Actual Play - 6th Game - 4 Aug 12

Our cast for this game included Lairgnen, Tiernan, Gildas, Cinnia, Delphi and Zaccheus.

The characters waited 8 days for their clans to provide trade goods and load the starship.  Their first trip took them to Abequa-36, where they spent a day surveying the system and refueling at the gas giant.  Reaching the main planet, they left their ship in orbit and used the ship's launch to land with a small sample of their trade goods, a pattern they followed on subsequent trips.  Their first encounter was with a local merchant named Baloq, who immediately offered to buy their goods and sell them others.  He offered to act as broker for them, and because they had no common currency, he told them he could act as their accountant as well.  They remained for a week before heading back to Arden.  Baloq requested passage, in order to conduct trade negotiations with the Ardeni.

After dropping Baloq at Arden, they decided to make a long voyage, visiting the Tralnor, Libmon, Cevdoo, and Gruvek systems before hitting Abequa-36 again, and completing the circuit back at Arden.  They were successful trading at Tralnor, and promised other Ardeni merchant ships would soon be there to establish trade relations.  At Libmon, they spotted no evidence of civilization, but while exploring with the launch, they located several bands of stone age primitives.  They decided this would be an easy world to colonize, but didn't bother contacting any of the locals before heading on.  At Cevdoo they were also successful, and again promised other merchants would be there soon.

At Gruvek, they found a world at war.  Low tech nations filled with ancient stone ruins butted up against high tech nations with skyscrapers.  The night side of the planet was mostly lit, but huge dark patches provided evidence of the devestation of war.  While surveying the planet, one of the high tech areas fired on their launch with ground-based laser defenses, and they decided to leave the Gruvek system for another time.  

Upon their return to Abequa-36, they found the second Ardeni merchant vessel offloading goods, and met again with Baloq.  Finally back at Arden, they discussed briefly a trip to begin colonizing Libmon before ending play for the day.

(Game Calendar:  541-121 to 541-196)

Actual Play - 5th Game - 27 Jul 12

I let my players know there would be in-game benefits if anyone wanted to write up the details of the adventure... Player S.H. rose to the challenge, writing in character as Cinnia of Clan Gower... Thanks!

            Well, our adventures resumed after Gildas and Lykaios returned to the Valley, and Delphi rejoined our group.  That left Zaccheus, Lairgnen, Tiernan, Delphi, and I, Cinnia, at our scouting encampment.  The leader, Dimitrius of Clan Savakis, announced that he was tired of us and the prisoners just sitting around and eating their food.  Unsure of what else to do, we decided to build a pit to store our prisoners in - we wanted them alive so they would be good for prisoner exchanges if any of our people were captured.  To save ourselves from the intense work, we had the prisoners dig their own pit.  We, however, built the spiked wooden fence the keep them from escaping because we believed it would not be good to let them be in the proximity of sharp pointy objects.

            Apparently, spending more than two weeks on that wasn’t what Dimitrius wanted us to do either, so using Dephi’s clairvoyance, we located another small scouting party of Uruki.  By the time we reached them, a two and four person group had joined, so we successfully ambushed the party of six.  In our first volley, we brought down four of the Uruki.  The remaining two fled, but we shot them down as well.  All of them were alive, but unfortunately, while we were binding them so they couldn’t escape, two succumbed to their injuries.  We took the prisoners and the deceased and returned to the camp.  None of our group sustained injuries.

            Finally, Dimitrius was pleased.  He even gave us the good news that while we were away, four of our initial captives had sworn allegiance to the Ardeni.  We stayed at camp to recoup for a bit and then found another group of Uruki to ambush.  This was a party of eight.  Although we had more difficulties with this group - Delphi and Lairgnen sustained injuries and Tiernan was knocked unconscious - our mission was successful.  Lairgnen, however, killed one of the already unconscious prisoners.  Delphi, after using her medical abilities to assist herself and Tienan, saved all but one of the prisoners from their severe injuries.  Zaccheus telepathically requested for mules to be sent to carry the wounded and deceased because not enough had regained consciousness so we could move them by ourselves.

            Our return was once again praised.  Dimitrius informed us that other of our scouting parties had not met as much success as our group.  Also, he told us that four more of the Uruki prisoners had changed sides.  Well, now, we had four dead Uruki in our camp, and we had to deal with them, so we left for the Uruki encampment to return their dead.  Zaccheus led our group carrying the white flag.

            As we entered the camp, a path was cleared for us to their leader’s tent.  He told us to leave the bodies there.  Then, he offered us food and shelter for the night.  The food was good.  Once in our accommodations, their leader came to see us.  For the sake of a peaceful stay, we bound and gagged Lairgnen.  Although the leader questioned this, we must have provided a suitable explanation.  The leader’s name was Dylan, advisor to the Uruki High King.  He believed that the king had ordered war because of the Ardeni’s lack of honor and was surprised to see that we were honorable enough to return their dead.  Our actions had pleased him and he offered to speak with his king to see if they could rethink the war.  I will admit now, I wish we hadn’t just hidden the first Uruki we killed in the bushes, but it’s a little late too retrieve him now.

            After a generous breakfast from the Uruki, we returned to our camp and reported the events to Dimitrius.  He then told us that we should return to Ossian.  We did and he called a meeting with our clan chiefs and us.  He informed us that we had brought great honor to our clans and inquired whether we wished to resume fighting Uruki, or if we wished to investigate the threat from space.  Believing that we had done as much as possible for the war, we chose to investigate space.  But first, we wished to improve or skills for our journey.  After a month of training, Lairgnen, Zaccheus, and Tiernan came away with new skills.  Delphi and I were not as fortunate.  I guess I am not meant to learn the mysteries of the Vacc-Suit.  I hope no crisis will occur that will require it.  We wrapped up our time picking what to bring on our ship to trade - our clan chiefs will pay for the goods we choose to bring.  Most likely, our credits will not work on other planets.  Until next time - Cinnia.

Actual Play - 4th Game: To War! (17 Jul 12)

Cinnia, Tiernan, Lairgnen, Lykaios, Gildas and Zaccheus were called to meet with King Ossian to give him their decision on their next move.  After much discussion, they agreed to do battle with the Uruki.  Although they asked, King Ossian would not spare them one of the new-found spacecraft for the war effort.  Instead, he gave them each authority to requisition 1000 credits worth of whatever they needed and then sent them to the Borderlands.

Using one of the newly refitted motorized carts, they drove the length of the Valley and through the Grey Hills in two and a half days.  The Commander of the Watch was briefing them on the situation, when a runner returned with news that the Uruki had finally sent patrols out of the Great Central Plain.

The group decided to head out right away to intercept one of the patrols.  After hiking almost three hours into the Borderlands, they surprised a patrol carrying the banner of Uruki clan Probyn.  Lairgnen sprinted forward, sword in hand, while the others opened fire with rifle, shotgun, revolver and longbow!  Tiernan learned, to his chagrin, that having no skill with a rifle means you're not likely to hit with it, while Gildas found out that a revolver isn't as useful as a shotgun in a group combat situation.

The battle was over in less than a minute, when the last standing Uruki threw down his bow and surrendered.  Lairgnen, still sprinting forward to melee, dropped his sword and tackled the survivor, who hit his head on the ground and passed out.

They quickly stripped the arms and armor from the Uruki, and found that 8 were still alive, but unconscious.  They bound them all, and when the first awoke, Lairgnen attempted to interrogate him.  Although successful, he learned nothing of value.  As the rest of the prisoners regained conciousness, they blindfolded them, roped them together, and began the hike back to the Grey Hills.  They returned to camp by that evening, with 8 prisoners, an Uruki battle flag, and extra longbows, clubs and daggers.

They rested a few days to heal at the camp in the Grey Hills.

Asked by the King to choose...

Almost three and a half months have passed since you returned home to your families.  The Uruki warriors have massed on the edge of the Great Central Plain, but have camped there for the last two months without crossing into the Borderlands.  The Watcher has made several appearances at the camp, and fully fifteen Uruki died before they learned the lesson the Gnomes learned centuries ago... ignore the Watcher!


The Ardeni have been busy with Plan Alpha, bringing technology packages from Alpha Base so Ardeni craftsmen could learn to rebuild.  The warriors among the Ardeni have continued training, as always.  The alien radio has been silent.


King Ossian calls for you and tells you that because of the great honor you brought yourselves, your Clans, and your King, he will give you a choice regarding your next service:  You may lead troops into battle during the upcoming war, assuredly earning additional glory; or you may opt instead to carry the Ardeni Banner to the stars, learning all you can of the other worlds, and of the enemy that approaches from above.

Library Data: Plan Alpha

War raged throughout the sector, as it had off and on for 800 years.  The descendants of the Philosopher Kings looked ahead, and saw only war leading to the end of interstellar civilization.  To keep avoid sharing that fate, they devised Plan Alpha.  They spent years searching for the perfect hideaway, and found it in the Melyn 32 star system.  Settled by the Elekeen right after the First Survey of the Imperium in Exile, Arden was the site of the first planet-buster dropped in the Exile Galaxy, and it was still recorded as a Red Travel Zone, with working beacons in orbit.  Phase one of Plan Alpha involved wiping out the native life on Arden, and reseeding it with a carefully designed package of plants and animals to ensure that life would be easy without high technology.  Phase two involved the creation and storage of stepped technology packages that would allow a people with the knowledge to rebuild a technological society starting with the tools to build the tools needed.  Alpha Base was constructed from a large asteroid, and filled with the necessary packages, then hidden in the outer asteroid belt of the Melyn 32 system and powered down.  A trio of 400 ton subsidized merchants were hidden in the inner asteroid belt.  Finally, as they colonized Arden, they made sure the Red Travel Zone beacon was still active, and preserved one 50 ton cutter in the basement of an enormous wooden structure in the capital city.  Knowledge was preserved in several libraries, and necessary skills retained by craftsmen who would be able to work with the technology packages to begin the restoration.  The use of technology would be kept below TL5 to avoid attracting the attention of any visitors ignoring travel zone beacons. 

Actual Play - 3rd Game (1 Apr 12)

Between our last game and this one, the characters have stayed in the town with the library.  Twenty-three days have passed, and the characters spent the majority of the time training with their weapons, while they awaited further orders from King Ossian or Clanchief Artemis.  During this time, rudimentary radios, batteries and solar panels have been constructed by the townsfolk, who continue to hone their skills.  Much of what has been produced so far have been produced by hand, and finely crafted with wooden cases and containers.  Metal is in short supply, so is used sparingly only when it is completely necessary.


As the party prepares to go speak to the Librarian, the Radio they found near the third impact site crackles to life.


"Hello?  Hello?"


When they respond, First Contact asks,  "I’m detecting many transmitters on the surface, where did you get them?"


They explained that they've made them, and are working develop other technologies as well.  First Contact continues to milk them for information, and they go to the Library to learn more.  It is only there the Librarian reminds them they were told by Ossian and Artemis not to give it any more infomration.


While they're discussing it, Delphi receives a telepathic message from Clanchief Artemis, "Tell the Librarian to implement Plan Alpha."  Upon hearing this, the Librarian excuses himself and disappears into the back.  Upon his return 10 minutes later, he hands the party a large stack of plans, and, as before, says to take them to the silversmith.  When they return to the library to ask about Plan Alpha, he tells them it is their plan to rebuild their spacefaring civilization either when it is safe to do so, or necessary due to some threat.  He then sends a runner with a radio to their capital city, to spread the news about Plan Alpha.


Zaccheus, Dara, Cinnia, Gildas, Delphi, Tiernan, Blaine and Lykaios are taken into the basement of the library, while Lairgnen and Alec return to the Inn.  In the library, the party is led to a small room with chairs facing a blank wall.  They spend the next three weeks there, ten hours a day, watching ancient videos on space travel, learning the rudiments of piloting a spacecraft and how to use a vacc suit.  After their training is complete, they're sent to the capital, where they find a large wooden building with it's roof torn off.  Sitting in a now-exposed basement is a preserved 50-ton cutter!  They party is told they are to fly it to the outer asteroid belt and locate Alpha Base, drop off 5 scientists whose job will be to bring the base back up to full capability, and return to Arden with cargo from the base for Plan Alpha.  They manage to take off successfully, and the trip to the belt takes 15 days.  


At the outer belt, they transmit special codes to hail Alpha Base, and manage to locate it.  Alpha base is a huge asteroid, hollowed out and turned into a space station.  They land on the surface, and locate an airlock large enough for the cutter.  Zaccheus manages to fly the ship into the airlock, and then into the station, where they find 49 additional cutters berthed!  The next morning, the party checks additional cutters, and after finding five that work, begin the journey back to Arden.  Zaccheus, Dara, Gildas, Delphi and Cinnia each take one cutter for journey, which only takes 4 days, as the cutters are in much better shape and are capable of sustained 4g acceleration rather than just 1g.  Upon landing on Arden, Cinnia manages to damage the drives of her cutter; but the party is welcomed back as heroes anyway.  


For three days, they party and rest, and then are sent back to Alpha Base in a single cutter to resupply it with food and five more scientists.  At Alpha Base the newer crew of scientists tells them they are to just take the one cutter, and head to the inner asteroid belt in order to locate a trio of subsidized merchant vessels that are hidden there.  They make the inner belt in three days, and manage to find the merchant vessels almost immediately.  Zaccheus manages to land the cutter in the cargo deck of one of the merchant vessels, and they secure it in place.  Zaccheus then manages to fly the merchant vessel back to Arden and land it successfully, where they are again hailed as heroes!  On the ship, the party was able to call up a subsector map; and when they show it to the Librarian for assistance in reading it, he tells them the ship's computer must be malfunctioning, and the data clearly mixes maps from various eras!  It shows both the First Survey and Second Survey borders, but only pre-First Survey data about the systems shown.


Right after visiting with the Librarian, Tiernan is handed a radio.  King Ossian now has a radio as well, and he tells the party the Highsmeet has ended, and ended badly.  Rather than being welcomed back into Uruki society, the Kingdoms of the Valley of Arden have again been banished; in fact, the Uruki of the Great Central Plain have vowed to conquer them instead.  Per custom, Ossian and the rest were allowed to leave the Highsmeet peacefully, but the Uruki of the Plain are already massing for war.  Ossian believes a pacification campaign may well be necessary.  The party is instructed to return home; and after picking up Lairgnen and Alec, are given a wagon, now modified with an electric motor, to drive back to the Valley.  All ten return to the Valley to rest and prepare for whatever comes next!

Actual Play - Second Game (9 Mar 12)

After camping out for the night, the party spent several hours in the morning hunting and relaxing.  Prior to their departure from the Valley, they were joined by Dara, Blaine and Delphi, bringing the party to ten!


Dara is a female Uruki noble from the Valley of Arden.  UPP:  B5B86C/3, Streetwise-1, Leader-1, Bribery-1, Military Crossbow-1; has Clairvoyance and Telekinesis, level 3, Age 30.  Her grandsire is wed to the youngest sister of Tevin, Chieftain of Clan Wyghmore.


Blaine is a male Uruki from the Great Central Plain.  UPP:  A6A986, Bribery-2, Carousing-1, Revolver-1, Streetwise-1, Age 26.  Another recently exiled family, they too were adopted into clan Ludlow by Madden, the Chieftain when they reached the Valley of Arden.


Delphi is a famale Gnome rogue from the Valley of Arden.  UPP:  A987A2/6, Brawling-1, Medical-1, Broadsword-1, Jack-o-Trades-1; has Teleportation, Awareness and Clairvoyance, level 6.  Her family serves under Artemis, Chieftain of Clan Maragos.


After introductions were made, the party set off into the Grey Hills.  The road gradually narrowed, becoming a meter wide path winding up into the hills and then mountains.   About 20 km south on the path, the party came to a split, with a small open place for camping.  One branch of the trail went south, the other due west, toward the Grey Hills. 


The party camped for the night.  In the morning, using psionics, they attempted to determine which route to take... extending their awareness in both directions.  They decided to go south.  


The path sloped up steeply, to a small peak, and from the top, the party was able to see several burned areas about a day’s travel south.  Continuing south, the party stopped once, where Zaccheus decided it was more important to get to the Highsmeet, and he left he party to head back north.  The rest of the party continued on, and by mid-afternoon, could smell smoke.  A few hours later, they reached the first impact site, finding a roughly circular patch a kilometer in diameter, centered on the path.  While the party cautiously approached the center of the burn, Lairgnen noticed The Watcher on the opposite side, standing just inside the line of felled, burned trees.  He attempted to get to him, but The Watcher turned, and headed into to trees.  Lairgnen was unable to locate him. 


In the center of the burn, the party found a deep depression with scorched earth.  Using their psionics, they attempted to determine what was there.  After much effort, they found a rocky meteorite about half a meter in diameter, weighing about 75 kgs.  Not sure what to make of it, they continued south toward the next burn site.


Two km further south, they found the second site about about a third of a kilometer east of the trail.  The terrain was rockier here, and in the central depression of the site, they found a 7 kg lump of almsot pure iron.  Tiernan brought the lump with him, and they continued to the third site.


The third site was less than 2 kilometers further south.  It was a much larger burn area, almost 3 km in diameter, and the central pit held some sort of metallic wreckage!  The party was unable to determine much about it, as it was twisted and bent, but the part exposed above ground was about 4 meters long, by 3 meters wide and 3 meters high.  


They found padded chairs inside, but nothing to indicate anyone had been in them when it crashed.  Looking around for tracks, in case someone had been inside, they found a small box with three buttons on it, sitting upside down just beyond the central pit.  After fiddling with the buttons, they were surprised to hear a voice, asking a question in an alien language!  Further experimentation allowed them to figure out that one of the buttons was a "push-to-talk" button, and after speaking into the box, the voice responded in their language!


The team asked several questions of the voice, and were told he was a space traveller with a warning for them.  He identified himself only as First Contact, and explained that the Red Zone Beacon in orbit had been turned off, and that therefore the protection afforded by it no longer existed.  Of course, the party had no idea what any of this meant, so they sent word to King Ossian via psionics and asked for instructions.  Word came back, via Zaccheus, who had now reached the split in the trail, that the King would send a team of porters to retrieve everything, and they were to head to the Highsmeet right away.


The party camped for the night, then headed north in the morning.  After meeting up with Zaccheus, they spent several days trekking west to the site of the Highsmeet, and arrived with 3 days to spare.  On the way, they contacted Ossian again, and were told he and his clan chiefs, and the other Kings would all come to the Highsmeet without waiting for their report.  


They met up with several Uruki at the site early to set up for the Highsmeet, and were brushed off.  They hung around until the Royal Contingent from Arden arrived in 5 horse-drawn wagons.  At that point, they showed the radio to King Ossian and the Chiefs, and demonstrated it by talking to First Contact.  Ossian immediately cut them off, and instructed them not to pass any more information to First Contact.  At this point, Artemis revealed to Ossian and the party that while the Gnomes had given up industrial technology when they arrived on planet, they had retained the knowledge of high technology, preserved in Gnomish libraries.  The Royal Contingent then conferred while the party waited outside.  


Changing their plans, the Royal Contingent directed the party to leave the Highsmeet, and look for the Gnome Library.  They were given only the information that it was south and east of the impact site.  Artemis wrote a scroll and embossed it with her seal and instructed them to show it publicly in every Gnome village they passed until they found the Library.  The scroll essentially said that with the Beacon down, it was time to start using technology again.  The team was given a wagon and 2 horses, and began their journey.


Travelling faster now, it took them three days to get back to the impact sites, and just a few kilometers beyond, the path formed a "T"; one path went NE, the other SW.  The team turned NE and travelled.  The only problem they ran into was when the path dipped between two cliffs, forming a gully, and sheep blocked their way.  After passing it, they continued, and found a village, where the mayor had a scribe copy the scroll for distribution away from the main path.  The group passed through 11 more villages in the next two days; staying in the last overnight.  In the morning, they were told the library was only half a day away, and just after lunch they arrived in the largest village they’d seen yet.  

Lairgnen spoke to a passerby and was directed to the correct building.  At the library, a small, nondescript building, they found an elderly man seated behind a counter.  He asked their business and they showed him the scroll.  After they described their mission, he excused himself, and disappeared through a door.  He was gone for ten minutes, and returned with plans for a simple radio.  He handed them the plans, and directed them to the silversmith, with the order to begin building.  He asked what the party felt should be built next, and as they began brainstorming other items to ask about, the librarian told them to go to an inn, and come back in the morning with a specific list of requirements.