Friday Evening Game Report - Capharnaüm, Session 2
I meant to get this blog entry written and up right after the weekend, but doctor appointments and a couple of other crises kept me from it. Ah well, better late than never, right? :)
This past Friday night (the 25th) the gaming group met up for the once every two weeks gaming session. The Friday evening gaming group continued play in their Capharnaüm - The Tales of the Dragon-Marked roleplaying game campaign in the world of the Arabian Nights, Argonauts and Adventure. You can read about the previous session of the game by following the link. This post is somewhat long, so I've put it behind a cut for those who don't want to read about my roleplaying game campaigns.
CHARACTERS:
Chanda the Dark-Haired (KathyB) - Saabi Thief
Derori Bat Natanyu (Angela) - Shiradi Storyteller
Meheka the Wise (Ellie) - Saabi Sage, Sorceress
Menachim Bar Vidal (Mark) - Shiradi Physician
Erick Olafsson (Peter) - Orkadian Mercenary/Adventurer
9-Primus-4-5997
(9th day of the first Ten-day of the 4th Month of the year 5997)
In the Black Dabbat, Edrick Olafsson is annoyed that the storyteller’s tale has distracted the men who were talking about the caravan that never arrived in Halifah. Paying attention to the storyteller, whose name he remembers the serving girl telling him is Derori Bat Natanyu, he recalls a version of the story that he’s heard before. As the woman finishes her tale, to the applause of most of the patrons in the Black Dabbat, he hears several drunkards at another table disparaging the storyteller. Before he can pay more attention to them or go to the storyteller’s aid, Edrick is caught up in the other matter of interest, as the men at the table nearest him continue to talk about the caravan that did not reach Halifah. He learns that several other caravans that were due to pass through over the last two months never reached Halifah, and they are concerned about the prices for some goods - mainly commodities, but also foodstuffs and shipments of cloth and silk - in the wake of the shortages the caravans’ non-arrivals will cause in the coming Tendays and months. He prepares to go over to the men in question to talk to them, but before he can do so, a sharp pain on his back [where his Dragon Mark is] pulls at him, making him want to exit the tavern. Not one to ignore the Dragon Mark’s call, Edrick strides out of the tavern, ignoring the cries that he’s not paid his tab from the serving girl, and looks around outside.
Chanda the Dark-Haired decides she’s had enough of the cat-and-mouse game that she’s experiencing with the al-Fariqani dogging her heels, and decides to confront him. She reaches an alleyway and quietly makes her way down it, slipping out of his reach and sight [she rolls 23 on her result dice, and 5 Magnitude versus her opponent]. As he passes by, searching for her, she slips behind him and demands to know who he is and why he’s following her. He doesn’t seem surprised that she’s got the drop on him, but says that his name is Jamal, that he’s the head guardsman for Emtek Ibn Malik Abd-Al-Hassan, the prince whom she stole the money pouch from. If she returns it to him, he’ll let her go, much against his better judgement. Chanda isn’t intimidated by him or his words, and says he’ll have to take it from her. He says that he won’t, but that his men will... and Chanda realizes she is facing a group of 6 guards, all armed with khanjars and sayfs (short scimitars). She draws her weapon, and smiling, beckons at the guards to come to her...
The physician, Menachim Bar Vidal, follows the young girl Mirami to the Black Dabbat, where she beckons him to follow her into the alley near the southwest corner of the establishment. Peering down the alley, somewhat obscured by shadows, he sees many large crates and other blocky objects, as well as what he believes is the rear entrance to the Black Dabbat. Mirami tells him that they must enter through the rear entrance into the building so as to get to the injured dancer in the back rooms of the tavern. Menachim follows her cautiously into the alley. When they reach the half-way point, Mirami smiles sadly at him, and apologises. When Menachim asks what for, a new voice, male, says, “For luring you to the alley and the ambush set for you, so that I may take my revenge!”. Menachim sees a former client of his, Tarman Bar Malov, whose wife he treated for an infection, though he could not save her in the end. However, the physician’s attention is distracted by the twelve or so street thieves that emerge from the shadows of the alley, moving menacingly towards him. Malov tells him that he can’t forgive him for the loss of his wife, Rivka, and has been told that Bar Vidal must die to purge his suffering. The street thieves move in to the attack, Menachim’s former client watching with a twisted grimace on his face.
Derori Bat Natanyu finished telling her tale, and accepted a goblet of wine from the innkeeper, who commented appreciatively on her tale spinning abilities. The storyteller hears the drunkards at a table criticize her and commenting on one at the Malaban in Gold drinking establishment in the Halifah souk who told that same tale better, but she ignores it, though they keep trying to antagonize her. She soon realizes that the problem wasn’t the fact that she's a storyteller - it's the fact that she's Shiradi. She tries to ignore the taunts, going to sit at one of the tables, and manages to overhear a little bit of conversation concerning the fact that a caravan had recenty not arrived in Halifah. She is unable to learn any more, as one of the drunkards, Saabi by the look of him, steps up and gets in her face. When she doesn't react he way he had expected, he throws his drink at her, but the storyteller easily dodges it. His two friends approach the table as well, and Derori feels that she was being targeted by these three for some reason.
Meheka the Wise applauds with appreciation as the storyteller finishes her tale of the princess and the djinn. Several young men sitting at a small table, obviously somewhat drunk on the spirits they’ve imbibed, jeer at the storyteller saying they have heard the tale presented twice as well at another Halifah establishment in the souk, the Malaban in Gold. Meheka overhears the drunkards talking, still jeering (but also leering) at the attractive storyteller, and soon realizes the truth - it's that the woman is Shiradi that bothers them more than anything. Seeing the three men stand and move towards the storyteller at her table, Meheka rises to her feet and fingers her khanjar. It was shaping up to be that kind of day, and while she isn't happy about it, she's not going to let the Shiradi storyteller face the three men on her own.
Chanda faces the six guards of Prince Emtek Ibn Malik Abd-Al-Hassan, and decides that she has no regrets about having stolen his money pouch, though she does feel that perhaps she hadn't been as sticky-fingered as she would like. Drawing her khedama (a Kh'saabi sabre), Chanda brings it to bear and strikes at the guards, bringing two of them down with her first attack. The others decide that discretion may be the better part of valour, but attack her anyway (a mere woman, right?), striking her a blow to the abdomen [she takes 5 points of damage], causing her to bleed somewhat. Their leader, Jamal, watched with amusement, and that annoyed Chanda even more. She strikes at the remaining guards, taking down all four in one acrobatically executed [Swaggering] blow. Commenting that she is a fearsome opponent indeed, Jamal prepared to attack Chanda, but the sounds of approaching feet deterred him. “There will be another reckoning,” he promised her, and then exited the alley with speed. The adrenalin high wearing off her, Chanda realizes she’d underestimated her opponents slightly, wiping at the blood on her abdomen. Unlooping a piece of cloth from her waist belt, she neatly ties it over the cut on her abdomen, and decides to seek out a tavern. She figures she'll have a drink to lessen the pain of the injury, and hopes she’d find a mendicant of some sort, or perhaps a physician.
In the alley behind the Black Dabbat, Menachim realizes that he’s walked into an ambush and that it’s of his own making. Not having his sayf with him, Menachim draws his khanjar and attempts to defend himself against the attacking street thieves that Tarman Bar Malov has brought against him. He barely strikes one of the street thieves, but is able to bring him down. The physician is attacked by five of the remaining street thieves with knives, and suffers a critical wound [they inflict 5 damage, no Soak permitted] and cries out as he drops to one knee after a serious wound to his left leg. Things look desperate for the Shiradi physician as the other five street thieves move towards him, with six more looking on with eager expressions on their faces.
Outside the Black Dabbat, Edrick looks around but cannot see anything that would merit the attention of his Dragon Mark. Then he hears a cry of pain from the alley behind the tavern, and moves swiftly in that direction. Taking in the situation in the alley, Edrick charges in swinging his Orkadian axe, and cleaves three of the street thieves in twain. "May your rotten souls receive no fair judgement at the hands of Aether for your cowardly attack on this man!" he shots at them. The others turn on the Orkadian mercenary, and try and slice him but only inflict minimal damage [he suffers 2 points of damage]. Striding up to the remaining street thieves, his axe takes down another four in one blow. [He rolled an 18, with 7 Magnitude!] The other street thieves, facing such a competent and dangerous foe, flee down the alley. Edrick asks the man on the ground, whom he recognizes as Dragon-Marked, if he’s all right, and the Shiradi physician says that he’ll live, but that his wound needs to be treated. Edrick turns on Tarman Bar Malov and says that while he doesn’t know who he is or what he holds against this other man, he can live if he leaves the area immediately. Tarman gives the Orkadian and the Shiradi a nasty look, but says nothing, and walks out of the alley. The two exchange names, and both comment on their Dragon Marks, and then Edrick helps Menachim towards the rear entrance of the Black Dabbat.
Back inside the tavern, the patrons of the tavern create space around the table with the storyteller, Derori, her three “suitors”, and Meheka. Meheka tells the three drunkards to leave the storyteller alone, but one of them comments that the “Shiradi won’t mind their companionship”. “But I will,” Meheka states, and creates a minor windstorm in the vicinity of the leader of the drunkards. It is only partly effective, but attracts the drunkards’ attention and that of Derori. One of the drunkards attempts to punch Meheka, but the sage easily dodges the punch and then trips the man who falls to the floor and doesn’t get up. Derori has had enough, and slashes at another of the drunkards with her jambiya (a recurved dagger, more of a tool), but misses completely and her jambiya goes flying and strikes the wood of the bar some 3 paces away. The second drunkard attempts to strike Derori, but misses her and collapses in a drunken heap. The third drunkard attempts to strike Meheka, but falls over his own two feet and trips, landing in a heap on top of his fellow drunkard. Derori thanks Meheka for coming to her aid, who replies by saying that she had to come to assist a “fellow traveller in need”. Derori laughs, and launches into a quick verse of “The Three Drunkards” and the crowd of the Black Dabbat laughs, the tension of the last few minutes dissipating. Derori goes to collect her weapon from the standing bar, improvising a second verse which draws approval from the crowd.
This first full session of the Friday night Capharnaüm - The Tales of the Dragon-Marked campaign was a pretty good one, and gave the players and their characters a real taste of the combat system, how the game mechanics work, and had some neat roleplaying in it as well that I really didn't go into in the write-up above. There are two serious wounds that will have to be dealt with by the player characters during the next session, but things will work out nicely, I hope. The players told me they had a really great time with the session and the action, as I went back and forth between the various combats, rather than just resolve one at a time, and they liked the momentary break when they got a chance to think a bit about the messes they were in! They were still having some problems dealing with the Result/Magnitude aspect of the dice rolls, but got better at it as we went along. They're quite looking forward to all being together in the next session, and Kathy mentioned that it should be a somewhat interesting character mix.
Overall, it was a good session of the Capharnaüm - The Tales of the Dragon-Marked RPG, and I enjoyed myself quite a bit despite the hectic nature of it all. Can't wait for the next game session, weather willing of course. :)
This past Friday night (the 25th) the gaming group met up for the once every two weeks gaming session. The Friday evening gaming group continued play in their Capharnaüm - The Tales of the Dragon-Marked roleplaying game campaign in the world of the Arabian Nights, Argonauts and Adventure. You can read about the previous session of the game by following the link. This post is somewhat long, so I've put it behind a cut for those who don't want to read about my roleplaying game campaigns.
CHARACTERS:
Chanda the Dark-Haired (KathyB) - Saabi Thief
Derori Bat Natanyu (Angela) - Shiradi Storyteller
Meheka the Wise (Ellie) - Saabi Sage, Sorceress
Menachim Bar Vidal (Mark) - Shiradi Physician
Erick Olafsson (Peter) - Orkadian Mercenary/Adventurer
9-Primus-4-5997
(9th day of the first Ten-day of the 4th Month of the year 5997)
In the Black Dabbat, Edrick Olafsson is annoyed that the storyteller’s tale has distracted the men who were talking about the caravan that never arrived in Halifah. Paying attention to the storyteller, whose name he remembers the serving girl telling him is Derori Bat Natanyu, he recalls a version of the story that he’s heard before. As the woman finishes her tale, to the applause of most of the patrons in the Black Dabbat, he hears several drunkards at another table disparaging the storyteller. Before he can pay more attention to them or go to the storyteller’s aid, Edrick is caught up in the other matter of interest, as the men at the table nearest him continue to talk about the caravan that did not reach Halifah. He learns that several other caravans that were due to pass through over the last two months never reached Halifah, and they are concerned about the prices for some goods - mainly commodities, but also foodstuffs and shipments of cloth and silk - in the wake of the shortages the caravans’ non-arrivals will cause in the coming Tendays and months. He prepares to go over to the men in question to talk to them, but before he can do so, a sharp pain on his back [where his Dragon Mark is] pulls at him, making him want to exit the tavern. Not one to ignore the Dragon Mark’s call, Edrick strides out of the tavern, ignoring the cries that he’s not paid his tab from the serving girl, and looks around outside.
Chanda the Dark-Haired decides she’s had enough of the cat-and-mouse game that she’s experiencing with the al-Fariqani dogging her heels, and decides to confront him. She reaches an alleyway and quietly makes her way down it, slipping out of his reach and sight [she rolls 23 on her result dice, and 5 Magnitude versus her opponent]. As he passes by, searching for her, she slips behind him and demands to know who he is and why he’s following her. He doesn’t seem surprised that she’s got the drop on him, but says that his name is Jamal, that he’s the head guardsman for Emtek Ibn Malik Abd-Al-Hassan, the prince whom she stole the money pouch from. If she returns it to him, he’ll let her go, much against his better judgement. Chanda isn’t intimidated by him or his words, and says he’ll have to take it from her. He says that he won’t, but that his men will... and Chanda realizes she is facing a group of 6 guards, all armed with khanjars and sayfs (short scimitars). She draws her weapon, and smiling, beckons at the guards to come to her...
The physician, Menachim Bar Vidal, follows the young girl Mirami to the Black Dabbat, where she beckons him to follow her into the alley near the southwest corner of the establishment. Peering down the alley, somewhat obscured by shadows, he sees many large crates and other blocky objects, as well as what he believes is the rear entrance to the Black Dabbat. Mirami tells him that they must enter through the rear entrance into the building so as to get to the injured dancer in the back rooms of the tavern. Menachim follows her cautiously into the alley. When they reach the half-way point, Mirami smiles sadly at him, and apologises. When Menachim asks what for, a new voice, male, says, “For luring you to the alley and the ambush set for you, so that I may take my revenge!”. Menachim sees a former client of his, Tarman Bar Malov, whose wife he treated for an infection, though he could not save her in the end. However, the physician’s attention is distracted by the twelve or so street thieves that emerge from the shadows of the alley, moving menacingly towards him. Malov tells him that he can’t forgive him for the loss of his wife, Rivka, and has been told that Bar Vidal must die to purge his suffering. The street thieves move in to the attack, Menachim’s former client watching with a twisted grimace on his face.
Derori Bat Natanyu finished telling her tale, and accepted a goblet of wine from the innkeeper, who commented appreciatively on her tale spinning abilities. The storyteller hears the drunkards at a table criticize her and commenting on one at the Malaban in Gold drinking establishment in the Halifah souk who told that same tale better, but she ignores it, though they keep trying to antagonize her. She soon realizes that the problem wasn’t the fact that she's a storyteller - it's the fact that she's Shiradi. She tries to ignore the taunts, going to sit at one of the tables, and manages to overhear a little bit of conversation concerning the fact that a caravan had recenty not arrived in Halifah. She is unable to learn any more, as one of the drunkards, Saabi by the look of him, steps up and gets in her face. When she doesn't react he way he had expected, he throws his drink at her, but the storyteller easily dodges it. His two friends approach the table as well, and Derori feels that she was being targeted by these three for some reason.
Meheka the Wise applauds with appreciation as the storyteller finishes her tale of the princess and the djinn. Several young men sitting at a small table, obviously somewhat drunk on the spirits they’ve imbibed, jeer at the storyteller saying they have heard the tale presented twice as well at another Halifah establishment in the souk, the Malaban in Gold. Meheka overhears the drunkards talking, still jeering (but also leering) at the attractive storyteller, and soon realizes the truth - it's that the woman is Shiradi that bothers them more than anything. Seeing the three men stand and move towards the storyteller at her table, Meheka rises to her feet and fingers her khanjar. It was shaping up to be that kind of day, and while she isn't happy about it, she's not going to let the Shiradi storyteller face the three men on her own.
Chanda faces the six guards of Prince Emtek Ibn Malik Abd-Al-Hassan, and decides that she has no regrets about having stolen his money pouch, though she does feel that perhaps she hadn't been as sticky-fingered as she would like. Drawing her khedama (a Kh'saabi sabre), Chanda brings it to bear and strikes at the guards, bringing two of them down with her first attack. The others decide that discretion may be the better part of valour, but attack her anyway (a mere woman, right?), striking her a blow to the abdomen [she takes 5 points of damage], causing her to bleed somewhat. Their leader, Jamal, watched with amusement, and that annoyed Chanda even more. She strikes at the remaining guards, taking down all four in one acrobatically executed [Swaggering] blow. Commenting that she is a fearsome opponent indeed, Jamal prepared to attack Chanda, but the sounds of approaching feet deterred him. “There will be another reckoning,” he promised her, and then exited the alley with speed. The adrenalin high wearing off her, Chanda realizes she’d underestimated her opponents slightly, wiping at the blood on her abdomen. Unlooping a piece of cloth from her waist belt, she neatly ties it over the cut on her abdomen, and decides to seek out a tavern. She figures she'll have a drink to lessen the pain of the injury, and hopes she’d find a mendicant of some sort, or perhaps a physician.
In the alley behind the Black Dabbat, Menachim realizes that he’s walked into an ambush and that it’s of his own making. Not having his sayf with him, Menachim draws his khanjar and attempts to defend himself against the attacking street thieves that Tarman Bar Malov has brought against him. He barely strikes one of the street thieves, but is able to bring him down. The physician is attacked by five of the remaining street thieves with knives, and suffers a critical wound [they inflict 5 damage, no Soak permitted] and cries out as he drops to one knee after a serious wound to his left leg. Things look desperate for the Shiradi physician as the other five street thieves move towards him, with six more looking on with eager expressions on their faces.
Outside the Black Dabbat, Edrick looks around but cannot see anything that would merit the attention of his Dragon Mark. Then he hears a cry of pain from the alley behind the tavern, and moves swiftly in that direction. Taking in the situation in the alley, Edrick charges in swinging his Orkadian axe, and cleaves three of the street thieves in twain. "May your rotten souls receive no fair judgement at the hands of Aether for your cowardly attack on this man!" he shots at them. The others turn on the Orkadian mercenary, and try and slice him but only inflict minimal damage [he suffers 2 points of damage]. Striding up to the remaining street thieves, his axe takes down another four in one blow. [He rolled an 18, with 7 Magnitude!] The other street thieves, facing such a competent and dangerous foe, flee down the alley. Edrick asks the man on the ground, whom he recognizes as Dragon-Marked, if he’s all right, and the Shiradi physician says that he’ll live, but that his wound needs to be treated. Edrick turns on Tarman Bar Malov and says that while he doesn’t know who he is or what he holds against this other man, he can live if he leaves the area immediately. Tarman gives the Orkadian and the Shiradi a nasty look, but says nothing, and walks out of the alley. The two exchange names, and both comment on their Dragon Marks, and then Edrick helps Menachim towards the rear entrance of the Black Dabbat.
Back inside the tavern, the patrons of the tavern create space around the table with the storyteller, Derori, her three “suitors”, and Meheka. Meheka tells the three drunkards to leave the storyteller alone, but one of them comments that the “Shiradi won’t mind their companionship”. “But I will,” Meheka states, and creates a minor windstorm in the vicinity of the leader of the drunkards. It is only partly effective, but attracts the drunkards’ attention and that of Derori. One of the drunkards attempts to punch Meheka, but the sage easily dodges the punch and then trips the man who falls to the floor and doesn’t get up. Derori has had enough, and slashes at another of the drunkards with her jambiya (a recurved dagger, more of a tool), but misses completely and her jambiya goes flying and strikes the wood of the bar some 3 paces away. The second drunkard attempts to strike Derori, but misses her and collapses in a drunken heap. The third drunkard attempts to strike Meheka, but falls over his own two feet and trips, landing in a heap on top of his fellow drunkard. Derori thanks Meheka for coming to her aid, who replies by saying that she had to come to assist a “fellow traveller in need”. Derori laughs, and launches into a quick verse of “The Three Drunkards” and the crowd of the Black Dabbat laughs, the tension of the last few minutes dissipating. Derori goes to collect her weapon from the standing bar, improvising a second verse which draws approval from the crowd.
This first full session of the Friday night Capharnaüm - The Tales of the Dragon-Marked campaign was a pretty good one, and gave the players and their characters a real taste of the combat system, how the game mechanics work, and had some neat roleplaying in it as well that I really didn't go into in the write-up above. There are two serious wounds that will have to be dealt with by the player characters during the next session, but things will work out nicely, I hope. The players told me they had a really great time with the session and the action, as I went back and forth between the various combats, rather than just resolve one at a time, and they liked the momentary break when they got a chance to think a bit about the messes they were in! They were still having some problems dealing with the Result/Magnitude aspect of the dice rolls, but got better at it as we went along. They're quite looking forward to all being together in the next session, and Kathy mentioned that it should be a somewhat interesting character mix.
Overall, it was a good session of the Capharnaüm - The Tales of the Dragon-Marked RPG, and I enjoyed myself quite a bit despite the hectic nature of it all. Can't wait for the next game session, weather willing of course. :)