[WotMK: Hexcrawl] Session Fourteen
Dramatis Personae:
Near the end of this period, Shining Star slipped upstairs to summon a Knowing Whisper, a minor servant of Nyahré in her aspect as goddess of secrets. She borrowed the senses of the Knowing Whisper to see the world of spirits and immediately noticed a purplish-black haze all over the room. Shining Star came downstairs and exited the tea house, followed by the others, and immediately noticed a haze in the town square as well, strongest around the town hall on the other end of the square. As the party was standing around wondering what to do, Elaphe slipped out and made his way around the edges of the square, sticking to the shadows and trying to move closer and Bonnie drank a dose of Spirit-Flower Tea so she would know if there were demons about. And then, she saw one. Shining Star and Amos saw it too, the same gigantic spider-thing that Amos saw when they first entered the town, crouched on the roof of a building near the town hall.
Bonnie ran inside to put on the armor she had bought while the rest of the other party, Meohan the hedge wizard, Cheerless Sword the yojimbo, and Dim Ember the Knight of the Rose, filtered outside. As Elaphe reached his position on a small road near the town hall, watching the square, Shining Star walked forward to the base of the building. She was tired of hiding and tired of waiting, so she reached out, called up her Essence, and dropped a Cloak of Night on top of the building. A moment later, she was rewarded as the demon leaped down on her from above, but Shining Star backflipped out of the way (something like 11 successes on 8 dice to dodge!) and then several things happened at once.
Dim Ember shook her walking staff and grabbed it with her other hand, and suddenly it changed, bending and turning green, deep grooves appeared on it and crawling over its surface, forming vines all over its length, until she was holding a bow. As Cheerless Sword and Ringo started running toward Shining Star, Dim Ember raised the bow and an arrow of twisting green Essence appeared as she drew back the string, trailing red and gold rose petals as it flew. It hit the demon, but didn't seem to injure it much.
The demon lunged at Shining Star again, biting her but not seriously, and she felt a tingling sensation at the wound which fortunately soon faded. The Green Knight looked around the square, noticing a few villagers who weren't running and were instead slowly walking toward the group with dull expressions on their faces. He knelt and touched the group, summoning up the Bramble-Commanding Aura around the largest group of villagers, and vines and weeds sprouted up from the ground and lashed around their legs. They didn't seem to notice, but it definitely slowed them down.
Amos shot at the demon with his bow, but missed and the flaming arrow hit the building behind it, which began sizzling. Ringo bit at the spider, tearing off one of its legs, as the spider attacked Shining Star again, but she stepped back and called up the Chains of Searing Light. Unfortunately, the pain distracted her and the demon easily slipped between them.
Elaphe did nothing, watching the old chuzan that was slowly and purposefully walking down the road near him.
Suddenly, the chuzen opened his mouth impossibly wide and a green pillar of flesh forced its way out and rocketed through the air, hitting Ringo and carving a chunk from her flesh, before continuing across the square and entering the grotesquely-open mouth of a mycon on the other side of the square. Dim Ember drew back her bow again and launched a flurry of arrows at the demon, two of them hitting and sinking into its flesh. It began to bleed black smoke as Cheerless Sword shouted to wait and attack on his signal.
Amos fired another arrow, this time hitting the spider, as Bonnie ran out of the tea house clad in her armor and Elaphe stepped forward and brutally half-decapitated the old chuzan from behind. The Green Knight moved up toward the demon spider as the door to the town hall was hurled open, nealry off its hinges, revealing the hulking form of a blood-ape--a monster a foot taller than a kong, with black fur, spikes on its joints and shoulders, and glowing patches as though its blood was burning and shining through its skin. As it began to move forward, Shining Star, Cheerless Sword and Ringo all struck at once, carving the demonic spider to ribbons and dissolving its physical form. Though, as Amos and Bonnie saw, not destroying it--immaterial, it began to run back toward the town hall.
The mycon's mouth opened wide and the green mode hurled itself across the square in front of the town hall, hitting Dim Ember a glancing blow, and disappearing down the mouth of an amanita across the square. As Amos fired at the blood ape, hitting it as it charged forward and the Green Knight moved to intercept it, Shining Star raised her hands and they began glowing with an eye-searing white light and she called up Star Fires and hurled them at the possessed amanita. The white light washed over them, and they began to cough black smoke and smoke drifted out of their eyes and ears. Dim Ember followed it up with an arrow which vanished in the air, but to Bonnie's tea-enhanced vision it turned into a cloud of rose petals which enveloped the possessed amanita.
Then a horrific shriek filled the square, emanating from the town hall. For those at the far end of the square it was merely blood-curdling, but those closer felt the sound crawling over their skin, seeking and entrance and trying to settle inside them...
...and we ended there for time.
Combat! It actually only took up the last half of the session, it's just that the first half was a lot of minor conversations and wondering what the group should do? The answer turned out to be "frontal assault," I think partially because Shining Star's player wanted something to happen and partially because she thought that Shining Star was tired of waiting. And for a combat with twelve participants--thirteen if you count Kurome--I thought it went pretty well.
The demons are showing no fear in combat because their bodies aren't them--as spirits, they can materialize and just dematerialize if sufficiently beaten up. Now, should any of the party show themselves capable of hurting dematerialized spirits, as Shining Star and Dim Ember can, then they'll be more cautious. Shining Star being a priestess of Nyahré is the reason why the demon spider was attacking her with suicidal fury, hoping for its poison to take effect. No such luck.
That shriek at the end obviously supernatural, but I realized after the game that I was wrong about who was close enough to the town hall to be affected by it, so I'll deal with that at the beginning of the next game. I also have to rewrite the spell that causes it, because right now it's boring.
- 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.
Near the end of this period, Shining Star slipped upstairs to summon a Knowing Whisper, a minor servant of Nyahré in her aspect as goddess of secrets. She borrowed the senses of the Knowing Whisper to see the world of spirits and immediately noticed a purplish-black haze all over the room. Shining Star came downstairs and exited the tea house, followed by the others, and immediately noticed a haze in the town square as well, strongest around the town hall on the other end of the square. As the party was standing around wondering what to do, Elaphe slipped out and made his way around the edges of the square, sticking to the shadows and trying to move closer and Bonnie drank a dose of Spirit-Flower Tea so she would know if there were demons about. And then, she saw one. Shining Star and Amos saw it too, the same gigantic spider-thing that Amos saw when they first entered the town, crouched on the roof of a building near the town hall.
Bonnie ran inside to put on the armor she had bought while the rest of the other party, Meohan the hedge wizard, Cheerless Sword the yojimbo, and Dim Ember the Knight of the Rose, filtered outside. As Elaphe reached his position on a small road near the town hall, watching the square, Shining Star walked forward to the base of the building. She was tired of hiding and tired of waiting, so she reached out, called up her Essence, and dropped a Cloak of Night on top of the building. A moment later, she was rewarded as the demon leaped down on her from above, but Shining Star backflipped out of the way (something like 11 successes on 8 dice to dodge!) and then several things happened at once.
Dim Ember shook her walking staff and grabbed it with her other hand, and suddenly it changed, bending and turning green, deep grooves appeared on it and crawling over its surface, forming vines all over its length, until she was holding a bow. As Cheerless Sword and Ringo started running toward Shining Star, Dim Ember raised the bow and an arrow of twisting green Essence appeared as she drew back the string, trailing red and gold rose petals as it flew. It hit the demon, but didn't seem to injure it much.
The demon lunged at Shining Star again, biting her but not seriously, and she felt a tingling sensation at the wound which fortunately soon faded. The Green Knight looked around the square, noticing a few villagers who weren't running and were instead slowly walking toward the group with dull expressions on their faces. He knelt and touched the group, summoning up the Bramble-Commanding Aura around the largest group of villagers, and vines and weeds sprouted up from the ground and lashed around their legs. They didn't seem to notice, but it definitely slowed them down.
Amos shot at the demon with his bow, but missed and the flaming arrow hit the building behind it, which began sizzling. Ringo bit at the spider, tearing off one of its legs, as the spider attacked Shining Star again, but she stepped back and called up the Chains of Searing Light. Unfortunately, the pain distracted her and the demon easily slipped between them.
Elaphe did nothing, watching the old chuzan that was slowly and purposefully walking down the road near him.
Suddenly, the chuzen opened his mouth impossibly wide and a green pillar of flesh forced its way out and rocketed through the air, hitting Ringo and carving a chunk from her flesh, before continuing across the square and entering the grotesquely-open mouth of a mycon on the other side of the square. Dim Ember drew back her bow again and launched a flurry of arrows at the demon, two of them hitting and sinking into its flesh. It began to bleed black smoke as Cheerless Sword shouted to wait and attack on his signal.
Amos fired another arrow, this time hitting the spider, as Bonnie ran out of the tea house clad in her armor and Elaphe stepped forward and brutally half-decapitated the old chuzan from behind. The Green Knight moved up toward the demon spider as the door to the town hall was hurled open, nealry off its hinges, revealing the hulking form of a blood-ape--a monster a foot taller than a kong, with black fur, spikes on its joints and shoulders, and glowing patches as though its blood was burning and shining through its skin. As it began to move forward, Shining Star, Cheerless Sword and Ringo all struck at once, carving the demonic spider to ribbons and dissolving its physical form. Though, as Amos and Bonnie saw, not destroying it--immaterial, it began to run back toward the town hall.
The mycon's mouth opened wide and the green mode hurled itself across the square in front of the town hall, hitting Dim Ember a glancing blow, and disappearing down the mouth of an amanita across the square. As Amos fired at the blood ape, hitting it as it charged forward and the Green Knight moved to intercept it, Shining Star raised her hands and they began glowing with an eye-searing white light and she called up Star Fires and hurled them at the possessed amanita. The white light washed over them, and they began to cough black smoke and smoke drifted out of their eyes and ears. Dim Ember followed it up with an arrow which vanished in the air, but to Bonnie's tea-enhanced vision it turned into a cloud of rose petals which enveloped the possessed amanita.
Then a horrific shriek filled the square, emanating from the town hall. For those at the far end of the square it was merely blood-curdling, but those closer felt the sound crawling over their skin, seeking and entrance and trying to settle inside them...
...and we ended there for time.
Combat! It actually only took up the last half of the session, it's just that the first half was a lot of minor conversations and wondering what the group should do? The answer turned out to be "frontal assault," I think partially because Shining Star's player wanted something to happen and partially because she thought that Shining Star was tired of waiting. And for a combat with twelve participants--thirteen if you count Kurome--I thought it went pretty well.
The demons are showing no fear in combat because their bodies aren't them--as spirits, they can materialize and just dematerialize if sufficiently beaten up. Now, should any of the party show themselves capable of hurting dematerialized spirits, as Shining Star and Dim Ember can, then they'll be more cautious. Shining Star being a priestess of Nyahré is the reason why the demon spider was attacking her with suicidal fury, hoping for its poison to take effect. No such luck.
That shriek at the end obviously supernatural, but I realized after the game that I was wrong about who was close enough to the town hall to be affected by it, so I'll deal with that at the beginning of the next game. I also have to rewrite the spell that causes it, because right now it's boring.