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The Runic Storyhour: An Oriental Adventure in The Dream
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<blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 15552" data-attributes="member: 67"><p><strong><em>This session is a little bit different from last sessions--for one thing, it was a very short session. We have a new player, a guest player, and, regrettably, the player of Ocean Deeply Sleeps (and the author of most of these write-ups) could not make it to the game. This session is therefore written by the player of the halfling, Fighting Man Dances and is from his point of view. I have edited slightly.</em></strong></p><p></p><p>Session 6.5</p><p></p><p>All is confusing in the great shiftings of the Dream. What seemed real before fades in memory only to be replaced with haunting facsimiles that seem not to fit quite right. At the Rice-Cake Festival, we meet an acquantance of Strong Dwarf Stands, a woman. She could almost pass for human, but there is something otherworldly about her--I believe that she is one of the spirit-folk. Apparently, Strong Dwarf Stands ran into her while hunting Nightmares. She is one of the woodland-warriors. Her name is Passion Readily Follows.</p><p></p><p>She has brought with her a foreign devil. He is a very effeminent orc-blood who wears great ruffled collars and cuffs, coats so padded they could serve as armor, and a sword, which he calls a "rapier," that is so thin, it will surely break if it is ever struck upon anything. The name that he has been given by the humans is Dashing Orcblood Croons. He seems proud of it!</p><p></p><p>Not long thereafter, we catch a glimpse of Night Softly Calls attempting to break up a street brawl. We go to her. The brawlers are pitiful, weak drunkards and are easily and quickly subdued by the dwarven brothers. Night Softly Calls is, regrettably, unappreciative of their help. After some bit of talking (and telling her of our encounter with the worm-creature), we manage to pry some information from her about recent events. She is not immediately forthcoming with the information, however. Before she will believe us, we must show her evidence of the creature, so we take her into the South Ward and show her the smashed buildings. Night Softly Calls believes that the ratlings are behind the grisly murders of the inhabitants of the South Ward and also of her the former Captain of the Guard.</p><p></p><p>Night Softly Calls claims that she has only recently been placed as Captain of the Guard when the last one was killed a couple of weeks ago. Memory is fading rapidly, but I am sure that she was a Captain when we first encountered her, five years ago.</p><p></p><p>Now, I have thought about this oddity, and others like it, for a long time and I have begun to develop a theory. I believe that we have stumbled upon a reoccuring section of the Dream...</p><p></p><p><em>DM note: I love it when my players do my thinking for me…</em></p><p></p><p>I think that the dwarves can not accept the flamboyant nature of the orc-blood. I tell him that they are base, and have no honor, but have their own personal strength, as all living things do. Now, I speak not in tangents, but few seem to be able to follow my train of thought, I am reminded, as Orcblood pats me on the head.</p><p></p><p><em>DM note: isn’t that cute? The halfling is philosophizing!</em></p><p></p><p>Lacking a better course of action for the moment, we head back toward the gong-tower, but the ratlings do not grant us admittance. We, therefore, turn back toward our inn in the Eastgate neighborhood. As we are flowing through the festival crowds, Our heads begin to pound and our vision begins to blur. We are hearing voices that claw at our ears and eat our minds. More sounds are added, soon; people are screaming.</p><p></p><p>We manage to part through the masses and see a stage off the side of the street with strange humanoid creatures--Nightmares, surely--with filthy gray fur cleaving through people with great stone axes. It is they who are chattering and causing our migranes. I imitate the sound with my magic so that the creatures' attentions will be drawn from the innocent denizens of this city (whom they are currently slaughtering). The Dream reacts to my casting and a chorus from the heavens sings in the second before my spell takes effect. My plan has worked; all five of the creatures are drawn to us.</p><p></p><p><em>DM note: the dwarves, by the way, did not seem to understand the purpose of attracting their attention. I guess they’re not extraordinarily heroic…</em></p><p></p><p>We can see as they approach that the Nightmare-creatures have no eyes. That does not stop them from seeing us, however. The creatures close and lunge at us, one facing each of us. Drunken Dwarf Snores manages to mangle one of the creatures while it is still in the air with his dwarven war axe. It falls to the ground and taints the street with its waning life-blood. Orcblood is dealt a heavy blow, but stands through it. Strong Dwarf Stands swings his massive great axe but can not catch the beast in front of him and Drunk Dwarf leaps forward to quickly dispatch the creature who faces me (I suppose he assumes that I will be too busy casting spells to fight it on my own). Orcblood backs up and begins to play an uplifting tune on his elaborately designed silver flute. There must be something magical about it, because the Dream reacts; vague outlines of humanoid forms appear in the air and dance and play along with the music. Our hearts are lightened and we our spirits are bolstered. The creature in front of Orcblood covers its ears and attempts to drown out the sound of the flute with his own maddening mumblings. Passion takes the opportunity to strike her opponent; she attempts two blows with her bo-staff, but lands only one.</p><p></p><p>I heft my tai-chi sword in both hands and rush the attacker who has hurt Orcblood; I attack with "Around the Comet, the Field Sleeps," but the creature nimbly rolls out of my way. The creatures that are still standing lash out at us, but the only one to take serious damage is Passion. The blow that stains her beautiful otherworldly features with a deep crimson dye is a solid one. Orcblood backs up again and changes his tune. The vague outlines of the Dream around him adjust to the new melody. Strong Dwarf swings again at his assailant, but is once again unsuccessful. Drunken Dwarf flanks Passion's creature and, between the two of them, the beast is quickly felled.</p><p></p><p>The first of the creatures finally dies, and a wave of sickness and unhealth bathes us as the Dream collects the spirits of the Nightmares. There are still two creatures standing, so I again attack the one in front of Orcblood, this time using "Rolling Butterfly Attack," and cut a nasty gash through the center of the monster with a sharp "ki-ya!"</p><p></p><p><em>DM note: <strong>that</strong> critical was more than 4 points!</em></p><p></p><p>Strong Dwarf Stands finally connects with the beast in front of him and our fight is brought to an end.</p><p></p><p><em>DM note: watching Strong Dwarf Stands roll poorly so many times in a row was kind of funny.</em></p><p></p><p>Night Softly Calls approaches. She begins to suspect that these creatures are responsible for the mutilations in the South Ward, rather than the ratlings. The Dwarves tell Night what we know about "the Blessed," which is very little, and about the drunken guard, whom we suspect has accepted bribery. In return, she gives us a note and tells us to contact her in the Guard's Barracks should we come across any more relevant information.</p><p></p><p>Now we must decide what to do. The creatures have obviously come from the south, for there is a trail of destruction winding toward this spot from that direction. We feel that we should rest before we hunt them down and decide, for some reason, that it would be better to track the creatures at night. We go back to our inn and sleep until late in the night.</p><p></p><p>When we wake up, it is winter again. We head toward the South Ward in a blizzard; I am on the orcblood's shoulders. There are no tracks at first, but when we enter the South Ward, we find large, clawed footprints scattering in many directions. Further on, we begin to see that some of the tracks are nearly obliterated by large tracks of dragged objects, each staining the rosy oceanlit snow with a sharper red. They appear to be converging on one particular boarded warehouse.</p><p></p><p><em>--Fighting Man Dances</em></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>DM notes: noteable moments—this session was a very short one, to the dismay to all participants, but an intriguing one, nonetheless. The players were disappointed that their fight with the creatures was too easy. That’s a complaint I’m not used to! Also, they were not happy with the cliffhanger that I ended the session on.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><strong>Passion Readily Follows</strong> is a bamboo spirit folk who was played by a guest player. She is a Ranger4.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><strong>Dashing Orcblood Croons</strong> is an orcblood (half-orc) Bard4. He is played by a new player (who is female) who is an excellent artist (I’m trying to trick her into doing some character sketches, as a matter of fact). It was very humorous to see the very foppish half-orc played off of the overly-manly dwarves.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><strong>Strong Dwarf Stands</strong> is still an uncharismatic dwarven barbarian. Nothing new, here. Dashing Orcblood Croons seemed particularly attracted to Strong, so the tension was very nice.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><strong>Drunken Dwarf Snores</strong> is still an uncharismatic dwarven fighter. Nothing new, here. Dashing Orcblood Croons seemed particularly attracted to Drunken Dwarf, so the tension was very nice.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em><strong>Fighting Man Dances</strong> was very happy to finally get a chance to use some monkish martial arts. The names for the moves, by the way, came from the generator in a recent Dragon Magazine. I also must congratulate the player of the halfling for managing to take good notes while roleplaying his character so well.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rune, post: 15552, member: 67"] [b][i]This session is a little bit different from last sessions--for one thing, it was a very short session. We have a new player, a guest player, and, regrettably, the player of Ocean Deeply Sleeps (and the author of most of these write-ups) could not make it to the game. This session is therefore written by the player of the halfling, Fighting Man Dances and is from his point of view. I have edited slightly.[/i][/b] Session 6.5 All is confusing in the great shiftings of the Dream. What seemed real before fades in memory only to be replaced with haunting facsimiles that seem not to fit quite right. At the Rice-Cake Festival, we meet an acquantance of Strong Dwarf Stands, a woman. She could almost pass for human, but there is something otherworldly about her--I believe that she is one of the spirit-folk. Apparently, Strong Dwarf Stands ran into her while hunting Nightmares. She is one of the woodland-warriors. Her name is Passion Readily Follows. She has brought with her a foreign devil. He is a very effeminent orc-blood who wears great ruffled collars and cuffs, coats so padded they could serve as armor, and a sword, which he calls a "rapier," that is so thin, it will surely break if it is ever struck upon anything. The name that he has been given by the humans is Dashing Orcblood Croons. He seems proud of it! Not long thereafter, we catch a glimpse of Night Softly Calls attempting to break up a street brawl. We go to her. The brawlers are pitiful, weak drunkards and are easily and quickly subdued by the dwarven brothers. Night Softly Calls is, regrettably, unappreciative of their help. After some bit of talking (and telling her of our encounter with the worm-creature), we manage to pry some information from her about recent events. She is not immediately forthcoming with the information, however. Before she will believe us, we must show her evidence of the creature, so we take her into the South Ward and show her the smashed buildings. Night Softly Calls believes that the ratlings are behind the grisly murders of the inhabitants of the South Ward and also of her the former Captain of the Guard. Night Softly Calls claims that she has only recently been placed as Captain of the Guard when the last one was killed a couple of weeks ago. Memory is fading rapidly, but I am sure that she was a Captain when we first encountered her, five years ago. Now, I have thought about this oddity, and others like it, for a long time and I have begun to develop a theory. I believe that we have stumbled upon a reoccuring section of the Dream... [I]DM note: I love it when my players do my thinking for me…[/I] I think that the dwarves can not accept the flamboyant nature of the orc-blood. I tell him that they are base, and have no honor, but have their own personal strength, as all living things do. Now, I speak not in tangents, but few seem to be able to follow my train of thought, I am reminded, as Orcblood pats me on the head. [I]DM note: isn’t that cute? The halfling is philosophizing![/I] Lacking a better course of action for the moment, we head back toward the gong-tower, but the ratlings do not grant us admittance. We, therefore, turn back toward our inn in the Eastgate neighborhood. As we are flowing through the festival crowds, Our heads begin to pound and our vision begins to blur. We are hearing voices that claw at our ears and eat our minds. More sounds are added, soon; people are screaming. We manage to part through the masses and see a stage off the side of the street with strange humanoid creatures--Nightmares, surely--with filthy gray fur cleaving through people with great stone axes. It is they who are chattering and causing our migranes. I imitate the sound with my magic so that the creatures' attentions will be drawn from the innocent denizens of this city (whom they are currently slaughtering). The Dream reacts to my casting and a chorus from the heavens sings in the second before my spell takes effect. My plan has worked; all five of the creatures are drawn to us. [I]DM note: the dwarves, by the way, did not seem to understand the purpose of attracting their attention. I guess they’re not extraordinarily heroic…[/I] We can see as they approach that the Nightmare-creatures have no eyes. That does not stop them from seeing us, however. The creatures close and lunge at us, one facing each of us. Drunken Dwarf Snores manages to mangle one of the creatures while it is still in the air with his dwarven war axe. It falls to the ground and taints the street with its waning life-blood. Orcblood is dealt a heavy blow, but stands through it. Strong Dwarf Stands swings his massive great axe but can not catch the beast in front of him and Drunk Dwarf leaps forward to quickly dispatch the creature who faces me (I suppose he assumes that I will be too busy casting spells to fight it on my own). Orcblood backs up and begins to play an uplifting tune on his elaborately designed silver flute. There must be something magical about it, because the Dream reacts; vague outlines of humanoid forms appear in the air and dance and play along with the music. Our hearts are lightened and we our spirits are bolstered. The creature in front of Orcblood covers its ears and attempts to drown out the sound of the flute with his own maddening mumblings. Passion takes the opportunity to strike her opponent; she attempts two blows with her bo-staff, but lands only one. I heft my tai-chi sword in both hands and rush the attacker who has hurt Orcblood; I attack with "Around the Comet, the Field Sleeps," but the creature nimbly rolls out of my way. The creatures that are still standing lash out at us, but the only one to take serious damage is Passion. The blow that stains her beautiful otherworldly features with a deep crimson dye is a solid one. Orcblood backs up again and changes his tune. The vague outlines of the Dream around him adjust to the new melody. Strong Dwarf swings again at his assailant, but is once again unsuccessful. Drunken Dwarf flanks Passion's creature and, between the two of them, the beast is quickly felled. The first of the creatures finally dies, and a wave of sickness and unhealth bathes us as the Dream collects the spirits of the Nightmares. There are still two creatures standing, so I again attack the one in front of Orcblood, this time using "Rolling Butterfly Attack," and cut a nasty gash through the center of the monster with a sharp "ki-ya!" [I]DM note: [b]that[/b] critical was more than 4 points![/I] Strong Dwarf Stands finally connects with the beast in front of him and our fight is brought to an end. [I]DM note: watching Strong Dwarf Stands roll poorly so many times in a row was kind of funny.[/I] Night Softly Calls approaches. She begins to suspect that these creatures are responsible for the mutilations in the South Ward, rather than the ratlings. The Dwarves tell Night what we know about "the Blessed," which is very little, and about the drunken guard, whom we suspect has accepted bribery. In return, she gives us a note and tells us to contact her in the Guard's Barracks should we come across any more relevant information. Now we must decide what to do. The creatures have obviously come from the south, for there is a trail of destruction winding toward this spot from that direction. We feel that we should rest before we hunt them down and decide, for some reason, that it would be better to track the creatures at night. We go back to our inn and sleep until late in the night. When we wake up, it is winter again. We head toward the South Ward in a blizzard; I am on the orcblood's shoulders. There are no tracks at first, but when we enter the South Ward, we find large, clawed footprints scattering in many directions. Further on, we begin to see that some of the tracks are nearly obliterated by large tracks of dragged objects, each staining the rosy oceanlit snow with a sharper red. They appear to be converging on one particular boarded warehouse. [i]--Fighting Man Dances[/i] [I]DM notes: noteable moments—this session was a very short one, to the dismay to all participants, but an intriguing one, nonetheless. The players were disappointed that their fight with the creatures was too easy. That’s a complaint I’m not used to! Also, they were not happy with the cliffhanger that I ended the session on. [b]Passion Readily Follows[/b] is a bamboo spirit folk who was played by a guest player. She is a Ranger4. [b]Dashing Orcblood Croons[/b] is an orcblood (half-orc) Bard4. He is played by a new player (who is female) who is an excellent artist (I’m trying to trick her into doing some character sketches, as a matter of fact). It was very humorous to see the very foppish half-orc played off of the overly-manly dwarves. [b]Strong Dwarf Stands[/b] is still an uncharismatic dwarven barbarian. Nothing new, here. Dashing Orcblood Croons seemed particularly attracted to Strong, so the tension was very nice. [b]Drunken Dwarf Snores[/b] is still an uncharismatic dwarven fighter. Nothing new, here. Dashing Orcblood Croons seemed particularly attracted to Drunken Dwarf, so the tension was very nice. [b]Fighting Man Dances[/b] was very happy to finally get a chance to use some monkish martial arts. The names for the moves, by the way, came from the generator in a recent Dragon Magazine. I also must congratulate the player of the halfling for managing to take good notes while roleplaying his character so well.[/I] [/QUOTE]
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