Arcanis: Gonnes, Sons, and Treasure Runs (COMPLETED)

[talien]

The Senator's Seal - Part 6c: There is No Honor Among Thieves

They were led around for what seemed like hours. Suddenly, they stopped. They could hear the sounds of a conversation.

In muffled tones, a powerful voice said, “with only a few orders to key people, Okpara’s career in the Senate will be over. You will be handsomely compensated for your efforts, to be sure.”

Then they were shoved out of the alley. Ilmarė tore the blindfold from her face.

They were just outside an ornate door. Dril took his own blindfold off and looked up at the crest on the door.

“Senator Janthi val’Sheem’s office,” said Dril.

“You know, if I were attacked right now I could totally fight like this,” said Vlad.

“Take off the blindfold, Vlad,” said Ilmarė. “We know all about your night fighting skills.”

Just then the door opened. An aide poked his head out. “Can I help you?”

“No,” said Dril. “Just getting our bearings.”

The door slammed shut.

“We’re going to have to find another way in,” said Dril. “We heard that conversation from the alley, so there must be a window…”

There were windows in the alley, but they turned out to be narrow slits. The otherwise featureless alley had no obvious exits.

“Well,” said Dril, “I’m out of ideas. We can’t very well force our way in there.”

Ilmarė was staring over Vlad’s shoulder.

“What?” he asked.

“There’s the outline of a door in the wall behind you,” she said.

“Where?” asked Vlad. He felt around the wall with his fingers. “I don’t feel anything.”

“Right here,” said Ilmarė. She pushed on something that clicked.

With barely a sound, the wall spun and swallowed up the Elorii.

 

[talien]

The Senator's Seal - Part 7a: Battle for the Seal

Senator Janthi’s back was to Ilmarė. He was a short, round man, seated comfortably at an ornate table. Across from him was none other than Okpara val’Inares’ personal bodyguard, Jaleon. The object of their search rested on the table between them: Okpara’s imperial seal.

Janthi saw Jaleon’s eyes widen at the Elorii’s entrance. He stood abruptly and pointed at Jaleon. “You are a traitor to the Empire! This is a betrayal on every level!” He spun to face Ilmarė. “You must help me! I order the arrest of these men in the name of the Empire!”

Suddenly, Ilmarė realized that there were several armed men in the room.

“By Neroth’s breath, I’ll have your heart!” shouted Jaleon. He leaped across the table to attack Janthi.

Ilmarė dove to the ground and rolled in an attempt to grab the seal, but her timing was off. She ended up accidentally kicking the table over, separating the Senator from the traitor. For a brief moment, she was glad her two companions didn’t see her embarrassing blunder.

Then she desperately wished they were there as Jaleon’s blade nearly sliced her in two.

The aide ran screaming out of the room as Vlad swung through the secret door. He immediately engaged Jaleon, who battered him back with his gladius.

Dril entered next, only to duck as an arrow shivered in the wall where his head had been.

“There’s too many!” shouted Ilmarė, huddled behind the table with the Senator.

“I’ll fix that,” said Dril. He drew his scimitar and dagger and, with a shout, leaped over the table.

Ilmarė drew her bow and fired at the archer across the room. He was better armored than she.

“You’re not fooling anyone, you know,” said Ilmarė to the traitorous bodyguard.

“You have no proof,” said Janthi with a sneer. “Besides, it’s my word against yours.”

Vlad blocked Jaleon’s blade with his shield, but he was hard pressed to keep up with him. Jaleon was an experienced warrior.

“Go back to your canton, Milandisian,” said Jaleon through gritted teeth. “You’re no match for a Coryan legionnaire.”

There was a wail as Dril spun and skewered one of Jaleon’s henchmen with both of his blades. The man fell backwards even as another stepped forward.

“You’re a dead man,” said Vlad. “Even if you beat us, you’ll never make it out of the city alive.”

Jaleon easily parried Vlad’s blade with his gladius. “Don’t be so sure,” he said. “A senator’s seal can cover many sins. Senators are the real power here—although they’re all snakes anyway.” He shouted over Vlad’s shoulder. “I’m coming for you next, Janthi! Do you hear me?”

An arrow whistled towards Vlad, but it stopped dead in tracks a few inches from his shield and fell to the ground.

“Need reinforcements,” said Ilmarė. She called to Osalian for help…

His answer came in a glowing canine that flashed into the room. It immediately charged Jaleon.

An arrow pierced Dril’s shoulder and he spun to the ground.

Jaleon turned his shield to fend off the canine, giving Vlad enough time to back out of the bodyguard’s reach.

Ilmarė rose again to fire at the archer but a teeth-rattling blow knocked the wind out of her. She caught an image of one of the henchman raising his bloodied mace—her blood—over his head. Then everything went dim.

 

[talien]

The Senator's Seal - Part 7b: Battle for the Seal

The big man finally went down like the stupid bull that he was. Collectively, the elf, the Altherian, and the Milandisian had taken out two of Jaleon’s best men. Only his archer survived.

“Now,” said Jaleon, stalking towards the senator, “we have unfinished business.”

Janthi backpedaled across the floor. “I was only trying to throw them off the track—“

“Sarish’s ass!” cursed Jaleon. “You we’re trying to sell me out! And you have the gall to call me a traitor? I’ll show you what Coryan does to traitors!”

“Perhaps another time,” said Janthi as he reached for a slight depression in the wall.

“Shoot him!” shouted Jaleon to his archer.

The arrow only bounced off of the wall where the Senator had been moments before. He had used the secret door.

“I don’t have time for this,” said Jaleon. He looked around for the seal.

“The vigiles will be here any moment,” said the archer.

“I know, I’m looking for—ah!” He found it behind the table. “Let’s go, we can use this to buy us passage out of the city.”

Jaleon and his henchman jogged out of the Senator’s office.

A moment later, the wall swung back again. Janthi slunk over to Ilmarė’s unconscious form. Blood trickled from a wound at her temple.

The Senator put the back of his hand to her mouth. She was still breathing.

He pulled a dagger from its sheath at his belt. “Too bad they all died trying to defend me,” said Janthi. “A stab wound in the chest should speed this up.”

Janthi lifted up the dagger…

Only to freeze, horrified by what he saw on Ilmarė’s armor.

“The Yellow Sign!” he whispered to himself. Janthi’s eyes darted everywhere. He spotted it again on Dril’s boots. A check on his pulse indicated that the Altherian was still alive as well.

The Senator beat at his own temples with his fists. “Think, think! Can’t kill them, the Brotherhood will retaliate.” He looked down at Dril’s potion bandolier strapped across his chest. “Ah yes…one of these.”

The contents of a potion were poured into Dril’s lips until he sputtered awake. “Quickly!” said Janthi. “You can still catch him!”

He walked over to tend to Ilmarė. “I’ll take care of them. Go!”

Dril shook his head to clear the cobwebs. He rose unsteadily to his feet. “What…”

“Go!” shouted Janthi. Spurred by the Senator’s words, Dril stumbled out of the doorway into the street.

“And remember who saved you,” Janthi whispered to himself.

 

[talien]

The Senator's Seal - Part 7c: Battle for the Seal

Jaleon jogged down the street when he heard the sounds of pursuit behind him.

He pointed at Dril. “Stop them!” he snarled.

The archer turned and drew his bow.

Dril dove to the side and a man pushing a cart was skewered in the throat. He kept coming. “I owe you a death!” Dril shouted.

The archer fumbled to draw his blade, but not in time. Dril speared him with scimitar and dagger beneath his mail coat. Then he kept on running.

Jaleon looked over his shoulder. Dril was catching up. He turned back only to see two horses pulling a cart in front of him. He dove down into the muck and slid beneath it without missing a step.

Thanks to the power of the aranea’s boots, Dril cleared the wagon with one leap.

There were screams of dismay as Jaleon zigged and zagged down the street. He elbowed a pile of fruit into Dril’s path, but the Altherian easily cleared them. Then they passed Aljandros’ stall.

Aljandros was nowhere to be found. Jaleon grabbed a nearby torch, for night was nearly upon them, and lit the fabric of the merchant’s stall on fire. Then he kicked it, hard enough to top it over into the street.

Dril hesitated, only to have Ilmarė leap through the flames ahead of them, unharmed.

“The armor!” she shouted, thumping her torso once. She tore another piece of fabric from a nearby stall and beat the flames out before they could spread.

Vlad pounded past both of them just as Jaleon skidded to a halt. Vigiles had lined up with firehooks at the other end of the street. He ducked down an alley…

Only to stop at a dead end. Jaleon spun on his heel as Vlad advanced. He drew the dagger he purchased from Melosia. Jaleon was too well armored to fight with swords in such close quarters.

“Come on then!” he spat. “If I go down, I will take you with me!”

With a roar, the Milandisian barreled down the alleyway towards Jaleon. The two collided with a horrendous din of metal on metal. The impact was such that it backed Jaleon up against the crumbling wall.

“I know a legionnaire,” said Vlad, inches from Jaleon’s face. “And you’re no legionnaire.”

When they separated, Vlad’s dagger was slick with Jaleon’s blood. Jaleon’s pupils dilated as his life slipped away from him. Blood smeared against the wall behind him. His lips pulled into a rictus grin.

“Death before dishonor,” he whispered. Then Jaleon’s head slumped forward. His grip finally loosened on the seal. It rolled, with a hollow clatter, across the pavement until it hit Vlad’s boot. He picked it up before the vigiles arrived.

 

[Azgulor]

Great story hour! You seem to be blessed with a good group of players and you know how to tell a good story. You and your fellow DM also seem to handle the absence of some players and the introduction of new players very well. Any pointers? Handling those two occurences never go as smoothly for my campaigns as I'd like.

Again, great story hour. Keep 'em coming please.

Azgulor

 

[talien]

Hi Azgulor,

There are a variety of factors that help make things go smoothly. I often think of better reasons for why characters aren't there for the story hour (as opposed to just before the game). Here's a few things that I think contribute to keeping the story moving without getting too tripped up by the character appearances/disappearances:

1) Know who your core players are. There are three consistent characters: Vlad, Ilmare, and Kham. Ilmare is played by my wife, so I pretty much know when she'll be around. Vlad is played by a coworker, so we're in constant contact. And finally, Kham is played by an old friend who really likes to play D&D and is happy to travel to a game if need be. I focus the plots on these three characters most of the time, thus ensuring that the other characters who come and go aren't missed too much.

2) There are always good excuses for PCs to not adventure. Really, it seems like all heroes do is run around being heroes. So I use these absences as reminders that life sometimes life isn't all monster-killing and treasure-grabbing. Sometimes this is just a basic duty, like Quintus having to serve as a legionnaire and Vlad serving Duke Adolphos val'Tensen as a bailiff. But other times it's tragedy or, my personal favorite, "recovering from really bad wounds". You'll see this happen a bunch going in the upcoming story hours:
* Catching a disease and falling ill while the PCs try to find the cure.
* Getting "hurt real bad" and spending time recovering in a secret location so that said PC is not assassinated.
* Being kidnapped by a cult (this has happened to two different characters now), sometimes for weeks at a time.
* Imprisoned. *COUGH* Kham! * COUGH*
* Working on the creation of a new magic item.
* Doing research on an esoteric subject.
* Investigating bad guy activity on their own.

3) The adventures are Living Arcanis RPGA adventures. They're meant to be played in the span of four hours or less and thus go quickly. This means that PCs are never so committed to an area (like say, a dungeon) that they can't get out of it. We're planning adventures in other dimensions and such that will make PC comings and goings harder.

As for new players, having a well-defined world really helps. We don't have too many crazy anomalies...there's no minotaur fighters showing up in the world that I have to explain. Probably the most fantastic/strange is Bijoux, who is literally one of a kind (a flying catfolk race that came from one of the first Living Arcanis adventures) and Calactyte, a big lizardfolk. Both of those characters sometimes have difficulty fitting in, especially the horror-themed adventures; it's hard to be scary when you've got a big scaly superhero beating up bad guys. On the other hand, they are both intricately tied to the world; lizardfolk are considered a menace in most parts of Arcanis and Bijoux is a representative of a world that fought the Unspeakable One and failed. So even the anomalous characters serve a purpose.

Of course, we haven't had a new character join since Dril. Dril fit in easily enough because he was a character that made sense in Arcanis: he's an urban ranger/rogue who serves in the Shining Patrol, hates ss'ressen and lizardfolk, and is from Altheria. Which means he's got ready made conflict (wait til Dril meets Cal!), an allegiance to a homeland, and plenty of motivation to help people out.

And of course it helps that I have a great bunch of players who are generally all interested in party unity. The story hours help reinforce that, elaborating on each character's background and history while at the same time encouraging them to do things that "fit the story." I should point out that all the players are intensely aware of this story hour and want all the moments to "look good in it." It's almost like they're on a reality show, so that definitely helps people get along.

Thanks for your comments! It's good to know someone's reading this story hour.

 

[talien]

The Senator's Seal - Conclusion

They returned to Senator Okpara val’Inares’ villa and were led into his personal office. Upon seeing them enter, he quickly concluded his business and bid his guests farewell.

“Tell me,” he said anxiously, “how did you fare?”

“We have retrieved the item, as you requested,” said Dril, handing it to Okpara in a wooden box. “It was no small task.”

Okpara popped the box open. The tension drained out of his shoulders as he looked upon the seal. The golden glow of the seal on the Senator’s face cast him as some wicked incarnation of avarice.

“Well done!” he said. “Quintus’ faith in you was well-placed! Who stole it? Was it the farmer?”

Dril shook his head. “You did not pay us to discover who the thief was, only to retrieve it.”

“Indeed, I did not,” said Okpara, turning back towards his desk.

Vlad cleared his throat. “About that payment.”

“This is one reward I will gladly pay,” said Okpara. He passed over a few small leather bags, but kept his hand on them. “Your discretion in this matter must be inviolate.”

“Of course,” said Dril. He took the bags and tossed two of them to Vlad and Ilmarė.

“One other thing,” said Okpara. “I would like to send you on a brief vacation.”

Ilmarė paused in counting the Imperials. “Is that a threat?”

“Not at all,” chuckled Okpara. “But given the nature of your pursuit, I think it’s best if you leave town for awhile. I have a friend, Gaius Phillipus, who owns a villa in Vestalanium.”

“Never heard of it,” said Vlad.

Okpara’s stared at him for a moment. “Of course you wouldn’t. It’s one of the most exclusive of all Coryani resort towns, nestled along the Corvis River. I’m sure adventurers such as yourselves would enjoy such an opportunity to get away from the bustle of the city.”

Ilmarė stretched, rubbing the back of her neck. “It would be nice to get away from it all.”

“Then it’s settled,” said Okpara. “Please gather your things immediately. The river barge leaves tomorrow.”

As they walked out of Okpara’s office, Dril looked back over his shoulder. “Why do I get the feeling we never had a choice in the first place?”

“We didn’t exactly succeed in our mission,” said Ilmarė. “That was a very public chase. People died. Goods were destroyed.”

“Speaking of goods,” said Vlad, “Aljandros wasn’t at his stall and hasn’t been back to claim it, or what’s left of it. It seems he packed up and left town.”

“I’m sure he did,” said Dril. “Perhaps the vacation isn’t such a bad idea after all. He may have been just a fabric merchant, but Aljandros knew what he was doing.”

Ilmarė arched an eyebrow. “He was a liar, and a thief. You sound like you almost admire him.”

“True,” said Dril. “But even with the Cafelan Cartel, senators, and legionnaires nipping at his heels, he was sure to deliver my rug before he left town.”

 

[Thanediel]

The adventures are Living Arcanis RPGA adventures. They're meant to be played in the span of four hours or less and thus go quickly. This means that PCs are never so committed to an area (like say, a dungeon) that they can't get out of it. We're planning adventures in other dimensions and such that will make PC comings and goings harder.

Call me curious but I've noticed that some of your adventures involve only 3 PC. Aren't RPGA-LA modules for 4 PC minimum?

Or are you running LA modules in a home campaign?

 

[talien]

That's correct, these are all home games. We often tweak the adventures as well so they are more relevant to the PC situations, so I've changed last names or even swapped out NPCs when it makes sense.

We've also played a few LA games with too many PCs, which is...interesting. As you saw in Senator's Seal, when you play with too few PCs it can get sticky. I should have adjusted the APL down but didn't. On the other hand, the best part of LA games is you can adjust on the fly, so if a party is too powerful or weak, you just go up or down an APL.

 

[talien]

Chapter 16: Deus Ex Machina - Introduction

This adventure, "Deus Ex Machina," is a free download from Green Ronin’s Focus on Freeport page, written by Jeff Quick and set in the Freeport setting. You can download it at: http://www.greenronin.com/freeportfocus.shtml. You can read more about Arcanis at http://www.onaraonline.org. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

· Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter) played by Joe Lalumia
· Calactyte (ss’ressen barbarian) played by Joe Tresca: http://www.creepyportfolio.com
· Ilmarė Galen (elf bard/fighter) played by Amber Tresca

Michael Tresca (that’s me) was Dungeon Master for this session: http://michael.tresca.net

This adventure is a lot of fun, but it had several challenges for me as a DM. For one, the original plot is all over the place. I won’t go into the details, but it involves a humorous plan by a trickster deity and his minions. This is all fine and good, but the adventure hook wasn’t strong enough to make anyone want to get involved, so I changed it dramatically.

I changed all the clerics of the trickster god became cultists of the Unspeakable One. This doesn’t change a whole lot other than to make them bad guys who are out to steal something for a cause, as opposed to kleptomaniacs who think it’s funny.

For another, I changed the final construct at the end to something tied to the Unspeakable One. In this case, the adventure involves a short story by John Tynes set in Carcossa, titled “Ambrose.” Check it out at: http://members.fortunecity.com/johnsilence/ambrose.htm. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to have the players read the short story. I summarized, but that didn’t really make the connections stand out in the players’ minds, so I really had to make it obvious by the end of the adventure (or face TPK due to my poor explanation).

Finally, the protagonists in this adventure originally had taken over a temple dedicated to the God of Retribution. In the Arcanis setting, I changed this to Illiir. Two clerics go in to the temple to take care of business, and one of them should sound familiar. This will explain where that PC was for the past three adventures.

This is also the first time I’ve moved an adventure out of order for purposes of the story. Technically, we played this the weekend after we played “As Cold and Gray as Stone.” Since “Deus Ex Machina” doesn’t change the campaign drastically except to explain a character’s disappearance, it fits in nicely.

P.S. The Killing Joke is one of my favorite comics.