The following is the campaign log for the ninth session of my
current
Amber Diceless RPG campaign, entitled A Horse Of Another Timbre. One of
my players keeps a log of the scenes, and another maintains a quote
list. As usual, I have combined them with a few extra notes of
my own after the fact. I post them here several months after, which
allows me to add in a few little clarifications without worrying too
much about spoiling future plotlines for my players.
------
December 21st, 2020, Session #9
The PCs are:
- Dalziel,
son of Bleys of Amber. A scientist who has been in Amber for several months.
- Maarit, daughter of Sand. An orphan with a magic pendulum.
- Spinturnix,
(aka Nix), son of Julian. Grew up in Forest Arden.
- Medore,
nonbinary offspring orphan of Dierdre
- David Weyreth
is a retired officer from the militaries of Amber.
- Abn Haram,
the human-shaped son of Lady Nykae of Chaos, and the long-dead Prince Osric of Amber
Most of the NPCs are from the novels, such as Prince Caine, who's currently not getting along with King Random.
A few NPCs are NOT from the novels, however, such as Abn Haram's chaos-blooded relations (the lady Nykae, and her brother Sevran), who were actually recycled from an old Amber campaign to save the GM some time in the early stages of the campaign.
------
Setting the Scene: Caine's fleets were posturing in Amber bay, which meant they were in the perfect position to help out when some sinister Triton force attacked Rebma. Now Caine, David, Spinturnix, and Medore are all down on the beach, along with lots of Rebman refugees, and a wounded black unicorn. King Random had previously warned Medore in particular to stay as far from Caine as possible. Abn Haram is in the dungeons, but about to trump away. Maarit is in the castle, tending to Dalziel's punctured gut.
------
Scene 1 - Abn Haram
Abn Haram starts heading up the stairs out of the castle, and then reconsiders his plan that now seems foolish and dangerous. Getting out a card, he goes to hang out with his uncle, Lord Sevran of House Moen (of Chaos), leaving Amber for now.
Scene 2 - David
David and Caine fought to the gates of Rebma, then those gates froze before them.
From the GM's session plans:
The Tritons go rushing out of the gateway, some of them rushing towards Caine and David, the others fleeing out into open water. And then, suddenly, the water in the gateway freezes. It's blisteringly cold. Spiky tendrils of ice grow towards you, and you can feel the heat draining from your body.
Caine orders his men to fall back 100 meters.
To David: "There's a good chance that's Martin's doing."
Scene 3 - Medore
Caine and Medore met and the meeting didn't go well. Caine set up a security perimeter and called someone on a card.
Scene 4 = Dalziel and Maarit
Maarit went through the unconscious, wounded Dalziel's pockets and is considering murdering him. The aunt Maarit was planning to meet did not show up. Maarit gathers up the wet deck of cards from Dal and conceals them. She scoffs at Dalziel's "science" sketches but dries them out. She takes interest in Dalziel's notes on the paintings, the game, and Dworkin and Morgholo. In pain, Dalziel wakes and tells Maarit about the battle.
Maarit
asks him about the new/strange Tarot cards he has. He says he took them
to protect everyone from Dworkin. Maarit accepts with calm assuredness
Dalziel's ravings about the nature of the universe.
Scene 5 - Nix goes to the forest
After finding Steward and setting her on her way, King Random and Nix talk about the mysteries of Chaos magic, the questions the King has about their ability to move through worlds. Nix offers to go investigate that, as well as the pattern-like squiggles being discussed in the Golden Circle worlds since the Black War. In particular, Nix recalls a tale from a retired Amber soldier who saw part of the pattern out in Shadow.
Before he leaves for Oberon's Loupe, Nix tries to call Julian through his card, but there's no answer. Nix asks Random for two guards and then takes horses to ride into the forest. They take silver blades with them. On the road in the forest, they meet a Rebman solider, grievously wounded, who indicates that Rebma is under attack and begs for Amber's help. Nix uses his Tarot to call the King and passes the soldier through, then offers to reconnoiter the beach on behalf of the King. He takes the soldiers off the main road onto deer paths to espy the beach. He calls for birds from his father's aviary but gets no response, unusual.
Scene 1b - Abn Haram near the abyss
Abn uses his card to call Nykae and she's doing much better. She invites him through the card to join her in an undulating sea port. Nykae is glad to see that he's better. She indicates she's hiring a boat and planning to go. She mentions that the painting Steward got is likely a map, is glad that she got it. Nykae mentions that she knew the painting was there and thought it would be helpful. She heard about it from Osric, who told her it was a relic from RELIADRIOR.
Nykae plans to buy a boat, and Abn Haram decides to go with her. He plans to buy a sea turtle, make it enormous, and then ride it into Amber. They sail for Amber.
Scene 2b - David and Nix with Caine on the Beach
Caine has people form a safety shield around him. He tries one call, gets no answer; tries a second call, connects with "Martin"--the King's son whom he is not on good terms with. Caine starts passing troops off.
David notices some movement in the woods but takes no action.
Nix in the woods watches as the troops on the beach are being passed through the card. Nix asks the guards to position themselves for safe guarding and then tries to call Random.
David sees the top half of a man come flying out of the woods. It's one of Nix's guards! David starts running for the woods.
Nix turns and finds a giant werewolf standing above him. Nix draws and casts Bodily Defense, which protects against magic, but not Werewolf claws, which rip three tears in Nix's arm. The werewolf tears apart the other guard.
Elsewhere, Maarit uses Medore's tarot to call Medore, who tries to say "talk later" and accidentally opens a stronger connection to Maarit. Maarit offers Medore a quick escape, which Medore turns and offers escape to the Unicorn. Maarit pulls Medore through to Dalziel's bedroom, which is large and spacious. Medore brings the unicorn along. The unicorn climbs into Dalziel's bed and tries to snuggle. The Unicorn is wounded, and now it's bleeding on the bed. Medore uses the fresh medical supplies to treat the unicorn's wounds anew.
While the Werewolf is killing the guard, Nix takes the opportunity to stab it in the back, which wounds it but the sword is left sticking out of the wolf's back. Nix backs out of the forest just as David rushes up. David defends Nix, and the wolf pulls the sword out of its back. It howls and is answered by half a dozen more in the forest. That howl is answered by another pack further away.
David cautions Nix to back away, which he does, and the wolf goes after David. David stabs it deeply, then snaps its neck. David and Nix fall back toward Caine. Caine steps forward and commands the werewolves to stand down ("You're dishonoring Eric's memory by attacking his countrymen.")
David notices which Werewolf seems to be the alpha. The werewolf shouts that Eric is dead and says "we don't dishonor his memory, we realize his dreams!" The wolf takes a pendant off and throws it toward the people. He throws a bloodied gauntlet at us and shouts "Julian is ours, all of Arden is ours. You will stay out of our forest - no more humans in our forest."
Caine lines up his men and squares off against the werewolves....
------
Some night, some day,some time… QUOTESS:
I can’t do it, this was ill conceived, get me out of here (paraphrased)
-Abn Haram
The most disorganized group of people I”ve ever met (of amber) -abn haram
“That is a very simple answer… I don’t like simple answers.” -Medore
I don’t want to do anything in front of Caine that might contradict what he might order so I take his lead -David
Rolfe: Certain types of magic are grandfathered in
Kaylin and Andrew: LITERALLY
“Are the men going to die is always my first thought” - David
“I can’t decide if you look more like Sand or Delwyn” -Caine (Racistly)
“Dal: I agreed to have a conversation with my gut bacteria…
Marit: Well, that will be easier now.
Dal: ::laughs then groans in pain::”
Marit: Unless Abn Haram is still mad about Random arresting his pig
Dal: What!? ::sharp bark of laughter then another groan of pain::
“If everyone is comfortable around me I haven’t been doing my job right.” - Medore
I am trusting you with some thing very important: My fashion style! - Medore
How shocking would Dalziel’s statement have to be for Maarit to NOT accept it casually with an “Mmmmhmmm”?
“I think our grandfather IS the universe, maybe.” “MmmHmm.”
No comments:
Post a Comment