Hello all!
I'm new here to these forums, but I've been playing AW for quite some time now and participated in the DW beta and am eagerly awaiting my kickstarted book.
Some of you might have seen some things posted in the AW forums about our current game, the River of Dust. Well our MC was feeling under the weather on friday and instead of cancelling game night altogether, I decided to step in and run a DW game that I've been thinking about.
Dramatis Personae:
Felix. A halfling thief who suffers from the kleptomania of a kender. He's a student... of sorts... or our resident wizard.
Damarra. An elvish bard. She's been enthralled with Xeno the wizard since he was a young lad. Damarra has been singing songs about the wizard for quite some time now, and just recently met him in the City of the Divine Reach.
Xeno. A human wizard of great and resounding power! Or so he thinks. He's got moves, no doubt. But he's also arrogant and has a tendency to get involved over his head.
The City of the Divine Reach is situated right next to The Jungle, a massive jungle that encompasses more than half the continent. There's no name for it, it's just The Jungle. It's always been there, it will always be there. Why should we name it something fancy?
The Shining Wastes lie on the other side of the city. A vast dessert, with a sinister secret. Long ago a battle between divine forces was fought here. All kinds of planar blood, the building blocks of reality, was spilled there. It mixed, and turned a portion of the Jungle into a shining dessert of great divine power.
And now, the summary that my players wrote up!
"This session’s journey began with the consequences of what happened the previous night: Damarra, a wandering bard, was rudely interrupted during her musical performance by a drunken thief named Felix, who also happened to seriously damage the local bar in his stupor. His “mentor” Xeno, a young prodigy of a wizard, begrudgingly visits him in jail the next morning, saying he needs to pay 50 gold in order to get out. The two bicker a bit before Xeno leaves to talk to the Captain of the Guard. Already there is Damarra, who was summoned to bear witness to the uproar. As Xeno addresses her, Damarra becomes quite bashful around the young wizard, as she has been singing songs about him long before she met him. He tells her that in recompense for Felix’s disruption of her show, he will accompany her wherever she goes, so long as she drops the charges against his apprentice. She happily agrees to the terms and they both begin to talk to the Captain of the Guard (of whom I forget the name). Thankfully for Xeno, a lord by the name of Hastin appears and bails Felix out of jail on the notion that they will retrieve a lost chest that was supposed to arrive in the city via caravan. The two agree and Xeno leaves to get Felix. A guard releases Felix, but not before Felix angers the guard with his banter. (He is somewhat of a celebrity to the guard, of whom have arrested him numerous times on similar cases).
Xeno informs Felix that they will be leaving to find Lord Hastin’s chest, which is supposedly lost in The Jungle, a vast jungle riddled with giant trees and odd creatures. None of the adventurers have been inside the jungle before; Damarra only having travelled past it and Xeno and Felix being city folk. So Felix decides he will try to find a hired guide who will lead them safely to the lost caravan. He ends up learning of a friend of the actual caravan raiders who lives in the jungle and is known for his eccentric personality. Felix happily takes this opportunity, much to the chagrin of Xeno. With everyone assembled and ready to leave (Xeno grabs some healing potions and Felix buys some poison), they depart, hoping to find Finbar once they arrive. It doesn’t take the adventurers long to find Finbar, as he lives in a shack with many dead insects and small creatures stuck to poles around his property to attempt to intimidate the other animals. Felix apprehensively knocks on the door and finds no one there. Soon he hears a noise from behind him and notices Finbar climbing from tree to tree. He lands in front of the gang and they ask if he will assist them in finding the chest. He agrees, but only if he receives some of the other bounty inside the caravan.
Now all four continue on their way until nightfall, where they set up camp. Felix is assigned to night watch, but due to his anxiety over the creepiness of The Jungle, falls asleep. Everyone is suddenly jolted awake by a loud thumping noise. To their surprise, a two headed creature ten times bigger than they are yells at them to wake up. Spug and Glug (I think that’s right), the respective heads, demand that the three engage in a game of riddles. Xeno proudly steps up and recites his riddle, only to have Spug declare that he doesn’t like riddles and slam his tree trunk weapon down on him. Xeno is able to leap out of the way in the nick of time. Then Spug reaches out to grab Damarra, who somersaults out of the way, but ends up right in front of the creature. Felix then injects some of his poison into a loaf of bread and jumps up on the creature. He inadvertently lands in his outstretched hand, but is able to give the bread to the monster, which is unaffected. He then proceeds in stabbing the monster in the eye. Xeno then hurls a bolt of cold fire for the second time, killing the creature, but setting fire to the nearby trees. All the adventurers flee (but Felix quickly grabs his dagger, which is bound with the magical trickery of the giant) until they feel they are relatively safe. This turns out to be false, as Finbar informs the group of the indigenous peoples of the forest, who are watching their every move (I will not attempt to spell their name).
Eventually, they find the caravan, which has been torn apart. One of the tribe’s leaders stands on top of the caravan and Damarra cautiously approaches him. She is able to take the chest, but they leave everything else, as the leader thinks that it is Finbar’s reward for helping them. The trio set off for home, with the tribe folk swinging along with them to ensure they leave. When they arrive back in the city, they notice a large crowd of people gathered outside the council building. They soon learn that an expedition to the Shining Wastes has come home months earlier then expected. They push their way past and enter the building, wherein they meet Lord Hastin’s aide, who argues with the trio that he alone will take the chest to the lord. After much nagging and the calling out of a guard named Jason, they are only able to escort the aide to the entrance to the palace until they are stopped. The session ends with the three attempting to pass the time until they are able to personally talk to Lord Hastin."
I hope you all enjoyed that. I'll update you on the next session as it happens!