himself lightly guarded; he quickly bolts a strength potion, subdues his guard, and takes to the air, swiftly locating Emmanuel and striking him down with righteous bolts of lighting. Fal-Kar takes up Emmanuel's sword as he lands, using it to perform the Last Rites on the dying noble, who spits defiance at the Almedia even with his dying breath.
Collecting his battered comrades Eldron and Paolo, Fal-Kar takes to the skies once again, where he meets Roland, who has risked the possibility of being seen and shot down to look for his companion. They hurry back to the ship before the island can be raised against them, and have a worryingly quiet journey back to the Port of Glass. Emmanuel's sword is duly returned to Niske, who pays them and seems satisfied at proof of his half-brother's death. On their return to the White City, the adventurers are briefly accosted by Josiah Coronado, who apologises for not being able to help them in the South before rushing off on more important Temple business; as the party look bemusedly at each other, trying to work out what's happened, they discover Roland missing from among their ranks. The "patriotic citizen" who hired them seems pleased with their work, and pays them the agreed amount; Neara and Adi report back to the College, where their various faculties seem pleased with their work; and Fal-Kar begins constructing a temple to the newly-deflowered Princess of Tempests, with the support of his family and local cultists.
Adventure Consequences: The charred, vitrified body of Emmanuel D'Artois is brought back to the Port on Commandante Iarendo's flagship. A grand state funeral procession is led by Duke Lemuel and Thaddeus de Verlay, Emmanuel's sometime mentor. After some brief and messy political infighting
between the two High Priests of the King in Fragments, the Last Rites
are ceremonially administered (again) by the Port's High Priest of the Burned Lords, as the nearest available neutral party. Lemuel declares a week of mourning, whose provisions are largely ignored in the general chaos the Port is rapidly plunging into.
Thaddeus de Verlay is rumoured to be offering rewards beyond the wildest dreams of avarice for anyone who can bring him Emmanuel's killer. Lemuel, meanwhile, has apparently been becoming more and more withdrawn and uncaring about events within his own city, and with this latest event has vertices ceased holding public audiences entirely. He is still planning a state visit to the City of Crossroads with the now very definitely and visibly pregnant Duchess Caroline.
Roland the Insulting Epithet has been given the Rattle-Prince's personal Tempest-chant ("Vertens vertensque in dilatante vertice").
The Maiden of Tempests is now no longer the Maiden, but rather the Princess. Her loss of maidenhead does not seem to have improved her temper at all, and she continues to capsize ships in the Southern oceans with wild abandon.
Lord Fal-Kar De Almedia is no longer ordained to the Princes of Breath in general, but rather to the Princess of Tempests in particular, having been solely responsible for her change in nomenclature. Along with various sympathetic individuals within the White City, and with some financial help from his Family, he begins the construction of a Temple to the Princess of Tempests within the White City; the construction is beset with sabotage attempts in the form of "practical jokes" from some of the younger and more enthusiastic acolytes from the Temple of Storms, and slightly more serious arson attempts from those few in the Temple of Ashes who follow the Lord of the House of Gods, but nothing that seriously impedes the new temple's construction.
The scorpion stings which the party looted can be sold for five Hexa each to a reputable alchemist, or converted into poisons by a slightly less reputable one for one Hexa per sting or the chance to study one sample. Various members of the party also have Broken Guard tabards, which are easy to fake and therefore have no monetary value to speak of. One of them also has a letter signed by Commandante Iarendo D'Artois, declaring the bearer to be an acting captain in the Broken Guard for the duration of the war in the Isles, which could probably be sold to the right source at around twenty Hexa if they really felt like giving up such an excessively useful document. Paolo has Tobias Estefanza's Gribbly Splinter-Men Thing.
Finally, the Port of Glass is coming closer and closer to all-out revolution. The people are increasingly losing respect and fear for Lemuel's rule, and with the Broken Guard heavily depleted by operations in the Garden Lands and Breathing Isles, the usual mechanisms for keeping order are crumbling. The loyalists' morale has been severely damaged by Emmanuel's death, and those Broken Guard officers friendly with Niske have been persuaded that the "patriotic citizens" masterminding the revolution are competent enough to secretly throw their support behind.
Part one of the "Broken Gardener" campaign, a sequel to "Bill, The Bodach & The Broken Guard".
Run by Matt H & James W on 18th March 2006 (a Saturday in the vernal vacation)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Dom, hosted by Chris N.
Players: Abelard Velasquez (Rich), Captain Belor de Velland (Peter M), Dr. Edward Holtz (Joe W), Selena Curiana (Vicky), Stephano De Courci (Julian)
Mission Brief: Selena Curiana and minions friends head East in search of a shard of the King in Fragments and the world's greatest alchemist.
Pillars of smoke rise from the remains of the City of Crossroads. The former trading capital of the Eastern Plains is riven by battles between a dozen factions, as the fanatic followers of the departed Marius lose control and those they have repressed turn to rage and anarchy. Refugees spill out onto the plains, preyed upon by monsters of all shapes. But some of them reach a new home, in a sea of tents and wagons pulled together on the plains: the City of Four Winds.
Grown up around what was once the township of Haverford, the City of Four Winds is swollen beyond recognition by those who have fled from Crossroads. Largely lawless, this is the place to find the dispossessed traders and merchants of Crossroads, and many others besides. Recently, the first trading caravan has arrived from the Eastern Kingdoms...
In the lands beyond Four Winds and Crossroads, the Twelve Tribes of the East guard the dark secret of their people, as they have for centuries...
And in the far East, a tyrant whose name has yet to trouble the White City celebrates the latest acquisition of his kingdom.
Adventure Summary: The party visit the City of Four Winds to gather supplies and information. After talking to the refugees from the old Invisible College (now calling themselves "The Burned College") they discover the world's greatest alchemist, Ilya Repin, has left for the Eastern Kingdoms already. They also hear rumours of a cursed Thirteenth Tribe, kept hidden by the other tribes, and decide to investigate further. Everyone advises them they should stick to the caravan route. They ignore this, and instead decide to cross the uncrossable Waste of the Rose. They gather a large number of servants to take with them (to keep Belor well-fed!) and a Cold Water tribesman as a guide.
Skirting around the edge of Crossroads territory they encounter a Light priest with two young orphans, being pursued by rather more violent and angry Light priests. They leap to his aid, with Selena looking after the youngest orphan whilst the others butcher the fanatics. Then Selena re-animates the corpses of the fanatics and give them the baby, telling them to take it to Four Winds and protect it. The zombies shuffle off...
They then encounter a minor D'Artois and a minor Cristofori running a slave train between Crossroads and the Tribals. The party chat for a while, noble-to-noble, then slaughter the slavers and free the slaves.
The party now start to move into the area controlled by the Twelve (or Thirteen?) Tribes. Specifically Cold Water territory. Sadly the party don't know that the Cold Water really don't want people to meet the Thirteenth Tribe, and the party's guide is leading them into an ambush. Which almost goes as planned, except Selena has a Mysterious Premonition Of Doom.
After slaughtering the ambush, Selena is visited by the sender of the premonition - Cecille the Fangirl. Cecille is a Dream sorcerer and Necromancer who thinks Selena is the Coolest Person Ever. And begs her for help in keeping control of the Cold Water tribe, which she's taken over Wormtongue-style. Selena is unimpressed, and refuses to detour to help. Poor Cecille.
So the party carries on into the area forbidden to outsiders, the domain of the Thirteenth Tribe, the N'Cora. The N'Cora village they get to is fairly nondescript for a large tribal village, except for two things. Firstly the aura of maddening regrets that pervades the air, and secondly the screams of an almost fifty-year-old man going insane. Chatting to Kha'rham Wise One reveals that the tribe is cursed by the presence of a shard of the King In Fragments, which possesses members of the village as they turn fifty and feeds off their regrets (whilst turning them into Glass-infested madmen who are kept in a nearby cave). A ritual is planned - one of the servants' lives will be used to restore the youth of the elders, meaning the Shard will be forced to leave them. The party go to the cave, and begin the ritual. The cave is dark and filled with the moans, cries and screams of the tribal elders. Who approach the party, and start hurling Glass sorcery at them as the ritual reaches its peak. So Stephano calls up a nice big storm to drive them off. The ritual complete, the elders all collapse, and the Shard appears in the air. Belor, showing more bravery than wisdom, lunges for it... and enters psychic combat with all of the reflected regrets of the tribal elders, at the same time. Holtz and Selena use their skills at exorcism to leap in to save him, and together they defeat the regrets and forge the Sword of the Shard of Regrets.
Kha'rham now sets the warriors of the N'Cora onto the party, trying to get the Shard for himself. A massacre ensues, and finally the party leave the N'Cora village devastated, burning to the ground with all of the warriors dead as the civilians flee in terror.
The party now enter the Waste of the Rose, the gigantic desert that blocks all direct routes East. A few weeks in they are attacked by dried-out undead, The Desiccated. These are the people who died when the Waste of the Rose was created, sun-dried corpses with blackened skin and bright white teeth. They prove impossible to kill until re-hydrated.
They head onwards into the blistering heat of the desert. And meet two gods, the Lord of Sand & Stone and the Rose Princess of the East. The Rose Princess is insane, cutting herself with glass and acting friendly to Selena, mourning the loss of her child (which Stephano, grovelling lots, says he will recover) and mentioning that she created the whole Waste, when she decided to hate the Kingdom that used to be hers. She points the way to the Wasted City, the former capital of the kingdom.
The party decide not to visit the Wasted City, and press on across the inhospitable desert. On the far edge of it they are surprised to encounter serpentmen - dark red skinned serpentmen who say they are the children of Palistrata, Bride of the Evening. These attempt to sacrifice the party to Palistrata, but sadly fail. Strangely, anything touched by them later starts to age, crumble and wither...
At last, the party arrive at the Port of Sands. This somewhat chaotic city is filled with exotic sights, smells and languages. Also, lots of soldiers wearing lots of different coats of arms. Much Investigation Commences. Holtz discovers some of the languages seem to share some roots with the Oldest Tongues. Stephano discovers that Wind worshippers, along with Blood worshippers, are regarded as idiot peasants. The others learn that the city is ruled by The Governor (whose soldiers are displaying arms with a tower over waters) but that the real power in the area is The King Who Waits (his arms consisting of red and black ravens counter-charged with a golden crown above), who lives in the City of Lights and rules the nearest Kingdom. Ilya Repin is being held by the King Who Waits in his mansion in the port. They also learn that religion is very much for peasants and foreigners (although Light, Ash, Chain and Name sorcery are all practiced in their unordained forms), but that Vitriarch worship is getting quite popular and the Port of Glass has established relations. The party are invited to take part in a Glass Ritual by a local noble called Baron Lee (they decline), and are then approached by Waldo (in a crystal vessel). Who is rather surprised to see them (the Port of Glass wanted to keep it secret), but offers them a rapid boat back to the Port of Glass.
The party decide to go get Ilya Repin and then take up Waldo's offer. The party head to the King Who Waits' heavily guarded mansion, and succeed in getting Holtz infiltrated inside (by offering him up as a gift to the King). They then wait for the guard to change, and Selena steals the guard captain's visage. They gain entry, and go to the alchemists' quarters. Plotting ensues. They eventually decide to use Stephano's ability to fly to get Ilya away to safety, whilst the others will try to break out by first killing the guard sorcerer and then fighting off the men. Selena calls up the sorcerer, and Commends her to Ash - but not before the sorcerer uses Name sorcery to Name Selena "Traitor". All sorts of chaos breaks out, and a chase through the city ensues with the party being pursued by guards from The Governor and from The King Who Waits. They make it to the docks, leap onto Waldo's boat, and escape as fast as possible.
Their journey back to the Gardens is reasonably trouble-free, except for a few pirates and a party of adventurers from the White City, led by Tulius De Almedia, who are intent on bringing Selena to justice (but are slaughtered).
Adventure Consequences: Selena Curiana has successfully retrieved a shard of the King in Fragments and forged it into a sword blade; she has made a hilt from the wood of a burnt tree. The sword has been dosed with a mythically powerful anti-Ash potion. With this combination, Selena now stands on the brink of the Broken Gardens.
Ilya Repin, the world's greatest alchemist, has been retrieved from the East. After a brief stay in the increasingly anarchic Port of Glass, he is removed by Doctor Edward Holtz and Abelard Velasquez. He is taken to a secluded Velasquez estate, where he prepares a mixture that transforms Abelard's hand into living diamond (without the Shard Knife fused in). He is then taken to the White City and introduced into the College of the Thousand Arts.
A group of ten shambling zombies turns up in the City of Four Winds. While the citizens panic, they evict some traders from a caravan and put together an
extremely crude cradle, in which they place a frightened but apparently
completely alive human baby they were carrying with them. Shortly afterwards,
the City Watch put the zombies down. The baby is taken off by Captain Antimonius
Holden of the City Watch, apparently for adoption. Further news of the child may
be sought by those who will. An explanation for this incident has yet to be
received by the authorities.
Selena Curiana has been Named Traitor. She is obliged to betray one loyalty, and has chosen the Never Queen. She has lost her ordination to that deity, and is regarded with enmity by the Vitriarch.
Part two of the "Broken Gardener" campaign, a sequel to "Prince of Winters", "Everybody Dies!", "Reflections Of Ruins" and "Bill, The Bodach & The Broken Guard".
Run by Matt H & James W on 25th March 2006 (a Saturday in the vernal vacation)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Jen, hosted by Chris N.
Players: Adanemoay (Xan), Lord Belric Luxfrey (James F), Brynna Mortivelli - RIP (Helen W), Harriet Pinter (Ellie), Allie Carpenter (NPC)(Helen W)
Mission Brief: Rumours of the growing madness of the Lord of the Gardens come to a head. From the White City stride a party of brave adventurers, determined to recreate the Coldfire in order to purge the Glass from the Lord of the Gardens. Their plan: to go to the North and obtain the coldest thing in the world from the Frost Prince, then to go to the West and obtain dragonfire. The one snag: Selena Curiana has recently left the Port of Glass, heading East, on a similar mission with quite the opposite intent...
Original Plot Document (.rtf)
Automatic drawing (.jpg)
Adventure Summary: The worshippers of the Lord of the Gardens are divided on the issue of the Broken Gardener - some say there is no change, others that there is change that needs to be stopped, and still others that there is change and it is good.
The second faction contains Brynna Mortivelli, who has been doing some research with Harriet Pinter into ways to deal with the problem. Their research suggests that the Cold Fire may be able to burn out the impurities in the Lord of the Gardens. Brynna's alchemical knowledge suggests that mixing something Really Cold from the Frost Prince with something Really Hot from a dragon may be the way forward. Barameus the God-King or Lethryses the Venomous Maiden seem to be good choices of dragons.
Harriet contacts Adanemoay for help, who in turn contacts Lord Belric Luxfrey. The night before they set out, Adanemoay has a vision of a tree with a starling taking leaves off whilst a spider tries to stick them back on. He wakes up to find that he's drawn a detailed sketch of it in his sleep, and the group examine it, realising that the tree is actually a map of the White City and its surrounding area.
The party head to the Temple of Ashes and meet the head of the "let's do something" faction of the followers of the Lord of the Gardens, Malick Cinderbrand. He gives them some financial aid and a Rose of the Gardens and they head North.
As the party approach the small village of Shackleford, they notice it is being attacked by zombies! They charge in with an Ashen Cloud, and quickly kill the undead. A ranger (Gilbert Green) sneaks away during the fighting. The villagers thank them and appeal for help against the repeated zombie raids. The party reply that they're in too much of a hurry and recommend that t
