Last week I was away in London on business but at least it gave me the opportunity to write up the missing D&D and RuneQuest sessions. I've also updated all the session posts so that their posted date/time is always 23:59 on the day we played.
This week PH was still away on business, MG was at a gig and AW (the RuneQuest GM) was knackered so we had another bash at the Eclipse boardgame instead. KL was victorious by a whisker over my fiancee (who doesn't roleplay with us but does join for the occasional boardgame).
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
RuneQuest - Session 2.3 - 5 June 2013
This week we returned to the RuneQuest after multiple absences caused us to take a break from the roleplaying for several weeks. Those of us who have been around have amused ourselves playing the Eclipse SciFi strategy game with one convincing win for AW and a disputed win for PH; both first time players of the game.
Note that PH is away until July so it was decided that Simon the Dwarf had not travelled to Parsu with us after all but had instead remained in Tristrame pursuing his apprenticeship with the blacksmith.
Note that PH is away until July so it was decided that Simon the Dwarf had not travelled to Parsu with us after all but had instead remained in Tristrame pursuing his apprenticeship with the blacksmith.
Characters:
- Erik Longstride (Me) - woodsman and retired soldier.
- Pai Mai (KL) - martial artist from distant shores.
- Lyjol (MG) - initiate in the cult of the God Learners and amnesiac beserker.
- "The Rat Guy" (PW) - initiate in the rat cult.
The story continues ...
At the end of the previous session we had withdrawn from the village with its strange inhabitants and pitched camp, hopefully in concealment, just off the eastern road. Over that evening/night everyone but Pai Mai took a turn observing the village from a distance with specific interest as to whether anyone would check on "The Guardians" / Broo on the eastern road; nobody did. Meanwhile Pai Mai used his "ancient oriental mysteries" to sneak around the village unobserved*. During this reconnaissance Pai Mai noted that the causeway to the manor house was apparently only guarded by two men. He also observed a dozen armed men gathering in the abandoned Inn for a communal meal; we thought that this was a prelude to them coming out of the village looking for us, but after the meal they just dispersed to their homes.
* Quite how he managed this is unclear; despite being portrayed as a lightly armoured martial artist and examination of his character sheet reveals him to be wearing "samurai armour" equivalent to plate-mail. Possibly he took it off and sneaked around in his pyjamas.
Lyjol had the last watch and as the sun rose he became aware of singing from somewhere nearby. MG announced that Lyjol was putting his fingers into his ears to block the sound, but after being mocked by the rest of us for meta-gaming he removed them. He woke the rest of the characters and we all announced that we were putting our fingers into our ears ;-) Eventually we all agreed to (try to) stop meta-gaming and with weapons drawn we headed stealthily into the forest to investigate.
At the end of the previous session we had withdrawn from the village with its strange inhabitants and pitched camp, hopefully in concealment, just off the eastern road. Over that evening/night everyone but Pai Mai took a turn observing the village from a distance with specific interest as to whether anyone would check on "The Guardians" / Broo on the eastern road; nobody did. Meanwhile Pai Mai used his "ancient oriental mysteries" to sneak around the village unobserved*. During this reconnaissance Pai Mai noted that the causeway to the manor house was apparently only guarded by two men. He also observed a dozen armed men gathering in the abandoned Inn for a communal meal; we thought that this was a prelude to them coming out of the village looking for us, but after the meal they just dispersed to their homes.
* Quite how he managed this is unclear; despite being portrayed as a lightly armoured martial artist and examination of his character sheet reveals him to be wearing "samurai armour" equivalent to plate-mail. Possibly he took it off and sneaked around in his pyjamas.
Lyjol had the last watch and as the sun rose he became aware of singing from somewhere nearby. MG announced that Lyjol was putting his fingers into his ears to block the sound, but after being mocked by the rest of us for meta-gaming he removed them. He woke the rest of the characters and we all announced that we were putting our fingers into our ears ;-) Eventually we all agreed to (try to) stop meta-gaming and with weapons drawn we headed stealthily into the forest to investigate.
The source of the singing proved to be a beautiful young lady in a white cotton dress dangling her feet into a stream that was running through a forest glade. The meta-gaming resumed and we approached stealthily until Lyjol screwed up his Stealth roll and stepped on a twig that snapped with a noise to wake the dead. The rest of us went to ground whilst Lyjol was pushed forward into our first encounter with "The Lady of Parsu", because it was of course she.
Our worst fears were confirmed as MG was forced to grimace and endure Lyjol being seduced and enchanted by "The Lady" whilst we other players mocked AW for whoring out the female NPCs. Lyjol was coerced into paddling in the stream whilst "The Lady" skinny-dipped. He was then of course rewarded with a kiss, a corresponding loss of POW, and then compounded this by failing his "save" to break free from the enchantment and notice that it wasn't just the hips of "The Lady" that were snaky.
Whilst the rest of us were observing "The Lady" from concealment in the tree line she made no secret of her suspicion (maybe even knowledge) that we are there. She ridiculed us for choosing to skulk in the bushes rather than socialize with a beautiful woman and displayed especial scorn for Erik whose sexuality she disparaged*. In an effort to lower her guard we announced our presence and told the still infatuated Lyjol that we were leaving with an invitation to catch up with us later. The Rat Guy remained concealed nearby whilst Erik and Pai Mai withdrew one hundred yards back towards our camp.
* In defence of this accusation later Erik tells that he was married, but his wife was murdered by the Imperial Army during the Ducal Wars.
Eventually "The Lady" announced that she was returning to her manor, that we were welcome to shelter and food at the Inn in Parsu, and that she would "see us later". Lyjol's attempts to make her stay were rebuffed and she left the glade. A confused and crestfallen Lyjol rejoined us and we all returned to the glade to investigate whether she had left footprints or snake tracks; she had left no trace at all. After a brief debate between both characters (do we have sufficient suspicion or are we just harassing an innocent if flirty woman?) and players (are we meta-gaming?) we decided to pursue "The Lady" and restrain her. This pursuit took us through the forest without catching sight of her and then as we broke the tree line we got a brief glimpse of her floating in the sky as she descended out of sight into the manor.
Having witnessed this display of magic we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and planned to instead head three days south to Col, "The City of Exiles" to see whether we could learn anything more about Lamia in general and "The Lady of Parsu" in particular. The Rat Guy has already speculated that she is the security alluded to in the letter and magically summoned by Odkay to protect the hidden war booty.
Travelling from Parsu we made sure to encounter the Broo "Guardians" on the southern approach. This piece of bravado almost cost The Rat Guy his life, or at the very least his leg but the rest of us were barely scratched. The Broo faired very badly as we managed to dish out three hits in excess of 20 points of damage: two crushing martial arts kicks from Pai Mai and a critical spear through the head by yours truly (Erik).
The session ended here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)