Baroness Vanya Averdyn-

There was no Mutants of Marnharnna game this Friday, as two players were unavailable.

However, C., my girlfriend, and I played a bit both Friday and Saturday in her Baroness Averdyn solo-game.
--(The pace of the assembly, fitting the refinements in alongside complete revision, clarification, and organic development of the character's background, baseline attitudes, ambitions, etc. -- It is so conducive to a nice dynamic interplay between Top-down and Bottom-up building on a neighbourhood/borough-level.)

We've sorted out that she was not raised at the Park Estate in the centre of Old Yovend (not to be confused with the Yoven Garrison in OLD Yovend), rather, she was raised on the North Coast of Byrtheq. Her upbringing in her youth was pastoral in her wanderings, and the crash of the waves on the 'Bloody Coast' upon the sheer cliffs that overlooked the quarantined isles of the Savage Folk. They are forest dwellers who never succumbed to the Continental Empire, nor the soft words of their Isle brethren in joining them in the Bronze, and Vurenym-Alloy Ages.
--It was in this instalment that she learnt that her character, the Baroness Vanya Averdyn, is derived from this stock admixed with diluted Aelbaan blood.

Her time spent at the inherited Winter Home was yearly in her youth, and occasional when she moved to Yovend to attend Academy, where she studied the Essentials, and favoured Art Theory, and Art History. She had two friends, both male, throughout school. One, a Law Student from modest means, the other a minor noble from Lhoma. It is from her Lhoman friend that she mastered fencing methods unorthodox to the West, such as parrying and disarming with the held scabbard.
--At academy, and later throughout life, Vanya was challenged by 'The Duchess' (later reduced to the non-aristocratic honour of Baronetess [Btss.] after her husband, a Duke, was stripped of his Admiralty and executed as a traitor for conspiring with Humanoids) Byniir Aeryx, a (perhaps) full-Aelbaan woman at least 20 if not 50 years Vanya's senior, although she appear younger than the Baroness.

The gristly murder of a young woman upon the Estate was the first mystery, but in the course of play, others have surfaced at nearly every turn:

* The Estate was built as an internal and external façade which covers an ancient fort, possibly of Latter Qhattanian provenance, explaining the odd layout of the Estate and her childhood memories of secret hiding places she couldn't later find in the floorplans.

* Silt-aligned Humanoid creatures with a mane of writhing earthworms have been at run within the 'false walls' of the Estate for an unknown period of time. They are able to dissolve into Silt, and even this stuff then steams and sparks away into nothing.

* The current ground and street level of Yovend is at least 30' higher than the foundation of the fort, and the hills in the landscaping may all be barrow mounds (Isles of the Dead, when the floods came)

* What's more is that Vanya just discovered that at least one of the sites is Qobryn, and that a teleportation framework was in place throughout linked locations she has no geographic marker for, although she is aware of facing in different directions when she stepped into a new location's chamber. One was active, with cooking fires in a cave formation, another was a grotto with light shining up through crystal clear water, upon which a dinghy is moored, while the third location was a king's throne/burial room, but the skeletal figure is pierced by what appears his own broadsword.

* A malfunction in the T-Frame kept her pattern in the buffer for 10 months before reconstituting her. She found her way back to the chamber panelled in the Qobryn yellow-orange alloy they were/are renowned for, and accidentally activated some sort of energy column that burnt a hole through the ship timbers that had been used to seal up the site from whence she had disappeared after descending by line into the underground chamber.

* In the intervening ten months time, her rival, the 'Duchess' Aeryx had approached Vanya's lawyer friend about running the charity and sweets shoppes in the Baroness' absence. All of the money could be accounted for, and an increase in profit was seen for the four+ months the business had been back in operation.

* Wireless Telegraphony in the Estate has increased with Karl's (the ghillie) anxious search for sign or word of his Lady, and his having scoured his stable of Sig-friends from around the globe via telegraphonic rumour and library sites. More vacuum-tube aethertronic technology has been invested from the weathered man's income, and a harmonic attack by him seemed to 'muck-out' the Silt humanoids as their resonance frequencies became disrupted.

* The young lad (likely the son of the murdered woman) had been remanded into the State's custody, although as soon as Vanya heard this, she moved to foster him. Her lawyer friend found this an easy task to accomplish.

* Hints of conspiracy with the Constabulary now lead Vanya to a meeting with the Department Head of the Omniprecinctual Yovend Metropolitan Constabulary, who claims to have been good friends with her uncle (and fellow Astronomer's Lodge member).

...and other stuff. :D

Mutants of Marnharnna Pt. 06 and a New Solo Game-

With the Stone Calendar in their possession, and Osyl and 'snappy' the cart-puller out of the homestead/camp, the group fell back to their rally point and then realised that they were being tracked by two scouts from the camp.

One of the items dumped onto Osyl's cart in compensation for the hootch she provided the men was a heavy grinder of some sort of metal. When Osyl cranked it to see if it worked, it seemed to her that she was being pulled forwards in time at a rate faster than the normal passage of the equivalent time. However, the other PCs each had a different experience: The sound of bombs falling/detonating (Raylyss); distorted Calliope music starting up (Phlavius); and the sound of wings far too close for comfort above and behind him (Zalder).
--And while 'debate' sprang up, there were a few humorous moments, and a lot of kvetching about how to properly ambush the scouts and whether or not to use the grinder, etc.

Fabricated woollen propellent was created by Phlavius, and he fashioned a half-dozen small grenades (more like sound makers with a short shrapnel radius) from food tins, and gave them to Zalder to use to lead the cavalry (looking for the scouts), which was successful -- to a point.
--The fight against the scouts consisted of Raylyss and Phlavius, both Cloaked, and resulted in the near instant death of one scout from an arrow shot from each of the PCs, the first shot striking the vitals, and the second shot splitting the first arrow. The surviving scout rolled under Osyl's cart, who then double-strength TK-Blasted him (shattering his primary forearm) and moved to attack him with her Vae short sword. Raylyss TK-Gripped him and dragged him out from under the cart, where Zalder landed and dealt with the scout.

Five of the cavalry swept in and one rider was thrown as Osyl dropped his horse with a revolver shot, missing a second one. The remaining three charged in and Osyl was shot in the head and was reduced to Dying, but that rider, too, was un-horsed, leaving only two.
--We moved to begin another Round, but two of the Players left at 8PM.

-----

Vanya Averdyn, Western Isles Vrun Baroness, began her adventuring career in my girlfriend's solo game.
--Vanya's decrepit estate is on a 0.56 sq. mile (358.4 acres) plot of wilderness in the heart of old Yovend, capital of the southern Island of Byrtheq. It had been three times the size in past generations, but the land had been sold off to fund the family's dual passions for travel, and their ancestral (Latter Qhattanian) holdings on the Isles. A slew of mysteries confronts the Baroness, far too many to meaningfully recount here.

I may update her adventures here, but I thought it deserved mention, as it is a very different sort of game than the others have been running in for roughly two years.

[Playtest Campaign] January 29th-

After a dinner of Indian/Pakistani food, the SO and I arrived at the store to meet a 'new' player who joined the game, although he had played in my wacky Pathfinderish-Beta mashup game in 2008/2009.

Said player chose to play a Durn-Western Isles Vrun Gentleman Adventurer. This character's father was a native-born Durnsman who had excelled in Mathematics and was scouted by a WI university to attend; after completing his advanced studies, Pops became a Physics professor (full honours, citizenship, and married a very Aelbaanesque (i.e., pale, tall, and eccentric) noblewoman, daughter to Admiral Kinsdem. From that union, Devlyn MqKullyn was born.
--Devlyn had been born on Doran, where he was schooled and grew up before travelling to the Western Isles to complete his higher education, to broaden his horizons, and to round-out his moral character. While his mixed ancestry was a bit controversial in the WI, it was/is tamer than in the New World (although Doran has a fair population of various mixed-bloods of all sorts).

Devlyn had been away (back in the WI) during the time of the pirate attack, and returned to find the place worse for wear. While still on the ship, he had engaged in some gambling with two sharpes who had intended on swindling him, but his successes deterred them, and they excused themselves separately and departed. He was then spoken to by an old man who had appeared to have been asleep during the game, and was suggested by this fellow to speak with the Governors when he made land. Devlyn thanked him for that odd tidbit, and upon disembarking, made his way to the walled community where his let flat is located, and met Qwyl, the gardener/grounds keeper for the three elegant apartment buildings within the confines. Through Devyn's somewhat less than tactful suggestion that Qwyl's assessment that his, 'black god warned you of danger, right?', was in fact correct, Qwyl was understandably hurt that he had not been warned, considering that the man had lost an eye during the fighting. Qwyl then suggested that to make up for that Devyn could treat him to lunch at the new drinking establishment (an overturned pirate hulk dragged onto shore). Devyn agreed and went upstairs to unpack.
--He was met by a woman who claimed to be his cousin, Ylnel, from the WI. She had been on Doran for a week or so, and was encountering terrible difficulty locating and securing her 15 pieces of baggage. She hoped that her cousin could help her sort that and had been allowed by the landlady to sleep in the hallway at Devlyn's door during that time. With the opportunity to wash up Ylnel and Devyn entered the flat, where she then set herself up in the guest room while he unpacked. A furred snake (he didn't think it was poisonous) extricated itself from his larger carry-on. Qwyl picked up the snake and draped it across his shoulders like a living stole. Ylnel, Qwyl, and he had a brief intro and set out to eat lunch.

On the way there Qwyl noticed movement in the bushes and set about determining its nature: folk rising up from a covered tunnel entrance. The furred snake dissuaded them from exiting, and Qwyl began to blow on his signal whistle until both House Ahzinbakh dog handlers and the local militia both converged on the spot. The dog handlers attempted to dismiss the event, but the partisan woman leading the militia would hear none of it and called for additional backup. Devlyn took that opportunity to ditch Qwyl, and tried doing the same with Ylnel, but she clung to his arm and they set off to the Governors' Estate.
>>
---Introductions were mde; Ylnel was explained to be a University-level investigator in Fae Sciences, and her 15 pieces of kit being lab gear and the like; the Govs and secondary characters were involved; the Sphere was shown to Devlyn once his WI (Aelbaan) ancestry was disclosed; the ship reacted oddly to his presence and the feedback was unsettling to Ashta (!), but they went for a flight as Mela Mela and Ylnel trotted off with a guard and Ahnni to Mela's alchemical lab (guarded by her Fae friends who had warned her of the very large 'Bunk-Bunk' creatures who came out at night and stood around the other PCs and ate either their exhaled breath, or their dreams; the Fae were not certain of which), but along the way, they were almost ambushed by pirates flushed out from the jungly vegetation. Ahnni had Jaunted with one of the pirates, but was struck-ill by a charm the man was wearing (it was a stylised 'A' in some sort of silvery alloy and the Black Metal); House A dog-handlers then set their dogs on the girls but they held their own until the Sphere came to the rescue and squashed the dogs in a TK field; one handler fled into the swamp which is known to hold pirates; Ahnni was cured of an extra-planar poisoning effect generated by something emitting radiations from deep within the island; the dog handler was pursued by a TK probe and was harassed by the PCs until we wrapped it up around 11 PM.

The 'new' player was interested in downloading the .pdfs, and reading this blog (as is Tyb's player), so we may be hearing from them in the comments in the coming days/weeks.

[Playtest Campaign] Governors of Doran: The First Four Months-

The Isle of Slavers ended prematurely with the detonation of the Aelbaan system-ship in the fortress courtyard --after the PCs made it to cover behind a steep dune, and before the worst of the burning debris rained down.
--They hastily retreated to the NW shore and after a brief adventure with descendants of the Aelbaan Scout Service personnel who had originally touched down there over 2k years prior, then blasted a Humanoid pirate vessel, just because, stranding the Humanoids on the island.
---Not certain if I have the energy at present to write up the actual adventure, as my time is now re-directed to UWoM in full.

We have had one group session on the island of Doran as the WICE Governor cedes control of the island to the Kherstic League in some behind-the-scenes deal. Tybalt and Ashta are the original KL employees ('Assassins' -- ha!), with Delver their happen-stance compatriot through these crazy mis-adventures they have had, and the secondary characters of Darius, Mela, and 'Cici' having been 'brought into the fold' back in Qerzyk.
--In that first episode, the individual characters began to find activities that interested them, and they settled into their new position of authority.

Thursday I ran through Delver's plans, and his player set up a solid business shipping and passage company, utilising their monopoly on Doran's resources and workforce, and now is pulling in about 5k net, monthly. He also has launched an anti-Piracy campaign using almost entirely his own funds, and one of his Faux-Pirate Force crew was able to gain acceptance into the 'Kingdom of the Black Flag', and even entered a Pirate cove inside a hollowed out columnar island of sheer granite, crowned in a dense jungle. In this cove, large enough to have five ships in drydock and others still in the port-town, the crew met someone who identified himself as the King of the Pirates, and gave them his blessing (as they had to operate under deep cover and actually pirate to gain the good rep), and an item to scry upon them. Fortunately, Delver had given the captain his amulet versus scrying and detection. Lastly, Delver personally contacted an alien life form and has entered into negotiations with its species representative.

Last night, Tybalt and Ari (another WI Vrun lesser noble) set to work making money in more island-centric means, ranging from a kennel for the island's small population of two-headed dogs, to capturing a, for lack of a better name, Hawknoid chick, to incubating faerie pods (the islands are replete with all manner of Fae), and Tybalt's joining a débutante tea-circle of low-level magic-users with plans on starting their own magickal institution.

The LGS propietor was largely unable to play, but his Archer was able to gain a few horses, and more importantly, pick up the Mounted Archery proficiency. His plan is to amass horses and enough ships to make it back home, and start his own powerful clan.

Ashta/Mela's player was at work.

[RPG] "Who Let Slip the Dogs of War?" -or- "The Hunters, Hunted"-

I was granted the opportunity to run a game with two of the players in the C&C game I participate in, and a gaming friend of theirs.
--They decided to use the Point-Design system (7k points -- making them 3rd Level), and so we had the full bells-and-whistles experience. Derek decided to play a mutant Durn divine spellcaster, and spent a long time tweaking that aspect, although the other two had been finished for a good 20-25 minutes.
---That said, the spellcaster had enormous flexibility and utility with a fire-based theme.

The scenario took place on The Fortifications of Wlor, just off the northern cost of the Durn continent, and involved the human Western Isles treasure-/big-game hunter and his mutant Yaesh fellow hunter searching for large flightless birds. They had travelled from Vrun Berror aboard a tramp freighter and had encountered ethnic and political antipathy from the miscreant crew. Their dinghy ride to shore was in the company of a Dokirin woman who had sequestered herself in her stateroom to avoid worse treatment.
--The fishing pier to the southeast of the main port was operated by the Guild Council fishermen, and quickly the group fell afoul of local roughs at a drinking and seafood shack at 1AM. A somewhat comical smakdown was lain upon the goons, and the band of four decided to investigate the portion of the island in the direction the non-Durn gangers had come. A second fight changed the tune as two Critical Hits dropped party members (although they were healed by Derek's character and the Dokirin NPC), and the surviving enemy fled as best possible while pursued.
---Further reconnaissance marked out the gang's complex near the island dictator's fortress (which should have been a clue), which the party avoided, and they instead found lodging in a very run-down place overlooking the quaint squalor of the main city. Their morning to afternoon rest found the party refreshed and ready for more troublefinding.

Purchasing three bottles of the best local hootch and eight commemorative shot glasses, the party took off once again, to a location advertised on a handbill stuffed under all the doors of the lodging. The indicated route took visitors past the gang's complex, and the party were justifiably wary. Returning to the foot of the hill at which the previous fight had taken place, looking for bound gangers, the group instead witnessed the gang members being rescued by a large group of well-armed government forces, whom the party avoided as they pressed on to examine the site marked on the map.
--Unbeknownst to them, the party was being observed from a higher altitude upon the sloping terrain. They then chanced upon a clearing filled with 60+ troops, in the process of torture and rape against foreigners who vaguely resembled the N/PCs. Trying to stealthily creep out of the clearing before being noticed, the party members were ambushed by their pursuers, one armed with a reciprocating heavy coilstock, the other with a 'hand-choppa' light coilstock. The fight was one marked by wounds on both sides; a successful death-from-above strike by the Western Isles hunter that flung the reciprocator-gunner down the slope and broke his neck; a desperate battle for the reciprocator as the Yaesh hunter was wounded with two bolts in his leg, hobbling downhill and the Durn battle-priest following after him in the hopes of escaping the fighting and healing his wounded companion. Those two made it to concealment, and the wounds were healed.
---The Dokirin woman had demonstrated that she possessed a cloak of Improved Invisibility in the first fight back at the shack, and had disappeared before this battle. The Great White Hunter desperately battled for control of the reciprocator and was discovered by troops from the encampment whereupon a second running battle and escape and evasion was played out against a large portion of the troops, while the other two PCs were E&Eing it further northeast, constantly being discovered by their pursuers.

Heading back toward the populated side of the island, WI hunter always managed to escape death, although wounded and hounded by 30+ paramilitary troops. He spotted smoke from the gang's complex, and as he continued to hug the curvature of the hillside, began to see emaciated Vrun fleeing from that direction. Most (women and children alike) were mowed down by the paramilitary that chanced upon them, but a few escaped when an explosion took out all but two of the tightly clustered search party (the survivors had arms blown off and quickly died).
--Meanwhile, at the other end of the island, the two PCs were constantly beset upon by their hunters, but managed to enter the thick palm forest and hide; the government forces unwilling to enter the terrain.
---The WI hunter was reunited with the Dokirin woman, Dasuel (who had initially claimed to 'document wildlife for the Federated Cities Council' of Marnharnnna) who was responsible for liberating the captives at the complex. Together with the fortunate survivors, they fled upon a fishing sail boat out to a larger vessel awaiting them. It turned out to be a Vrun Continental Authority naval ship and when the rest of the party's plight was explained, a rescue mission was initiated after dark. Villagers helped the two stranded PCs in exchange for blessings, and the VCA commandos rendered medical aid before departing with them.

Official VCA thanks, 500 count (each), and 1300 XP (each) was the reward.
--There is talk of playing again, soon.