Thanksgiving. We gather to have our thanksgiving dinner together. Since turkeys in our local store are more monsters on steroids than actual normal-sized birds, we decide to avoid the traditional stuffed beast to instead have Cornish Hens. The results of Nerissa's cooking are actually quite impressive:
The Cornish HensThese actually follow the nachos and italian dip we have as a starter. Scallop potatoes and squash accompany this main course. We socialize for a while and finish our meal with a home-made lemon pie, pumkin cheesecake and muffins.
We start playing the game around 6:30 PM.
Session 2 - Back to Ptolus
Still the 2nd of Rain
After leaving the halfling Hamrick to his insults, Beket, Henny and Simone walk down Aethel Street in the Guildsman District. They end up in the vicinity of the infamous Skull and Sword, a tavern known for its not-so-sympathetic patrons.
Simone tells her friends that she might find out more about the events that occured since they left the surface. Beket and Henny stay outside the tavern while it starts to rain heavily. While they are waiting for Simone to come back, they spot a half-orc exchanging some sort of merchandise in the shadow of a doorway nearby. Whatever this fellow is up to, this cannot be legal.
The DM's ToolsSimone goes in and exchanges a few rude words with the patrons. Avoiding a fight with them becomes clearly a challenge as several of the customers start poking fun as the "nice little elfish girl". Simone obviously does not appreciate the jokes, but she makes a good job at keeping her cool. After a short conversation, she learns it is now Airday, the 2nd of Rain. Since they left for their Rat Hunt of the Theoday, the 17th of Toil, this means she and her companions have been down there for more than two weeks!
She doesn't ask more, since the patrons seem to quickly loose their tempers with her. She catches a rumor pertaining to the barbarians to the East, who, according to the rumors, would have made a few incursions in the Empire during the past few weeks. Simone decides to leave before starting a brawl.
As she meets back with Beket and Henny, the three of them decide to push on to Delver's Square and try to make it to Myraeth's Oddities before it closes. With the rain pouring on the streets of Ptolus, it is hard to tell what time it is. Probably the end of the afternoon.
The delvers push on and stop by St. Gustav's chapel to check on the bounties for ratmen. They meet with Petran Achenburg, a priest of the Church who gave them a few advice before they left for the sewers two weeks ago. Unfortunately, none of the adventurers seem to remember meeting Petran before. This probably is a side effect of whatever experiments Zalathar and his aids performed on them. They leave the chapel before the conversation gets too awkward, even though Petran seems like a nice fellow truly concerned with their well-being.
As they cross the street, they reach the Square just as Myraeth Tuneweaver closes for the day. They manage to get a few minutes of his time. The old elf seems to be in a good mood as he chats with them about mundane events in town. Simone manages to sell Zalathar's spellbook and a few other items they got on their way out of Ghul's Labyrinth since Myraeth's business focusses on buying and selling magical items. This is pretty much the only store of its kind, and thus a very popular location for all the delvers in Ptolus.
Nerissa (Beket) and Caroline (Henny)are waiting for the game to begin
After wrapping up with Myraeth, the adventurers take their leave. Whatever happened during the last two weeks, it is now time to catch up with their lives.
When Beket arrives to the Observatory of the Watcher of the Skies, she meets with her great aunt, Ayla, who was really worried for her. They decide to share some tisanes together in the meditation room. They cross paths with Helmut Itlestein, the High Priest of the Observatory, while on their way in. Ayla points out that the High Priest seems worried lately - it may have something to do with his politics, who knows? As they discuss together Beket is reminded of how fond she is of her great aunt, this little lady with such a huge heart she wonders how her tiny chest could contain all that sweetness.
Meanwhile, Henny gets back to her appartment in Old Town. There, she finds Sasha, her niece, who has been staying there for a few days. The teenage girl complains about Fransin Nagel who's been so gloomy and serious these days. Of course, Henny tries to make her understand the House has fallen on some hardships recently, that the members of the family ought to stick together, but Sasha has a thirst for freedom, for adventure. Obviously, Sasha asks again if she can stay at Henny's appartment and follow her on her delves, but the young woman doesn't give in. Out of frustration, Sasha leaves the place, slamming the door behind her. Teenagers...
During this time, Simone was walking down the streets, going through Dalenguard's inpection. When she finally reaches the Sadar Estate, the skies grow dark. She walks through the woods surrounding the estate and meets Rowen, the elvish servant acting as her supervisor at the guest house where she works. Simone has to endure a harsh and long lecture from Rowen before she can finally make it to her bed. It isn't really comfortable, and the place gives her the creeps, but she isn't fired at least.
3rd of Rain
The adventurers attend to their usual morning duties before gathering at Delver's Square. They still catch up on their lives.
Simone serves in Sadar's guest house. A visitor has come to House Sadar from the distant lands of Kem with a host of eunuchs to serve him. Not only does she have to deal with the temper of Sayem Nadir, Speaker to the Spears of Aartuat, but she also has to contend with the eunuchs who do not want anyone but themselves to take care of their master. Between her duties to House Sadar and the jeaulousy of the Speaker's servants, she really has to dodge her way through the morning.
Henny's morning is much more casual. She is working as a low-ranking assistant to the City Courts. She has to prepare the paperwork of some imperial officials for the day, attend to the needs of this or that judge, but this isn't so much a bother. She remains busy, earns enough wages to pay for her appartment without the help of her family: that's all that counts.
Beket doesn't have to do much in the morning besides her daily meditations and the Observatory of the Watcher of the Skies.
All in all, the morning goes by pretty quick. After just a few hours of work, the adventurers are free to meet at Delver's Square. They were speaking of checking out the Temple of the Ebon Hand, just to see if the Cult would have anything to do with the laboratories they managed to escape the previous day. Who knows? In any case, they would also visit the Zar'at where Zalathar was last known to reside, according to his identification papers. There has to be some way to find out what he was up to!
XP Breakdown
Characters are all level 1.
- Role-playing bonus per player-character: 50 XP
XP per PC: 50 XP.
Total XP earned in the campaign per PC: 950 XP.
2 comments:
What a surprising session. As I said in a comment on "Session 1 - Escape from Zalathar's Lair", I'm interested in player reactions. In this session, nothing much happened in terms of combat. Did your players think it was boring, or did they enjoy roleplaying these encounters? How did you keep the other two involved as you essentially split the party into three on their return, having each of them explain their absence to their friends and family?
Hello Alex!
The players liked this session very much, mainly because it was about their characters and how they interact with the world. Their family, their friends, their status as adventurers.
They got a feel of what it feels like to live in Ptolus, be an adventurer, and yet not exist "in a vacuum" like it's the case in many campaigns out there.
For the moments when one PC was dealing with family and friends, the other two players were at the table listening to what was going on and making comments/participating out of the game.
I decided very early on that I didn't want these moments to feel like "Vampire: The Masquerade" : there is no need to hide anything from the other players unless it is specifically asked by the player in question. My ultimate goal being to have a feeling of "believability" of the PCs lives and who they are "outside of the office hours" while not stepping outside of the room every so often.
All the players understood pretty early on that what they -players- know is completely different from what their -characters- know. I guess I'm lucky from that point of view (and not only this one of course), because we don't have anyone with any "double-crossing" or "winner/loser" attitude in the group. That's awesome, because it allows us to all profit from all the game events instead of chopping it up in isolated exchanges all the time.
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