IC post has gone live! Keep the following in mind.
- Mikan was a good choice for getting you through the mountains safely and undetected. She was, however, a poor choice for recognizing magic.
- While your characters still have access to magic, in order to help conceal themselves, it's not as strong as it could ordinarily be.
- Any use of magic may draw the attention of distant Templar, who will hunt you down. Keep in mind that the ones who use magic will be the ones Templar specifically hunt, if detected.
- Silver Shields are nearby. Older players will know what those are, and why this is concerning.
- There is a buffer round for the main group while the scouting party makes their choice. The scouting party's choice will affect the main party directly. As well, keep in mind that your likelihood of death increases with some choices. Dramatically.
- Mages and Ex-Templar in the party do feel a hint of magic nearby. Those with the “A Home for Mages” background will feel that it’s in the village, while those with “Druid of Kiune’s Circle” or “Elven Outcast” will feel it coming from the woods themselves.
- Kasienka has felt this type of magic before, but cannot recall what it is. Tahlia has felt this type of magic before, and recognizes that Templars have hunted it down before, to no avail. There are stories of a “creeping sickness” that would affect distant villages, near the mountains, from time to time—ones that would poison entire families, and require the Templar to purge them all. Oswald recognizes this as similar to the supposed “creeping sickness” but doesn’t recognize the particular variant at use—its symptoms could be different than what he is familiar with.
This particular story book also has the greatest potential character developments for Mikan and Marcus, depending on your choices.
Also, additional note: You can always ask if your background choice or character’s history would reveal additional information about a given situation. I will not always reveal it, and in fact, may sometimes forget to do so—so don’t be afraid to ask!
QA
Q: Time jump?
A: Yep, about a week in-universe.
Q: That’s a lot of time we lost.
A: Kind of. You can assume that most of this time was spent having characters simply memorize each other’s names, and skills. The majority of their time was spent either riding and looking out for danger, or sleeping at camps—they marched pretty hard. If you want to do a collab of this time, go ahead.
Q: I want a night camp scene, with Kouri and Marcus and so on!
A: It’s coming, actually, legit. After the village events, depending on your choices. A “night camp” scene will probably appear at least a couple of times through the role play, as a lot of it is relationship building. However, my primary narrative impetus here is to give the PC’s a mystery/danger to bond over as they attempt to resolve it together. To give the PC’s something to
bond over later, when at a night camp sequence.
Q: Danger?
A: Yep, obvious danger is obvious, not gonna hide that. I will, however, hide the details about it—you have to figure it out on your own, by making your own choices, with consequences. A couple people may even die.
Q: Death odds?
A: Not too high. I’d imagine there may be one or two fatalities here, but I’m not going to throw something apocalyptically difficult at you and your characters yet. Hell, most of the PC’s don’t even trust each other yet—why would I put them in situations that would force such things to survive? Still, there is the chance for combat, and straight up murder. Beware your choices.
Q: “Creeping Sickness?”
A: A description of a pseudo-disease related to magic, typically employed by those who wield darker arts. It saps the will and life away from people, turning their skin pale, their eyes white, and eventually reducing them to little more than deranged zombie-like cannibals. It can be used to distract Templar away from larger threats, or simply to curse a family who has not done as demanded of them. PC’s are unlikely to ever fall victim to the long term effects by virtue of not being useless peasants, but short term effects (ex: sapped will, fatigue, pale skin) may appear. The pseudo-infection is pretty easy to cure—any healer can do it to themselves or other affected with minimal use of magic or alchemical substances.
Q: NPC deaths?
A: Can happen, but unlikely to happen quite this early for the same reason as PC’s. The NPC’s don’t trust the PC’s very much and vice versa. An NPC could still die here from very terrible choices on the part of the players around them, but outside of that, they are unlikely to die here. So basically, don’t be a monumental fuck up, or I will
murder the puppy party member.
Q: “Green Fox”
A: Rheinfelder characters will be aware of the Green Fox as a rather infamous thief from the capital city, who constantly evaded capture by the guards there. She was renowned for having green eyes, and green hair, and moving fast enough that no guard could ever catch her unless she wanted them to. Nobody else would have any care for her.
