Sagiro's Story Hour: The FINAL Adventures of Abernathy's Company (FINISHED 7/3/14)

[Everett]

It wasn't quite that cool.

We did play out the combat at the table, but I had warned all the other players ahead of time that it was fake. I trusted them to keep the secret, and play it straight. They did a great job.

But Piratecat, playing Dranko, thought it was real. He thought he was really killing the other PC's. He was pretty... vocal... about it when he learned the truth.

Ah, that's cool enough. Did you also make Piratecat do all the rolls and "decide" what he was going to cast and who he was going to spike each round? Or did you just take control of the Becoming Dranko yourself?

(What's the pluperfect of "Become"? Becombed?)

 

[Sagiro]

Ah, that's cool enough. Did you also make Piratecat do all the rolls and "decide" what he was going to cast and who he was going to spike each round? Or did you just take control of the Becoming Dranko yourself?

(What's the pluperfect of "Become"? Becombed?)

I let Piratecat play the monster straight up. Handed him the character sheet (a somewhat modified Uvuudaum from the Epic Handbook) and told him to do his best to kill the party. I trusted that he wouldn't pull his punches, and he didn't. It was quite a session!

 

[StevenAC]

Wow, the updates are coming thick and fast with the climax of the story rapidly approaching!

I'm happy to announce that the Collected Story Hour site has now been updated with a second chapter for Part Four, taking the action up to the Company's encounter with the Leviathan. (There have also been small tweaks to about a dozen of the earlier chapters, to fix little formatting glitches and typos that somehow managed to still be around after all this time...)

I'm loving the twists in the last couple of updates, in particular the revelation of what was behind the epic monsters targetting Dranko, and the ambiguous clue of the cigar smoke ("He will send you back") -- really ingenious stuff. And I was amused to see Everett's comment...

I would've sided with Ernie and Grey Wolf. I didn't understand how Dranko could know that the cigar-smoke referred to Tapheon...

...which was exactly the reaction Piratecat predicted over a year ago:

Everett, in about 20 sessions there's going to be a knock-down, drag-out argument about this very subject. When it occurs, I think we'll preemptively put you on Team Ernie and NOT Team Dranko. No one is going to blame you. And if it makes you feel any better, a different session (not for a while) should be entitled "Dranko Learns a Horrible Lesson About Humility," aka "Sagiro is a Very Large Rat Bastard." Stay tuned.

I, too, would love to hear some more details about the "knock-down, drag-out argument"...

 

[RangerWickett]

I think I love you, Sagiro.

 

[Solarious]

Wow. Rodent of Uncertain Parentage indeed. I guess we don't need to worry about Dranko being killed by aquamarine-glowing epic monsters out to kill him. Now he just has to worry about Becoming.

I'll take a very safe stab in the dark and say that a flurry of divinations to figure out what he'll need to do to... not Become follows.

 

[Everett]

Wow. Rodent of Uncertain Parentage indeed. I guess we don't need to worry about Dranko being killed by aquamarine-glowing epic monsters out to kill him. Now he just has to worry about Becoming.

I'll take a very safe stab in the dark and say that a flurry of divinations to figure out what he'll need to do to... not Become follows.

The Cleaners were clear enough. He has to avoid "delusions of grandeur." And the Company's divinations don't work below the surface.

 

[Everett]

And I was amused to see Everett's comment...

...which was exactly the reaction Piratecat predicted over a year ago...

I, too, would love to hear some more details about the "knock-down, drag-out argument"...

Yeah -- I'd been wondering when it would show up. I guess on first read that argument didn't strike me as knock-down drag-out enough. When I think knock-down drag-out I think of my ex-girlfriend.

 

[Quartz]

Hmm... I've just been reading the ELH entry for the Uvuudaum. Very nasty, but if Dranko could contrtol what he Becomes, then he'd be a great asset. I noted two things in particular: 'Advancement: As character class' and 'Alignment: Usually neutral evil' (bolding mine). A Good Uvuudaum is not beyond the bounds of possibility.

 

[Everett]

Hmm... I've just been reading the ELH entry for the Uvuudaum. Very nasty, but if Dranko could contrtol what he Becomes, then he'd be a great asset. I noted two things in particular: 'Advancement: As character class' and 'Alignment: Usually neutral evil' (bolding mine). A Good Uvuudaum is not beyond the bounds of possibility.

That was Dranko's dream of what Becoming would be like. Neither he nor we have any idea what would really happen. But it would certainly be different.

“Four are needed, ‘fore the end. One to take the shell and rend.”

They’re certain it will be Kibi who will “take the shell and rend.” Years ago, Kibi had a dream in which the earth itself spoke to him. It said: “Kibilhathur Bimson, child of Gela, child of Cranchus. You are still the Opener. The splinter has encased itself, I and it crying out together. It must be you who cracks its shell. Bless it with its lover’s kiss, the watcher’s hour come, and together we will cleanse Abernia.”

Maybe the "one" who "loves all" is Abernia itself? When Kibi removes the splinter, Abernia will return them to the surface in gratitude? That's possible.

 

[Everett]

Typo. "seen," not "see."

Ernie asks the question of Galdifain, who stares at the mansion’s magical banquet as though she’s never see food before.