Basic Games

The Auditors of Destiny investigate the Wu Family Manse, meet up with Gar La Bey once more, and travel south to Qimre Village in pursuit of more points on the map.

Dramatis Personae
Zi Xiang Wu Song Khazir Mohzeus Gen Book of Three Circles Shrimkin the Snack Goblin

Game Summary
The Auditors of Destiny are on their way south towards more points on the map. On the way they head towards the mountains containing the ancestral manse and sword school of Gens Wu; information from Yu Tan Laurel suggesting that an assault force had been sent there from Lookshy, following Song and his group being labelled as traitors.

On the way, the squires hang out together. Zi hunts a local mountain eagle to adopt its form and subtly scout the sword school. Witness forages and scouts, leading the group through the night. They encounter a somewhat steady stream of mostly Marukani refugees travelling north along the road. Zi adopts a variant of Jakel’s form and approaches a group of the travelers, speaking to a Marukani governess leading a group of families. She informed Zi that word had come down that Lookshy wasn’t a good place to go right now. She also told Zi that the Marukani capital of Celeran had been evacuated before the Mask arrived, and that traps of some sort had been left in the city. Finally she told Zi that they had not encountered any Lookshy forces heading south before they parted ways amicably.

As the group heads south closer to the mountain range, the number of refugees slowly falls away and the group assumes most are on roads to the east or west; few people would want to travel through the mountains. As they continue through the night, Lachlann catches some game and makes dinner for everyone and it is absolutely fantastic; so good that it restores everyone’s willpower to full during the night. The subject of Lachlann’s family comes up briefly and he seems to avoid the topic with a look of guilt.

In the morning, they have made their way through the range and have arrived near the base of the mountain pass leading to the manse. Zi and Laughter take on avian forms and fly up to scout. On the ground, Song and Khazir find signs of heavy equipment and troops passing through, including signs that warstriders had come through here; they also spot a small plume of smoke coming from the sword school on the mountain peak. Song notes that it looks there were 4 common warstriders, 1 noble warstrider and a dragon of ground troops. In the sky, Zi notes that there doesn’t seem to be anyone there. There is light damage to the buildings around the base of the sword school but the school itself seems to be thoroughly ruined. Zi sings an all clear message to Song, who suggests it might be safer for him to go alone. The group rejects that idea, stepping alongside Song with Gen remarking “We should do this together.” Jakel volunteers himself and Laughter to hang back and guard the vardo.

Following the path up, the group notes the gate seems to be open and undamaged with no signs of immediate resistance. The small buildings that make up the barracks, supply areas, galley, etc. don’t seem heavily damaged but they have been ransacked for supplies. The group comes to the conclusion that the attacking force seemed to avoid damaging the manse, likely out of greed considering how difficult and expensive it would be to restore a functioning manse over the leyline. The attackers likely believe it will be far better to simply capture or kill Song. Witness sneaks into the ruined sword school and smells fear, warstriders, and dragon bloods before spotting a message carved into the wall:

“Wu Song: Turn yourself in traitor”

The damage done inside the sword school seems to have been done with malicious intent, tapestries horrifically defaced and whatnot. Song recalls a hidden chamber at the rear of the main training hall, he opens the passage down and he and Gen make their way down. Song notes that there are places for many relics and items of value, but they are empty; their resting places do not seem damaged though. Song and Gen make their way through the dark antechamber and find a suit of armor resting on a mannequin. Gen looks the armor over a moment before tearing up and Song recognizes that this armor belonged to Gen’s late father. Song remarks that the armor can come with them as that is where it belongs; and that they must remember their enemies are not evil, rather their own misguided countrymen.

In the meanwhile, the group searches the rest of the manse for items of use, but it appears to be ransacked. Khazir finds writing materials in the emptied library and Witness finds a small basil garden. Song takes Gen to visit the small grave for his bird, which was undisturbed. Gen removes his buff jacket and replaces it with his father’s perfect reinforced breastplate before exchanging salutes with Song.

Song tries once more to reach out to his master with wind carried words, but still there is no response. However, visiting the large tree at the edge of the monastery that his master loved, Song places a small origami phoenix at the base of the tree, finding a nearly identical one had been left there; which he takes with him.

The group decides to open a portal to the Conflux and move the remains of the furniture and ruined tapestries, etc. of the sword school that had been left behind; preferring that to it all being likely scavenged. They deposit it into the library, startling Fable’s Conclusion but otherwise getting it there without further damage.

The group continued south, discussing the million hands cult. Before they make it too far away from the mountains, Song spots a small figure following and calling out after them from a distance. Song leaps from the vardo to investigate and recognizes the small figure of Gar La Bey (who now stands a little over a foot and a half). Gar has to try to catch his breath but tells Song he had been trying to find them for some time. Song carries him back to the group where Gar expresses relief when he sees that Khazir is there, happy he is not dead. The group stops for a bit to talk over tea. Gar told them that fighting in Mahalanka continued until Raksi, in a rage, levelled the city; his kind dare not approach. He told Khazir that while the mantle has “passed” to Khazir, there are rules and rights that must be done, and the eastern courts are in chaos. Since a mantle has not passed in this way for thousands of years, many questions have arisen. Some of the more arrogant courts and their spirits are jockeying for power in Seiryu’s absence. Gar notes that the Eastern Conclave will occur the day after the Calibration to more or less establish the pecking order and if Seiryu is not there and Khazir is not there, things will get… muddy. Khazir asks Gar to assist him in preparing, Gar doubts his own ability to do so but offers to do his best. Zi invites Gar La Bey to travel with them, Gar graciously accepts and offers use of his personal sanctum when the time comes as entry for Khazir and the group to the Conclave.

It is now mid-day and Gar, seeming to have been searching since the battle of Mahalanka, asks to rest for a bit. Sarina makes a small pillow/nest area for Gar on one of the shelves. The groups continues on, believing they could get into the area of the yellow 2 and 3 dot around the time of the beginning of the Calibration using Witness’ travel charm. Looking at the map, they note that the points have started moving west and a bit to the north. The villages and towns are sparse leading up the forests edge, and the forests themselves are a bit wild in this area; with rumors and stories of strange first age cities and structures having been present. Zi recognizes that the yellow 1 dot is at the edge of where Mahasuchi and Raksi’s border skirmishes happen. Song recalls that there is a dangerous first age city ruin there, and that Lookshy had standing rules for officers to not deploy to that area. The group notes that Parma’s dot is gone from the map (though he is in the Conflux currently).

On the 26th Witness tries to work the map to see if he can discover a new setting. Witness succeeds and the map reveals 4 black dots on the map; [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[LOCATIONS HERE]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

Song researched Jehsika’s journal some more. Jehsika is working with the bronze faction of the sidereals, she does not seem to be getting involved with the faction business; rather being irritated by it. Her research seems to be coming together though, she has begun trying to comb fate somehow with her new abilities and it sounds like she may be trying to find the first set of people she set out on the task she has given the Auditors of Destiny. Song also researches object number 9. It is about the size of a small jewelry box when put together, it is a puzzle box that must be assembled to function and to quote Jehsika “when assembled it is incredibly powerful but just a teensy bit cursed”. The last she wrote on its whereabouts was that it was in the possession of a powerful sorcerer who has since died.

The group continues south, curving to the west a bit to stay moving towards the 2 and 3 dots as they moved west. Zi flies over the Mask’s shadowland sees it extending east before they arrive at a small border hunting village of about 80 people or so. They arrive on the 27th and believe they could intercept the dots by midday of the 28th. Song notes a burly man carrying a large bear corpse into town and decides to sample the local food and hear local gossip. Song questions the man about what scares him in the forests and the one eyed mountain man describes giant, smart, dangerous things in the woods. One of which took his eye when he was a trapper. The thing told him he didn’t belong there. He said there used to be kind decent folks in the woods, but that was ages past; now there is just monsters and death. When Song expresses interest in going to the woods the man calls him a fool and describes silvery claws maiming him, which catches Zi’s interest and she takes the opportunity to explain the difference between Lunars and beastmen. Zi also thinks she may know the Lunar whose territory is near there. The Lunar’s name is Devourer of Bone and their totem is some flavor of a four legged carrion creature, like a hyena or jackal. They are hostile, taciturn, and territorial; Zi did not get along with them. The group sat and discussed their next move over a foamy mug of bear and a meal made from a weird moose/jellyfish hybrid.

Games Notes
Song got 4 successes on the Journal research. Total journal successes = 45

Witness got 2 successes on the map and unlocked the "Black" dots. Total map successes = ???

Gen upgraded his armor from a buff jacket to a perfect reinforced breastplate.

Trivia

 * It's fun!

Game 1 Transcript

Game 1 Audio