![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothTonight we started Lazar's city campaign, which he's been working on for a long while. Apparently he has something like a hundred thousand NPCs all with names and stats and such, thanks to a huge excel spreadsheet Snowwy made... whee. X.X
But, well, we're kids, and so we'll have adventures like the Goonies. Except that we're the bad guys. I think.
I'm playing Sophie Dobbin, a Manis -- basically a pangolintaur, at least the females are tauric. She can run really fast and has thick, armored skin, and would (in theory) live about twice as long as anyone else. Sophie in particular is *not* a pyromaniac, but she's obsessed with 'perversions of nature' by which we explicitly do not mean anything sexual. Rather, things like, say, fire, which according to her religion does not exist. She's a fire mage, of sorts, bound to her 'familiar' Flokin, a spirit of vast but uncontrollable power who usually follows her around in the shape of an orange hunting cat, setting people or things on fire if they threaten Sophie, or him, or if they're prettier than he is, or if they annoy him, or if he's bored. Because of him, everything that Sophie still owns is fireproof.
Tsuru is Snowwy's character -- a feriphal, think ferret/squirrel cross with a hedgehog mohawk of metal spines which shoot electricity. Tsuru is, basically, a thief. He's very sneaky and good with locks and such, and tries to keep quiet and not attract attention. Tsuru has a pet flitter -- a bird that flies really really fast (no, faster than that) and emanates magic. Just touching Tsuru's pet makes you a more powerful mage. No one but Tsuru generally gets to do that, since flitters are skittish and very fast at running away.
Kiet is Murdock's character, a Zox. Think very large Zebra/fox. Only all black, because his stripes never grew in. Kiet is an alchemist and a mage, a better mage than Sophie in his specialties, and with more potential in other areas. Unlike the others, who are children of wealthy merchants, Kiet lives at the palace -- a prince of the realm, although not a very important one. His pet is a Merlin, whose eyes he can see through, and which he can also cast spells through. He seems to have very good control over it, using the beast almost as an extension of his own body at times, while at others it acts on its own and claws out peoples' eyes.
The game started with a bunch of assorted noble children, including Sophie, Kiet, and Tsuru, turning in their final projects for their 'life' class. Sophie and Tsuru had standard research papers, since they hadn't learned anything in particular from the class. Kiet had to make some potions, and was sort of late starting, so he spent the whole class doing that, making Sophie and Tsuru wait for him.
After class, Sophie dragged the others out to swim under the docks, where she'd seen some smugglers smuggling some valuable looking rings into the sewers. Unfortunately, it didn't look like they'd dropped any, although the kids followed their trail to a secret door apparently leading to a pawn shop on Port Street, but Kiet did some diving under the docks and found a steel choker (which he wore as a bracelet) and an ugly wooden ring set with an ugly green stone, which Sophie dared him to try on to see if it was magical.
When he refused, she put it on herself and... couldn't take it off. Which wouldn't have been a huge problem, since it didn't seem to actually do anything, except that it was *really* ugly. She tried to burn it off with magic fire, but only managed to injure her own finger, which came as no surprise to Kiet or Tsuru.
After that they had to head home to clean up (after all, they'd been swimming near a sewer) and each got caught and roped into eating dinner with their family. Afterwards Tsuru and Sophie (who lived near each other) cut through the orchard, vaulting sheep, to wait for Kiet -- tonight was the night of the Initiation, after all.
But... not quite yet. They stopped at the pawn shop they'd followed the trail to -- 'The White Fence Pawn Shop'. The boxes with rings were visible in the back of the room, and Tsuru noticed that the door didn't really lock properly -- a good shove would pop it open. While Kiet haggled over the steel choker (and decided not to sell it) Tsuru and Sophie discussed a possible nighttime heist, and Sophie got the ring off, with Flokin's help, and a great deal of luck.
Eventually, they headed to the Initiation. A surprising number of bored noble kids from their initiation were there, along with some lower class people, including one group that suspiciously mirrored their makeup -- a female manis, a feriphal, and a zox. Although their pets weren't nearly as good.
The Initiation was, apparently, a scavenger hunt. The list named a dozen generic items, but the thieves' guild (well, mafia family actually) wanted a specific exemplary version of each. The only rule was not to get caught. After briefly conferring amongst themselves, everyone headed off!
The silver rings that Sophie had seen smuggled were on the list, so they headed to the pawn shop first and snatched them without much trouble -- Sophie compensated for her lack of anything resembling stealthiness by staying well away from the store while Kiet and Tsuru robbed it.
The next item they went after was a '3'x6' Green Shaoli Silk' -- the flag from one of the Drakivolki ships would do. They decided to go after the main flag on the largest ship in the harbor... it was well guarded, but not against hawks landing on its mast and using magic-enhanced beaks to chew through the ropes. Sophie conjured a little fire rat to run around on deck lighting fires as a distraction, to keep the guards looking down instead of up.
Next they went to a library, which had already been broken into -- and the other thieves were still inside! Worse, it was their duplicates, a very suspicious group... The head start didn't help them, though, not against Tsuru's flitter, which searched the entire library for 'silver books' in less than ten seconds. Tsuru scampered up to get the book while Sophie kept an eye on the others, ready to (try to) counter any spells they might try. The others were well behaved, though, and teleported away without incident.
Across the street was their school, where Kiet thought they could pick up the 'vial of mist'. Sophie 'kept watch' outside, which involved hiding herself in a bush and not doing anything, even when the guards came wandering past (they hadn't gone into the building, after all). She considered flagging down the guards and warning them about another group of scavengers they'd seen enter the palace, but decided she'd rather not answer questions about why *she* was lurking about.
Kiet thought they could find the next item at a bar he apparently frequented, but after sneaking inside they were attacked! By thieves! Who tried to take their sail! With a lot more fire than was probably strictly necessary, but without actually burning down the building, Sophie and Kiet fought them off, while Tsuru retrieved some items from the coatroom. Then Sophie chased down Tsuru's overeager cat (which was trying to eat one of the fleeing bandits) and distracted it with another fire rat.
And the night's only half over...
last session, different game next session
The game lasted 'till 1am, which was only a problem because I had to get up this morning at 7 to take my car in to get looked at again. The mechanic basically told me that he wasn't sure what was wrong with the car, but he could fix everything that might be causing the problem for $1500. And another $500 in regular maintenance. Or he could replace some spark plugs, charge me for the diagnostics, and just break $150 so I could get my tabs.
I went with plan B. Once again, the car didn't even make it to the point where they actually test the emissions, but since I'd wasted $150 pretending to fix it I got a waiver, and should be able to get tabs anyway.
But you know, screw this. I think it's time to get a new car. Well, within the next nine months or so.
But, well, we're kids, and so we'll have adventures like the Goonies. Except that we're the bad guys. I think.
I'm playing Sophie Dobbin, a Manis -- basically a pangolintaur, at least the females are tauric. She can run really fast and has thick, armored skin, and would (in theory) live about twice as long as anyone else. Sophie in particular is *not* a pyromaniac, but she's obsessed with 'perversions of nature' by which we explicitly do not mean anything sexual. Rather, things like, say, fire, which according to her religion does not exist. She's a fire mage, of sorts, bound to her 'familiar' Flokin, a spirit of vast but uncontrollable power who usually follows her around in the shape of an orange hunting cat, setting people or things on fire if they threaten Sophie, or him, or if they're prettier than he is, or if they annoy him, or if he's bored. Because of him, everything that Sophie still owns is fireproof.
Tsuru is Snowwy's character -- a feriphal, think ferret/squirrel cross with a hedgehog mohawk of metal spines which shoot electricity. Tsuru is, basically, a thief. He's very sneaky and good with locks and such, and tries to keep quiet and not attract attention. Tsuru has a pet flitter -- a bird that flies really really fast (no, faster than that) and emanates magic. Just touching Tsuru's pet makes you a more powerful mage. No one but Tsuru generally gets to do that, since flitters are skittish and very fast at running away.
Kiet is Murdock's character, a Zox. Think very large Zebra/fox. Only all black, because his stripes never grew in. Kiet is an alchemist and a mage, a better mage than Sophie in his specialties, and with more potential in other areas. Unlike the others, who are children of wealthy merchants, Kiet lives at the palace -- a prince of the realm, although not a very important one. His pet is a Merlin, whose eyes he can see through, and which he can also cast spells through. He seems to have very good control over it, using the beast almost as an extension of his own body at times, while at others it acts on its own and claws out peoples' eyes.
The game started with a bunch of assorted noble children, including Sophie, Kiet, and Tsuru, turning in their final projects for their 'life' class. Sophie and Tsuru had standard research papers, since they hadn't learned anything in particular from the class. Kiet had to make some potions, and was sort of late starting, so he spent the whole class doing that, making Sophie and Tsuru wait for him.
After class, Sophie dragged the others out to swim under the docks, where she'd seen some smugglers smuggling some valuable looking rings into the sewers. Unfortunately, it didn't look like they'd dropped any, although the kids followed their trail to a secret door apparently leading to a pawn shop on Port Street, but Kiet did some diving under the docks and found a steel choker (which he wore as a bracelet) and an ugly wooden ring set with an ugly green stone, which Sophie dared him to try on to see if it was magical.
When he refused, she put it on herself and... couldn't take it off. Which wouldn't have been a huge problem, since it didn't seem to actually do anything, except that it was *really* ugly. She tried to burn it off with magic fire, but only managed to injure her own finger, which came as no surprise to Kiet or Tsuru.
After that they had to head home to clean up (after all, they'd been swimming near a sewer) and each got caught and roped into eating dinner with their family. Afterwards Tsuru and Sophie (who lived near each other) cut through the orchard, vaulting sheep, to wait for Kiet -- tonight was the night of the Initiation, after all.
But... not quite yet. They stopped at the pawn shop they'd followed the trail to -- 'The White Fence Pawn Shop'. The boxes with rings were visible in the back of the room, and Tsuru noticed that the door didn't really lock properly -- a good shove would pop it open. While Kiet haggled over the steel choker (and decided not to sell it) Tsuru and Sophie discussed a possible nighttime heist, and Sophie got the ring off, with Flokin's help, and a great deal of luck.
Eventually, they headed to the Initiation. A surprising number of bored noble kids from their initiation were there, along with some lower class people, including one group that suspiciously mirrored their makeup -- a female manis, a feriphal, and a zox. Although their pets weren't nearly as good.
The Initiation was, apparently, a scavenger hunt. The list named a dozen generic items, but the thieves' guild (well, mafia family actually) wanted a specific exemplary version of each. The only rule was not to get caught. After briefly conferring amongst themselves, everyone headed off!
The silver rings that Sophie had seen smuggled were on the list, so they headed to the pawn shop first and snatched them without much trouble -- Sophie compensated for her lack of anything resembling stealthiness by staying well away from the store while Kiet and Tsuru robbed it.
The next item they went after was a '3'x6' Green Shaoli Silk' -- the flag from one of the Drakivolki ships would do. They decided to go after the main flag on the largest ship in the harbor... it was well guarded, but not against hawks landing on its mast and using magic-enhanced beaks to chew through the ropes. Sophie conjured a little fire rat to run around on deck lighting fires as a distraction, to keep the guards looking down instead of up.
Next they went to a library, which had already been broken into -- and the other thieves were still inside! Worse, it was their duplicates, a very suspicious group... The head start didn't help them, though, not against Tsuru's flitter, which searched the entire library for 'silver books' in less than ten seconds. Tsuru scampered up to get the book while Sophie kept an eye on the others, ready to (try to) counter any spells they might try. The others were well behaved, though, and teleported away without incident.
Across the street was their school, where Kiet thought they could pick up the 'vial of mist'. Sophie 'kept watch' outside, which involved hiding herself in a bush and not doing anything, even when the guards came wandering past (they hadn't gone into the building, after all). She considered flagging down the guards and warning them about another group of scavengers they'd seen enter the palace, but decided she'd rather not answer questions about why *she* was lurking about.
Kiet thought they could find the next item at a bar he apparently frequented, but after sneaking inside they were attacked! By thieves! Who tried to take their sail! With a lot more fire than was probably strictly necessary, but without actually burning down the building, Sophie and Kiet fought them off, while Tsuru retrieved some items from the coatroom. Then Sophie chased down Tsuru's overeager cat (which was trying to eat one of the fleeing bandits) and distracted it with another fire rat.
And the night's only half over...
last session, different game next session
The game lasted 'till 1am, which was only a problem because I had to get up this morning at 7 to take my car in to get looked at again. The mechanic basically told me that he wasn't sure what was wrong with the car, but he could fix everything that might be causing the problem for $1500. And another $500 in regular maintenance. Or he could replace some spark plugs, charge me for the diagnostics, and just break $150 so I could get my tabs.
I went with plan B. Once again, the car didn't even make it to the point where they actually test the emissions, but since I'd wasted $150 pretending to fix it I got a waiver, and should be able to get tabs anyway.
But you know, screw this. I think it's time to get a new car. Well, within the next nine months or so.
