Recent content by havenstone

For anyone who was following this StoryHour... all my apologies for the six+ year silence! I'm afraid the reason I fell silent was that I began another writing project that drew in different ways on this D&D campaign: a game for Choice of Games. Choice of Rebels, Game I finally hit the app...

The Book of Gray and Gold CHINGAN DAI EAGERLY leads the three refugees to the Dragon Path safe house in the Lakshari qohei – and the party is finally reunited! Over several celebratory bottles of rice wine, Atrix and Darren tell everyone the epic tale of their escape from the Imperial Palace...

Un-Splitting the Party THE MORNING AFTER Atrix and Darren redeem Lucian from the Arena, they hear of their friends’ bloody escape from the Tang estate. In a city still stunned from the shaming of the Imperial Palace and the burning of the Sufza qohei, the news hits like a landslide: in the...

Meeshak's Dreams: 4 That night, Meeshak dreams:

Political Map of the Xaimani Empire

Lying Low FOR SEVERAL DAYS, the party rests and recovers in the Dragon Path safe house, never opening the rune-covered trapdoor. The Laksharis prepared well, stocking the cellar with food and drink enough to sustain them for weeks. No noise penetrates from the street above, and Chandur...

Emancipation “THE DRAGON PATH?” Ontaya echoes cautiously. They’ve never heard of such a Path, but they have seen sculptures of the flying, maned serpents of Xaimani myth, considered to be the noblest of beasts. “Isn’t the ‘dragon’ a symbol of the Emperor?” Chandur laughs. “And the...

Covering Our Tracks WHEN THE ESCAPEES are all aboard, Njitra casts off from the steep bank and another masked Lakshari – presumably Chandur – rows them out calmly but strongly into the sluggish current. Njitra hands the party members muted brown cloaks and masks to cover their pallor and their...

Well Met by Moondark “WE NEED TO bring her with us.” Carwyn’s stubborn whisper brooks no disagreement. “We’ve scarcely known her for two weeks,” Ontaya murmurs back, concerned by Carwyn’s irrationally intense attachment to her new friend Rian. “Why are you so sure we can trust her...

I enjoyed it tremendously -- not just the lighter touch, but having to grapple with the nastier aspects of Roman slave life (like mandatory torture before testifying). I definitely didn't feel you pushed it too far. (And by the way, anyone who's enjoyed this SH should totally go read Alea...

As I've been writing these episodes up, I find myself amazed that Carwyn's player stayed with us, and generally ashamed of quite how much degradation I directly pushed onto the PCs. I was still a fairly inexperienced GM, and not sensitive to the real-world emotional impact of RPing. Once the...

The Young Laksharis SUPRISINGLY SOON, ASH and Meeshak are allowed to return to their errand slave duties with Chosdzed. Meeshak guesses that sending Northern slaves across the city with the stripes of their punishment still visible on their backs is meant to emphasize publicly that despite the...

Thanks, Wilhem - glad you're enjoying it.

Master of the Arena DESPITE NURAK’S ADVICE to put off any further rescue plans until his return, Atrix and Darren can’t resist a bit of advance scouting. They head to the Grand Arena in the northwest of the city to look for Lucian, remembering that he had been sold to a noblewoman to be her...

Among Barbarians ATRIX AND DARREN jolt out of an uneasy sleep in their garret in the Sufza qohei. Though it cannot be long past midnight, the alleys outside echo with low, angry voices and the distinctive clink of Xaimani armor. The two Northerners reclaim their blades from their bedsides and...