Arthurian Adventures (in Ireland)
LadyK
First Post
Three potential problems (sorry guys)
1. The Dance club machine is VHS and very tempermental.
2. I am no longer technically an exec member. While I remain confident of my ability to BS my way into and out of nearly any situation, I do not know when they will be changing the alarm codes.
3. Weekend after next (April 30) I will not be in town. I will be down in Washington beating the crap out of other ubernerds with foam weapons.
In conclusion, we may have left movie night too late. But you guys can all come down to Legacies with me. LARP in lieu of movie night sounds like a good deal to me.
1. The Dance club machine is VHS and very tempermental.
2. I am no longer technically an exec member. While I remain confident of my ability to BS my way into and out of nearly any situation, I do not know when they will be changing the alarm codes.
3. Weekend after next (April 30) I will not be in town. I will be down in Washington beating the crap out of other ubernerds with foam weapons.
In conclusion, we may have left movie night too late. But you guys can all come down to Legacies with me. LARP in lieu of movie night sounds like a good deal to me.
Particle_Man
Explorer
Hmmm...anyone wanna volunteer their house? And if so, do you have North American VCR, DVD, both? I have a computer that plays DVD but cramming you all in my bedroom might leave the shows standing room only.
Particle_Man
Explorer
or.........
Can't the Wargamers rent a room and a vcr? I know the SFS used to be able to, and Wargamers is an official club. Who is on the exec this year, anyhow?
Anyway, How about we have the movie night for May 7th? That way hopefully everyone can make it. If my game ends early we could have Blair's "Spellslinger" campaign on the 30th. (I am looking forward to trying out the magic system there as a player).
This is assuming that my other player that hasn't seen the CULTURAL ICON that is Monty Python and the Holy Grail is not called away to stop bullets with his chest before May 7th. I am hoping to get everyone to see the movies.
Can't the Wargamers rent a room and a vcr? I know the SFS used to be able to, and Wargamers is an official club. Who is on the exec this year, anyhow?
Anyway, How about we have the movie night for May 7th? That way hopefully everyone can make it. If my game ends early we could have Blair's "Spellslinger" campaign on the 30th. (I am looking forward to trying out the magic system there as a player).
This is assuming that my other player that hasn't seen the CULTURAL ICON that is Monty Python and the Holy Grail is not called away to stop bullets with his chest before May 7th. I am hoping to get everyone to see the movies.
Last edited:
Particle_Man
Explorer
Particle_Man said:
Its been long enough. The translation: "Mind not my own - controlled by her - tell father I'm sorry - don't allow her to poison high king using cloak."
This was Edmund, squire of Sir Magnus (Prince Caius's eldest brother), and son of Sir Linus (one of King Anguish's noblest knights, sadly killed via the treachery of one of the fake Sir Andrews (the minstrel-demon)), trying to warn the party of the assassination attempt on King Arthur by his sister, Morgan le Fey, using a magically poisoned cloak. Edmund was magically rendered mute, and his mind could be read at any time by Morgan. Thus he wrote the message in bits and pieces, and in a non-literal form. Then he challenged the knights in the party, expecting to die and hoping for freedom from his magical servitude, as well as getting the warning out. So I thought that was pretty noble, for a squire.
Particle_Man
Explorer
the party's over!
Well folks, this was the last of my King Arthur sessions. I will try to post everything I can remember, but feel free to fill in my gaps, of which I am sure there will be more than a few. Note that I will keep this thread going for a while in order to try to organize a movie night.
Aampi and Jack, is it possible for you to book me a room at the SUB, as well as a TV/VCR? I will pay the fee that is required. I am hoping to have both for the evening of May 7th, but failing that try for a Saturday evening in May. That way we can, as a group, watch both Excalibur and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which are both movies worth seeing.
Anyhow, the group was missing Sir Andrew’s player. A pity, since I think he would have enjoyed what went down. But such is life, and things can happen unexpectedly.
The group is organizing for a huge battle, trying to get knights, footmen, druids, etc., to ship out to Greenland to face Albion. Cassandra and Leanne enchant the dragon armour and shields during the waiting period and on the ships. Sir Andrew is constantly praying for aid in these endeavours.
They disembark in a south Greenland town that seems deserted, except for a thin trickle of smoke visible in the center of town. Many houses and roofs look staved in, as if the town had been attacked by giants. At the trickle of smoke they find two familiar peasants roasting a chicken (the two from “Freedonia”, whose names I have forgotten, and so I christen them Frederick and Barnabas). The peasants are surprised to see the party, and tell them that giants (more than the fingers on my hands!) attacked the town and had already attacked and taken over the mines to the north east. The mines contained iron that was said to be proof vs. sorcery. The group drafts the reluctant peasants.
Many preparations are made to fight the army, from druid scouting reports, to various “Crowd control” magical tactics, etc. Brigit (Roderick’s sister) seems to intuitively grasp the usefulness of magic in warfare, though the other knights are confused. I should note that many of the NPC’s that the party knows are in on this, from Lucius (Caius’s brother) and Brigit, to Lord Bertram and his sons (from the first ever game session!), to Sir Geoffrey, Lord Eustace, and the other two knights, to Sir Jaime and Sir Gregor (servitors of count Randolph that can actually shave), and a new face: a plucky standard bearer called Kenneth. (Note that Standard Bearer is a feat that not only helps your allies, but makes you take 2 more points of damage from enemies! I imagine that standard bearers have short life-expectancies in warfare.
Duke Roderick stayed behind in Ireland with his knights as a “home guard”, and King Anguish was in no condition to travel.
Scouts reported that the enemy has giants, black knights (some riding horses that breathed smoke!), scummy folk, walking dead, a few hags, and even a dwarf! (TRAITOR!). No visible dragons though [Auberon’s book of quarrels was successful in getting Albion to not keep a hold on the dragons, particularly without Morgan le Fey to smooth things over].
Now the army engagement was in a way a diversionary tactic, as the group snuck around to Albion’s “castle” (actually a group of castles in a sort of ring). There were sufficient cracks between these insanely adjoining castles for the party to easily get inside.
Lady Leanne scouted and found a human wandering around (on closer examination, the “human” had Albion’s features). He was in a large room with numerous magical devices, including what looked like a crystal ball.
Lady Leanne then went back and got the others ready. They party knew that Albion would be bound to be as honourable as they, due to aid from the Fingerbones of Christ. The group was announced, with full titles (and cleaned up with a prestidigitation spell) by Lady Leanne (and the Court Mage). Sir Anton was the first to challenge Albion, who led them out to a courtyard, after offering them food (I wanted to pull a “Meatloaf” a la “Rocky Horror Picture Show” but the party was either suspicious or in a hurry, so they wanted to get on with the fighting part). Albion was civil, and wanted them to be undisturbed in their combat, so used the crystal ball (and turned it red) which caused the sounds of combat outside to stop (that took a dc 20 listen check to notice). Albion claimed to have sent the warring factions to a better climate to sort out their differences (he sent them to Hell, actually).
Cassandra the druid scouted around and found a large courtyard (stone tell helped here) and stalls, most of them empty, but one containing both the skeleton of a colossal dragon, and a saddle.
The courtyard was huge, and Albion grew from 5’6” to about 40’ tall! He then went to the stall where his mount was and “Awakened” and saddled it. [This was a colossal red dragon skeleton – immune to fire and cold].
Before each duel, he offered “eternal life on earth in exchange for service to me as king of Earth”. But the knights each refused (of course). He also announced himself as the former smith of the gods, Vulcan, Hephaistos the lame, and Albion, rightful king of earth.
At this point Sir Andrew was encased in “hard light” and was stuck in a praying position.
Anton charged with his lance vs. Albion. After a few passes, Anton was unconscoious. Then came Sir Bradley, using his greatsword (so Albion switched from his lance to his warhammer). Here Albion had to make DC 5 ride checks, and failed quite often, losing his attacks for the round (he was using the warhammer in a two handed fashion). Sir Bradley died eventually, however. But that ride check thing came in handy 4 more times vs. other knights.
Next came Sir Hubert, who was knocked unconscious. Then Prince Hammoton tried to use diplomacy “you are facing too many enemies…of which we are not the most powerful” and Albion was pleased with the words “when I raise you, you shall be my voice!” but still determined to fight (remember the Book of Quarrels – Albion was in a fighting mood!). So Prince Hammoton was eventually killed. At this point the gems arose from Sir Bradley and Prince Hammoton and did tremendous damage to Albion and his steed [equal to the characters’ nobility scores!].
Then there was Lady Leanne, who kept Albion talking and tried to make an alliance with him (either vs. God or vs. Satan, or just to keep him talking…I am not sure]. Albion let slip that he had made god-killing weapons (like the Spear of Longinus) and had taken and concentrated the iron in the mines to make god-killing arrows for his archer to use vs. Auberon and Titania (Leanne used her ring to send this info to Titania – the first and only time Leanne heard Titania swear). By this time Cassandra had healed Sir Anton, who switched to his sword vs. Albion. Albion killed him, but the damage he had so far taken, plus the gem of Anton exploding, was enough to destroy Albion and his mount. Then Sir Bradley (who had less than 100 nobility) rose up from the dead while still obviously wounded! Lady Leanne was suspicious and tried to heal him, but the healing magic hurt him. He attacked (as a basic wight) but lady Leanne was able to dispatch him.
Next the party tried to get the troops back from hell but no one had “Use Magic Device” (go figure). Then Titania summoned the remaining troops to pursue the archer, that had fled Fairyland. She didn’t know where he had gone, but could use her magic to send others after his trail (and allow them to survive whatever environment they found themselves in) and then return after five minutes. She said Auberon would take care of returning the armies to Albion’s castle. So Cassandra, Lady Leanne and the Court Mage went, leaving behind Brother Geoffrey the cohort to look after the unconscious cohort Hubert.
They are in a green and grassy field, and start tracking the archer. This is not too difficult, but the archer is invisible. Lady Leanne casts faerie fire on the five foot square (the wolf-now-lion animal companion tracked him to that square) and tried to capture him, but he fled. But outlined by fire he was now pursued by two faceless white bipedal figures with flaming weapons of light (one had a mace shaped like a sun, and it glowed). Between them they subdued the archer (this was Sir Bradley’s noble part and Prince Hammoton (100 nobility), but they were faceless and could not speak – I had them roll though). The figures then flew away on feathered wings. The archer was then stripped and brought back to Albion’s castle. Note that the cold iron arrows hurt Lady Leanne to touch even through gloves!
Back at Albion’s castle, Albion’s body looked quite desiccated. And on contacting Titania, Lady Leanne found out that 15 years had passed! The armies were outside Albion’s castle, but everyone was dead (some looked like they had been dead for decades). [Two time-dilation effects here. First, the armies fought to the death in hell (and then the survivors were killed by demons) but almost no time passed on Earth while this occurred. On the other hand, 5 minutes in heaven concurred with 15 years on Earth]. This included the Standard-Bearer, Kenny. The bad guys killed him. The bastards!!!
The survivors of the party later catalogued the bodies (and gold statuettes) and made what records they could of who had died. They reconnoitered with Titania, who took the archer. The castles and non-magical gear were sent back to their rightful places. The magical stuff (Albion’s) was taken to Avalon for safe study. (suggested by Titania as a safe place, anyhow). Leanne found a black pearl necklace (Morgan le Fey’s). Some black potions promising “Eternal Life” were destroyed. The kitchen’s containing dead bodies (including King Hammoton’s) were emptied and the desiccated bodies buried.
And on returning to Ireland found out that Hubert and Geoffrey had returned and taken the light-statue of Sir Andrew, which was seen as a sort of holy relic. In the 15 years, Hubert had become Duke under King Roderick of Ireland. (Sir Andrew’s son Tristan had risen in holiness to become Pope, by the way).
But now, Arthur was calling on troops to attack Sir Lancelot in France, for betrayal (adultery!). Sir Mordred was guarding Queen Guenevere in England while this was going on. So Hubert, Cassandra and Court Mage went to Agincourt. Arthur lost 2/3 of his forces, and Lancelot lost almost all of his and fled. But then Arthur heard word that Modred had declared himself King of England and “married” Guenevere! So the troops were sent back to England for a second battle. The standard bearer of Arthur was Zenobas.
Note that King Roderick sent his regrets at not attending the battle vs. Lancelot, pleading illness (gout). (He had married the widow of Anguish, but she had died 8 years previously). Lady Leanne smelled a rat and tried to actually give the lying, cowardly Roderick gout, but her contagion spells failed all four times (I rolled 3 natural 18’s and a natural 20!).
Lady Nimue found she suddenly had to go to Avalon (a vision).
Ok, the group was at the final battle. There were going to be giants helping Mordred, but Cassandra’s druid network dealt with them (and so couldn’t make the battle). I sped through this, asking what the group did when they ran out of spell points/arrows. Hubert I had roll a d20 and die on anything but a 20. He died, but killed 61 knights before hand (I had him roll a %). Cassandra and the Court Mage were rendered unconscious, and awoke to Sir Bors. Leanne had gained a level, fallen in a lake, become a Lady of the Lake, and caught a sword coming at her (Bors flinging in Excalibur), which she then took to Avalon. Also, an imp on the battlefield was found delighting in the death and destruction and was killed (thus freeing Magnus’s noble part to finally move on).
King Arthur had killed Mordred, but the latter had mortally wounded Arthur (with a special “cold iron” lance). It seems that Avalon’s security had been breached and one of the “god-killer” weapons given to Mordred! [Morgan le Fey, hee hee]. So Arthur was taken by the Court Mage, Leanne, and Cassandra (the new three fates) to Avalon to heal.
Avalon can only be reached every 10 years for about a fortnight. Lady Leanne never aged, and the other two were killed/reincarnated every so often. Arthur never aged either (funny, that). As a security precaution, Titania, Nimue, and the PC’s made a special charm that caused any who entered Avalon to be well-disposed to Arthur. Later, Morgan le Fey came to Avalon for 50 years, and was so well-disposed, becoming nicer and nicer as time went by. Lady Leanne returned her necklace.
I thought I was done but the party wanted closure, I guess. The party visits Pope Tristan, taking the Light Statue of Sir Andrew to the Vatican City (thus safeguarding the Spear of Longinus which Sir Andrew still carried). The Pope mentioned problems with an insane shapechanger. The Ladies warned off ex-Fox (who eventually died, bitter and hateful and impotent and frustrated, during the crusades in Jerusalem).
Leanne and the other ladies visited Roderick 10 years on. He had become King of England after Arthur, and was aging visibly. 10 years on he was getting a bit senile. He had commissioned Tom Mallory to write a history of Arthur. Leanne visited Mallory and gave her account (in written form). 20 years on, Roderick was dead (without heir). The history Leanne saw was rather…generous to Roderick, so she spent time in taverns, etc., telling the true story (thus explaining why the legendary and historical Arthur don’t agree).
The dead Sir Anton became a snowman (still water based, but also Xmas based) in Fairyland.
The ladies got rewarded by Titania for their efforts. Leanne gained Otto’s Irresitable Dance at will (Sugar Plum Fairy). Cassandra became “jacky frost” (immune to cold, maximized and widened her cold spells for free). Court Mage became the Tooth Fairy (I ran out of Xmas ideas).
Leanne wanted to keep visiting and reminded Roderick’s bastard descendents of the truth, and so did. At some point she would learn how to use a computer to keep track of the descendants!
Cassandra tried to keep druidism alive, with some small success. But more and more henges got moved, paved over, etc., so it was a losing battle, despite the rise of neo-pagan movements.
Arthur was healed by 3106 AD, in time to stop a massive alien invasion of the Solar System.
The Apocalypse happened in the 5100’s, and Sir Andrew was brought out of his light shell to fight. Sir Anton the snowman came to finally duel with him, but both were cut down by lasers before long and died in each others’ arms.
Lady Leanne tried to mess with God using the weapons of Albion. But her plan failed (I let her roll: if she got a 20 vs. my 1, she got the drop on God – otherwise, Avalon was sealed off and the ladies would be trapped inside forever (or until the next cycle of the universe, at least, but that really is beyond the scope of my tale)).
After the apocalypse, the hyper-rationalists eventually take over. With the lack of belief in supernatural entities, eventually Santa, the Easter Bunny and their pantheon die off (except for those sealed away in Avalon). Since God still has believers in Heaven (Hell being destroyed, and the Earth filled only with unbelievers who were not taken up to heaven during the apocalypse), he is fine even through the rationalist phases of human history.
Eventually, the human race dies out, the galaxy cools, the heat death of the universe sets in, and God decides to try to create another universe. And that is beyond the scope of my tale.
I thint that is everything, but if I have forgotten a bit, others can fill in the blanks, and if I have gotten anything wrong, others can correct me.
And for all the trouble Roderick caused, he was never higher than a 3rd level noble. Go figure.
Oh, some people wanted me to post my metaphysics-of-Camelot-setting. I will do that next post.
Well folks, this was the last of my King Arthur sessions. I will try to post everything I can remember, but feel free to fill in my gaps, of which I am sure there will be more than a few. Note that I will keep this thread going for a while in order to try to organize a movie night.
Aampi and Jack, is it possible for you to book me a room at the SUB, as well as a TV/VCR? I will pay the fee that is required. I am hoping to have both for the evening of May 7th, but failing that try for a Saturday evening in May. That way we can, as a group, watch both Excalibur and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which are both movies worth seeing.
Anyhow, the group was missing Sir Andrew’s player. A pity, since I think he would have enjoyed what went down. But such is life, and things can happen unexpectedly.
The group is organizing for a huge battle, trying to get knights, footmen, druids, etc., to ship out to Greenland to face Albion. Cassandra and Leanne enchant the dragon armour and shields during the waiting period and on the ships. Sir Andrew is constantly praying for aid in these endeavours.
They disembark in a south Greenland town that seems deserted, except for a thin trickle of smoke visible in the center of town. Many houses and roofs look staved in, as if the town had been attacked by giants. At the trickle of smoke they find two familiar peasants roasting a chicken (the two from “Freedonia”, whose names I have forgotten, and so I christen them Frederick and Barnabas). The peasants are surprised to see the party, and tell them that giants (more than the fingers on my hands!) attacked the town and had already attacked and taken over the mines to the north east. The mines contained iron that was said to be proof vs. sorcery. The group drafts the reluctant peasants.
Many preparations are made to fight the army, from druid scouting reports, to various “Crowd control” magical tactics, etc. Brigit (Roderick’s sister) seems to intuitively grasp the usefulness of magic in warfare, though the other knights are confused. I should note that many of the NPC’s that the party knows are in on this, from Lucius (Caius’s brother) and Brigit, to Lord Bertram and his sons (from the first ever game session!), to Sir Geoffrey, Lord Eustace, and the other two knights, to Sir Jaime and Sir Gregor (servitors of count Randolph that can actually shave), and a new face: a plucky standard bearer called Kenneth. (Note that Standard Bearer is a feat that not only helps your allies, but makes you take 2 more points of damage from enemies! I imagine that standard bearers have short life-expectancies in warfare.
Duke Roderick stayed behind in Ireland with his knights as a “home guard”, and King Anguish was in no condition to travel.
Scouts reported that the enemy has giants, black knights (some riding horses that breathed smoke!), scummy folk, walking dead, a few hags, and even a dwarf! (TRAITOR!). No visible dragons though [Auberon’s book of quarrels was successful in getting Albion to not keep a hold on the dragons, particularly without Morgan le Fey to smooth things over].
Now the army engagement was in a way a diversionary tactic, as the group snuck around to Albion’s “castle” (actually a group of castles in a sort of ring). There were sufficient cracks between these insanely adjoining castles for the party to easily get inside.
Lady Leanne scouted and found a human wandering around (on closer examination, the “human” had Albion’s features). He was in a large room with numerous magical devices, including what looked like a crystal ball.
Lady Leanne then went back and got the others ready. They party knew that Albion would be bound to be as honourable as they, due to aid from the Fingerbones of Christ. The group was announced, with full titles (and cleaned up with a prestidigitation spell) by Lady Leanne (and the Court Mage). Sir Anton was the first to challenge Albion, who led them out to a courtyard, after offering them food (I wanted to pull a “Meatloaf” a la “Rocky Horror Picture Show” but the party was either suspicious or in a hurry, so they wanted to get on with the fighting part). Albion was civil, and wanted them to be undisturbed in their combat, so used the crystal ball (and turned it red) which caused the sounds of combat outside to stop (that took a dc 20 listen check to notice). Albion claimed to have sent the warring factions to a better climate to sort out their differences (he sent them to Hell, actually).
Cassandra the druid scouted around and found a large courtyard (stone tell helped here) and stalls, most of them empty, but one containing both the skeleton of a colossal dragon, and a saddle.
The courtyard was huge, and Albion grew from 5’6” to about 40’ tall! He then went to the stall where his mount was and “Awakened” and saddled it. [This was a colossal red dragon skeleton – immune to fire and cold].
Before each duel, he offered “eternal life on earth in exchange for service to me as king of Earth”. But the knights each refused (of course). He also announced himself as the former smith of the gods, Vulcan, Hephaistos the lame, and Albion, rightful king of earth.
At this point Sir Andrew was encased in “hard light” and was stuck in a praying position.
Anton charged with his lance vs. Albion. After a few passes, Anton was unconscoious. Then came Sir Bradley, using his greatsword (so Albion switched from his lance to his warhammer). Here Albion had to make DC 5 ride checks, and failed quite often, losing his attacks for the round (he was using the warhammer in a two handed fashion). Sir Bradley died eventually, however. But that ride check thing came in handy 4 more times vs. other knights.
Next came Sir Hubert, who was knocked unconscious. Then Prince Hammoton tried to use diplomacy “you are facing too many enemies…of which we are not the most powerful” and Albion was pleased with the words “when I raise you, you shall be my voice!” but still determined to fight (remember the Book of Quarrels – Albion was in a fighting mood!). So Prince Hammoton was eventually killed. At this point the gems arose from Sir Bradley and Prince Hammoton and did tremendous damage to Albion and his steed [equal to the characters’ nobility scores!].
Then there was Lady Leanne, who kept Albion talking and tried to make an alliance with him (either vs. God or vs. Satan, or just to keep him talking…I am not sure]. Albion let slip that he had made god-killing weapons (like the Spear of Longinus) and had taken and concentrated the iron in the mines to make god-killing arrows for his archer to use vs. Auberon and Titania (Leanne used her ring to send this info to Titania – the first and only time Leanne heard Titania swear). By this time Cassandra had healed Sir Anton, who switched to his sword vs. Albion. Albion killed him, but the damage he had so far taken, plus the gem of Anton exploding, was enough to destroy Albion and his mount. Then Sir Bradley (who had less than 100 nobility) rose up from the dead while still obviously wounded! Lady Leanne was suspicious and tried to heal him, but the healing magic hurt him. He attacked (as a basic wight) but lady Leanne was able to dispatch him.
Next the party tried to get the troops back from hell but no one had “Use Magic Device” (go figure). Then Titania summoned the remaining troops to pursue the archer, that had fled Fairyland. She didn’t know where he had gone, but could use her magic to send others after his trail (and allow them to survive whatever environment they found themselves in) and then return after five minutes. She said Auberon would take care of returning the armies to Albion’s castle. So Cassandra, Lady Leanne and the Court Mage went, leaving behind Brother Geoffrey the cohort to look after the unconscious cohort Hubert.
They are in a green and grassy field, and start tracking the archer. This is not too difficult, but the archer is invisible. Lady Leanne casts faerie fire on the five foot square (the wolf-now-lion animal companion tracked him to that square) and tried to capture him, but he fled. But outlined by fire he was now pursued by two faceless white bipedal figures with flaming weapons of light (one had a mace shaped like a sun, and it glowed). Between them they subdued the archer (this was Sir Bradley’s noble part and Prince Hammoton (100 nobility), but they were faceless and could not speak – I had them roll though). The figures then flew away on feathered wings. The archer was then stripped and brought back to Albion’s castle. Note that the cold iron arrows hurt Lady Leanne to touch even through gloves!
Back at Albion’s castle, Albion’s body looked quite desiccated. And on contacting Titania, Lady Leanne found out that 15 years had passed! The armies were outside Albion’s castle, but everyone was dead (some looked like they had been dead for decades). [Two time-dilation effects here. First, the armies fought to the death in hell (and then the survivors were killed by demons) but almost no time passed on Earth while this occurred. On the other hand, 5 minutes in heaven concurred with 15 years on Earth]. This included the Standard-Bearer, Kenny. The bad guys killed him. The bastards!!!
The survivors of the party later catalogued the bodies (and gold statuettes) and made what records they could of who had died. They reconnoitered with Titania, who took the archer. The castles and non-magical gear were sent back to their rightful places. The magical stuff (Albion’s) was taken to Avalon for safe study. (suggested by Titania as a safe place, anyhow). Leanne found a black pearl necklace (Morgan le Fey’s). Some black potions promising “Eternal Life” were destroyed. The kitchen’s containing dead bodies (including King Hammoton’s) were emptied and the desiccated bodies buried.
And on returning to Ireland found out that Hubert and Geoffrey had returned and taken the light-statue of Sir Andrew, which was seen as a sort of holy relic. In the 15 years, Hubert had become Duke under King Roderick of Ireland. (Sir Andrew’s son Tristan had risen in holiness to become Pope, by the way).
But now, Arthur was calling on troops to attack Sir Lancelot in France, for betrayal (adultery!). Sir Mordred was guarding Queen Guenevere in England while this was going on. So Hubert, Cassandra and Court Mage went to Agincourt. Arthur lost 2/3 of his forces, and Lancelot lost almost all of his and fled. But then Arthur heard word that Modred had declared himself King of England and “married” Guenevere! So the troops were sent back to England for a second battle. The standard bearer of Arthur was Zenobas.
Note that King Roderick sent his regrets at not attending the battle vs. Lancelot, pleading illness (gout). (He had married the widow of Anguish, but she had died 8 years previously). Lady Leanne smelled a rat and tried to actually give the lying, cowardly Roderick gout, but her contagion spells failed all four times (I rolled 3 natural 18’s and a natural 20!).
Lady Nimue found she suddenly had to go to Avalon (a vision).
Ok, the group was at the final battle. There were going to be giants helping Mordred, but Cassandra’s druid network dealt with them (and so couldn’t make the battle). I sped through this, asking what the group did when they ran out of spell points/arrows. Hubert I had roll a d20 and die on anything but a 20. He died, but killed 61 knights before hand (I had him roll a %). Cassandra and the Court Mage were rendered unconscious, and awoke to Sir Bors. Leanne had gained a level, fallen in a lake, become a Lady of the Lake, and caught a sword coming at her (Bors flinging in Excalibur), which she then took to Avalon. Also, an imp on the battlefield was found delighting in the death and destruction and was killed (thus freeing Magnus’s noble part to finally move on).
King Arthur had killed Mordred, but the latter had mortally wounded Arthur (with a special “cold iron” lance). It seems that Avalon’s security had been breached and one of the “god-killer” weapons given to Mordred! [Morgan le Fey, hee hee]. So Arthur was taken by the Court Mage, Leanne, and Cassandra (the new three fates) to Avalon to heal.
Avalon can only be reached every 10 years for about a fortnight. Lady Leanne never aged, and the other two were killed/reincarnated every so often. Arthur never aged either (funny, that). As a security precaution, Titania, Nimue, and the PC’s made a special charm that caused any who entered Avalon to be well-disposed to Arthur. Later, Morgan le Fey came to Avalon for 50 years, and was so well-disposed, becoming nicer and nicer as time went by. Lady Leanne returned her necklace.
I thought I was done but the party wanted closure, I guess. The party visits Pope Tristan, taking the Light Statue of Sir Andrew to the Vatican City (thus safeguarding the Spear of Longinus which Sir Andrew still carried). The Pope mentioned problems with an insane shapechanger. The Ladies warned off ex-Fox (who eventually died, bitter and hateful and impotent and frustrated, during the crusades in Jerusalem).
Leanne and the other ladies visited Roderick 10 years on. He had become King of England after Arthur, and was aging visibly. 10 years on he was getting a bit senile. He had commissioned Tom Mallory to write a history of Arthur. Leanne visited Mallory and gave her account (in written form). 20 years on, Roderick was dead (without heir). The history Leanne saw was rather…generous to Roderick, so she spent time in taverns, etc., telling the true story (thus explaining why the legendary and historical Arthur don’t agree).
The dead Sir Anton became a snowman (still water based, but also Xmas based) in Fairyland.
The ladies got rewarded by Titania for their efforts. Leanne gained Otto’s Irresitable Dance at will (Sugar Plum Fairy). Cassandra became “jacky frost” (immune to cold, maximized and widened her cold spells for free). Court Mage became the Tooth Fairy (I ran out of Xmas ideas).
Leanne wanted to keep visiting and reminded Roderick’s bastard descendents of the truth, and so did. At some point she would learn how to use a computer to keep track of the descendants!
Cassandra tried to keep druidism alive, with some small success. But more and more henges got moved, paved over, etc., so it was a losing battle, despite the rise of neo-pagan movements.
Arthur was healed by 3106 AD, in time to stop a massive alien invasion of the Solar System.
The Apocalypse happened in the 5100’s, and Sir Andrew was brought out of his light shell to fight. Sir Anton the snowman came to finally duel with him, but both were cut down by lasers before long and died in each others’ arms.
Lady Leanne tried to mess with God using the weapons of Albion. But her plan failed (I let her roll: if she got a 20 vs. my 1, she got the drop on God – otherwise, Avalon was sealed off and the ladies would be trapped inside forever (or until the next cycle of the universe, at least, but that really is beyond the scope of my tale)).
After the apocalypse, the hyper-rationalists eventually take over. With the lack of belief in supernatural entities, eventually Santa, the Easter Bunny and their pantheon die off (except for those sealed away in Avalon). Since God still has believers in Heaven (Hell being destroyed, and the Earth filled only with unbelievers who were not taken up to heaven during the apocalypse), he is fine even through the rationalist phases of human history.
Eventually, the human race dies out, the galaxy cools, the heat death of the universe sets in, and God decides to try to create another universe. And that is beyond the scope of my tale.
I thint that is everything, but if I have forgotten a bit, others can fill in the blanks, and if I have gotten anything wrong, others can correct me.
And for all the trouble Roderick caused, he was never higher than a 3rd level noble. Go figure.
Oh, some people wanted me to post my metaphysics-of-Camelot-setting. I will do that next post.
Particle_Man
Explorer
Ok, here are some rough notes, plus some more thoughts. I am too tired to go through it all right now.
Divine magic sources: One God (Priest/Crusader/Hermit/White Knight) – various interpretations, all granted magic, Old Faith (Druid/Minstrel/Blue Knight) – tied to ley lines and henges. (and for ladies of the lake and blue knights, large fresh bodies of water)
Arcane magic sources: Ley Lines. (All)
Hedge Mages tend to go for Old Faith and not One God.
Minstrels, Druids, Ladies of the Lake, Blue Knights: Old Faith.
Priests, Hermits, Crusaders, Saints, White Knights: One God (Aristocrats for “nobles” not of One God - note multiple interpretations!).
Note: Old Gods tried and failed to have similar system with Olympus/Hades, which now are Heaven/Hell. Part of Albion’s magic was to see if “non-noble” parts of souls could become more useful on Earth than in Hades. Some gods disagreed and sent Hercules. The internal dissention among Old Gods (and believers) allowed the One God to gain power. Albion was originally an Old God, but his own sundering denied him his divine powers (his ignoble part was hugely powerful, though). Ignoble Albion wanted to rule over the earth, and get rid of all divine powers that might oppose him. He failed, but caused a lot of damage.
If belief is tied to God-power, then Old Faith gods can retain “spell granting” power at the cost of their own “personalities” – they actually “become” the land, the ley lines, [sometimes] the henges, the lakes and pools, etc. The last two holdouts are Oberon/Titania, but they see the writing on the wall too. The hope was that the situation might change in the future, allowing them to reform. Later, arcane magic-users learn how to exploit these “magic items” in part. The One God is supplied with enough worshippers to retain a personality, and maintain a Heaven and Hell, but will not interfere directly, but only through mortal agents (their spells being granted, and used to contact Him, etc.) (but sometimes the demons/devils “cheat”, if they can) – One God sees this, as all suffering, as a “test of faith” (only way to bring up Nobility, which is worth the risk of disillusioning people (losing believers or having their Nobility reduced). Note: The rise of the One God allows Him to change the past, so that the Adam/Eve story, giants as children of fallen angels, etc., start to become “more real” as part of the history. Eventually, this will cause Albion’s remaining toxic magic to fail, and the ley lines to lose their power, as the Pagan Gods will not only not exist (except as magic items) they will never have existed (even as magic items). And with that, Arcane magic will also fail. But then, the One God will have no need to grant divine agency to mortals (an extension of the Non-Interference idea), and we will be in modern times. Strict controls will be set up on Hell to remove chance of “cheating” devils/demons, and god will use Believers’ souls to maintain power against all comers. Actually, part of changing past requires One God to stop actively interfering, even at the cost of would-be believers that want tangible miracles. One God is gambling that remaining believers (as well as souls of believers) will maintain power even without spells. In fact, when God feels secure enough, he will end Hell with Apocalypse and use believers in heaven as permanent mana battery to maintain permanent existence, with no possible rivals (remaining folk on Earth after Apocalypse will be rationalists with no supernatural beliefs, and thus no threat to him).
Now, what happens to souls? First, a stasis period of “long enough” beforehand, to allow for any reincarnations/resurrections etc. This varies, but only from the point of view of living mortals – takes no time from the point of view of the dead. Note: sometimes instead of a stasis period you get ghosts, who need something done before they can go on to the next step. Anyhow, either way the next step varies depending on what you believe: A) Believers in One God. Their souls are usually split in two. A % of their souls = to their nobility go to heaven, and remainder goes to hell OR becomes evil undead (a la spawn now – the secret of making non-spawned corporeal (which was almost exclusively elf, dwarf or primitive humans) or incorporeal undead (dread wraiths were giants that had displeased Albion) has been lost/destroyed when Albion was killed). A character with 100% nobility does not have his soul split in two, and so cannot become undead (except maybe Ghost, see above). Mortals never see souls in heaven again (except perhaps in the occasional dream) (part of non-interference pact). Souls in hell become demons/devils etc., after being tortured and mutated for a while. Demons/Devils that are killed simply die (exception, summoned one’s aren’t really here, so don’t die but reform in Hell). (Note: some demons/devils were not souls, but were retroactively created as fallen angels to be first torturers). Fallen Angels are the % parts of first Angels that were not pure enough, before God perfected the “non-interference” rule to prevent corruption. B) Believers in Old Faith – become part of the ley-lines/natural world (keeping the magic going, the One God’s retroactive influence at bay, etc.). Their nobility indicates how many years their personality forms a functional part, however small, of the place (in effect, the non-noble part becomes non-personality immediately). After that they are simply part of the “magic item”. Exception: if they became non-ghost undead we have the % split were the noble part is in stasis but the ignoble part is the undead thing and the whole soul can’t move on until undead thing is destroyed C) Non-Believers. Eventual Dissolution = Nothingness. (with same caveat on undead deal as above) Most intelligent monsters go this route. Noted exception: Fey Creatures (including goblins, dwarves, and elves) that do not believe in One God do option B, whether they are believers or not. Fey go through stasis period, but never become ghosts. This explains why druids like reincarnation: high percentage chance of getting a fey, which is eventual good news (but One God believers rarely consent to be reincarnated). Reincarnation table: 1-27 Goblin/28-51 Dwarf/52-75 Elf/76-99 Human/00 Other (Dm’s Choice – usually a fey, but possibly a giant).
Intelligent magical items don’t exist. A Familiar, Animal Companion, or Knight’s Warhorse loses its abilities and intelligence, but regains them if the person bonded with them is brought back to life. A familiar will not bond with another Hedge Mage. Another can use a Knight’s Warhorse. If the Warhorse is bonded with someone else with the Knight’s Warhorse ability, and the original Knight is brought back to life, the horse gets the better of the two scores and will choose the rider it had bonded with for the most levels (the earlier rider taking precedence in case of a tie).
Next question: Why Hell? Why not Nothingness here too? Torturing of evil part provides some power to One God, but not as nearly as much as good part does (thus One God wants believers to be as good as possible). Demons/devils take on jobs as torturers to continue the process. The longer one is tortured, the less “juice” One God gets per day of torture of that soul %. Diminishing returns (and attrition of “cheating” demons/devils who don’t do their jobs and try to cause trouble on Earth) eventually makes it more profitable to turn longest suffering tortured into torturers themselves.
Why do nasty monsters overrun England and surrounding areas specifically? I’d say it is residue of old rites of Albion = toxic waste of Albion w/o his waste management.
What about one who believes in One God and Old Faith? Sorry. Either you are an official believer of the One God (baptized/converted/the works) or you are not.
Why do higher social classes (lineages) start with more nobility? One God’s subtle interference (exception to “non-interference”. Role-model idea of encouraging others to be nobler).
Otherworld contains everything that is not Prime Material Plane. All spells that involves other planes involve some part of Otherworld. Otherworld includes Fairyland, Avalon, Heaven and Hell, but Heaven is barred to mortals.
Ok, so part of history is the goblins siding with the giants in the undead project, and dwarves and elves (and other fey) being created to try to stop it, with middling success. Eventually, with the giants in disarray, the elves and dwarves are meant to return to fairyland, but some stay behind (and get corrupted) and a few always leave/get kicked out of fairyland to see England (and may get corrupted). Elves later on were first to discover how to use ley lines for a new purpose, and so invented Arcane Magic. Prolonged exposure made elves weaker, but better at arcane magic. Originally, they were as much fighters as dwarves.
Possible paradox: mortal travels to hell, sees (part of) soul of X there, goes back home, tries to resurrect X. What happens? Solution: no paradox, as tortured souls are mutated and not recognizable, nor in their tortured states are they able to recognize those from former life. Thus mortal might see a tortured soul, but won’t know who it was, and so won’t know who to resurrect. If he resurrects anyone, that one was not in hell, but in “stasis”. Resurrection/True Resurrection does work on ghosts that were “laid to rest” (the ghost goes back into “Stasis”) and on other destroyed undead. While “evil” part is in undead, “good” part remains in stasis. So if undead destroyed, parts reform and whole soul remains in stasis, and so can be affected by resurrection/true resurrection, but not raise dead (too damaged from one sundering already).
Thus, for what it is worth, Ghosts have same nobility as living creature it was, but other undead always have permanent nobility of 0, as do demons/devils etc. (ignoble parts of souls get set to 0, noble parts of souls get set to 100, upon split in Believers).
Earth vs. Otherworld (Heaven (former Elysium), Hell (former Hades), Limbo (good parts of souls of category B or C that are split wait here), Fairyland (shrinking slightly), Avalon (the wandering Isle)).
Divine magic sources: One God (Priest/Crusader/Hermit/White Knight) – various interpretations, all granted magic, Old Faith (Druid/Minstrel/Blue Knight) – tied to ley lines and henges. (and for ladies of the lake and blue knights, large fresh bodies of water)
Arcane magic sources: Ley Lines. (All)
Hedge Mages tend to go for Old Faith and not One God.
Minstrels, Druids, Ladies of the Lake, Blue Knights: Old Faith.
Priests, Hermits, Crusaders, Saints, White Knights: One God (Aristocrats for “nobles” not of One God - note multiple interpretations!).
Note: Old Gods tried and failed to have similar system with Olympus/Hades, which now are Heaven/Hell. Part of Albion’s magic was to see if “non-noble” parts of souls could become more useful on Earth than in Hades. Some gods disagreed and sent Hercules. The internal dissention among Old Gods (and believers) allowed the One God to gain power. Albion was originally an Old God, but his own sundering denied him his divine powers (his ignoble part was hugely powerful, though). Ignoble Albion wanted to rule over the earth, and get rid of all divine powers that might oppose him. He failed, but caused a lot of damage.
If belief is tied to God-power, then Old Faith gods can retain “spell granting” power at the cost of their own “personalities” – they actually “become” the land, the ley lines, [sometimes] the henges, the lakes and pools, etc. The last two holdouts are Oberon/Titania, but they see the writing on the wall too. The hope was that the situation might change in the future, allowing them to reform. Later, arcane magic-users learn how to exploit these “magic items” in part. The One God is supplied with enough worshippers to retain a personality, and maintain a Heaven and Hell, but will not interfere directly, but only through mortal agents (their spells being granted, and used to contact Him, etc.) (but sometimes the demons/devils “cheat”, if they can) – One God sees this, as all suffering, as a “test of faith” (only way to bring up Nobility, which is worth the risk of disillusioning people (losing believers or having their Nobility reduced). Note: The rise of the One God allows Him to change the past, so that the Adam/Eve story, giants as children of fallen angels, etc., start to become “more real” as part of the history. Eventually, this will cause Albion’s remaining toxic magic to fail, and the ley lines to lose their power, as the Pagan Gods will not only not exist (except as magic items) they will never have existed (even as magic items). And with that, Arcane magic will also fail. But then, the One God will have no need to grant divine agency to mortals (an extension of the Non-Interference idea), and we will be in modern times. Strict controls will be set up on Hell to remove chance of “cheating” devils/demons, and god will use Believers’ souls to maintain power against all comers. Actually, part of changing past requires One God to stop actively interfering, even at the cost of would-be believers that want tangible miracles. One God is gambling that remaining believers (as well as souls of believers) will maintain power even without spells. In fact, when God feels secure enough, he will end Hell with Apocalypse and use believers in heaven as permanent mana battery to maintain permanent existence, with no possible rivals (remaining folk on Earth after Apocalypse will be rationalists with no supernatural beliefs, and thus no threat to him).
Now, what happens to souls? First, a stasis period of “long enough” beforehand, to allow for any reincarnations/resurrections etc. This varies, but only from the point of view of living mortals – takes no time from the point of view of the dead. Note: sometimes instead of a stasis period you get ghosts, who need something done before they can go on to the next step. Anyhow, either way the next step varies depending on what you believe: A) Believers in One God. Their souls are usually split in two. A % of their souls = to their nobility go to heaven, and remainder goes to hell OR becomes evil undead (a la spawn now – the secret of making non-spawned corporeal (which was almost exclusively elf, dwarf or primitive humans) or incorporeal undead (dread wraiths were giants that had displeased Albion) has been lost/destroyed when Albion was killed). A character with 100% nobility does not have his soul split in two, and so cannot become undead (except maybe Ghost, see above). Mortals never see souls in heaven again (except perhaps in the occasional dream) (part of non-interference pact). Souls in hell become demons/devils etc., after being tortured and mutated for a while. Demons/Devils that are killed simply die (exception, summoned one’s aren’t really here, so don’t die but reform in Hell). (Note: some demons/devils were not souls, but were retroactively created as fallen angels to be first torturers). Fallen Angels are the % parts of first Angels that were not pure enough, before God perfected the “non-interference” rule to prevent corruption. B) Believers in Old Faith – become part of the ley-lines/natural world (keeping the magic going, the One God’s retroactive influence at bay, etc.). Their nobility indicates how many years their personality forms a functional part, however small, of the place (in effect, the non-noble part becomes non-personality immediately). After that they are simply part of the “magic item”. Exception: if they became non-ghost undead we have the % split were the noble part is in stasis but the ignoble part is the undead thing and the whole soul can’t move on until undead thing is destroyed C) Non-Believers. Eventual Dissolution = Nothingness. (with same caveat on undead deal as above) Most intelligent monsters go this route. Noted exception: Fey Creatures (including goblins, dwarves, and elves) that do not believe in One God do option B, whether they are believers or not. Fey go through stasis period, but never become ghosts. This explains why druids like reincarnation: high percentage chance of getting a fey, which is eventual good news (but One God believers rarely consent to be reincarnated). Reincarnation table: 1-27 Goblin/28-51 Dwarf/52-75 Elf/76-99 Human/00 Other (Dm’s Choice – usually a fey, but possibly a giant).
Intelligent magical items don’t exist. A Familiar, Animal Companion, or Knight’s Warhorse loses its abilities and intelligence, but regains them if the person bonded with them is brought back to life. A familiar will not bond with another Hedge Mage. Another can use a Knight’s Warhorse. If the Warhorse is bonded with someone else with the Knight’s Warhorse ability, and the original Knight is brought back to life, the horse gets the better of the two scores and will choose the rider it had bonded with for the most levels (the earlier rider taking precedence in case of a tie).
Next question: Why Hell? Why not Nothingness here too? Torturing of evil part provides some power to One God, but not as nearly as much as good part does (thus One God wants believers to be as good as possible). Demons/devils take on jobs as torturers to continue the process. The longer one is tortured, the less “juice” One God gets per day of torture of that soul %. Diminishing returns (and attrition of “cheating” demons/devils who don’t do their jobs and try to cause trouble on Earth) eventually makes it more profitable to turn longest suffering tortured into torturers themselves.
Why do nasty monsters overrun England and surrounding areas specifically? I’d say it is residue of old rites of Albion = toxic waste of Albion w/o his waste management.
What about one who believes in One God and Old Faith? Sorry. Either you are an official believer of the One God (baptized/converted/the works) or you are not.
Why do higher social classes (lineages) start with more nobility? One God’s subtle interference (exception to “non-interference”. Role-model idea of encouraging others to be nobler).
Otherworld contains everything that is not Prime Material Plane. All spells that involves other planes involve some part of Otherworld. Otherworld includes Fairyland, Avalon, Heaven and Hell, but Heaven is barred to mortals.
Ok, so part of history is the goblins siding with the giants in the undead project, and dwarves and elves (and other fey) being created to try to stop it, with middling success. Eventually, with the giants in disarray, the elves and dwarves are meant to return to fairyland, but some stay behind (and get corrupted) and a few always leave/get kicked out of fairyland to see England (and may get corrupted). Elves later on were first to discover how to use ley lines for a new purpose, and so invented Arcane Magic. Prolonged exposure made elves weaker, but better at arcane magic. Originally, they were as much fighters as dwarves.
Possible paradox: mortal travels to hell, sees (part of) soul of X there, goes back home, tries to resurrect X. What happens? Solution: no paradox, as tortured souls are mutated and not recognizable, nor in their tortured states are they able to recognize those from former life. Thus mortal might see a tortured soul, but won’t know who it was, and so won’t know who to resurrect. If he resurrects anyone, that one was not in hell, but in “stasis”. Resurrection/True Resurrection does work on ghosts that were “laid to rest” (the ghost goes back into “Stasis”) and on other destroyed undead. While “evil” part is in undead, “good” part remains in stasis. So if undead destroyed, parts reform and whole soul remains in stasis, and so can be affected by resurrection/true resurrection, but not raise dead (too damaged from one sundering already).
Thus, for what it is worth, Ghosts have same nobility as living creature it was, but other undead always have permanent nobility of 0, as do demons/devils etc. (ignoble parts of souls get set to 0, noble parts of souls get set to 100, upon split in Believers).
Earth vs. Otherworld (Heaven (former Elysium), Hell (former Hades), Limbo (good parts of souls of category B or C that are split wait here), Fairyland (shrinking slightly), Avalon (the wandering Isle)).
Particle_Man
Explorer
Loose ends in my own mind. I assumed that Hubert gained 15 nobility and 5 Knight levels in the 15 years. Also, in the final battle, he died via treachery from the 62nd opponent, a Black Knight that feigned death, used the poison weapon (all as per the Purple Knight's dream, way back when).
Particle_Man
Explorer
Movie Night!
Good news! The movie night is a go. We will be in SUB room 215, starting at 6pm this saturday!. We will see "Excalibur" first, followed by "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". Everyone welcome, and can bring others who want to see these fine movies.
I will leave a notice on the Wargamers' door as to the room, in case someone wants to go but forgets the room number.
Good news! The movie night is a go. We will be in SUB room 215, starting at 6pm this saturday!. We will see "Excalibur" first, followed by "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". Everyone welcome, and can bring others who want to see these fine movies.
I will leave a notice on the Wargamers' door as to the room, in case someone wants to go but forgets the room number.
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