[WotMK: Hexcrawl] Session Five
Dramatis Personae:
The band of murderhobos came into town and set themselves up in a private room at an inn, where Bonnie and Shining Star analyzed the shields using their knowledge of sorcery. They found that the shields weren't enchanted, but that they had been made using sorcery, binding the steel and whatever other material the trow had used to make the reddish-gold metal. They couldn't quite understand its function, but it gave Bonnie an uneasy feeling, like the tingling when a limb has been asleep and is just waking up. Thus confused, they went to sleep.
In the morning, Elaphe took all but one of the swords, one of the spearheads, and two of the shields to sell, after first taking a trow spearhead to a blacksmith and asking them if they knew anything about it. The blacksmith examined the spearhead, tapped it a bit with their claws (they were a mycon), and said that it was trow work, pretty valuable, and seemed very excited that there were more. Elaphe came back with Bonnie and the rest of the loot and got down to haggling, coming out of it with a tidy sum of money that they immediately spent on a riding horse and cart.
Unfortunately, Bonnie rolled very well to sell the trow weapons (6 successes on the Bureaucracy roll, where each success shifts the price 5%), but failed on the horse roll and got swindled. Not to the point of getting passed shoddy goods, but they paid about 10% more than they had to. Still, it let them move the broken automaton onto the cart and head out of town, though not before Bonnie wrote a letter and sent it back west with a runner for the caravan to see if they would be interested in buying a trow automaton, mostly-intact.
The trip down the road toward Etemenanki was mostly uneventful, though Bonnie ran into a group of Chaian kappa from one of the tribes that crossed the Turtleback Mountains into Chai generations ago coming from the tower and, when she heard them speaking in her native tongue, excitedly stopped to talk. She learned that they had left their tribe to see the world as is traditional among their youths, and signed on with a Silent One who had determined he knew a secret route into the tower. He died, crushed by a falling block along with the crystalline cube treasure he found, and several other chuzan mercenaries he brought with him fell victim to pit traps, whirling flame whips, shadow monster, or terrible protean abominations that slithered along channels and absorbed their prey. Two of the kappa had died as well, and the three survivors were making their way back to their tribe. They snapped to attention when Bonnie revealed her rank--as an Auspicious Orator, she's a member of the mandarinate, albeit a low-ranking one--but she waved it off and they parted after a brief time.
That night the forest drew close to the road, and following the Green Knight's urging, they went off the road and made camp in the shadow of the trees. They all went to sleep--even Amos, who could see the fushigibana sitting on the branches and staring down at them--but were awakened by the Green Knight during his watch when he heard a crashing in the distance, a sign that all of them recognized as the tell-tale sound of the walking trees. The Green Knight told them to flee for the road and went off into the woods to find a wild animal to wound, since walking trees are drawn to the scent of blood. He found a deer, but it noticed him just as he snuck up on it and evaded his attack, so with no other recourse he wounded himself and ran. Fortunately, while walking trees are enormously powerful and their tenacity rivals the Terminator, they are not fast and will rarely leave the forests, so he managed to outrun them and make his way back to the group when Amos launched an arrow from his bow which burst into flames and worked as a flare.
The next day was mostly uneventful. There's a mandragora and her entourage that the band of murderhobos ignored, and they camped near the road, which was edged with stone to help keep the forest away. The next day they exited the forest and saw Etemenanki filling the horizon to the southwest and a group of people with armbands with towers on them who asked them if they're going to the tower town and if they know the rules. Elaphe said yes and Bonnie said no, and after a suspicious look the guard told them don't kill, don't steal, don't fight, and it costs one monme to enter the tower paid to the excise office, then they were waved on.
They spent half the day walking down the road, with the tower getting larger and larger, until around sunset, with the whole landscape in shadow because the tower blocked out the sun and several cloud kingdoms visibly orbiting the massive structure, they entered the tower town.
While there's nowhere in Agarica that's racially homogeneous other than the Scarlet City, the tower town was the most eclectic place any of the group had ever seen. There were amanita and mandragora and kong and mycon and kappa and chuzan all rubbing shoulders, a group of raptok goes by chatting in their hissing language, and there was even a kremling in a green robe and his two bodyguards. Amos thought he sees another human, but when he got closer he could see that they had wings. Truly, tower town is an amazing place.
Moving through the streets, Elaphe found the group an inn with the sign of the three fishes and decided they would stay there, and as they entered, I told them there were a few people inside, it was dimly lit in the back but there were larger windows in the front, and then I hit play on Shadow's Theme and mentioned a kong and a raptok drinking tea together in the corner. And we ended there.
This session was mostly dice-driven, with the guards, the walking trees in the forest, and the mandragora and her entourage all spawned from random encounter tables. I will need to come up with something for next game, though, since the murderhobos have a hot tip for a secret portion of Etemenanki. I could probably run the whole rest of the game as a megadungeon set around the tower--an idea I've had before--but that will depend on the party's decisions.
- Shining Star, mandragora sorcerer-priestess of Nyahré.
- The Green Knight, mandragora briarwitch.
- Bonnie, kong Auspicious Orator.
- Amos Burnham, a human from Earth.
- Elaphe, a chuzan junior member of the Black Rose.
The band of murderhobos came into town and set themselves up in a private room at an inn, where Bonnie and Shining Star analyzed the shields using their knowledge of sorcery. They found that the shields weren't enchanted, but that they had been made using sorcery, binding the steel and whatever other material the trow had used to make the reddish-gold metal. They couldn't quite understand its function, but it gave Bonnie an uneasy feeling, like the tingling when a limb has been asleep and is just waking up. Thus confused, they went to sleep.
In the morning, Elaphe took all but one of the swords, one of the spearheads, and two of the shields to sell, after first taking a trow spearhead to a blacksmith and asking them if they knew anything about it. The blacksmith examined the spearhead, tapped it a bit with their claws (they were a mycon), and said that it was trow work, pretty valuable, and seemed very excited that there were more. Elaphe came back with Bonnie and the rest of the loot and got down to haggling, coming out of it with a tidy sum of money that they immediately spent on a riding horse and cart.
Unfortunately, Bonnie rolled very well to sell the trow weapons (6 successes on the Bureaucracy roll, where each success shifts the price 5%), but failed on the horse roll and got swindled. Not to the point of getting passed shoddy goods, but they paid about 10% more than they had to. Still, it let them move the broken automaton onto the cart and head out of town, though not before Bonnie wrote a letter and sent it back west with a runner for the caravan to see if they would be interested in buying a trow automaton, mostly-intact.
The trip down the road toward Etemenanki was mostly uneventful, though Bonnie ran into a group of Chaian kappa from one of the tribes that crossed the Turtleback Mountains into Chai generations ago coming from the tower and, when she heard them speaking in her native tongue, excitedly stopped to talk. She learned that they had left their tribe to see the world as is traditional among their youths, and signed on with a Silent One who had determined he knew a secret route into the tower. He died, crushed by a falling block along with the crystalline cube treasure he found, and several other chuzan mercenaries he brought with him fell victim to pit traps, whirling flame whips, shadow monster, or terrible protean abominations that slithered along channels and absorbed their prey. Two of the kappa had died as well, and the three survivors were making their way back to their tribe. They snapped to attention when Bonnie revealed her rank--as an Auspicious Orator, she's a member of the mandarinate, albeit a low-ranking one--but she waved it off and they parted after a brief time.
That night the forest drew close to the road, and following the Green Knight's urging, they went off the road and made camp in the shadow of the trees. They all went to sleep--even Amos, who could see the fushigibana sitting on the branches and staring down at them--but were awakened by the Green Knight during his watch when he heard a crashing in the distance, a sign that all of them recognized as the tell-tale sound of the walking trees. The Green Knight told them to flee for the road and went off into the woods to find a wild animal to wound, since walking trees are drawn to the scent of blood. He found a deer, but it noticed him just as he snuck up on it and evaded his attack, so with no other recourse he wounded himself and ran. Fortunately, while walking trees are enormously powerful and their tenacity rivals the Terminator, they are not fast and will rarely leave the forests, so he managed to outrun them and make his way back to the group when Amos launched an arrow from his bow which burst into flames and worked as a flare.
The next day was mostly uneventful. There's a mandragora and her entourage that the band of murderhobos ignored, and they camped near the road, which was edged with stone to help keep the forest away. The next day they exited the forest and saw Etemenanki filling the horizon to the southwest and a group of people with armbands with towers on them who asked them if they're going to the tower town and if they know the rules. Elaphe said yes and Bonnie said no, and after a suspicious look the guard told them don't kill, don't steal, don't fight, and it costs one monme to enter the tower paid to the excise office, then they were waved on.
They spent half the day walking down the road, with the tower getting larger and larger, until around sunset, with the whole landscape in shadow because the tower blocked out the sun and several cloud kingdoms visibly orbiting the massive structure, they entered the tower town.
While there's nowhere in Agarica that's racially homogeneous other than the Scarlet City, the tower town was the most eclectic place any of the group had ever seen. There were amanita and mandragora and kong and mycon and kappa and chuzan all rubbing shoulders, a group of raptok goes by chatting in their hissing language, and there was even a kremling in a green robe and his two bodyguards. Amos thought he sees another human, but when he got closer he could see that they had wings. Truly, tower town is an amazing place.
Moving through the streets, Elaphe found the group an inn with the sign of the three fishes and decided they would stay there, and as they entered, I told them there were a few people inside, it was dimly lit in the back but there were larger windows in the front, and then I hit play on Shadow's Theme and mentioned a kong and a raptok drinking tea together in the corner. And we ended there.
This session was mostly dice-driven, with the guards, the walking trees in the forest, and the mandragora and her entourage all spawned from random encounter tables. I will need to come up with something for next game, though, since the murderhobos have a hot tip for a secret portion of Etemenanki. I could probably run the whole rest of the game as a megadungeon set around the tower--an idea I've had before--but that will depend on the party's decisions.
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I got too worried and gave up, though at least I actually went to the shrine instead of hiding inside all day. But until I thought about the inconsistencies, I would have sworn that the first version of the story was the true one.