[WotMK: Hexcrawl] Session Thirteen
Dramatis Personae:
The amanita was closemouthed, but he was willing to engage Shining Star in conversation. She tried to subtly hint to them that she was in town for the same reason, but the amanita either didn't pick up on it or wasn't interested in revealing their own motivations.Shining Star: "You come from the Kingdom of Flowers?"
Amanita: "There are many wanderers from the Kingdom on the road in these days."
She was thinking about what to do next when the mandragora companion of the anamita came downstairs and sat next to him. Shining Star tried talking to her using the Royal Speech, the mandragora ability to speak into others' minds, and had much more success.
The mandragora introduced herself as Dim Ember of the House of Hollyhock, Knight-Lieutenant of the Knights of the Rose, a Floral knightly order responsible for dealing with dangerous spirits. She told Shining Star that she had been tracking Kurome for weeks since they had heard rumors in tower town that he was in Greenwall, and introduced her companions--Ringo, a raptok sorcerer; Meohan, a hedge wizard; and Cheerless Sword, her yojimbo, the amanita sitting next to her.
As if summoned, Meohan and Ringo came down the stairs and joined them at the table, and Amos and the Green Knight--who had been engaging in a staring contest with both Cheerless Sword and then Dim Ember--also came and sat down when Shining Star used the Royal Speech to tell them what had transpired. Bonnie, who had been sidling from chair to chair to get a bit closer, sat as well, and even Elaphe woke up and came downstairs, though he affected to be unrelated and sat at the bar instead, keeping an ear out.
Most of the session was taken up with the discussion that ensued as the two groups tried to feel each other out. Now that she knew she was dealing with a fellow exile of the Kingdom of Flowers, Dim Ember was much more forthcoming, and while she didn't explain her past or how she met her companions, she did mention what she knew about Kurome--that he had fled from the wrath of the Dragon Emperor (she uses the term "usurper") to a village in the north of the Kingdom of Flowers, but a group of wandering heroes had defeated his attempt to conquer that and use it as a base to expand his power. He fled through the Forest of Shadows, somehow surviving the journey, and had come to Greenwall, and she meant to kill him.
Bonnie asked if Dim Ember is a sorcerer, and she replied that she is not but that Ringo is, and then Bonnie tried to find out if Dim Ember and her group really is responsible for killing Summer Rain. She rolls and...botches the roll, so instead of asking in a round-about fashion if the Knights of the Rose have a way of dealing with ghosts, Bonnie blurted out something about whether Dim Ember created any ghosts on the way south. That put something of a damper on the conversation, and moreso when Shining Star casts Scent of Corruption and learned that the bartender in the inn they're staying in has the touch of demonic magic on her. The spell wasn't specific enough to tell if the bartender was possessed, cursed, or under a compulsion, and Shining Star weighed the chance of exorcising the taint with the fact that she'd be revealing herself to Kurome if she did. She decided against it, and Dim Ember and her group left to do more scouting of the town.
Shining Star and the party, minus Elaphe, did the same, and they found a half-dozen individuals who were tainted in the same way. No one is sure where Kurome is, but the smell of rot was strongest in the town square and faded as they walked near the outlying houses and fields, so even if Kurome isn't physically present in the town, that was obviously where his influence was the strongest. While wandering around, they were confronted by a group of local mycon and amanita youths who were spoiling for a fight. One of them, who had the smoky haze of demonic influence around him, even went so far as to throw a clod of dirt at Shining Star, but when the Green Knight used hedge magic to disappear and reappear right in front of them, the youths all broke and ran. Back at the inn, the party conferred. Elaphe agreed to continue watching the bartender and the others went to bed.
That night, after the inn was closed and the bartender had gone to sleep, Elaphe slipped out the front and around the back and found a door leading out to an alleyway, so he chanted a quick bit of hedge magic to aid stealth and settled in to wait. After about an hour in the alley, the bartender left through the back door and began to purposefully walk north. Elaphe followed, noticing a few other people walking at night as well, and eventually climbed up to a roof to get a better viewpoint. The people all walked north into the grain fields and disappeared into the tall stalks, though he could see ruffling among the sheaves that told him they were converging on one point. He made his way back to the inn, encountering nothing other than a few drunks, and when he returned he saw steady light coming from the room that Dim Ember and her group were staying in. He decided to wake Shining Star, however, and explained what he saw and then lay down to sleep.
Shining Star knocked on Dim Ember's door and it opened onto a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth as long as her hand. But when Ringo noticed who it was, she stepped aside, revealing Meohan sitting over a bowl of water and moving his hands in languid motions. Shining Star explained to Dim Ember what Elaphe had found, and Meohan changed the focus of his scrying pool. From above, it showed ten people standing in a circle in a small clearing in the fields. The only sound was the wind, but Shining Star could see the glow of their eyes--not the verdant green of the Green Knight's eyes, but the sickly green-yellow of something poisonous. After a few moments, the group dispersed, and Shining Star returned to her room and went to sleep.
Like I mentioned, this session was almost entirely dialogue other than the spying at the end. The whole thing really turned on Bonnie's Charisma + Presence botch--without that, the party might have been able to figure out what really happened with Summer Rain and maybe resolve that. As it is, the shield was left in their room all day, so barring some kind of ghost power, Summer Rain doesn't know what happened. At least, they hope not!
Now the party has tentative allies, but the real question comes in for whether they'll be able to fight Kurome and what happens after they win. Elaphe's player does a lot of asking about the location of things so he can figure blast radii...
- Shining Star, mandragora sorcerer-priestess of Nyarhé.
- 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 amanita was closemouthed, but he was willing to engage Shining Star in conversation. She tried to subtly hint to them that she was in town for the same reason, but the amanita either didn't pick up on it or wasn't interested in revealing their own motivations.Shining Star: "You come from the Kingdom of Flowers?"
Amanita: "There are many wanderers from the Kingdom on the road in these days."
She was thinking about what to do next when the mandragora companion of the anamita came downstairs and sat next to him. Shining Star tried talking to her using the Royal Speech, the mandragora ability to speak into others' minds, and had much more success.
The mandragora introduced herself as Dim Ember of the House of Hollyhock, Knight-Lieutenant of the Knights of the Rose, a Floral knightly order responsible for dealing with dangerous spirits. She told Shining Star that she had been tracking Kurome for weeks since they had heard rumors in tower town that he was in Greenwall, and introduced her companions--Ringo, a raptok sorcerer; Meohan, a hedge wizard; and Cheerless Sword, her yojimbo, the amanita sitting next to her.
As if summoned, Meohan and Ringo came down the stairs and joined them at the table, and Amos and the Green Knight--who had been engaging in a staring contest with both Cheerless Sword and then Dim Ember--also came and sat down when Shining Star used the Royal Speech to tell them what had transpired. Bonnie, who had been sidling from chair to chair to get a bit closer, sat as well, and even Elaphe woke up and came downstairs, though he affected to be unrelated and sat at the bar instead, keeping an ear out.
Most of the session was taken up with the discussion that ensued as the two groups tried to feel each other out. Now that she knew she was dealing with a fellow exile of the Kingdom of Flowers, Dim Ember was much more forthcoming, and while she didn't explain her past or how she met her companions, she did mention what she knew about Kurome--that he had fled from the wrath of the Dragon Emperor (she uses the term "usurper") to a village in the north of the Kingdom of Flowers, but a group of wandering heroes had defeated his attempt to conquer that and use it as a base to expand his power. He fled through the Forest of Shadows, somehow surviving the journey, and had come to Greenwall, and she meant to kill him.
Bonnie asked if Dim Ember is a sorcerer, and she replied that she is not but that Ringo is, and then Bonnie tried to find out if Dim Ember and her group really is responsible for killing Summer Rain. She rolls and...botches the roll, so instead of asking in a round-about fashion if the Knights of the Rose have a way of dealing with ghosts, Bonnie blurted out something about whether Dim Ember created any ghosts on the way south. That put something of a damper on the conversation, and moreso when Shining Star casts Scent of Corruption and learned that the bartender in the inn they're staying in has the touch of demonic magic on her. The spell wasn't specific enough to tell if the bartender was possessed, cursed, or under a compulsion, and Shining Star weighed the chance of exorcising the taint with the fact that she'd be revealing herself to Kurome if she did. She decided against it, and Dim Ember and her group left to do more scouting of the town.
Shining Star and the party, minus Elaphe, did the same, and they found a half-dozen individuals who were tainted in the same way. No one is sure where Kurome is, but the smell of rot was strongest in the town square and faded as they walked near the outlying houses and fields, so even if Kurome isn't physically present in the town, that was obviously where his influence was the strongest. While wandering around, they were confronted by a group of local mycon and amanita youths who were spoiling for a fight. One of them, who had the smoky haze of demonic influence around him, even went so far as to throw a clod of dirt at Shining Star, but when the Green Knight used hedge magic to disappear and reappear right in front of them, the youths all broke and ran. Back at the inn, the party conferred. Elaphe agreed to continue watching the bartender and the others went to bed.
That night, after the inn was closed and the bartender had gone to sleep, Elaphe slipped out the front and around the back and found a door leading out to an alleyway, so he chanted a quick bit of hedge magic to aid stealth and settled in to wait. After about an hour in the alley, the bartender left through the back door and began to purposefully walk north. Elaphe followed, noticing a few other people walking at night as well, and eventually climbed up to a roof to get a better viewpoint. The people all walked north into the grain fields and disappeared into the tall stalks, though he could see ruffling among the sheaves that told him they were converging on one point. He made his way back to the inn, encountering nothing other than a few drunks, and when he returned he saw steady light coming from the room that Dim Ember and her group were staying in. He decided to wake Shining Star, however, and explained what he saw and then lay down to sleep.
Shining Star knocked on Dim Ember's door and it opened onto a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth as long as her hand. But when Ringo noticed who it was, she stepped aside, revealing Meohan sitting over a bowl of water and moving his hands in languid motions. Shining Star explained to Dim Ember what Elaphe had found, and Meohan changed the focus of his scrying pool. From above, it showed ten people standing in a circle in a small clearing in the fields. The only sound was the wind, but Shining Star could see the glow of their eyes--not the verdant green of the Green Knight's eyes, but the sickly green-yellow of something poisonous. After a few moments, the group dispersed, and Shining Star returned to her room and went to sleep.
Like I mentioned, this session was almost entirely dialogue other than the spying at the end. The whole thing really turned on Bonnie's Charisma + Presence botch--without that, the party might have been able to figure out what really happened with Summer Rain and maybe resolve that. As it is, the shield was left in their room all day, so barring some kind of ghost power, Summer Rain doesn't know what happened. At least, they hope not!
Now the party has tentative allies, but the real question comes in for whether they'll be able to fight Kurome and what happens after they win. Elaphe's player does a lot of asking about the location of things so he can figure blast radii...