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Aphonion Tales: Ravenskrag and the Shadowline, a preteen D&D game (lightly edited notes, COMPLETED on 1/20/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8427960" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>Session 25 (April 3, 2021)</p><p></p><p>3 O-Zar</p><p>The group decides to infiltrate Sir Clarence’s area, claiming to be newly hired mercenaries, fresh off the boat. They come up with a backstory—they were hired in Tarsh, and they’re Tarshan mercenaries. Aleep uses Alter Self to look like a Tarshan human sorcerer, and Runor pretends to be a warrior and hides his holy symbol. They get rucksacks from House Copervein to make it look realistic.</p><p></p><p>As they draw near the barrier, we see another group of seven men, who look like they also got off of a ship, but are clearly from the north mountains of Khamista. The group talks with them, and blends right in—we know that they’re hiring mercenaries from all over, and they seem to think that makes perfect sense.</p><p></p><p>At the barrier, the others say that they spent five years in service to the Queen of Black Ice, but took to the mercenary life when discharged.</p><p></p><p>The party is told that they need to pick from among themselves an officer after they tell their story about coming from Tarsh. The group picks “Brunhilde,” who is actually Merreep. They’re sent to the barracks to check in and got assigned a barracks room. Everyone seems to totally believe that they’re Tarshan.</p><p></p><p>They ask the sergeant if they’re expecting fighting soon, and he says he wish he knew, but that the master has started hiring a whole lot more soldiers recently. Also, he mentions that the city militia isn’t worth a serious threat. They’re told the captain will be along later to review them—the group assumes that’s when they would get issued the tabards that serve as uniforms. The sergeant says that they’re going to form up companies, but Sir Clarence doesn’t seem in a hurry to do that.</p><p></p><p>The group splits into pairs—Runor and Aleep; Ulgorio and Bartix; and Merreep and Ashaltir—and goes looking for soldiers who are hanging out and gambling, so they can blend in and listen for gossip.</p><p></p><p>Runor and Aleep join a card game and throw some money around, deliberately losing a little. They totally fool the White Mountain soldiers that they’re from Tarsh, although the mercenaries want to gossip about things going on in Tarsh, which Runor and Aleep very much don’t want to talk about, because they don’t know much. When the other players mention the corruption of the former Tarshan emperor, Aleep asks if they’ve done any work for the Inquisition, and they say yes, but that right now, they’d rather work jobs like this instead of walking into the dragon’s maw with the Inquisition. They are all clearly Paranswarmian. Aleep, in his guise as Helmut, asks about whether there are chaplains, and they’re told there aren’t any official chaplains, but there are some priests in the corps of mercenaries. They conclude that Helmut must be devout, and Aleep plays along, making the sign of the downward arrow. He asks where he could find a priest, and they tell him, accepting that he would want to see a priest after a long boat ride.</p><p></p><p>Ulgorio and Bartix join a different game. They hear that some of the officers have been talking and saying that Sir Clarence wants to become doge and displace the dowager dogaressa, who is acting as doge. Given the quality of the guard, and the size of the barracks if it fills up, the mercenaries think it won’t be hard for them to take over the city, and then there may be good work as the new doge’s guards.</p><p></p><p>Merreep and Ashaltir join a third game. They ask where the forges are, and are told that it’s in the fourth subbasement—the barracks goes below ground many levels, almost to the storm drain, and then extends towards the tower. They’re told that the barrack is supposed to be primarily a warehouse, and if they go out in the city “to support the dowager dogaressa in patrols” they should say that it’s a warehouse. They ship in lots of supplies, but immediately ship out to the east anything except for food, which goes to the kitchens, and metal ingots, which go to the forge. There are also some special storage rooms below ground. They assume the barrack rooms below ground were built in case they hired orcs, but they don’t seem to have needed to.</p><p></p><p>The party regroups and discusses what they learned. Aleep suggests a risky plan: he could go to a priest, and pretend to have seen something demonic associated with the person who hired them, to see how he responds. In part, this is to possibly see if they could flip parts of the army by revealing that Sir Clarence is in league with demons. The group thinks that this is a good idea. They also think that the dogaressa should be warned. Runor and Ashaltir are unwilling to receive Paranswarmian blessings, so they decide to sneak out to warn the dogaressa while the rest of the group goes to talk to a Paranswarmian priest.</p><p></p><p>They find the priest as they were told, with a group of Mandrathian mercenaries. As they approach, the group calls over their officer, who has robes on under his armor and a visible holy symbol of Paranswarm and is clearly a priest. They tell him that they are newly arrived and want a church service, and he immediately leads them to a field altar that he has set up in the Mandrathian barracks room. He performs an abbreviated but complete Paranswarmian church service. The priest asks if they have anything to confess, and Aleep says that he is worried about something that he saw. He tells a story about seeing the altar and marilith statue (that they actually saw in the captain’s quarters) in the inn room of the person who recruited them to work for Sir Clarence, having inadvertently seen it through an open door. The priest buys it completely and is very concerned, identifying that as a demonic altar. He says that Aleep did nothing wrong, but that he was right to tell them about it and he will discuss it with the other priests. He also tells them that they can always come back to that unit with any needs. He gives them his name as Captain Bernardo, or Father Bernardo if they prefer. (They also cover for Aleep’s strange way of talking by claiming he had an accident with a horse.)</p><p></p><p>As Runor and Ashaltir try to go to talk to the dogaressa, they get intercepted by a junior officer, who tells them that there are already as many troops as are allowed in the city, and they can’t go outside until others return. They play dumb, and the officer asks if they’re part of the new group, and they say they are. The officer accepts that they just didn’t understand, and sends them back to the barracks.</p><p></p><p>They then try to find their way into the sewers. The sewer grates are all heavily soldered in place and are very secure. They decide to go down into the basements of the barracks to see if they can find a connection to the sewers. They make it down to the fifth sub-basement where there are some very quiet people pushing around some wheelbarrows and the like. They say nothing. Runor finds a door that leads into the sewers, to a familiar looking platform, but farther in than they have gone previously. They find the barrier, drop it with the gesture and make their way to a sewer exit. Some people see them exit but are only moderately surprised. They ditch parts of their disguise, and go to the doge’s palace.</p><p></p><p>Runor tells the dogaressa that they think there is a coup in preparation. She is shocked, but believes him. She says she will immediately send for troops from East Haven, as well as for the archamaga there since there is no powerful mage in this city besides Sir Clarence.</p><p></p><p>Having made their report, Runor and Ashaltir return through the sewers, re-entering the barracks and meeting up with the rest of the party in their barracks room.</p><p>[End session 25]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8427960, member: 7030144"] Session 25 (April 3, 2021) 3 O-Zar The group decides to infiltrate Sir Clarence’s area, claiming to be newly hired mercenaries, fresh off the boat. They come up with a backstory—they were hired in Tarsh, and they’re Tarshan mercenaries. Aleep uses Alter Self to look like a Tarshan human sorcerer, and Runor pretends to be a warrior and hides his holy symbol. They get rucksacks from House Copervein to make it look realistic. As they draw near the barrier, we see another group of seven men, who look like they also got off of a ship, but are clearly from the north mountains of Khamista. The group talks with them, and blends right in—we know that they’re hiring mercenaries from all over, and they seem to think that makes perfect sense. At the barrier, the others say that they spent five years in service to the Queen of Black Ice, but took to the mercenary life when discharged. The party is told that they need to pick from among themselves an officer after they tell their story about coming from Tarsh. The group picks “Brunhilde,” who is actually Merreep. They’re sent to the barracks to check in and got assigned a barracks room. Everyone seems to totally believe that they’re Tarshan. They ask the sergeant if they’re expecting fighting soon, and he says he wish he knew, but that the master has started hiring a whole lot more soldiers recently. Also, he mentions that the city militia isn’t worth a serious threat. They’re told the captain will be along later to review them—the group assumes that’s when they would get issued the tabards that serve as uniforms. The sergeant says that they’re going to form up companies, but Sir Clarence doesn’t seem in a hurry to do that. The group splits into pairs—Runor and Aleep; Ulgorio and Bartix; and Merreep and Ashaltir—and goes looking for soldiers who are hanging out and gambling, so they can blend in and listen for gossip. Runor and Aleep join a card game and throw some money around, deliberately losing a little. They totally fool the White Mountain soldiers that they’re from Tarsh, although the mercenaries want to gossip about things going on in Tarsh, which Runor and Aleep very much don’t want to talk about, because they don’t know much. When the other players mention the corruption of the former Tarshan emperor, Aleep asks if they’ve done any work for the Inquisition, and they say yes, but that right now, they’d rather work jobs like this instead of walking into the dragon’s maw with the Inquisition. They are all clearly Paranswarmian. Aleep, in his guise as Helmut, asks about whether there are chaplains, and they’re told there aren’t any official chaplains, but there are some priests in the corps of mercenaries. They conclude that Helmut must be devout, and Aleep plays along, making the sign of the downward arrow. He asks where he could find a priest, and they tell him, accepting that he would want to see a priest after a long boat ride. Ulgorio and Bartix join a different game. They hear that some of the officers have been talking and saying that Sir Clarence wants to become doge and displace the dowager dogaressa, who is acting as doge. Given the quality of the guard, and the size of the barracks if it fills up, the mercenaries think it won’t be hard for them to take over the city, and then there may be good work as the new doge’s guards. Merreep and Ashaltir join a third game. They ask where the forges are, and are told that it’s in the fourth subbasement—the barracks goes below ground many levels, almost to the storm drain, and then extends towards the tower. They’re told that the barrack is supposed to be primarily a warehouse, and if they go out in the city “to support the dowager dogaressa in patrols” they should say that it’s a warehouse. They ship in lots of supplies, but immediately ship out to the east anything except for food, which goes to the kitchens, and metal ingots, which go to the forge. There are also some special storage rooms below ground. They assume the barrack rooms below ground were built in case they hired orcs, but they don’t seem to have needed to. The party regroups and discusses what they learned. Aleep suggests a risky plan: he could go to a priest, and pretend to have seen something demonic associated with the person who hired them, to see how he responds. In part, this is to possibly see if they could flip parts of the army by revealing that Sir Clarence is in league with demons. The group thinks that this is a good idea. They also think that the dogaressa should be warned. Runor and Ashaltir are unwilling to receive Paranswarmian blessings, so they decide to sneak out to warn the dogaressa while the rest of the group goes to talk to a Paranswarmian priest. They find the priest as they were told, with a group of Mandrathian mercenaries. As they approach, the group calls over their officer, who has robes on under his armor and a visible holy symbol of Paranswarm and is clearly a priest. They tell him that they are newly arrived and want a church service, and he immediately leads them to a field altar that he has set up in the Mandrathian barracks room. He performs an abbreviated but complete Paranswarmian church service. The priest asks if they have anything to confess, and Aleep says that he is worried about something that he saw. He tells a story about seeing the altar and marilith statue (that they actually saw in the captain’s quarters) in the inn room of the person who recruited them to work for Sir Clarence, having inadvertently seen it through an open door. The priest buys it completely and is very concerned, identifying that as a demonic altar. He says that Aleep did nothing wrong, but that he was right to tell them about it and he will discuss it with the other priests. He also tells them that they can always come back to that unit with any needs. He gives them his name as Captain Bernardo, or Father Bernardo if they prefer. (They also cover for Aleep’s strange way of talking by claiming he had an accident with a horse.) As Runor and Ashaltir try to go to talk to the dogaressa, they get intercepted by a junior officer, who tells them that there are already as many troops as are allowed in the city, and they can’t go outside until others return. They play dumb, and the officer asks if they’re part of the new group, and they say they are. The officer accepts that they just didn’t understand, and sends them back to the barracks. They then try to find their way into the sewers. The sewer grates are all heavily soldered in place and are very secure. They decide to go down into the basements of the barracks to see if they can find a connection to the sewers. They make it down to the fifth sub-basement where there are some very quiet people pushing around some wheelbarrows and the like. They say nothing. Runor finds a door that leads into the sewers, to a familiar looking platform, but farther in than they have gone previously. They find the barrier, drop it with the gesture and make their way to a sewer exit. Some people see them exit but are only moderately surprised. They ditch parts of their disguise, and go to the doge’s palace. Runor tells the dogaressa that they think there is a coup in preparation. She is shocked, but believes him. She says she will immediately send for troops from East Haven, as well as for the archamaga there since there is no powerful mage in this city besides Sir Clarence. Having made their report, Runor and Ashaltir return through the sewers, re-entering the barracks and meeting up with the rest of the party in their barracks room. [End session 25] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: Ravenskrag and the Shadowline, a preteen D&D game (lightly edited notes, COMPLETED on 1/20/23)
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