Game Night Review
Good game, though rough time constraints. Still, usually we're scrambling a day or two before to organize a game night. This time, we actually knew enough to settle on a night a week in advance. And everyone in the normal group said they could make it. We even got word that one person who had played in the first part of the campaign (which started back in April of 2010, if our campaign logs at http://aeranos.blogspot.com/ are to be believed), would "be there." A couple of us took that to mean he'd be involved via Skype, which we'd tried once before with him, but found out that he was actually in town. And one group member was going to be out of touch for a while after, as he'd found some people to game with closer to his home. Couple that with coming up on a fairly big moment in the plot, and we had a perfect "season finale" for the campaign. Heck, I even made up some creme brulee the night before to share and make things just a litlte more special.
So with all that in place, people were a little later than expected in showing up, though not greatly so. Our heros snuck into the nerin (human) capital of the region that was heavily anti-syvani (elf) with two syvani in our number and a two-foot-tall, winged, sprite-like faelinari. Passed from contacts to contacts, they worked to get into a royal celebration and story the vague plan to do something using the alchemical fire that had been implanted in the body of a rotund noble the PCs had rescued some time back. So... avoid detection, bypass security, and somehow prevent anyone from stabbing or otherwise injuring said noble. It was a basic plan, though when you have no idea where the threat is coming from...
With help of an acting troup, getting in whilst disguised was simple enough. Running into an old party member, one who almost can't help but steal things and cause trouble, added some complication, but nothing too bad. One of the syvani actually dressed up as... an actor dressed as a syvani. Fake elven ears on real elven ears is a strange though. He took an over-the-top direct approach - and this was the mage in a castle warded against magic, so I'm impressed. Everyone in the group heard some stories and worked to find the noble and/or get a message to him, as he was one of the few people who (assuming he wasn't somehow possessed himself) would be friendly to the mixed-race group. At least the timing of the plot came into focus when it was revealed the princess was going to undergo a ritualistic "crossing of water" at a church on the ground, and the king's current consort was on her way there to join in. While killing the king would be a blow, killing those two would rile him to action against anyone the blame had been set upon. And when the powers behind it all at chaos-loving demonic forces.... yeah.
There was much chaos of our own, and with several tactless approaches, but the party (and what felt like half the army) rushed to the church before anything happened. In the mess of a situation, one of the noble's squires defended him, killing the other. Immediate crisis averted, it came time to explain in full. There was a little skepticism, but general gratitude, and the group was invited up to see the noble after things had calmed down a bit. On the way in, they exchanged thanks with the squire and... that's when the PC Paranoia warning bells started going off. With attention drawn and soldiers descending, but neither primary target close enough to harm, would an agent of the demons try to attack the noble anyway? Or would he instead attack the other armed squire at hand to make it look like the day was saved? Is the turncoat more likely the deceased one who served for years, or the living last-minute fill-in who was a relative of the family steward?
Realization. Horns of alarm. A hurried charge to the princess' chambers whilst blowing out own signal horn to the hippogryph-riding syvani awaiting outside. And the PCs arrived just in time to see the squire abducting the unonscious princess, leaping from a balcony onto a controlled wyvern in the dark of night. With the air of that airborn cavalry unit, though, chase was given.
Perhaps the most surprising part was that night pursuit and what came after, simply because the party managed to maintain stealth and surprise, which 1) almost never happens and 2) wasn't even really a major goal. Sure, one group took the silence-enchanted daggers down and used a summoned elemental to dig a hole into the building the abductor was chased to while the wyvern prowled on the roof. Another group was going to swoop in and assault the front door, but the "stealth team" managed to kill a few shadow-creature guards and get to the main doors to open them for the others, all without breaking silence. And everyone got in without drawing attention of the wyvern, even without using the backup plan of having the NPC riders chase it off if it noticed anyone.
Within, the traitor was found, along with a bound princess. While a couple people moved to keep her from becoming any sort of sacrificed, the party blew some fate points on offense in a couple big attacks and took down the big bad of the night without any major hits, and the minions shortly thereafter. The day was saved. Gratitude was earned. And there was much rejoicing. It was a solid win for the good guys, though it does leave questions as to who the cowled caster was that harassed them before and what other plans may be afoot. So it seems to be a chapter/season end for the Order of the Swan, but not necessarily the end of the story.
It's just a shame it took until about 12:45 to get to that point, but some hurrying at the end. And on a Thursday night, with work in the morning. Rough, but I've been through worse, and it felt worth it with such a rare gathering of gamers.
So with all that in place, people were a little later than expected in showing up, though not greatly so. Our heros snuck into the nerin (human) capital of the region that was heavily anti-syvani (elf) with two syvani in our number and a two-foot-tall, winged, sprite-like faelinari. Passed from contacts to contacts, they worked to get into a royal celebration and story the vague plan to do something using the alchemical fire that had been implanted in the body of a rotund noble the PCs had rescued some time back. So... avoid detection, bypass security, and somehow prevent anyone from stabbing or otherwise injuring said noble. It was a basic plan, though when you have no idea where the threat is coming from...
With help of an acting troup, getting in whilst disguised was simple enough. Running into an old party member, one who almost can't help but steal things and cause trouble, added some complication, but nothing too bad. One of the syvani actually dressed up as... an actor dressed as a syvani. Fake elven ears on real elven ears is a strange though. He took an over-the-top direct approach - and this was the mage in a castle warded against magic, so I'm impressed. Everyone in the group heard some stories and worked to find the noble and/or get a message to him, as he was one of the few people who (assuming he wasn't somehow possessed himself) would be friendly to the mixed-race group. At least the timing of the plot came into focus when it was revealed the princess was going to undergo a ritualistic "crossing of water" at a church on the ground, and the king's current consort was on her way there to join in. While killing the king would be a blow, killing those two would rile him to action against anyone the blame had been set upon. And when the powers behind it all at chaos-loving demonic forces.... yeah.
There was much chaos of our own, and with several tactless approaches, but the party (and what felt like half the army) rushed to the church before anything happened. In the mess of a situation, one of the noble's squires defended him, killing the other. Immediate crisis averted, it came time to explain in full. There was a little skepticism, but general gratitude, and the group was invited up to see the noble after things had calmed down a bit. On the way in, they exchanged thanks with the squire and... that's when the PC Paranoia warning bells started going off. With attention drawn and soldiers descending, but neither primary target close enough to harm, would an agent of the demons try to attack the noble anyway? Or would he instead attack the other armed squire at hand to make it look like the day was saved? Is the turncoat more likely the deceased one who served for years, or the living last-minute fill-in who was a relative of the family steward?
Realization. Horns of alarm. A hurried charge to the princess' chambers whilst blowing out own signal horn to the hippogryph-riding syvani awaiting outside. And the PCs arrived just in time to see the squire abducting the unonscious princess, leaping from a balcony onto a controlled wyvern in the dark of night. With the air of that airborn cavalry unit, though, chase was given.
Perhaps the most surprising part was that night pursuit and what came after, simply because the party managed to maintain stealth and surprise, which 1) almost never happens and 2) wasn't even really a major goal. Sure, one group took the silence-enchanted daggers down and used a summoned elemental to dig a hole into the building the abductor was chased to while the wyvern prowled on the roof. Another group was going to swoop in and assault the front door, but the "stealth team" managed to kill a few shadow-creature guards and get to the main doors to open them for the others, all without breaking silence. And everyone got in without drawing attention of the wyvern, even without using the backup plan of having the NPC riders chase it off if it noticed anyone.
Within, the traitor was found, along with a bound princess. While a couple people moved to keep her from becoming any sort of sacrificed, the party blew some fate points on offense in a couple big attacks and took down the big bad of the night without any major hits, and the minions shortly thereafter. The day was saved. Gratitude was earned. And there was much rejoicing. It was a solid win for the good guys, though it does leave questions as to who the cowled caster was that harassed them before and what other plans may be afoot. So it seems to be a chapter/season end for the Order of the Swan, but not necessarily the end of the story.
It's just a shame it took until about 12:45 to get to that point, but some hurrying at the end. And on a Thursday night, with work in the morning. Rough, but I've been through worse, and it felt worth it with such a rare gathering of gamers.
That indeed sounds like the sort of finale that would come from a fantasy story. Any choice character lines to make the night more memorable?
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