Talking to the gruff and not particularly friendly ringmaster, Captain Brannegin himself, the group pleaded for the release of Hans. "Not happening" says the dour man, "we caught him fair and square. There are laws 'bout them werewolves." Unpersuaded by any conversation, Runt went back and found the captain of the Guard. Bringing him back, they negotiated down to a few gold to get Hans released, but Hans refused to go without his new friend the Gargoyle Granit. A few more golds pass hands, and the group is released from the wagon. About this time, the Lady McCory comes by and talks with the young Elf (whose name, Trankritte, has a lot of rolling Rs that apparently us non-Elves cannot pronounce. We've ended up calling her Trans as we can at least pronounce that!). The invitation is given and received, and the gentry woman heads back to town, her puma leashed and walking sedately beside her. She was one woman with no worries about getting mugged in the streets!
After getting Hans back to his room for fresh clothing, the group heads uptown to the rich side of town, near the parks. Edge City is a large metropolis, and mansions adjoining the park are both old and fine. The gate is shut with a bell-pull and a note to pull for service. A quick ring, and the lady's gentleman, William, arrives at the gate asking how he may help. Handing over the card, responding with "She is expecting you, please walk this way" he leads them through the extensive gardens and yards. They can see large, comfortable habitats for several animals. Trans notices that they all have some injuries that would prevent them from returning to live in the wild. The mansion is large and beautifully designed, and a placard indicates it is the home for the Animal Protection League. Leading them to a sitting room, they find her waiting for them. Some minor discussion goes along, essentially giving the group a mission to return the young dragraffe to the the southern hills where he will be able to live and roam free. Being able to only eat one specific type of tree leaf means he will slowly starve to death in these more northern latitudes. They agree to a weekly pay rate that is based on their current skills for what should be a 1 week trip to the south almost 200 miles, then return. They will be provided with a pair of drivers to assist and drive the cart and a smaller feed cart.
They meet at first bells at the southern gate, the sun rising to the east over the ocean. They meet Wode and his sister, Belinda, and the Hippogryph Binky. Binky could no longer fly, his wing broken in a fight years before. Rescued by the Animal League, he has been trained to pull the wagons, and being large enough, can pull the young dragraffe. At first the entire group is loaded on the back wagon, ready to go, when Belinda, with a deadpan expression, wonders exactly what the guards are getting paid for if they are just lazing around in the back of the wagon.
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| Binky the Hippogryph |
Getting into a spread out formation, they start their journey out in clear yet cold weather, clouds scudding far above. The morning goes well, but late in the afternoon, Crut notices that they are being stalked by something off in the brush beside the road heading south. A very lengthy discussion ensues while they try & figure out what to do. While I tend to drop slimes on them in dungeons when they dither about, there were no rock ceilings for the slimes to hold on to, and wanting to bring a 2nd sabretooth tiger went against the description for these animals. They do finally decide to attack, Hans leading the way with his spear. Charge attacks with pole weapons are great as they do 1st damage. Crut moved up alongside the huge tiger, his blur ring on, while Granit moved in to attack with his 2 handed sword. Hans managed to wound the tiger, but in turn, with great saber teeth, the sabretooth tiger almost killed Hans in a single bite (they do 3 dice damage with those teeth, and since Hans wounded him in the leg, the tiger could only bite Hans). With yet another leather armor getting shredded, things did not look good for Hans. Even worse, as Crut attempts to stab the beast, apparently the site of all that blood and those big teeth unnerved our poor half-Elf rogue, and he dropped his dagger! Fortunately Granit hit and did some significant damage to the beast, enough so that it would not be able to attack next round. The 2nd round, Hans moved out of range and poked at the tiger, hurting him some more. Crut was grabbing at his blade, unable to attack this round, and Granit, with a single blow, cut off the head, killing the tiger! Hans is treated my their master physicker, who heals 3 of the damage points, and then he takes a swig of the powerful healing potion, restoring another 3 points of damage. Sadly, Trans wants to see about befriending the newly named Lollypop. She did not succeed in her roll, but neither does the dragraffe want to attack.
Making camp a few hundred yards from the kill, they have fresh sabretooth tiger filets for dinner, and Granit makes a hat out of the tiger's head, the teeth hanging down to either side of his eyes, and holes cut out to allow his horns to stick out. Setting up a rotation, everyone but Granit goes to sleep, the fire burning low and giving off little light or smoke. And apparently gargoyles like to watch people sleep, at least this one does, and notices Hans tossing and turning, then changing into a werewolf! Even with a 4D roll against his IQ he succeeds, and manages not to eat his fellow travelers. Instead he wolfs down the remainder of the sabretooth tiger meat, and runs off in the grasslands, heading south to scout out the area ahead. Granit wakes Crut when it is his turn, and tells of the werewolf. Crut maintains a vigilant watch, which extends longer than it should when, a couple of hours before dawn, he sees what appears to be a man walking up the road from the south. This eventually turns out to be a naked and shivering Hans, who has yet maintained his dignity. He found a few merchants and farmers ahead but no obvious dangers. One apparent good thing about werewolves is that they heal faster - each time he turns I'm allowing a 1 healing point. Not as significant as most fantasy allows but then, this is not mist fantasy. Plus there are only 3 nights a month he turns. Now, whether or not he can turn at will is something to be decided, but probably not. And the next time it will only be 3 dice against his IQ to not attack his companions, and if he succeeds, 2. If not, hopefully someone is keeping an eye on his on those full moons!
The next day they continue on their journey, crossing through the grasslands. Mid-morning they meet a grassclan making camp alongside the roads, their wagons a colorful display of grasses woven in beautiful patterns. They exchange the sabretooth tiger pelt for 10 nesting grass baskets, which Hans recognizes would bring a good price back in Edge City. And the Runt Gubbler figures he could hide in the largest if necessary. After sharing some grass soup, they continue on their journey and come to good camping spot that evening, no other events during that day.
It was at this point we broke for the session, what with homework needing to be done and hungry children.
Some lessons for me on this: I really do need to get and use a notebook to track everything down. All the GM tips indicate this, so I will be breaking down and doing that rather than scraps of paper hear and there. And wrangling 4 children with a variety of ages and interest in the game is also challenging: appealing to a young girl and 3 older boys is a balancing act for both me and the father! (Uncle to one if I recall the relationship). So far I think it is working out for everyone. But we'll have to figure out a food thing as they get hungry.
Next session there will be a side-quest in some dungeon or another. This is one of the reasons I brought in the 2 NPCs - to give a bit of flexibility for doing other things along the way. Plus if someone dies, I have 2 spare characters they can use. I've only given them the driver skill so that if a player does need to take over, they can design the rest of the character.
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