The Experimental Game: Greymoore - End Game

On Friday I ran the last session for my experimental game, Greymoore. I'm not going to post a session recap for the last session, as it's not as important anymore (though I will give the ending below). Mostly, I want to talk about the experiment itself, and how it worked out. For those who didn't keep up, the experiment was how would it turn out if you ran a table top RPG with the intent of it playing out like a novel. Main character, supporting cast, the whole works. So how did it go? Read on to find out

Greymoore - Session 17

We had the 17th session of the Greymoore campaign on Friday, and I must say it was a quiet but fun session. The dice were barely touched, character sheets were barely referred to, and a lot of RP happened. As such, the summary will be pretty short since I've never gone into depth on the social aspect of the game. Though, I will touch on some of the stuff now. Anyhow, enjoy, the next (final) couple sessions are going to be a big battle and end game...

Greymoore - Session 16

Apologies for how long this has taken to get up. School has literally been trying to devour my life, and so I've been prioritizing new content over session recaps. Anyhow, here is what happened in the 16th session of Greymoore. The game is shaping up for its end game, with this session the PCs have gathered all the pieces, scraped together all their resources, and all that remains is for them to see if they have what it takes to make it. This recap is going to be fairly brief, partly from time constraints, and partially as my memory is a bit dodgier than normal on the stuff. Anyhow, read on and see what happened.

Greymoore - Session 15

We had the 15th session of Greymoore last night, and the game is definitely starting to wind down to its end game. The players are acting with more haste as they get closer to the big climactic battle in the showdown, and the world is gearing up for it. They've almost all acquired their big powerful artifacts that they're going to need, and everything is shaping up nicely. While there was a bunch of plot movement, this recap may be a bit more summarized than usual. I apologize for that,  but I have a lot of stuff to get to today but need to get this down while it is fresh in my head.

Greymoore - Session 14

Had the 14th Session of my Experimental Game, Greymoore, last night. We were down two players but still got a lot done. Not sure how long this recap will be, as with only 4 people I let the players role play a lot more and handle some good bits of character growth and development. The plot did still move forward though, and the game is moving steadily closer to its grand finale. There are only 3 more massive items of plot relevance to gain, and they can go for the end game whenever they want. Read on for the session itself.

Greymoore - Session 13 (quick recap)

Apparently the big write up I did of this for yesterday didn't show up, nor can I find it. Maybe I just dreamed I did it. Anyhow, this is just going to be a quick recap of what happened in our 13th session of the Greymoore game.

Greymoore - Session 12

We had the 12th session of our Greymoore game Friday night after a nearly 6 week hiatus. Game went well, here is what happened. Due to time constraints, and the fact a crash just killed 80% of this, I'm going to summarize.

Greymoore - Session 11

We had the 11th session of our Greymoore game Friday night

Cast
Liam Callahan - a 17 year old human farm boy who constantly has his head in the clouds (you guessed it. The Hero!). Liam hails from the "Road's End Villages" the far North Western section of the Kingdom of Cerimea, not that anyone particularly remembers that.

Ilian Holhan - A 19 year old apprentice mage Seraphim who has come down to the surface (accompanied by his mentor and master) to further his studies on the weather as well as several other studies for his magical pursuits.. The Seraphim are a race of winged scholars and magi who live high above the clouds.

Abar Dan Rab Beynonn - A 19 year old Azrian Sword Dancer. The Azrian are a tribe of humans that live in cities in the forests (think Sherwood from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves), they are some of the premiere sword fighters in the land, using a style that emphasizes grace and finesse over power.

Darcy Stanton - A Half-Elf Rogue who has been staying with Rab (Abar) among the Azrian for the last few years. She is as close as a sister to Rab, and helps him on the various jobs he undertakes for the Azrian. Despite her time with the Azrian though, Darcy prefers to fight with her knives rather than use a sword.

Genru Crabshall - A Dwarven caravan guard from the Dwarf's War Caste. Genru hails from the famed floating cities of the Dwarves, though it has been years since he has seen home. Assigned to a guard a caravan heading to the northern provinces of Cerimea.

Ornu Tana Dar - An experienced Elven Woodsman, Ornu is specifically trained to be able to counter rogues, spies, and assassins, and also in taking out larger groups of opponents as quickly and efficiently possible. One year ago (beginning of the game) he was sent to retrieve Darcy back to the Kingdom so that officials could speak to her on matters of some importance to the Elven kingdom.

Greymoore - Session 10

We had the 10th session of our Greymoore game last night.

Cast

Liam Callahan - a 17 year old human farm boy who constantly has his head in the clouds (you guessed it. The Hero!). Liam hails from the "Road's End Villages" the far North Western section of the Kingdom of Cerimea, not that anyone particularly remembers that.

Ilian Holhan - A 19 year old apprentice mage Seraphim who has come down to the surface (accompanied by his mentor and master) to further his studies on the weather as well as several other studies for his magical pursuits.. The Seraphim are a race of winged scholars and magi who live high above the clouds.

Abar Dan Rab Beynonn - A 19 year old Azrian Sword Dancer. The Azrian are a tribe of humans that live in cities in the forests (think Sherwood from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves), they are some of the premiere sword fighters in the land, using a style that emphasizes grace and finesse over power.

Darcy Stanton - A Half-Elf Rogue who has been staying with Rab (Abar) among the Azrian for the last few years. She is as close as a sister to Rab, and helps him on the various jobs he undertakes for the Azrian. Despite her time with the Azrian though, Darcy prefers to fight with her knives rather than use a sword.

Genru Crabshall - A Dwarven caravan guard from the Dwarf's War Caste. Genru hails from the famed floating cities of the Dwarves, though it has been years since he has seen home. Assigned to a guard a caravan heading to the northern provinces of Cerimea.

Ornu Tana Dar - An experienced Elven Woodsman, Ornu is specifically trained to be able to counter rogues, spies, and assassins, and also in taking out larger groups of opponents as quickly and efficiently possible. One year ago (beginning of the game) he was sent to retrieve Darcy back to the Kingdom so that officials could speak to her on matters of some importance to the Elven kingdom.

The Session

The session started with the aftermath of the battle to rescue Liam from the six grey skinned warriors. Checking people's injuries and healing them, Ilian released the spell he had put on everyone for stamina causing himself and Darcy to promptly collapse into sleep from exhaustion. Rab, Grenru, Ornu, and Liam divided up the watches between them, and everyone slept for the night with a one person watch up for the night.

The next morning, when everyone was awake, Liam gathered everyone together. He thanked Ilian for pulling him off of their prisoner, apologizing for his rage. He also admitted that the gravity of the situation and him being a target had finally struck home, that anyone who was with him was likely to be in real danger, and that he didn't want people to get hurt because of him. He said he'd understand if everyone wanted to go away, and that he would go onwards on his own. Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy and said that they were staying.

Darcy took over next, speaking a bit about the severity of the situation, and the fact that there was more going on than they expected. One of the groups had been going after Rab after all. Rab tried to dismiss it as a case of mistaken identity, something Darcy and Ilian shot down immediately as if nothing else their enemy has proven that they are not morons and while it may be a case of mistaken identity, until they know otherwise they should not assume so.

Renewed, at least for the moment, with a sense of purpose the group got everything ready to continue the titan wall. Leaving only the case of what to do with their prisoner. After some debate, they decided to interrogate him with the caveat that if the prisoner tried to escape or harm them that they would kill him. Ornu took the lead on the interrogation with Darcy near by for support and everyone else just a bit beyond that to make sure the man didn't run anywhere. Ilian released the prisoner from the sleep spell, and they awoke him.

There was no need for interrogation. The prisoner's name was Todoku, a soldier in the Devrean army that was up here for some purpose he didn't know (decisions was not his department). His superior was  another Devrean named Shashin - the same Shashin from the Azrian village - and their orders came down from someone known as the Falling Leaf. Though he clarified he did not know if the Falling Leaf was also known as Brighid. He gave a number for armies, at least six each numbering in the hundreds of thousands - though it was possible he was having trouble with numbers while speaking a foreign language - and beyond those armies there were at least 10 dragons. The Falling Leaf has at least two lieutenants, The Chosen - a champion of the gods, and someone named Sora. Though he had never seen either of them, the mission was to bring Liam to the Chosen near the wall. The reason simply because Liam is important, beyond that he didn't know. Why was he answering all of this? Because it didn't matter as there was nothing he felt the party could do. He was shocked by the lack of ability for  shadow stepping, and gave some vague information on how it worked. Particularly that it was like breathing for his people. Just something they did and learned to do like walking. He also implied that a code of honor made him answer questions, but not to offer information freely. Though he wouldn't answer further down that line of questioning. At least not with clear answers.

Satisfied with their answer, Ilian put the Devrean back to sleep - though this time with the ability for him to wake up on his own - and the group headed out for the Titan Wall. Changing their course to arrive some distance away from where they felt that the Devrean had been bringing Liam. Weeks of travel later (probably month or two) they arrived at the wall. Made of stone that is 20' high and stacked at least seven tall. Flying to the top Ilian notes that it is at least 60' thick as well. Strangely, upon approaching the wall, Grenru begins to glow faintly. Though with rigorous testing this doesn't seem to be related tot he secret of the wall itself, just a strange happening. Ilian also notes that the wall is completely and thoroughly infused with warding magic, protecting the wall if nothing else, and that despite being completely in the shade almost all the time the grass immediately on the other side is still quite healthy.

The investigation however bears fruit when Liam touches the wall. An indentation forming in the wall where he touches and stretching out in a long line towards the center of the wall. The group knows the Chosen will be waiting for them in that direction, but they also know that they need to go that way, so off they go. A few days of travel later, following the wall, and they see him standing and waiting for them. A 6' tall brute of a man fully encased in plate mail. He reminds them of Malik, only he is a good foot and a third shorter than their friend. They challenge him on purpose, he tells them he is to bring Liam through the wall to claim his sword and take his rightful place at the Falling Leaf's side. He will not let the party go through alone, as their purpose is against the will of the gods, and the gods wish to restore everything to how it was at the beginning. A clean slate so balance can be renewed properly from the get go. The PCs take heart when they realize that if he is there to stop them, that all is not lost. If Liam has to be stopped or recruited than the wiping of th eslate can be stopped. The Chosen simply responds that everything has its rules.

It is then that Ilian notices that the Chosen is positioned horribly to guard where the line in the wall ends, the supposed placement of the door. The group backs off a bit to make a plan. Grenru will keep the Chosen busy, buying Liam the time to get to the door and open it so they can get through before joining them. They're sure that Grenru will die, but he volunteered for it himself and seems the most likely to get the job done. Their plan in place, they put it into action.

Grenru charges, sweeping the Chosen off his feet with an axe, the blade chips and cracks on the Chosen's leg but manages to knock him to the ground. The group runs for the wall, Ilian staying put to provide magical support for Grenru while Rab and Ornu position themselves as secondary speed bumps for the Chosen. The Chosen gets back to his feet and hammers a blow into the dwarf. A more painful blow than the dwarf has ever received in one hit but still Grenru manages to stay standing. Liam hits the wall, and immediately a huge chunk of it recedes 10-15' and takes the form of a much more ornate Castle front wall, complete with a large doorway. Ilian uses magic to encase the dwarf in a further layer of protection as the earth itself encapsulates the dwarf as a second layer of armor. The chosen avoids the Dwarf's next attacks, but also sees the doorway forming. Realizing he's been played he breaks off and runs to intercept Liam before he can make it to the door itself.

Ornu tries to tackle the Chosen, Rab trying to hit him high with the pommel of his sword. They stagger the Chosen one step, but do not stop him. Ornu being dragged along on the Chosen's legs from his failed tackle attempt. Ilian tries magic again, raising an angled wall right in front of the charging Chosen. The wall won't stop the charge, but with the help of the angle it does deflect it and buy everyone more time. Liam makes it to the door, noting that there is an indentation for a sword in the middle, however that doesn't matter as the doors begin to open automatically as he approaches.

Still trying to stop the Chosen's advance, Ornu attempts to hamstring a leg while hanging off of it, his sickle piercing the chainmail but not the skin of the Chosen. Almost losing the weapon in the attempt. Grenru however charges up behind the chosen, faster than a dwarf should be, and leaping into the air grabs the Chosen by his head and bulldogs him to the ground. Ilian encases the lower half of the Chosen's body in earth, Ornu and Rab run for the door and Grenru begins to head for it as well managing to avoid having his leg grabbed by the Chosen in the process. The Chosen angrily breaks the earth holding him down and stands, finally spotting that it is the Seraphim causing the magical ruckus he throws a chunk of earth and nails the young winged mage just as it tries to fly over him to the door.

Ilian crashes down hard to the ground, Darcy points it out and Rab runs out to collect their friend. Grenru, seeing the downed mage and Rab going for it, turns to face the charge of the Chosen once more. Taking his axe in both hands, he chokes up on it like a bat and swings for the fences. The blade shatters with the force of the impact, but the shaft holds strong, nailing the Chosen just below the throat. The full force of the Dwarf's blow sending the Chosen into a backflip before slamming him into the ground stunned. Everyone makes it to the door and through, the doors closing behind Liam as soon as he is far enough in and sealing out the Chosen.

On the other side, they see that everything looks exactly the same as it did on the other side before the battle. only everything is a mirror reflection. The sun is now rising in the west, trees are on their opposite side. The only thing missing from the picture is the Chosen himself, and the lasting effects of Ilian's spells. Wounds are checked again, after the shock of what they're seeing is gotten over. Everyone also notices that they want to go in different directions, like they are being called.

Turning a map over, they try to figure out where everyone wants to go. Grenru wishes to go straight west, towards the oceans and presumably the Dwarven cities. Liam wants to go South East, which would (on the mirrored map) bring him back to the Roads End Villages eventually. Ornu wants to go straight South, bringing him to the Elven kingdoms. Ilian wants to go towards the sun in the sky, to the Seraphim cities presumably. Darcy has no pull anywhere, and Rab wants to go to the South West. The only thing significant along that line though is Castle Wyvern.

The response to Rab's realization sets Darcy on edge, and everyone picks up on it. There are secrets here, important secrets in Rab's life that Darcy is keeping from him. He confronts her on it, she refuses to speak, and Rab gets angry. Liam decides that they can at least hit Rab, his, and Ornu's 'want to go' places easily enough and they head off. About a week before they hit Wyvern itself though, Darcy finally opens up.

She and Ornu tell the story of the fall of Castle Wyvern. A night when Darcy, acting as an agent for the elves, ended a couple years of infiltration and assassinated the King of Cimerea so he could not start a war. The monsters came out of the basement and sacked the castle, the scene very much like what happened in Asgoth. She talks about the horrors she saw, about seeing a human child but she couldn't kill a child no matter her orders. So she saved the child and ran off, breaking off fromt he plan. Ornu tells of his side of the mission, providing cover and an escape root. The emergence of the monsters and everything going to hell. He tells of the death of his team, and how he alone made it out.

Darcy goes on to tell that she brought the child to the Azrian and then went home to the elves. Coming back to check on the child as it grew, doing good things for him, doing terrible things for him. Eventually, as she had to go back to the elves again, comingback to meet his son, Rab, and deciding to go on from there with her life. Rab still thinks there is more, btu Darcy is not speaking on it in public. Ilian recommends they do so privately and not in front of the group. They agree.

The next night, on second watch the moon stops above them. It grows larger, there is a blinding white light...and the session closes.

Greymoore - Session 9

We had a short session tonight, so I'll spare you the usual ceremony with the cast information.

The Session

The session started with Liam in the trap of the 7 grey-skinned warriors with the man who had just stabbed his father right in front of him. Seeing his father go down, Liam drew his sword and attacked the man chasing him away. Then, grabbing his father he knocked the door in to a nearby building and pulled his father out of harm's way with arrows hitting the wall and ground behind him. Another of the grey-skinned warriors jumped out of the shadows, just barely missing Liam but making him (Liam) jump back out of the house to get away. Using his shield, Liam just barely managed to avoid getting hit, and charged the warrior in the doorway dropping him in one hit. The cost of the kill though being the loss of his sword as the grey skinned fighter dropped to the ground.

Taking the moment of reprieve to check his father, Liam is crushed to see that his father is indeed dead. Pulling the sword from his father's belt, a random impulse sends him back to get the sword that Rab had given him as well. Something that costs him as it exposes him once more to the enemies who manage to get two hits on him. One with a blade, and one with an arrow. Running out of time, Liam goes out the other side of the house, bursting through the door and calling out for a Dwarf named Grenru Crabshall before succumbing to his injuries and passing out.

Back in the estate, Darcy realizes that Liam is missing when doing the rounds of the various party members. She lucks out and the first servant she grabs happens to be one who knows that Liam went out. Confirming with the guard the direction he went before setting off with Rab to find him. Their search bares fruit shortly after as they hear the spreading rumor of the injured kid bursting into the street, calling for a 'Crabshall' before passing out. Darcy sends Rab back to get the others while she goes looking for the source of the gossip.

When Rab gets to the estate, Ilian has an idea and uses magic to show them where Liam is, getting a straight line path pointing to the boy. They gather Darcy and their gear from the city and head out. Finding that Liam is already out of the city. The pursuit is one, both groups aided by magic to not be tired move all day and all night for two days, but in the end the party is gaining and scouting from the air Ilian sees them. They make a quick plan of attack and move up, only to find that the wagon the enemy is using has gone off the road. Finding it in the flat plains around them is not particularly hard however, and they move forward on the attack.

Ilian uses magic again, flooding the area with light so that the shadow skinned creatures can not flee to the shadows. Rab, Darcy, and Grenru rush in and quickly dispatch the six guards of the wagon without much difficulty. Leaving one alive to keep as a prisoner, with the only hiccup coming in stopping Liam from beating their prisoner to death in a rage at the thought that they killed his father.

The game ended there for the night, the group deciding what to do with their prisoner and where to go from here. Knowing the next few days will be slow ones as their bodies will have to make up for the magically fueled effort they all made.

Greymoore - Session 8

Sorry this is late, had a full day and ended up seeing Kick-Ass at 10 (very enjoyable flick). Anyhow, here is what happened in Session 8 of the Greymoore game.

Anyhow...

Cast

Liam Callahan - a 17 year old human farm boy who constantly has his head in the clouds (you guessed it. The Hero!). Liam hails from the "Road's End Villages" the far North Western section of the Kingdom of Cerimea, not that anyone particularly remembers that.

Ilian Holhan - A 19 year old apprentice mage Seraphim who has come down to the surface (accompanied by his mentor and master) to further his studies on the weather as well as several other studies for his magical pursuits.. The Seraphim are a race of winged scholars and magi who live high above the clouds.

Abar Dan Rab Beynonn - A 19 year old Azrian Sword Dancer. The Azrian are a tribe of humans that live in cities in the forests (think Sherwood from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves), they are some of the premiere sword fighters in the land, using a style that emphasizes grace and finesse over power.

Darcy Stanton - A Half-Elf Rogue who has been staying with Rab (Abar) among the Azrian for the last few years. She is as close as a sister to Rab, and helps him on the various jobs he undertakes for the Azrian. Despite her time with the Azrian though, Darcy prefers to fight with her knives rather than use a sword.

Genru Crabshall - A Dwarven caravan guard from the Dwarf's War Caste. Genru hails from the famed floating cities of the Dwarves, though it has been years since he has seen home. Assigned to a guard a caravan heading to the northern provinces of Cerimea.

Ornu Tana Dar - An experienced Elven Woodsman, Ornu is specifically trained to be able to counter rogues, spies, and assassins, and also in taking out larger groups of opponents as quickly and efficiently possible. One year ago (beginning of the game) he was sent to retrieve Darcy back to the Kingdom so that officials could speak to her on matters of some importance to the Elven kingdom.

The Session

The session began with the group leaving the Azrian village to head to Bastion. There was some question as to why they were heading to Bastion, it had nothing to do with their quest at this time, and they were likely only going to bring ruin and misfortune down upon the people in the city with the trouble that was following them, but it had ended up on their travel agenda. After a bit of discussion, it was revealed that Rab wanted to check in on the survivors from Asgoth, particularly Jasa and Elise, or was that the other way around? The party was curious and intrigued enough, after all Rab never seemed to want to meet anyone, not that he didn't want to just desire for things seemed foreign to him, and so they all agreed to go to Bastion. Rab and Ornu planned the route, and off they went.

Along the journey Ilian took to the skies regularly, and read the weather to see how things were going to go. Which made it curious when one day they noticed a storm cloud in an otherwise clear sky, even more so when it was noticed that this cloud was travelling against the wind. Heading up to investigate, Ilian commanded the wind to blow to the side and dissipate the cloud, an action which revealed the six winged lizard-men that had been hiding within. Sensing an incoming attack, Ilian turned to return to the party managing to get grazed by a cross bow quarrel as he did so. The lizard-men landed before the group, pointed to them and demanded the boy be given to them. The party refused, and with Rab's charging into combat the fight began.

The creatures were strong, fighting unarmed and using the claws on the end of their fingers. Their thick skin and muscled bodies providing significant protection against the weapons of the PCs as the fight continued. Things took a turn for the worse when Rab killed the leader of the Lizard Men only to have his body explode and magical metallic coils wrap him up like a christmas present, effectively taking him out of the fight. Grenru killed another with his axe, this one simply exploding and damaging the dwarf in return for the death blow being dealt.

One of the creatures grabbed Rab's bound body from the ground, trying to flee with the captured Azrian in tow. Darcy, being close by, managed to injure the wing to slow the escape, and a lucky shot by Ornu managed to free one of Rab's arms enough. Rab, the reckless daredevil that he is, promptly grabbed the Lizard man's head and brought the short flight to a literal crashing end back into the ground. The rest of the fight was fairly straight forward, though thanks to the explosions and magical binding coils, by the end of the fight both Grenru and Rab were tied up, and everyone save Ilian and Grenru were severely injured. The group took the rest of the evening to patch them selves up, and between Ilian and Ornu's medical training as well as a touch of magic they were right as rain when the sun rose the next day.

Continuing on towards Bastion, the PCs ran into a couple of Free Knights, an order of Knights affiliated with the Free City, and allowed to wander in the human kingdoms, exchanging information as to the road and the weather conditions before going their separate ways. A couple of days later and the Free City itself came into sight. Sprawled across the plains with a spire like shape as those in the inner, and richest, areas of the city built up, unable to build out thanks to the press of other buildings. Despite that though, the city gave off an appearance of having been designed by a single hand. Not a mish-mash or hodge podge of various people's desires and wants over a couple hundred years, effort was put into maintaining a level of ascetic appeal and the impression the city gave from a distance benefited from this.

Through the gates, the city's primary purpose of a trade city is easy to see. Roads are set up for ease of travel, being straight and wide to accommodate carts and wagons. A nightmare to defend, but perfect for the kind of massive trade the city encouraged to happen within its walls. Asking a few questions, the PCs found their way to the Tameran Embassy, being allowed in by the Cimerean Princess Jasa who was staying in the care of the Tameran Princess Elise ila Tamera. Being welcomed and told to make themselves at home, the PCs take advantage of baths and the ability to get their clothes cleaned.

Rab is 'abducted' by the Princess Jasa, going off with her to see how she has progressed with the brief dancing lessons he gave her a half year ago in Asgoth. Ilian and Liam find their way to the Study/Library, Ilian reading up on the histories of the human kingdoms and finding it strange that there are only broken records for any of the kingdoms more than 900 years ago, and no record of the founding of any of the three human kingdoms. Liam for his part is quickly distracted from his quest for actual knowledge by a large tome of the Legends of Deregar, the elven hero and last Dragon Knight. Grenru and Ornu end up going off to find a bar and manage to drink themselves stupid. Darcy, for her part, pretties herself up before finding a musician in the Embassy who is willing to work with her as she practices her own performancing on her own.

The return of Elise to the Embassy brings about smiles from seeing an old friend. A brief conversation between Elise and Darcy brings the princess up to speed on the group's situation. The group (minus Ornu and Grenru) discuss a bit on how long to stay in the city before once again going off on their own. Ilian back to his books, Liam and Darcy to their respective beds, and Rab to find Elise and ask for a spar. Some subdued flirting and sparring later, Rab is exhausted and collapses into unconsciousness.

The Elf and Dwarf decide to come back to the Embassy at some ridiculously late time, only to find the guard unwilling to let them in. The reason being a request from Darcy considering the presumed drunken state both will be in. Being refuted by the guard, Grenru realizes they're being followed and drags the elf with him on a chase through the alleyways. The chase bears no fruit, though that doesn't stop the Dwarf from dragging the Elf with him all through the night to try and find the person.

The next morning finds Grenru and Ornu waking up, surprisingly close to the embassy all things considered, and Liam heading out to see the city on his own. Liam's venturing brings about a strange turn as he runs into his father. His father has been following stories of him and his group of companions, looking for answers as to why his son and wife disappeared over a year ago. The two talk, Liam's father commenting that Liam is being followed and pulling his son down different streets seemingly at random. It takes Liam a while to realize that by 'being followed' his dad means right now and to start looking around. When he does, he spots Shashin, the grey skinned warrior from the Azrian village. He gets the sense that they're being herded, but continues to follow along his dad's lead. Turning a corner, Liam spots a bow being aimed at them, getting his shield off his back he manages to block the arrow. The pursuers have apparently decided the time for action is now.

Moving quicker through the streets Liam's dad sees an opening and goes for it. Liam running as fast as he can after his father. They come near an intersection with another street, and Liam's father turns, shoving his son out of the way as Shashin appears seemingly out of nowhere, lunging with a sword in hand. Liam falls to the side safely, the blade neatly piercing between his father's ribs. The session ends there.

Thoughts

I was unsure as to the ending of the session, on the one hand I am not a huge fan of cliff-hanging in the middle of an intense situation, as while it can make for return visits in tv-shows and movies, it is really hard in RPGs to recapture the exact emotional spectrum that is going on. Players have a week or more to sit down and analyze what is happening, they calm down and scheme, come up with plans. When the event picks back up, it plays out differently than it would have normally because the element of being caught up in the moment is lost. That being said, due to time constraints and wanting to give LIam's player some time to think I did it. The player also seems happy with the emotionality of the scene there, so huzzah for that.

Aside from that, not much happened plot wise in the session. The fight with the lizard men went longer than I expected. I think I made them a bit too strong for what I intended them to be there, but they were also a last minute substitution from a different encounter I had planned due to a comment/dare from a player done in jest. I think, even with that, the fight turned out a lot more interesting than it would have been. Though I have promised that the next group of enemies the PCs fight (PCs, plural, not PC) will not explode or do anything weird upon death, or they'll all get 15 XP.

Other than that, I got nothing. So have fun, and Happy Gaming.

Greymoore - Session 7

We had the seventh session of the Greymoore game last night. It was an interesting session, as "big event" wise not all that much happened, but there seemed to be more character wise going on.

Anyhow...

Cast

Liam Callahan - a 17 year old human farm boy who constantly has his head in the clouds (you guessed it. The Hero!). Liam hails from the "Road's End Villages" the far North Western section of the Kingdom of Cerimea, not that anyone particularly remembers that.

Ilian Holhan - A 19 year old apprentice mage Seraphim who has come down to the surface (accompanied by his mentor and master) to further his studies on the weather as well as several other studies for his magical pursuits.. The Seraphim are a race of winged scholars and magi who live high above the clouds.

Abar Dan Rab Beynonn - A 19 year old Azrian Sword Dancer. The Azrian are a tribe of humans that live in cities in the forests (think Sherwood from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves), they are some of the premiere sword fighters in the land, using a style that emphasizes grace and finesse over power.

Darcy Stanton - A Half-Elf Rogue who has been staying with Rab (Abar) among the Azrian for the last few years. She is as close as a sister to Rab, and helps him on the various jobs he undertakes for the Azrian. Despite her time with the Azrian though, Darcy prefers to fight with her knives rather than use a sword.

Genru Crabshall - A Dwarven caravan guard from the Dwarf's War Caste. Genru hails from the famed floating cities of the Dwarves, though it has been years since he has seen home. Assigned to a guard a caravan heading to the northern provinces of Cerimea.

Ornu Tana Dar - An experienced Elven Woodsman, Ornu is specifically trained to be able to counter rogues, spies, and assassins, and also in taking out larger groups of opponents as quickly and efficiently possible. One year ago (beginning of the game) he was sent to retrieve Darcy back to the Kingdom so that officials could speak to her on matters of some importance to the Elven kingdom.

The Session

Having been on the road together for about a year now, and with Ornu for 6 months, the group was heading into the forest and to Rab and Darcy's home, the Azrian village in one of the forests of Cimerea. The plan was simple, stop in and grab a new sword for Rab before continuing onwards to the Free City of Bastion on their way down to the Titan Wall. Things were not quite that simple.

As the group moved to enter the forest the sound of deep laughter immediately followed by a small explosion deposited Ilian right in front of them. The young Seraphim looked a bit more sure of himself than they remembered, but still the person they remembered, particularly when he startled at the fire his entrance had caused. A quick word, reinforced by magic, and the fires went out, only the fires. Greetings were exchanged, as well as an introduction between Ornu, now finding that the other race he thought didn't exist anymore was alive and well, and Ilian who explained that he had just been talking to Fatooth about rejoining them when he...well, arrived.

Reunited the group moved into the forest and towards the Azrian village, spotting the sentries posted and noting their youth. The village itself was not as full of life as normal. By no means as abandoned as the Elven cities, but like everyone was gone on vacation. A few quick questions revealed that most of the adults were away on missions, Azrian services in high demand with the recent going ons. Unperturbed, the group headed towards the tree that housed Rab and Darcy's home before realizing that Grenru would probably be too heavy for the wooden planks and rope bridges that served as walk ways for the Tree Cities the Azrian lived in. Splitting into two, Liam, Rab, and Ornu headed up to the house while Darcy, Grenru, and Ilian stayed on the ground level. Things getting a bit more interesting as once up in the tree Liam spotted two men a bit off, skin a dark smokey grey, just like Lily. Wasting no time, Liam rushes on over to see what he can find out.

The excitement of the human boy draws the interest of others, and in short order everyone but Grenru is surrounding the two dark skinned warriors as they stand outside the Patriarch's home. It is found out that the two are here to prove they are of the Azrian way, and then challenge for the position of Top Sword in the village. Only, all those who would normally receive such a challenge are either injured, on a mission, or in the case of the Top Sword herself, sick. Rab volunteers to be the test if they know the Azrian way and a duel is set up for the following morning between him and the younger of the two smoke skinned warriors. Ilian and ornu offer to try and help the Top Sword, claiming knowledge as healers, and their help is accepted.

The meeting over, the group scatters again. Ilian and Ornu, with a bit of help from Darcy, figure out that the Top Sword has not been poisoned, but the disease is not normal either. She is kept tired, and feverish. Resorting to magic, Ilian can feel a sickly, oily, black liquidy substance is wrapped around her organs. An attempt to use magic to give the Top Sword some energy fails when the substance just immediately consumes the energy. Ilian gets an idea, and syncing his body with the Top Swords via magic, attempts to draw the substance out through her mouth and into a prepared jar for further study. The attempt is partially successful, only instead of into the jar the liquid is moving towards the seraphim mage himself. Trying to help, and not thinking of the jar Ornu first tries to cut the liquid with no luck. Remembering the jar then he gathers most of the liquid out of the air and into it, only a drop has already attached to the Seraphim's face, moving slowly for his eyes. A hand manages to brush the liquid off the Seraphim, but now it is on Ornu's hand and moving a lot faster up towards his shoulder. A panicked cry of "Seraphim!" gets through Ilian's trance, and with a moment of inspiration he attempts to force a name onto the substance and order it into the jar. His will power focused into the magic over-rides the substance and forces a name onto it. The substance instantly vanishes from existance, like it had never been there. Aside from a cold streak on Ornu's arm where it had been touching, and the exhausted and weak Top Sword.

While the healing of the Top Sword is going on, Rab and Liam are searching his home for another sword. Rab's father had been a black smith after all, and they figure one might be around somewhere. Their search bares fruit when Liam discovers a hidden compartment under the bed with a long box in it. Rab finds the key elsewhere in the house and opens it up to find a fine sword of Azrian design in it. He instantly claims it as his own. Later in the evening when telling about finding the compartment to Darcy, she has Liam show it to her. Checking it out, she finds that the bottom to the compartment is actually a false bottom and under it is another sword. This one a long sword. The blade is of a high quality, showing little sign of aging despite the obvious wear on the hilt. They show the sword to Rab, who immediately gives it to Liam telling him not to melt this one.

The next morning Rab meets with the younger of the smoke skinned warriors for their fight. It is announced that the two smoke-skinned warriors have a letter from 'Brighid The Falling Leaf' claiming she trained them. Liam recognizes the name as his mother's, but dismisses it as it couldn't be her. Rab and Darcy recognize the name as that of a young Azrian woman who went missing roughly 35 years ago, the last direct descendant of Corin the Red founder and arguably the greatest of the Azrian since the founder herself. The fight is close, and in a contest of first to 5 touches both warriors are going for a bit more than simple touches. The smoke skinned warriors sword is made of an off black, dark grey metal that does not shine or glint in the light. The two go back and forth, knocking the other down at least once, but in the end the fight comes to a close. 5 touches to 3 in favor of the smoke skinned warrior, whats more, the entire fight he fought only with the Azrian style. Rab says it is clear he is Azrian, the fighter thanks him for the match and Rab makes him promise to allow him (Rab) to buy him (the fighter) a beer later. The older of the smoke skinned warriors and the patriarch go off to talk while Ilian heals Rab and the younger warrior.

Darcy goes to talk to the Patriarch, not trusting the two smoke-skinned warriors. She stays away, not eavesdropping, on the obviously heated but quiet conversation the older smoke skinned warrior and patriarch are having. Approaching when they separate to offer her skills in place of the Top Sword for the challenge. She is after all of the Azrian, and feels she is a better fighter than Rab. While not a full student of the Azrian way in training, there is no rule stating that you must fight in the Azrian way for a challenge, just that you must be Azrian to have the right to challenge. The Patriarch says he will take it under advisement and consider it, but for now the two have broken none of the Azrian rules.

Later in the day, as evening begins to set, Ornu walks the village. Taken by surprise as out of the corner of his eyes the older smoke-skinned fighter seems to appear out of nowhere. Intrigued he follows the man, only to lose him behind a large tree. There is no hidden door or hole, and the man could not have gone up. he simply vanished. Reporting the finding to the others, combined with Ilian being suspicious due to having been lied to by the younger warrior earlier (after the fight when he healed Rab and the young warrior). The party begins to get truly suspicious, and decides to take matters into their own hands. Darcy decides she will challenge the older of the two smoke-skinned warriors to a fight the next day, to decide if they are even good enough to challenge the Top Sword. She then sets out to set up a battle field where she can take the advantage while fighting in the way she knows how. Rab, feeling a tinge of responsibility, goes to awaken and tell the Top Sword what is going on. Catching the recovering woman up on what is going in the village, and what they think it may mean. In the end though, no changes are made to their plan, though Rab is left with a distinct lack of liking for the Patriarch who he feels is not doing enough to protect the village.

The next day, Darcy challenges the older warrior to a match. He readily accepts and the village sets up the duel. Ilian watches with the Top Sword from a balcony in the village. Ornu from a vantage point in a tree, and the rest of the group in various positions on the ground level where the fight will take place. The fight quickly moves into the forest, the Smoke-Skinned fighter not minding in the least as Darcy tries to lure him into the woods. Darcy moves forward and scores a hit with her knife against the man, and then another. He responds with a thrown knife that she easily dodges, only when she attacks next she finds she is jerked backwards suddenly, something that throws off her attack a bit. Registering no contact despite the fact she is sure she hit again. Her opponent vanished before her eyes, and as she crouches low to try and obscure where she is she finds herself being tugged backwards.

From his higher vantage point, and watching Darcy move Ornu realizes that the knife she thought had missed her, stuck into her shadow, was the center point of where she was stuck to. Calling it down, Darcy turns to try and knock the knife free only for Ornu to call out another warning. Her opponent is emerging from another shadow behind her. Darcy turns and brings her knife to the man's neck, turning the tables of surprise on her mid fight. He agrees to let her free her shadow and continue the match like that, and Darcy manages to win. The smoke-skinned warrior vanishing almost immediately with a warning that "this" was not over yet.

The group regathers, deciding to stay a week and recover a bit. They train, Rab and Darcy receiving lessons from the Top Sword directly as she regains her strength. Liam finally masters something Malik showed him, getting his full body's power into a blow that sends his sparring partner sailing through the air and into a tree. Even Ilian gets some time to practice with his small and light ceramic sword of Seraphim make. Rab is told he has two years to become the fighter he can be and challenge the Top Sword, or she'll go after him herself. He grudgingly accepts, though inwardly seems to be looking forward to the challenge. Their week over, and the Top Sword seeming to be better, the group heads out of the village to continue to Bastion on their way to the Titan Wall. The week did them a lot of good, but at what cost to everything else?

Thoughts

This was a weird session for me as the GM. I thought it was too slow and not engaging enough for people, but then when session was called everyone at the table seemed surprised that we were already past midnight. Also, while not a "lot" plot wise happened, more did than it seemed. Even more importantly though was the development of the group dynamic. Ornu is settling in nicely, and saved the lives of two of the group in the session. Rab has started to take on responsibility, Ilian is coming to grips with his power, Liam is starting to come into his own, and Grenru is the rock they all lean on at some time or another as they pick their way through the world.

Ornu's player mentioned that in the story 'structure' we're right at the part where a major set back should be occurring soon. A hero over-stepping their bounds and getting someone harmed, a safety blanket being ripped away. I think I agree with this, the question is, just how to do that in a game? It should be fun to find out I suppose.

Greymoore - Session 6

We had session 6 of our Greymoore game last night, and the plot took a couple of jumps forward. The player of Ilian wasn't around, but we added a new member to the cast as well. So before we get going, lets look over the cast again.

Cast

Liam Callahan - a 16 year old human farm boy who constantly has his head in the clouds (you guessed it. The Hero!). Liam hails from the "Road's End Villages" the far North Western section of the Kingdom of Cerimea, not that anyone particularly remembers that.

Ilian Holhan - An 18 year old apprentice mage Seraphim who has come down to the surface (accompanied by his mentor and master) to further his studies on the weather as well as several other studies for his magical pursuits.. The Seraphim are a race of winged scholars and magi who live high above the clouds.

Abar Dan Rab Beynonn - An 18 year old Azrian Sword Dancer. The Azrian are a tribe of humans that live in cities in the forests (think Sherwood from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves), they are some of the premiere sword fighters in the land, using a style that emphasizes grace and finesse over power.

Darcy Stanton - A Half-Elf Rogue who has been staying with Rab (Abar) among the Azrian for the last few years. She is as close as a sister to Rab, and helps him on the various jobs he undertakes for the Azrian. Despite her time with the Azrian though, Darcy prefers to fight with her knives rather than use a sword.

Genru Crabshall - A Dwarven caravan guard from the Dwarf's War Caste. Genru hails from the famed floating cities of the Dwarves, though it has been years since he has seen home. Assigned to a guard a caravan heading to the northern provinces of Cerimea.

Ornu Tana Dar - An experienced Elven Woodsman, Ornu is specifically trained to be able to counter rogues, spies, and assassins, and also in taking out larger groups of opponents as quickly and efficiently possible. One year ago (beginning of the game) he was sent to retrieve Darcy back to the Kingdom so that officials could speak to her on matters of some importance to the Elven kingdom.

The Session

The session started off with Ornu walking through the woods on the rest of the PCs trail. He has been tracking Darcy for the better part of a year, constantly being a few days to a couple weeks behind. Though as he approaches a cave in the mountains, annoyingly close to the Elven kingdom he set off from about a year ago, he is sure he may finally be catching up. A thought that is washed away as he realizes that he of all people is being stalked through the woods. Turning, he spots one of the Cat like humanoids that the other PCs had faced in the previous session. His ears pick up the sound of more of them encircling him. Realizing he may be out matched he runs for the cave where at least he will be harder to surround.

Running down the tunnel, he stops at several points and turns to shoot, keeping the faster running Hunters behind him and approaching cautiously. His sprinting pace races him down faster than he realizes, and before long he bursts into the large open room where the rest of the PCs (save Ilian who is training in the new magic elsewhere) are eating dinner at a table Fatooth has magiced up for them. Startled greetings are put on hold as the PCs realize the elf is being chased, and they turn to face this larger group of creatures they've faced once before.

The fight is not particularly long, Liam and Rab claiming loudly that the cats are here to steal food, a fact that annoys Fatooth enough to simply poke his head out and end it there and then with a controlled burst of flame. It was then that greetings took place, Ornu stating openly that he was here for Darcy (only using her elven name), and Darcy refusing to acknowledge that siad person was her. A compromise on the matter is made however, since the PCs wish to go to the Elven kingdom anyhow, to warn them of the Cimerean king's assassination in their style, and what better way in then to be guided by an Elven woodsman.

Along the way, Darcy and Ornu have a talk in private about what is going on, coming to some form of agreement on the matter. Travel goes remarkably smooth, and a few weeks later the party is approaching one of the four surface cities of the Elven Kingdom. Only, there are no people around. Moving in to the city they find that it is completely abandoned, the gates to the Inner City where only elves are allowed thrown open and that place also abandoned. The city looks fine, perfectly constructed and in good repair, just completely abandoned. The group splits up, Ornu and Grenru going into the inner city, towards the government buildings to see if they can find anyone. Darcy, Liam, and Rab heading into the near by buildings to get some sign of how long the place has been abandoned.

In the inner city, Ornu and Grenru find that the tunnel leading deep into the mountains has been collapsed. Ornu recognizes it as one of the emergency defenses that the kingdom has set up, a hastily written sign above the temple confirming that theory reading "To our brothers and sisters trapped on the surface, we apologize but the needs of the Kingdom must come first at this time". The haste with which the sign was written almost as worrying as the fact that it exists at all. A circling shadow, reminiscent of a bird but definitely not, in the sky catches their attention and worry begins to come to the fore. They head back for the outter city.

In the outter city, Darcy, Liam, and Rab's investigation has turned up more troubling information. Moving into a building, once a few feet past the threshold the vision of what is going on changes completely. The city is destroyed, scorch and burn marks everywhere, items crystalized from the heat, puddles of steel lying on the ground where weapons, shields, and ornamentation have melted. Moving back out of the building, everything returns to how it once looked. They also notice the circling shadow, and rush for where cover would be best. The inner city.

The two groups meet up just inside the gates to the inner city. The shadow descends upon them, landing heavily on a nearby building. A dragon, not near as big as Fatooth, but far more fit looking. Its scales are a deep dark red, its eyes are pitch black, and it looks angry. An inhale from the Dragon is followed by a cone of fire straight at the group. The PCs scatter, barely avoiding being lit on fire by the dragon's breath weapon. Everyone runs for cover, with Rab choosing to take cover in the building under the dragon - hoping to be able to get on the dragon when it goes after someone else - Darcy follows him. Well, almost everyone runs for cover. Liam, caught in the moment calls out a challenge to the dragon. Grenru hearing the boys call turns back immediately to try and help, or save him. Ornu finds a perch to shoot from so he can contribute to the fight as well.

The dragon lunges for Liam who manages to jump out of the way, cutting it back on the neck. Ornu's arrow glances off the armored snout, and Grenru is still running back to the fray when Rab tries to attack the dragon's swishing tail in front of him. His sword bites deep but gets stuck, a pull on the tail threatening to send him flying but Darcy tackles him to the ground, and instead only his sword goes sailing out of sight. As Rab and Darcy retreat back into the building, Rab refusing to abandon their comrades and wanting to try to get onto the dragon via the second floor, the Dragon attacks Liam. Sending the boy sailing through a third story window.

Thinking Liam dead, Grenru stands his ground, striking with his axe at the dragon as hard as he can, only to have the blow turned aside by the dragon's scales. In the building, Darcy and Rab prepare for their jump onto the dragon's back. The dragon attacks Grenru, only to have the dwarf block its claw swipe with his axe. Ornu fires another arrow, grazing the dragon and Darcy and Rab make the leap onto the creatures back. Darcy's knives bite deep into the dragon's flank, causing it to rear up in pain. The movement makes Rab's jump harder, and the dragon's thick scales deflect his knives. The sword dancer is unable to get a hold other wise, and begins to fall into the path of the snapping tail. Darcy seeing Rab's plight, jumps into the way shielding him with her body as the tail smacks them both and sends them flying. Knocking Darcy out, almost killing her, and leaving Rab severely injured.

Liam, landing heavily in the room he was launched into, finds he has once again narrowly escaped death. A voice, somewhat familiar, asking if that is all he has. He answers no, he's not done and takes the offered spear haft. Feeling completely refreshed, he stands up, he feels stronger than ever and looks down at the Dragon, seeing Darcy collapsed atop Rab as he drops to the ground level. "If you killed her I'll destroy you" escapes his lips, and he charges at the dragon, sword and eyes both glowing white and the pendant around his neck showing a dragon instead of its normal plain attire.

The Dragon, while Liam is getting up, has unleashed it's breath weapon on Grenru. The dwarf, standing his ground, takes cover under his shield, watching as the shield melts under the intense heat. He does manage to outlast the flame though, responding by slamming the shield into the side of the dragon's face. The molten shield sticks to the Dragon's scales, and Grenru releases it as the dragon once more rears up in pain. As the dragon's head snaps back, the shield goes flying ripping some of the Dragon's scales with it. Seeing an opening, Ornu looses an arrow. The arrow finds the exposed area the scale had just been removed from and bites into one of the Dragon's eyes. Liam's charge ends with him letting loose a powerful slash into the Dragon's chest, the wound drops the dragon's head and his second strike takes the dragon's other eye.

The dragon has had enough, severely injured and blind it takes to the sky and limps off into the distance. The energy leaves LIam, and he collapses to the ground dreaming he is in a med tent after an army, a pretty armored female soldier saying that that would do for now. Liam responds that he will do better next time, she says she will hold him to it. The next night, Liam has another dream. In a clearing, three trees standing before him each with a sword sticking out of it. A voice asks him which one is his. When he chooses, he is standing in front of the Titan Wall, the knowledge that his sword is on the other side clear in his head.

Back in reality, Ornu gives what aid he can to Grenru, Liam, Rab, and Darcy. The group takes stock of their situation, and after a rest decide where they will go next. They choose to check another elven city, before heading south towards the Titan Wall. They plan to stop in the Azrian village to pick up a non-damaged sword for Rab, and then in Bastion to check on Malik, Elise, and Jasa before heading through Tamera to the Titan Wall.

The other elven city is the same as the first, only not under a spell to look perfectly fine. They find the print of a significantly larger dragon in the city, a track that Ornu identifies as being nearly a year old. Having probably happened just shortly after he left to collect Darcy. Not wishing to fight another, larger, Dragon the party heads south.

Several months of smooth travel later finds them entering the Azrian village, which is where the session ended.

Thoughts

The dragon fight I think went well, though for adult dragons they may need to be stronger. At the same time, so does the group to fight one. In general though this group is hard to plan fights for as it tends to roll either really well, or really poorly depending on the session.

Other than that, Ornu integrated with the group well, and I think the story is progressing a long nicely. I do need to however work up the side stuff for more of the characters and get them into the game. Especially as the story is starting to take a life of its own in my head.

Greymoore - Session 5

So, I'm sorry this didn't go up yesterday I just totally spaced. I think I still hit my 4 posts for the week though. if not, oops :D

Anyhow, we had what I am viewing as a transition session this week. Transitioning from one section of the story to the next, I feel like the introduction is finally over. If you put all the sessions together for a console RPG, as Ilian's spell went off you'd have the camera pull back and up, looking over the entire city as it burned in the rain and the title for the game would appear over the screen. As such, the session was a bit slower, though people still seemed to have fun. We are, however, getting ahead of ourselves.

The Cast

Liam Callahan - a 16 year old human farm boy who constantly has his head in the clouds (you guessed it. The Hero!). Liam hails from the "Road's End Villages" the far North Western section of the Kingdom of Cimerea, not that anyone particularly remembers that.

Ilian Holhan - An 18 year old apprentice mage Seraphim who has come down to the surface (accompanied by his mentor and master) to further his studies on the weather as well as several other studies for his magical pursuits.. The Seraphim are a race of winged scholars and magi who live high above the clouds.

Abar Dan Rab Beynonn - An 18 year old Azrian Sword Dancer. The Azrian are a tribe of humans that live in cities in the forests (think Sherwood from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves), they are some of the premiere sword fighters in the land, using a style that emphasizes grace and finesse over power.

Darcy Stanton - A Half-Elf Rogue who has been staying with Rab (Abar) among the Azrian for the last few years. She is as close as a sister to Rab, and helps him on the various jobs he undertakes for the Azrian. Despite her time with the Azrian though, Darcy prefers to fight with her knives rather than use a sword.

Grenru Crabshall - A Dwarven caravan guard from the Dwarf's War Caste. Grenru hails from the famed floating cities of the Dwarves, though it has been years since he has seen home. Assigned to a guard a caravan heading to the northern provinces of Cimerea.

The Session

The session began with the party waking up in their rooms in the castle. A large section of the roof and the wall had been blown out from the initial surge of Ilian's magic, and the rain was pouring down over them, soaking them to their skin as they lay injured on the floor. One by one they woke up, injuries preventing them from doing much more aside from huddling closer to each other for warmth in a section of the room that still had its roof. Darcy, being the only one completely uninjured, did a quick two minute exploration in the halls around their room, what she found was horrific. Beginning with a person whose body had literally exploded making a ring of gore in the hall, the condition of the bodies quickly got better with distance from its origin point (Ilian), leaving most of the people that Darcy found simply dead on the floor looking like it had been agonizing to experience but not quite the "skeleton leaves the meat" experience that people closer to the room had had.

Nearly a day later, injuries still severely limiting the abilities of the party, they were found by a guard scouting that wing. Working with the guard, they moved themselves to the Castle's main hall where the survivors were being organized, or being given medical treatment as they could. Leading this operation? Malik Hightower, looking none the worse for wear though a little tired. Elise ila Tamera also survived the blast, and is out in the city looking for survivors there. While the party gets some medical attention, Darcy volunteers to go and look for more survivors in the castle and heads for the King's ward of the castle where the king still lays slain in his bed. His wife lies on the floor nearly twenty feet away dead from no apparent causes (another victim of Ilian's spell). Her knife is nowhere to be found, the King's body is killed in exactly the style she was trained in, though there is a very faint difference between her and this assassin in the very fine details. On her way back from the King's room, Darcy comes across Princess Jasa, a little battered and bruised (the spell had hit while she was being rushed through the stair case to somewhere safer) but alive. Her presence brings some relief to all the guards that are still alive, and even Rab, whose care she is put into for lack of someone better who also knows her at the moment.

The collection of survivors stays put for a few days, treating the injured and constantly looking for more who are still alive. In the end though, of the over 200,000 people that had lived in the capitol of Cimerea, there are less than 200 survivors found. After some discussion with Elise and Malik, the party acts on their feeling that these attacks are coming after Liam, and decides to split up with the other survivors. Elise and Malik lead the group of over 150 survivors to the South East towards the city of Bastion, which if not necessarily the closest distance wise is probably the easiest to travel to and in a direction that does not have constant reports of monster attacks along the way. The party decides to head in the opposite direction, to the North West, and to the cave that Liam and Illian have been dreaming about. There are good byes all around, with Rab asking Elise to take care of herself, the princess trying to order Rab to stay, Malik giving final words of instruction to Liam, and Grenru saying good bye to one of his few remaining guard friends being the stand-out ones.

On the way to the cave, the weather continues to bother Ilian. The sky is over-cast and grey, full of dark storm clouds, as the weather gives all signs that it is currently raining. Yet, there is nothing coming down from the clouds. Already irritable from the anxiety over all the people he killed has him snappy at his comrades as they try to explain it. Moving through the woods, the weather finally does open up, with snow during the summer. It snows all evening, acting like it is trying to make up for the time it lost. The party sets up shelters in their "quiet camp" for the night, and are attacked during the very first watch.

The attackers are a cat-like humanoid race with dark skin and yellow eyes. They move exceptionally silently, very easily sneaking by Grenru who is on watch and moving for the kill on the various sleeping party members. In Liam's dreams a voice booms in his head "WAKE UP!", bolting him upright and face to face with the now surprised would be assassin. Liam's startlement, followed by a bellow from Grenru wakes up the rest of the party and the battle commences. The cat-like creatures are dangerous, but the party does a good job in fighting them off. Even Liam, aside from the very first hit, manages to avoid being struck again thanks to his training time with Malik. It is not long before two of the six creatures are slain and dropped to the ground. It is even less time before those two creatures get right back up to rejoin the fight. A few more rounds go by, and Darcy manages to kill another one, this time it turns to stone and almost yanks her out of the tree she is fighting in. It does steal one of her daggers from her.

Eventually the group gets the idea that you need to turn them to stone, and then smash them, in order to kill them. The only person downed in the fight is Grenru (sadly, I kept rolling REALLY well on damage against poor Grenru). They patch up wounds, move camp, and try to rest. Liam has another dream, this time a bird's eye view of the forest they're in, and of a small army pursuing them. Woken by his dream, and with so much weird stuff going on, the party trusts Liam and they head off to try and avoid this army. Using Rab's navigation, Liam and Darcy hiding their tracks, Grenru's knowledge of how an army would pursue in this situation, and Ilian using what he knows of weather to help guide them around where things will be worse for them, the party spends the next few days fleeing from this army. Always managing to stay just one step ahead, but never getting enough time to actually rest. Until, that is, they arrive at the mountains. Taking a circuitous route through the early foot hills they buy themselves time and find their destination, the cave.

Heading in, the tunnel gets narrower and narrower until the group is moving in single file, the roof easily within reach for Rab and Liam if they reached their hand up. They go further down, spiraling down nearly two miles before the cave opens up into a huge chamber, the blue head of a dragon peering at them from around the wall. Introductions are made, the dragon immediately recognizes Darcy as a half elf and comments that Rab smells like an elf. Ilian also reeks of magic, Darcy of death, and Liam just 'weird', giving the Dwarf a happy moment as he realizes that he, of all people, is the only one that does not smell weird to the Dragon.

The Dragon, whose name is Fatooth, invites them deeper into his home before leaving with a scraping noise. When they round the corner to where Fatooth was, they see that the noise is caused by his enormous stomach which drags on the ground as he walks. Fatooth, the first dragon to be seen in centuries, proof that the legends Liam has read all his life may be real, is a lazy fat ass.

Conversation with Fatooth mostly focuses on magic, as he realizes - thanks to Ilian's explanations - that the mages of the world have forgotten what the Dragons taught them nearly 15000 years ago and are running around claiming to be experts in the field when their understanding is closer, much much closer, to that of a young child's. Fatooth also recognizes the strange smell he is getting off Liam, identifying Liam as a potential Knight. He tells Liam he'll need to get a sword, clarifying that he means a real sword for a Knight when Liam protests that he already has one.

Session was called there, with the party safe in the Dragon's cave, deciding if they wanted to go south and past the Titan's Wall to get Liam's sword, or north to the Elves to warn them of the assassination of King Sarn that was recently done. Ah, crossroads.

Oh, Also, there was small development with the pendant Liam found in his father's quiver. After a dream where he saw a griffin on it, he held it up to find it still blank. Rab grabbed it to see it, and the pendant immediately showed an Eagle on it. When Rab or Darcy hold the pendant it shows an eagle. When Grenru holds it it shows a Lion. When Liam or Ilian hold it, it is blank.

Thoughts on Session

I feel I did a much better job with this session than the previous one. I hit Ilian with various signs of his guilt, and some dreams that showed how depressed the character was. I think I hit the NPCs right, giving them some signs of emotion after the spell went off and some humanity as they said good bye with the party, a group of strangers that had become fast friends.

I think I did a better job with the weather in this one, using it to show how strange the situation was, and the unnatural events that are beginning to take place. Though, I think I could do a much better job on it.

The Hunters (the cat like assassins) were, to me, a success though the party didn't find the real trick to killing them just yet (they may after reading that what they think isn't it). Though, the fight also showed that some players have forgotten what I said about throwing out some of the combat rules for more cinematic fights, sticking to what I refer to as "the Player trap" that exists in most games where you are encouraged, if not mandated, to stick with your most statistically powerful/useful method in combat. We'll have to see about fixing that in the future.

Fatooth was a big hit, as I hoped he would be. I've been giggling to myself for weeks about a fat-ass dragon just being lazy in his cave and using charm magic to lure animals down and into his gullet.

All in all, I thought it was a good session.

Greymoore - Session 4

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to skip doing the cast for this session recap. You can get the information for it (if you are interested) on one of the previous reviews, just click on the 'Greymoore' tag on the bottom and it'll bring them up. Also, this one is going to be a bit short, for reasons I will give at the bottom.

Note: Valos has, apparently, withdrawn from the game. Still waiting on official word, but it seems real life no oni has eaten him.

So, the session began with the PCs in the castle. Liam was receiving training in fighting from Sir Malik Hightower. Grenru was keeping an eye on Liam. Rab was recovering from his woulds gained in the tournament. Ilian was reading in the library. Finally, Darcy was doing what she could to be social and keep away from her horrible memories.

After about a week, the King finally made time to see them. Asking Ilian if he knew more about the prophecy that they had delivered in the previous session. They answered that they didn't know, but that Ilian had been having prophetic dreams since his mentor died. The King listened to the dreams, and asked the PCs to stay so they could help with further deciphering what was going on in the Kingdom of Cimerea. The PCs agreed, and as another favor the King asked Rab - as Tournament Champion - to teach his younger daughter the Princess Jasa.

Helping to find out what was going on for Ilian involved a trip to the tower of the Blue Rose, the King's magi. Given over to the care of some, sadly, less than fully capable but oh so sure of themselves members of the order Ilian was given a concoction to make himself more susceptible to prophetic visions. Resulting in a barrage of imagery, none of which was good for the coming future. The dreams set off Ilian's abilities, and for a few brief moment magic ran wild around him singing the feathers on his wings, not to mention the acolytes around him.

Back in the castle, Rab's training lesson with the Princess Jasa went well, though the princess he found needed to develop stamina. An attempt to get her to run was met with stern resistance in the "Princesses don't run" vein of things, though a compromise was made where she would gain stamina by dancing more. After the lesson, Rab finally met the Tameran princess Elise for the drink he owed her. There meeting in the hanging gardens leaving them privy to the rain storm that had come in during the day, and ending with Rab awake with a massive hangover in Elise's bed though what happened is still an unknown.

The next night, the rain still had not let up. Ilian, staying with the mages in the Blue Tower is beset by a dream. He is stalking through the castle, avoiding guards and working his way deep inside it. Coming to a room he quickly kills two guards and moves through into the King's chamber. Three stabs with a knife he recognizes as Darcy's, heart, lung, and throat, end the king's life and awaken him with a start. Just in time to hear the screams of alarm and a booming explosion coming from outside.

Monstrous creatures and filthy humans poured out of the ground and attacked the guards. In seconds several parts of the castle are ablaze, despite the rain. In their rooms, Darcy awakens to the noise and the realization that one of her knives is gone. The rest of their companions wake as quickly, though deliberation on what course of action to take slows them a little. The delay turns out slightly beneficial, allowing Liam and Ilian to make it over from the Blue Rose tower where they'd been staying, but the next delay proves quite costly. Opening the door to go out, Ilian gets grabbed by one of the attackers and slammed into the far wall almost killing him. Darcy lunges out to kill the enemy while Rab grabs Ilian, but it is too late. "Make them go away, all of them" Ilian says, and magic goes wild knocking everyone in the room out. Which is where the session ended.

Thoughts on it
I was honestly disappointed with this session. Not because it wasn't fun, the players had a good time, as did I. I just wanted to do more with it. The idea had been for the focus of the session to be on the attack in the end, and that ended up being a very small part instead of the focus of the session. The players did things, and that was good, I need to make sure that is clear. My disappointment comes from me, for some reason I couldn't get anything really going, my brain kept shutting down on me and numerous opportunities were lost.

The Blue Rose came across as incompetent because I couldn't get into a correct head space for them. Which is bad because, well, they are supposed to be competent but the ones near the tower weren't.

While I did get across some screen time for Elise, Malik, and Jasa, it was mostly minor. Jasa and Malik specifically didn't get much development like I planned to have for them.

I also wasn't able to bring the weather into play properly. It did rain, and thunder and I think that got something across if you held it in your head. But I didn't play it up right in my opinion. Which was something, going in, I had really wanted to do.

The session was a text book example of why having good players is so awesome. I as the GM bumbled fairly hard I feel, but the game was still a lot of fun because any time I did stumble the players grabbed onto something and ran with it, making fun and entertainment out of it. So I guess, I'm not necessarily disappointed with the session, so much as my performance in it.

I will just have to try and do better next time I guess.

Greymoore - Session 3

So last night we had the third session of the "Novel" game Greymoore. We were shy a player, Valos, so that is why he doesn't really appear in the update aside from his standing in the tournament. That being said.

The Cast

Liam Callahan - a 16 year old human farm boy who constantly has his head in the clouds (you guessed it. The Hero!). Liam hails from the "Road's End Villages" the far North Western section of the Kingdom of Cimerea, not that anyone particularly remembers that.

Ilian Holhan - An 18 year old apprentice mage Seraphim who has come down to the surface (accompanied by his mentor and master) to further his studies on the weather as well as several other studies for his magical pursuits.. The Seraphim are a race of winged scholars and magi who live high above the clouds.

Abar Dan Rab Beynonn - An 18 year old Azrian Sword Dancer. The Azrian are a tribe of humans that live in cities in the forests (think Sherwood from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves), they are some of the premiere sword fighters in the land, using a style that emphasizes grace and finesse over power.

Darcy Stanton - A Half-Elf Rogue who has been staying with Rab (Abar) among the Azrian for the last few years. She is as close as a sister to Rab, and helps him on the various jobs he undertakes for the Azrian. Despite her time with the Azrian though, Darcy prefers to fight with her knives rather than use a sword.

Grenru Crabshall - A Dwarven caravan guard from the Dwarf's War Caste. Grenru hails from the famed floating cities of the Dwarves, though it has been years since he has seen home. Assigned to a guard a caravan heading to the northern provinces of Cimerea.

Valos Brycewald - The son of one of the six Earls of Cimerea, Valos recently found out that his older 1/2 brother who had long since been thought dead is alive, and that he is no longer the heir apparent. In a quest to prove himself he has taken to wandering the country and entering every tourney he can find in the hopes of making a name for himself and proving to his father that he should be the next Earl.

The Session

The previous session left off with the party deciding that the fastest way to get the prophecy that Ilian was holding to the king would be for one of them to enter into the tournament that was being held in the capital city of Asgoth. Rab being the 'swordsman' of the group volunteered to sign up, and did entering into both the Swords competition and the Grand Melee. Fifteen other skilled fighters signed up for the swords competition including the Crown Prince of Cimerea, a Flower Knight (A custom in Cimerea that allows one to enter anonymously), Sir Malik Hightower, and Valos Brycewald. With Rab in the tournament, the rest of the group enjoyed the festival and the crowds before sitting down to watch the tournament. Cheering Rab on as he made it all the way to the finals which would be held the next day. Valos was eliminated in the quarter finals by the winner of the Joust tournament Sir Vale.

After the first day of fighting the party retired back to the inn they were staying at, The Corsair, for some celebration and relaxing. Feeling entrepreneurial, and not knowing how much traveling funds they may need, Darcy and Rab put on a show with Darcy dancing and Rab singing and playing the Lute in the inn. The show drew quite a crowd, both from the quality of the performance, as well as the fact that a finalist in the Swords competition was performing the night before the Finals were actually held. While Rab and Darcy were playing, Liam spotted a woman he recognized from his dreams leaving the inn and, giving in to compulsion, followed her out into the street.

Outside he caught her turning down a side street, hurrying after her but never quite able to keep up, always just quick enough to see the last wisp of cloak go around a corner as he followed her further and further away from the inn. Grenru, worried about the farm boy out on his own in the big city, tried to follow but found himself in a similar predicament to Liam, never quite able to catch up and just barely managing to keep the distance from growing too much. Eventually though Grenru does manage to catch up to Liam, stopping the boy just before he wandered down a dark alley on his own. Not to be dissuaded however, Liam convinces Grenru to help him find the woman and with the dwarf in tow heads down the alleyway. Down the alleyway, or more precisely in an offshoot off the alleyway, they find the woman's cloak. Still warm from her body, and smelling of Lilies. Liam decides to hold onto the cloak for her as Grenru begins to drag the boy back to the inn, only then recognizing just how lost he's become in the sprawling human city. The two don't make it back to the inn until near dawn.

The next morning finds Liam and Grenru alone in the inn, the others having gone off ahead to the tourney grounds. Liam, awakening from what can only be described as 'pleasant and erotic' dreams finds that Lily's cloak is missing, in its place rests an actual lily along with a note saying 'Thank you'. Pocketing them both, Liam manages to wake Grenru and rush him out the door so they don't miss the end of the tournament.

In the tournament, for the finals of the sword competition Rab faces off against the Flower Knight, who in her victory over the Prince of Cimerea was revealed to be Elise ila Tamera the princess of the neighboring kingdom of the same name (Tamera). Undaunted by the presence of royalty, Rab dives right in, only to find the princess didn't make it to the finals by luck. She manages to drop him to the ground with the back of her shield, backing off to let him recover his feet before they continue. Rab, back on his feet, scores a lucky hit as his blade slips right past the Princess's guard and armor wounding her deeply, her response leaves Rab flat on his back again and barely able to move. Though before being able to hit the fourth, and thus winning, time, the princess collapses as well telling the judge that she can't safely finish the match and so will be withdrawing. The crowd isn't particularly pleased, though considering the fights they've received from Rab, and the fact that he did beat the one who beat their prince all is forgiven quickly.

The swords tournament done, everyone settles back to watch the Grand Melee, where one of Rab's opponent from the swords tournament (Sir Malik Hightower) wins due equal parts to his strength, resilience, and being built very much like a mountain. The fighting over, each contestant is given their prize, the Joust Champion receives a stallion, the Swords champion a master quality blade, and the Grand Melee champion a master quality shield. During the presentation, Rab gives the King the prophecy from Ilian before retiring with the group back to the Corsair once again.

That night, Ilian and Liam once more find themselves dreaming. For Ilian he is living in a small cottage along with close friends and family. The feeling is homely, comfortable, warm, and inviting. As he relaxes in the dream the scene pans out to showing the outside of the cottage. Pulling back further he sees that the cottage is surrounded by an army of approaching creatures and men, an army that stretches for as far as the eye can see. As it keeps pulling back, and ilian gets an idea of just how vast this army is the cottage bursts into flames at the center, and Ilian bolts awake in his inn room to find that the curtains are a flame. Freezing in panic, his cries of 'Fire! Fire!' awakens Darcy and Rab who manage to put it out.

For Liam, the dream starts off much the same, only he is not with friends and family in the small cabin he calls home. Just lying in bed curled up around his wife, a beautiful woman with smoke colored skin looking very much like Lily. As he relaxes, the door is kicked off of it's hinges as an ogre steps in and pulls the trigger on its crossbow. The quarrel goes straight into Lily, killing her instantly and sending Liam into a rage as he grabs a nearby sword and sets about angrily, and violently, hacking the Ogre to pieces.

In the waking world, Grenru is awoken as Liam tossing and turning in his dream lashes out and hits the headboard of the made-for-dwarves bed he is in at the same time his feet hit the footboard. The bed, a solid and thickly built thing made of oak, can't stand up to the pressure and breaks dropping Liam to the floor. Having just put out the fire in her room, and hearing the noise, Darcy rushes over. Managing to stop Grenru from possibly getting hurt by trying to restrain Liam, and taking a more subtle and motherly approach to calming the boy down, which thankfully succeeds.

The morning is almost as eventful as the night, as Ilian in an attempt to be helpful, and figuring he knows what makes a bed, attempts to use magic to fix the bed that Liam broke. Even with his understanding, and a masterful control of the magic, he gets more than he bargains for as he brings the wood of the bed back to life, enabling itself to mend the broken connections even stronger than before. At the same time, the head-board begins to sprout branches and leaves that reach to the ceiling before they stop as Ilian watches on in part horror, part fascination. Things don't get better as a scream from below alerts them to the fact that the bed also grew roots.

Darcy just barely manages to calm the innkeeper and his wife down about the situation just moments before a messenger from the King arrives and informs them the King wishes them in the castle should he have need of them on hand. This is also when everyone realizes that Liam has received a package, a good quality shield along with a note wishing him 'good luck'. The group packs their things up and heads out for the castle, everyone almost immediately scattering to the winds to explore and leaving Darcy alone in their suite of rooms with her memories of a place that was a lot like this castle.

The session ended there with Rab and Liam finding Malik who agreed to give Liam some sword lessons, and Grenru and Ilian climbing the highest tower they could find in the castle so Ilian could feel the sky. Darcy, left alone, curled into a ball in the corner with memories of dying people and a burning castle running rampant in her mind.