3/24/24-4/7/24, rest 4/8, active 4/9
PC: Gwendolyn, Aldric, Bebe
Hench: Amadayo, Madrof, Mahin
Gwendolyn the Goat (Bard) was approached in downtime about creating and performing songs based on locomotives for the domain level player Bigtoe. The Machinist had created a train system and wanted to sell it to the lords of the realm. He needed hype and was paying well for it.
The group decided that they would escort Gwendolyn on this quest. She had spent the last few days retrofitting classic train-themed songs with campaign specific lyrics and dropped them during the session as they traveled to much laughter from those of us old enough to get the references. The young mage Bebe was a little lost but he had his smartphone so didn’t suffer too much trauma.
The travel was mostly uneventful, but Aldric the Paladin did have a chance to speak with a large group of pilgrims devoted to Hextor. He had a long conversation with their leader which was respectful and the two groups parted without violence.
Once at Teutch tower, Bebe came alive a bit, seeking out alchemical ingredients and picking the local, extraplanar purple flowers that decorated the eastern facing slopes of the Friendship Hills. He was certain that they were mind-altering when eaten despite being informed that they simply tasted like edible blossoms and turned his mouth purple. He staggered in a placebo high while the rest of the party enjoyed more train-themed songs.
They got on the newly constructed subway train that went in a loop through all the domains of the west, arriving in Bigtoe’s personal domain of Carnotkhan many hours later. Bigtoe met with them and laid out the terms of his deal which offered commission on each sale of a subway system to the lords of Oberholt. He also produced a model of a train in a cabinet on wheels and a bag full of SWAG, conductor’s hats with his business logo on the side.
The party accepted the terms and stayed for Gwendolyn to perform at the grand opening of the subway. Not knowing what a train actually was, the bard did her best, closing with classics from the chart topping band Train like Toes of Jupiter, Meet Virginia, and Hey Soul Sister. Laughs were had by all except Bebe who I’m pretty sure didn’t know who Train was. When queried whether we were too old or “boomers” as the kids love to say, he responded, “Jokes I don’t get, day drinking, and jokes I don’t get? Yeah, you’re boomers.”
Throughout the travels, Bebe had been attempting to collect herbs and experiment with them, often making him sick, but on the way back to Oberholt he finally found William Holden and copped some hallucinogenic substance on a postage stamp of a red frog. That put him down for the rest of the trip but seemed to satisfy his curiosity. I’m not sure why this campaign attracts drug addict mages but there it is.
By sending messages ahead, they shaved off a little time from their anticipated meetings with the lords of the land, beginning with Lord Grueller Deinwick. While he was interested in the idea, he simply did not have room in the budget considering two of his fortresses had been destroyed in the last 6 months. He would need subsidies from the Baron in order to even entertain the idea.
Lord Delco Talston was unavailable for quite some time, so they moved on to Millon and the cleric of Ehlonna Redcorn who ran the place. This was another domain level PC played by the same player as Bigtoe and Aldric. I don’t allow players to play their domain level dudes when met during session to try and keep the handouts to a dull roar.
Redcorn hates Teutch, hates Bigtoe, and hates the unnatural abominations of automatons despite the protestations of his player. He could be convinced to give it some serious thought if his liege Lord Delco Talston was on board but he was pretty strongly opposed to it off the rip. He did however have a task for the adventurers to handle, but they were focused on the train thing and blew him off.
Off to Bellport and the Baron Heinrik of Donwal, the key to the kingdom so to speak. If they could get the big dog on board they were sure it would sway others to fall in line. Unfortunately their meeting was to be several days in the future, which would cause them to miss their meeting with Lord Talston. They rescheduled and since we were up against the 14 day buffer of future time, we called the session there.
Musings:
Welcome new player Bebe. Kind of a slow session to start the game off with, traveling in civilized lands. Lots of sheep and merchants but he made the best of it. He’s got creative ideas and I hope he gets a chance to realize them.
ACKS has mercantile or domain XP thresholds for missions like this, where there is some risk but not the same as delving a dungeon or clearing a lair. It explains how politicians and merchants level to gain proficiencies to further their vocations without necessarily being badass adventurers. Just because someone’s leveled in ACKS doesn’t necessarily mean they’re tough, which is something I like.
You have to maintain separation of interests as best you can in these situations, which is why I don’t let the players play their patron level PCs live. Despite their protestations to the contrary, they will blur those lines and make every mission much too easy or profitable. Fortunately, it is well-documented that Redcorn and Bigtoe don’t care for each other, so I just cranked that to 11 and ignored the pragmatic commentary from the player.
I’ve got a patron at the helm of the Baron now, which takes some pressure off of me. I encouraged the group to discuss these things with the Baron in downtime, but they’re well into the future so it’ll be a minute.
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