[Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

[Super Squirrel]

We had our first Valdorian Age game tonight. The game went rather quickly. The players caught on to the system basics really fast. I also gave them a cake walk, which helped.

 

The 20th Day of Founder's Month, 1023 VA

 

Sophia of Abzyinia has completed her apprenticeship under the Necromancer Sommal Lisiria. Sommal informs her that her parents have paid for her up until the end of her apprenticeship. Now that she is graduated, it is her responsibility to support herself. Sommal does have some jobs for her to do now and then but recommends that first she find herself some bodyguards. Her first task, after all, will take her to Lowtown.

 

In the Snake's Den, Sophia has heard of a man who employes barbarians he has helped adapt to the city life. He goes to Ralor Highcard's place of work but finds he is not home. The attendent on duty asks Sophia what she is looking for as far as Barbarians go. Sophia provides a rather, disturbing description, making it clear that being able to tolerate sorcery is appreciated. This eliminates just about everyone but one or two people. She is recommended to one warehouse where an Abyzinian Barbarian can be found working. The attendant also gives the location for a second warehouse where a Cynthian Rider who will do anything as long as he is paid can be found.

 

Sophia heads to find Kessa Iceraven first. After speaking with a manager, Sophia explains what she is looking for in work. Kessa inquires to the rate of pay. Sophia flat out offers a coin per day in pay, which Kessa accepts. The two head to a second warehouse to find the Cynthian named Carmen. This warehouse gives them a bit of difficulty because they do not want to lose the hard working Carmen.

 

Unable to get past the bulky manager, Kessa shouts out trynig to get Carmen to come forward. Carmen hears the shouting but not what was said. Periodically, barbarians will try to pick a fight with the manager and this usually is quite an interesting sight. Carmen, thinking a fight is about to break out, heads over to watch. Meanwhile, a barbarian from the Crumble, Skarg pretends to be Carmen and asks what Sophia wants. The manager puts a stop to it and gives Sophia thirty seconds to talk to Carmen. Sophia asks Carmen to work for her at a coin a day. Carmen accepts. The manager states that if Carmen leaves early he forfeits the day's wage. Sophia counters by paying Carmen up front for his services.

 

Sophia takes Carmen and Kessa back to Sommal's estate and shows them each to their room. She gives Carmen a jug of ale to pass the time and talks with Sophia while they wait for Sommal to return. Before Sophia can get a chance to explain to Carmen that she is a necromancer, she hears Sommal about upstairs. She speaks with Sommal and he gives her his first errand. Sophia needs to find Estus Catstride in Lowtown and pick up a package for Sommal.

 

Sophia gathers the two barbarians and heads out for Lowtown. As it turns out due to some bad dice rolls, the only member of the party who knows enough about Lowtown to find information is Carmen. After the Sophia wastes some money buying pastries at a bakery, he takes them to the Drunkard's Rest where they can find an assortment of taverns, most of which Carmen has not been thrown out of.

 

Sophia picks the Reveling Rat as her choice to find information. Knowing nothing about the place, Sophia walks up to Ratkeep and asks if he knows where Estus Catstride could be found. After a sharp glare from Ratkeep, a patron informs Sophia that Ratkeep is deaf. However, the patron does know someone who knows most people who are important and could help them find Estus. Sophia pays the man five bits and is introduced to Chal who was sitting at a table in the Ratkeep. Chal recognizes the name and informs Sophia that Estus is usually blowing his money Coin's Depart. Sophia gives Chal a couple of bits for this information.

 

The three partymembers head to the Coin's Depart and pick one of the gambling houses. They ask for Estus and are informed the bum hasn't been back since he lost a couple of dozen coins he didn't have on him. Estus is likely at the card house across the street. Sophia tips the informer a couple of bits for the information.

 

They cross the street and get introduced to Estus. Estus finishes up his loosing hand of cards and takes them to a building in the middle of lowtown. He goes inside to fetch the goods. While they wait, the group talks a bit amoungst themselves. Estus returns with a sack. The sack is fairly heavy with something in it about the size of a large grapefruit or a small watermelon. The bag is tied off by some twine.

 

With the goods in hand, the group starts to head back to Sommal. As they are heading back, some gang members block their path. One of the gang member refers to his boss saying they were throwing around money. As they watch, the path back is blocked off. The gang offers them a chance to give up their money and valuables but in response, Sophia dumps the contents of her personal bag onto the ground. The bones of a skelton now lie at her feet.

 

The gang spokesperson realizes she is a necromancer and orders the gnag to kill her. Carmen rushes forward while Kessa moves to the back. Kessa wastes no time in taking down the first gang member. Carmen also dispatches one of the front group easily. Sophia animates the bones with an excellent die roll. The skeleton steps up beside Carmen and attacks a gang member, blocking the alley. One of the bandits hits the skeleton putting a good crack into it but the skeleton is otherwise fine.

 

Kessa, who is very swift in battle takes down a second enemy. Carmen uses a sweep attack, striking the first target and taking the second target down. With his follow-through-attack power, he gets a second shot at the first attack and kills the swordsman. Sophia casts animate dead again with yet another decent roll and raises the first fallen victim from Carmen's attack. The zombie immediately attacks one of the enemies at the front of the line while the skeleton misses his target.

 

Two gang members jump down from the roof on either side of Sophia. One attacks and misses, the other gets a light graze on Sophia. Kessa moves in and executes an All-Out-Attack Martial Maneuver. The axe rips the target in half. Kessa goes first at the top of the twelve phase and moves in for the kill on the other enemy on Sophia.

 

Carmen reacts to the zombie by attacking it. Sophia starts screaming at Carmen for attacking the wrong people. The skeleton and the zombie wear down their targets. Carmen on his next action kills the first bandit while Kessa binds Sophia's wound. Kessa and Sophia sit out the rest of the battle while the two undead and the Cynthian Rider finish off the final target.

 

Sophia drops her spell, recollects her bones and has an argument with the male barbarian. After the bones are collected, they return to the Snake's Den and deliver the package to Sommal. Sommal pays Sophia and points out he won't likely have any jobs for her soon so she will have to find her own work. Sophia gives an extra coin bonus to Kessa for her work and buys Carmen som extra ale as his "bonus".

[Super Squirrel]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

In case you haven't followed the other threads, the characters are below:

http://aldaric.org/va/carmen.html

http://aldaric.org/va/kessa.html

http://aldaric.org/va/sophia.html

 

There are some slight adjustments to Carmen's character that are not up yet. I'll get them there as soon as I can.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

Very fun. Thanks for running the game, hon. ^ v ^

[Eoywin]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

It was very fun The system is slowly becoming clearer as well.

[Eoywin]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

Todd and I were talking about it yesterday, and I think I know what Sophia could try and do to earn money.

I can't wait for tonight's game!

[Super Squirrel]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

The 21st Day of Founder's Month, 1023 VA

The morning following the first adventure, Sophia begins to discuss how they plan on making money. She decides that becoming a mercenary group for hire is the best. But as they travel to Lowtown to find less scrupulous jobs, they discover that without a reputation, it is hard to get work.

 

Sophia has Carmen try and find work at the Beaten Mug. Weaselwhiskers hasn't heard of any jobs but suggests if they are looking for strong work, they could try signing up for a caravan guard work. Sophia and the crew head to Valdor's Courage in Worm's Tail. Sophia becomes very nervous with all of the Duke's Men about. They realize that the kind of work they want will not be found in Worm's Tail but is best found in Lowtown.

 

The group heads back to Lowtown and this time takes a different approach. The go into the Buxom Balladeer to look for a job. Bawler Bard is a bit more sympathetic to their cause. She asks them what jobs they have done before and learning that they have only dispatched everyday thugs, she scoffs. She recognizes that everyone has to start somewhere and she happens to know a job. She asks for a cut, 80:20 of the pay. Kessa Iceraven negotiates the deal be 80:20 after expenses. To this, Bawler agrees if 5 coins are paid in advance. After payment has been given and stashed away, Bawler informs them of Thenens Gorishkal. Thenens is an Abyzinian Merchant in need of protection.

 

They go to the Grunting Oaf tavern at the edge of Low Town and Snake's Den and meet Bessast who is hiding Thenens. They tell Bessast that Bawler sent them and he has his cook fetch Thenens. The man tells a tale of how two days previous, his wife disappeared. Last night, the corpse of his wife was delivered to his home. When he opened the sheets, the corpse moved and told Thenens that he was next. Thenens wants protection from when they come from him.

 

They leave Kessa to stay with Thenens while Carmen and Sophia head out to gather information. They go to Gibberish trying to find out if anyone would want Thenens killed. He has a good name to him, he only left Abyzinia because he had been a supporter of Razi Simbaktu during the war. He was a honest man who did honest work. They also learn that there are rumors of other Abyzinians being killed by a demon. One story was that of a fiery demon flying into one of the victim's homes.

 

They decide to ask Magistrate Quandras Gamble about the victims. Gamble confirms that there have been four Abyzinian murders in the last couple of weeks. Thugs or a demon, or even both, have been involved in each case. Sophia asks Gamble for a description of the victims and when that doesn't give her what she is after, she asks Gamble if anyone has died recently that matches Thenens description. Gamble is stunned by the question and gladly accepts a five coin bribe to answer it without questions. He identifies two recent deaths.

 

Carmen and Sophia head back and update Kessa. They discuss their plan to use a body as a decoy in Thenen's home. They buy a shovel and head out to the graveyard to steal a body. They carry the body all the way back to Thenen's home in Snake's Den and setup.

 

Sophia summons a Haunter and collects some Negative Favor Points. The haunter is given the task to watch for trouble and report should something seem out of the ordinary. They sit and wait until the Haunter returns. He reports ten thugs waiting outside the building. While he is reporting this, the thugs break down the front door and begin moving in. They get to the den and stop to wait. At this point, a Tender to the Furnaces demon bursts through the window. Cold Pyre the demon, sees that the Thenens is not present but recognizes Sophia.

 

Cold Pyre says, "You are on the list Sophia. It is not your time yet."

 

The bandits break down the door to the study and the demon attacks. The haunter is not hurt by the attack. Kessa, who had been waiting by the door, swings in her held action at the bandit who kicked in the door with a called shot. The attack hits and removes the leg of the bandit, henceforth called Stumpy.

 

Two other bandits grab Stumpy and drag him from the room. Carmen was in the wrong corner hiding and goes to move in on Cold Pyre. He takes a half move but one of the recently joined bandits serves as a better target. He knocks the bandit it out and badly wounds him. Sophia raises the stolen corpse as a zombie and it moves in to attack Cold Pyre. The hit is successful but the damage is minimal.

 

Kessa slays the remaining thug at the door, leaving the first of many to die in the hallway. Cold Pyre attacks the new zombie and does major damage to it. Carmen rushes over to Cold Pyre and lands a solid blow on the demon. Sophia goes to summon a skeleton from her bag of bones when something goes terribly wrong with the spell (she rolled an 18). The skeleton rushes around the table though, and flanks the demon.

 

Kessa attacks one of three bandits that leaps into the room. Sophia can easily get to one of them and kills him on the spot. She then gets her next phase action and takes a move around the pile of bodies and does a Fury Whirl attack. It hits and the two bandits in the room die. Cold Pyre makes a wave of flame explode around him. Carmen is lightly bruised but the zombie is completely destroyed and the Haunter is sent back from where it came. Carmen makes an attack, failing to properly pull of a sword play, and sends Cold Pyre back to its home, unable to complete the task or report success.

 

Sophia summons a new zombie from one of the recently fallen who immediately attacks one of the bandits in the doorway. All of the bandits except the one who was stunned from the last round flee. Sophia drops the spell and Carmen tries to run over the bodies to get to him. He fails a DEX check and falls over a body onto the ground. The remaining thug runs and escapes danger.

 

With the battle over, they begin to loot the bodies and interrogate the captives. They learn form the brothers Sens (Stumpy) and Etzlin that a rumor had brought them to Underfoot Pass. Instead of meeting a person to do a job, they encountered a demon. The demon provided them with some money if they assisted him with a task put before him by his master. The did as Cold Pyre requested and never learned more to the identity of his master.

 

Sophia decides to keep Stumpy's leg and stuffs it into a bag. Carmen cleans up the bodies, dumping them to a nearby alley while Kessa escorts Sophia so that she can change and drop off her flesh smelling bag. They go back to the safe house and approach Thenens Gorishkal. He thanks them and pays them 100 coins. He plans on leaving within a day for Graecoria and never returning.

 

Sophia strips and bleaches Stumpy's leg. She sees that Bawler Bard gets paid and gives a bonus to both of her barbarians. Then she attempts to request a service from a supernatural creature. The attempt succeeds but the service will be at the start of next week's game.

 

This game created four new NPCs:

Sens (aka Stumpy) and Etzlin. One is missing part of a leg, the other has an unusable right hand from when Carmen broke it with his sword hilt. Bessast runs the Grunting Oaf. Thenens Gorishkal was supposed to die but because he lived, is now and NPC in Graecoria.

[hooligan x]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

Sounds fun so far. We're readin', keep them coming.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

It'll be one a week, pretty regularly.

 

We're all still kind of settling into our characters (and I had to do dishes for the first half of the game ), but it's pretty fun.

 

I like how my character kicks butt in combat.

[Eoywin]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

The posts make the game sound more serious than it felt while playing it... there was a lot of laughing

All in all - it's really fun

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

I think the funniest part was afterwards, when we were joking about coming for the rest of Stumpy's parts, one by one.

[Eoywin]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

I think the funniest part was afterwards' date=' when we were joking about coming for the rest of Stumpy's parts, one by one.[/quote']

 

It was!! I hope we run into Stumpy again

[Edsel]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

I thought all of Eoywin's text was always green.

[Eoywin]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

I thought all of Eoywin's text was always green.

 

Someone asked me to change because they couldn't read it

[Super Squirrel]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

It was!! I hope we run into Stumpy again

You will. Trust me on that.

[Eoywin]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

You will. Trust me on that.

 

Yay!! Though poor Stumpy will only be able to gimp away from us

[Eoywin]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

I just purchased samples of perfume called "Graveyard Dirt" and "Sophia" - I'll have to wear them to game at some point

[Super Squirrel]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

22nd Day of Founder's Month (continued)

Sophia established contact with a supernatural being and requests a task. She is given the task to find Jarvyd Highsole to make a Trimere Oar and to sit through the entire processes. She takes her barbarians and finds Jarvyd's residence. He agrees and says he will be able to start tommorrow. He asks her what kind of Trimere Oar and she says she doesn't care. He finds the request odd, but agrees at the price of 20 coins.

 

23rd Day of Founder's Month

Sophia leaves to complete her task leaving Kessa and Carmen to pass the time. Kessa decides to get into some fist fights with other barbarians to practice her skills and get into an actual challange. News of this gets to Skarg who tracks down Kessa to try as well. Kessa falls for a tactical maneuver by Skarg (she actually rolled an 18) and Skarg plants two quick punches into Kessa's back. Kessa isn't doing well but manages to return a solid blow to Skarg. Skarg is winning but asks Kessa if they are fighting until the other is knocked out. Kessa states it is to test skills and she admits Skarg is forminable. They agree to end the battle there.

 

Meanwhile Carmen is heading into Low Town. As he is heading down the street a girl runs his direction shouting for help. Two gangers stand further up the street with dirks drawn. When Carmen pulls his sword they retreat into an alley and disappear. Carmen learns that the girl was being chased because her brother owes them money and they were coming for her as payment. Carmen learns they some of the gang show up at a particular tavern from time to time.

 

As the girl, Nelde, has not eaten in a day, Carmen buys her some food and some drink at this tavern. About thirty minutes later, Nelde points out two rough looking people as being part of the gang and declares she wants to sneak away. Carmen tells her to stay put and goes to confront the two men. As it turns out, the men have nothing to do with the situation and when Carmen looks back, the girl is gone. He goes to pay for the food and discovers that he has also lost his coin purse.

 

Sophia returns from the snoozer trip to Jarvyd with her new oar. She runs into Carmen in Lowtown and pays for his meal. They head into Snake's Den and find Kessa who looks recently bruised but quite fine. They return to their home and decide to begin investigating into the Black Magician who is killing Abyzinians.

 

She summons her Knower of Secrets and asks him five questions. They get a couple of useful pieces of information. They learn that the Black Magician definitely resides within Gibberish. They learn that Aissa T'numbra is safe but might know information to help track down the Black Magician. The Knower of Secrets doesn't know much of what they can use to force her assistance. They learn that the Abyzinian Nights will be a great place to gather information.

 

They start with the Abyzinian Nights. Kessa hears some stories of clans from her homeland while Sophia learns some information from Portleback Simmer. Portleback doesn't know who it is but knows it is bad for business. He promises to keep his ear low to the ground and will share any information he hears. Sophia offers 5 coins for this which Portleback declares is good for a month's time.

 

Next they head to Aissa T'numbra's shop. Aissa doesn't know anything at all but was worried she might be a target. Learning that she isn't a target puts her at ease. She agrees to keep her ears open as well. The group is suspicious of her for a moment because she knew Sophia's name without having met before. But it is quickly clarified that Sophia's master has shopped there before as do many Sorcerers looking for the many strange objects needed for recharging their energy. The group asks if anything particularly strange has been purchased lately. She mentions Redel Darrubu overpaying for a simple clay pot.

 

The group now tracks down Redel. At it turns out, he is an Elementalist whose business deals with information gathering and exchanging. When the murders took place, he looked into the matter himself so that he could prove to his clients he wasn't involved. A Tender of the Flames and a Fire Elemental do, after all, share many features. Sophia gives him the address of where she lives in case he learns anything.

 

As the group is heading back home, they encounter a group of the same gangers before hanging out with Nelde. Suddenly aware that he fell victim to a bait and switch, Carmen goes after her. Kessa runs around the group, presumably to get flank them but more appear from a side alley. Carmen and a skeleton summoned by Sophia pick away at the front group will Kessa takes out the rear group. Kessa rolls a three on her Charge combat maneuver and cleaves the first swordsman in half. His brother becomes enraged and actually gets some damage past her armor.

 

While the two groups are in combat, Nelde runs down an alleyway to safety. Sophia and Carmen finish their group first and take down the one man blocking Nelde's alleyway. Sophia chases after her while Carmen moves in to help finish off the remaining people on Kessa. Kessa had taken a very bad blow from a Dirk Tosser but was still able to scare away one of the remaining men.

 

Sophia catches up with Nelde and corners her. She puts Nelde into a grab and takes back what remains of the stolen coins. She asks Nelde what she learned.

 

Nelde answers, "Don't steal from Barbarians."

 

Sophia tells her, "No, Don't steal from Sophia's Barbarians."

 

So ends the game for tonight. Next week we will be skipping over to NaNoWriMo wrap-up and much needed destress on all parties involved.

 

This game introduced two new NPCs:

Redel Darrubu, an Elementalist who specialized in Air Elementals.

Nedle, a poor yet attractive thief.

[Manic Typist]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

What are "Negative Favor Points?"

 

And what exactly does a task offer? Do you gain something from it? Are you paying for power in some way, the amount of power proportionate to the task performed?

 

And who gives you these, and why?

[Super Squirrel]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

When you fail a skill roll to summon a supernatural creature, cast a spell, or contest an EGO roll with a supernatural creature, you gain negative favor points equal to the difference (double the points if you roll an 18). After collecting 15 negative favor points, you run the risk of a supernatural creature demanding a favor from the Sorcerer.

 

For a good example, Redel Darrubu summons Air Elementals on a regular basis. Over time, he acquired some substantial Negative Favor Points. One day, he was approached by an Earth Elemental who demanded he go, spend more coin than was necessary for a clay pot and break it once he was outside. That was the clay pot that Aissa refered to in the game we had.

[Manic Typist]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

Ah...... so you are essentially paying off a debt.

 

But....... what happens if you say no?

 

I doubt it is pleasant.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

If you ever roll an 18 after refusing a task you lose your soul.

[Manic Typist]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

HARSH! But beautiful.

 

I guess that's the point at which they hand you their character sheets and start writing a new one eh?

[Eoywin]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

Sophia could lose her soul??

I guess it's a good thing she is being proactive about doing favors.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

Well, you gotta think about all the things that hafta fall into place before that'll happen.

 

First, your favor points would have to get above 30 negative favor points. (I figure any less than that, and she's likely to agree to do whatever it is.) And those negative points would have to stay there long enough for someone to randomly decide to collect on those points.

 

Then, she would have to be given a task she or her barbarians won't do.

 

Then, upon refusal, you'd have to roll an 18.

 

The odds of all of those lining up at once are fairly slim.

[Steve]

Re: [Campaign Log] Sophia's Barbarians

 

The odds of all of those lining up at once are fairly slim.

 

Yes, but players can get unlucky sometimes.

 

I recommend doing every favor you can as often as you can, no matter how chintzy. The good news is that a kindly GM can work doing these favors into new story hooks.