Friday, May 20, 2011

SPQM c1s8 Onwards, onwards.


Early summer, 2 weather twists
As a preparation for the journey they buy some crusts so that they if needed could travel a day without foraging which would make it possible to pick up the speed significantly for that day (Obstacle, buy crusts for one day for eight people: Resources Ob 4, Succeeded). 
They have just travelled a few days when they start to notice a hare that seems to be the same hare every time and after yet a day or two it's obvious that it's following them. Already at the first encounter with a hare they suspected that it was reporting to someone and they discuss how to lure it or scare it away but don't find a way. Also the hares are allies to The Pretorian Guard so they don't want to hurt it. They have to live with it following them (Obstacle: Get away from the hare, outcome the hare is following them is accepted and not dealt with).
The keep walking worried about an ambush around every corner (End of GM's Turn)
After yet another day or two they start to get really, really worried about the hare following them and decide to try to talk to it to talk it out of following them. They even go out to find some nice food for hares to offer it but still doesn't manage. On the other hand it seems to actively avoid them (Check, Talk with the Hare: Loremaster Ob 3, Failed with a Twist). Not so surprisingly there soon comes an ambush right after they have walked through a village where all the houses have the same decoration on the doorposts. It's some plant Lucius doesn't recognize but it's obvious that it's always there even if it's sometime mixed up among other decorations. Shortly after the village they hear a cry, but a new one this time.. ''For God. By God's Word''.
The philosophers get very upset when they hear someone use the word ''word'', a word which also has the meaning of ''order'' and ''reason'', in combination with the word ''god'' in real life. To them and the patrol ''god'' is some obviously made up entity used in theatre plays to have en excuse to introduce a character or other element in the play without having to really write the play so that it leads up to that moment. You just introduce this god entity who with it's power comes down and do stuff. ''This is ridiculous!'' they shout.
The patrol form up and meet a many mice but not that experienced and they fight them off (Twist, fight off the godmice: Complex Test: Fighter versus 4D, both Tests Passed). They quickly move on.
As they move on they don't get that much opportunity to forage and Dekia buys some extra food for them (Check: Resources Ob 2 Passed, Condition Hungry & Thirsty is removed). There's not much else to do than move on and keep every eye open for more ambushes. Not surprising at all they soon again feel that they are followed and start to take small detours and keeping away from the obvious road choices and manage to avopid their stalkers. 
As they travel on meet a scared family of a weak husband, a quite go-ahead mother, a young mouse and a small baby mouse. They're quite scared and says that a flying squirrel has been lurking around throwing glances at their youngest. Dekia gives the rest of the patrol no time to decide. Of course the patrol sahll help the family and so they form up to scout the the flying squirrel, protect the family and fight off the squirrel. They have just done that when the squirrel attacks from above in a silent glide. The patrol leaps forward as the civilians throw themselves to the ground and give the squirrels some good cuts that make the squirrel go away and find easier prey. They follow the family to their village which is approximately in the right direction. They then turn toward the correct direction and walk along towards Asylum (Check, get one third of the trip back to Asylum, Complex Test, part one avoid godmice, part two help family attacked by a flying squirrel: Passed Scout versus 5D and Passed Fighter versus Flying Squirrel 6D). Two weeks later they reckon they have during some intended and some not intended detours have gotten about a third of the rest of the trip to Asylum (End of Player's Turn).
illern (a) illertass.se

Sunday, May 8, 2011

SPQM c1s7c: It must be destroyed or you’re doomed...


Early summer, 2 weather twists
As Dekia thinks the thing should be delivered to Asylum at almost any price and haven't trusted Nona since the events in Asylums harbour she immediately sides against Nona. Gaius is convinced that the orders should be followed as they were intended and that means that the thing and the philosophers should be escorted to Asylum and if that comes with a price that's a risk you take when in The Guard and working for the community.
Nona is actively trying to convince the patrol that they won't survive trying to get the thing to Asylum and that the thing getting into the hands of Navalia will topple the whole balance of The League of Mice Cities, maybe even destroy it. They all know that Navalia can't fully be trusted. She looks at Lucius who isn't really participating but seems to be filled with anxiety and asks why he isn't siding up with the family and why he, if any in the patrol, doesn't see the political catastrophic effects of the thing getting lost to Navalia. Doesn't he trust her? Lucius doesn't know where to turn, patrol or family and nobiles? He is convinced that a pretorian should represent The Pretorian Guard and not his family but still he often instinctively defend the nobiles and Nona is after all both nobiles and family (Lucius sits out the first three actions of the upcoming conflict).
The discussion goes high and quickly involes insults and challenges for duels. Dekia and Gaius is also frustrated about the civilian mouse, Nona's client, who apparently knows a lot about the secret maters and who talks about being in the guard as if he know anything about it. After a while Lucius joins on the patrol's side (Check, Get all the philosophers and the thing to Stameus in it's current state: Conflict versus 4-5D, Won with Major Compromise, New Twist: The thing has to be dismantled and sent two different ways and they’re in  a hurry not to be discovered).
Nona backs off in front of their arguments and her cousin Lucius taking the other side but only if the thing is dismantled and sent with two different parties rather than with one big party. Everyone agrees on that although Aeneas himself is skeptical. Now they only have to find a trustful smith that can modify a chisel into a special one needed for dismantling the thing and all the normal tools needed. They manage to find a smith that can do it and try to pay him to not talk about what they have ordered and what they have done in his workshop (Twist, Find a skillful smith and dismantle the thing within two days: Failed Physiscist Ob3 Succeeded with Condition). 
After two days of hard work, a lot of lost money, little sleep and not that much food they look at the thing dismantled. The thing that, as Lucius trained in mechanics, is some kind of mathematical device is dismantled into it's four modules and a central piece is taken from each module and given to the wrong module. In that way, should a module get lost it will still not be functional and it will take a lot of work to reconstruct it and to guess one's way about the other modules needed. Lucius doesn’t really get the grip on the thing but a mathematical device could mean a lot of things. If one could just crank a dial and get the results of formulas then a big step would be taken for physis knowledge among mice. Lucius is still guessing a lot and he knows that Aeneas snatched a few things away from the device before he let them get at it...
illern (a) illertass.se 

Friday, May 6, 2011

SPQM c1s7b: Stameus finally?


Early Summer 2 Weather Twists
Gaius chase of the robbers but don't follow them into the night. When they finally after a while wind down the manage to get some sleep and nothing more happens that night. THe next day the philosophers decide to go to the library and the patrol decides that they have to be escorted and since Lucius doesn't mind going to the library he volunteers. Dekia feel the duty to protect the philosophers. Gaius conclude that the mice trying to stop them won't be back already today and not during daylight so he decides that they don't have to escort the philosophers all three of them. He therefore takes the chance to go to the palestra instead of the library.
As the part and all but Gaius head for the library they manage to not take the shortest route to the library and end up on smaller streets than planned and suddenly some mice pop out in the street and tells them to hand over the box. All three of them is armed with knives, Lucius and Dekia has no weapons at all and the philosophers has only done some friendly wrestling on the palestra.
''Run!'' Lucius shouts turns Aeneas around and runs with him. Dekia stays behind a fraction of a second staring at the bandits and then runs after Aeneas and Lucius managing to buy the company a short head start. They run for their lives while the rest of the philosophers hide against the wall. The hunt goes on and the bandits manage to keep up. Gaius hasn't strolled that far towards the palestra when he hear mice come running. He turns around and see Aeneas, Dekia and Lucius come running along the street with three armed bandits after them.
As his patrol mates and Aeneas pass by he steps out in the street bravely taking the risk of fighting with three armed mice but thereby saving his friends, Aeneas and the mission. One bandit pass by on each side of Gaius but one has to stop and Gaius thereby evens out the struggle a little to his mates advantage. A quick and dirty fight starts. With his superior fighting skill Gaius even manage to knock down the bandit without any serious wounds which usually is the result of a knife fight (The Chase Conflict becomes a complicated Test with two Conflicts. If Gaius wins his Conflict only two mice will make up the opponent team for Dekia, Lucius and Aeneas. Gaius wins the Conflict, Fighter versus 3D, without Compromise).
The other two bandits keep chasing Aeaneas, Dekia and Lucius but the chased ones manage to keep the distance long enough for reaching better quarters with at least some city militia and even maybe one or two merchant body guards interested in the order in the city. The bandits give up and scatter off (Won Conflict, 5D at first but then just 4D, with minor Compromise). What Aeneas and the patrol hasn't noticed though is that some cog fell out of the thrashed box and that the bandits grabbed these when they ran off (Minor Compromise).
Dekia gets some city militia to come over but they're not that interested in mice chasing each other. Strictly that's not forbidden and after all Aeneas, Lucius and Dekia is citizens from another city and not formally included in the primary group of mice to protect - that's the citizens of Navalia. Meanwhile Gaius has manged to get another mouse to get some other militia mice who arenät that interested either but it's definitely very forbidden to bear arms inside the city walls so the grab the bandit and drags him away. The patrol gathers and go back to where they met the bandits and to their relief they find the philosophers hiding at a tavern (End of GM's Turn).
A little shook up they go to the library to do the research. THe philosophers order copies to be sent to them and Lucius look up some of the pictograms he found at the inner box (Check: Failed Archivist, Succeed with Condition). When they later eat they manage to convince the philosophers that Navalia actually is that dangerous that they have said all the time (Check: Passed Persuader versus 4D). Satisfied with that the patrol can conclude that they will do least wrong by escorting the philosophers to Asylum rather than wait in Navalia (although that's their new orders). Lucius try to soldier on and Gaius try to get rid of his frustrated thought after his misjugdement about the bandits but neither succeed (2 Failed Checks without Twists).
They now decide that it's time to leave Navalia as soon as possible and early the next day they leave for Stameus. They get to Stameus a little shaken and paranoid but without any mishaps but as they walk into the Inn an old enemy to Dekia sits there and directly greet them. It's Nona Iustus Carnifex, a not too distant relative to Lucius. Apparently she's there to meet up with them and see if they need any help and what kind of help they might need. It's a little strange though because she also has an client with her and has sent away the rest of the patrol as she wants to talk to them alone. She explains that they won't reach Asylum alive and that the box then will fall into the hands of the enemy and the box is mighty enough to give Navalia total power on the sea wich would topple the balance between the cities and Asylum, Saoientia, The Pretorian Guard and The League of Mice Cities would all lose in that case. Therefore they has to destroy the box. (Check, Get to Stameus with all the philosophers and the box, Conflict, resist getting convinced to destroy the box).
<GM's Note>Here it was late again and we decided to paly the Conflict the next meeting when we would be less tired and fully appreciate the exciting and quite importantat and crucial Conflict.</GM's Note>
illern (a) illertass.se

Sunday, May 1, 2011

SPQM c1s7a: Navalia it is after all...


Early summer, 2 weather twists
When the patrol arrives with the broken box to the philosophers and the trader they try to break the new slowly to Aeneas but he's of course very interested in whether they got the box back and almost immediately spot the thrashed box and is devastated. They don't really manage to calm him down but when he instead lapse into some kind of depression they manage to get him walking toward Navalia and the company moves again.
They arrive to Gaius' friend's inn outside Navalia. Gaius' friend greets them warmly and gets them food and drink and, do they discover lately, new bedrolls and sheet. They eat, drink, talk and tuck in for the night. The next day they and the trader go separate ways as he's going into Navalia and the patrol just want to see if there's any patrols or new orders in Navalia. Lucius visit the post office in Navalia and gets one letter fro the patrol, one letter for the philosophers and one order from The Guard. He opens the order and the letter to the patrol. The order is an order to wait for reinforcements or new orders in Navalia and the letter is a short private letter stating that it is good that they are in Navalia, since they are reading this letter. It would be very good for the patrol and their families if they just stayed there.
Lucius returns and shows the orders and gives the philosophers their letter. They don't tell what it's about but from their expressions it's not good. When asked they tell that terrible things have happened at home. As they sit at the inn and damn the new orders things get worse. In comes a small company of three mice and quite soon oit's obvious that they are among the few mice who don't believe in the forfathers and the need to please them to gain backing in this life and also speak of a god, something only talked about in strange stories or comedies. Sometimes it's joked about that the weasels believe in a god.
Gaius can't take this and explain to them that since they're outside the city they'd better take that talk somewhere else since it's illegal, even of the second sanctum degree, to deny the existence of the forefathers and the penalty for that is death. The three mice gets very, very smooth, irritatingly smooth and mild and manage to duck the question whether they deny the existence of the forefathers or not but leave the inn when confronted with the angered centurio.
In the afternoon the patrol has decided that they can't sit outside Navalia but has to go inside and stay there instead. The philosophers see that as an opportunity to meet other well of citizens and going to the library and don't see the same dangers as the patrol does. When they wait outside the gates they hear the three god mice again and Gaius approach them and tell them that if they don't leave very, very soon, like immediately he will have to arrest them. They are still outsiode the cities and under Pretorian Guard jurisdiction. They scatter off.
When they have gotten a room at an inn they go to the baths to clean up for real and live some civilized life again. During this Lucius accompanies the slave who guards their clothes and the mysterious box and actually manage to make the slave belive that it won't harm if Lucius get to look in the box and so he does. He gets a good look and bunch of old., old pictograms on the outside of the box and memorizes them to be able to look them up at the library.
The next day when they pass the main square they hear another mouse speaking about ''god'' and about the forefathers. Lucius can't let this go on but takes a stand and starts to speak against him and a row of replies follow during the coming days. In the end Lucius lose but at least someone stood up against these craziness (Orator versus 5D, Lost with a Twist).
Suddenly one night they wake up and out from the room some mice run very quickly. Gaius is first on his paws and run after and hunts them out of the inn. Someone tried to steal the box! In the middle of the town on a repsectable inn (Twist; Passed Scout versus Scout 4D). Now hte philosophers start to accept that there are dangers inside Navalia too but still don't really fear that anything dangerous could happen. In the evening they go to a symposium with some other philosphers while the patrol is treated as regular body guards and has to stay outside the triclinum where the actual symposium is.
<GM's Note>Here much time had passed in real life and we decided to take a break since we all have to get up early the next morning.</GM's Note> 
illern (a) illertass.se