Svetlana and Noleski, Sitting in a Tree...

They first met in New Stetvon when Noleski formally awarded the party with their titles of baron. He was not what Svetlana had been expecting – younger, more relatable, much more attractive – and she wanted to know him better. She’d had crushes before, but the feeling as their eyes met was something much more powerful: almost intimidating in its intensity.

When the rest of the party left for their inaugural diplomatic tour, Svetlana stayed behind for a week or so. This was officially so a member of the party would be able to learn about looking after a barony (with representatives of the various other new baronies), but she offered herself for this task because she wanted the opportunity to spend more time with him*.

Noleski attended more of the meetings and talks than his presence was strictly necessary for, but if his advisors ever pointed this out to him, he didn’t tell Svetlana. She was always pleased to see him when he was there, and they would each find ways to be close to the other whilst trying not to draw attention to their desire to do so. Little things – eye contact across a room, brushing fingers when passing documents, letting legs or arms touch when they managed to sit together – mattered to her.

They shared their first kiss by a stream running through some of the woodland on the New Stetvon Royal Estate. She had been studying the genealogy of some of the established noble families – not something she was particularly interested in, but it occurred to her that if she knew how the families were related it may assist her in understanding the power politics she was just becoming aware of – when he came to find her and invited her for a walk: it was an invitation she was keen to accept. As they walked further from the usual paths, she slipped her arm through his and they talked of nothing. Once they reached the stream and stopped, they let the moment linger but both knew where it was headed. They walked back peacefully.

It was shortly after this that Svetlana had to head out to join the rest of her party in Pitax. She put her disappointment at leaving Noleski behind and focused on the excitement of travel.

It felt a long time before she was back in New Stetvon but in truth it was only a few weeks until his coronation, an event they were expected to attend. This visit reinforced how much he meant to her, but also bothered her: he was now a king, she a baron. If she were still a peasant, it wouldn’t matter if they continued the affair with no repercussions. As a baron(ess), if/when they were finally caught, there would be more expectation. She has probably become high enough rank, now, that they could not keep it as a simple affair due to scandal, but she really was not ready to be married and especially not to a king because she has no desire to be a queen – worries, in fact, that she would be a spectacularly bad queen. She doesn’t have the self-discipline** required and, frankly, it looks boring. Anyway, she’s young and wants to explore the world some more.

She knew that as king he would need to get married and produce an heir and, as much as she wasn’t ready to get married, she didn’t want him to marry someone else. The other woman might resent her or, worse, he might love the other woman more and Svetlana wouldn’t be able to see him any more.

They vaguely discussed this but not in any detail and left it to be worried about later: they didn’t have enough time together and wanted to spend it talking of nicer things.

This visit was when Svetlana realised it was love and not simple infatuation, but life is fickle and it wasn’t long before Svetlana had to leave to continue her new duties as baroness and this time it was months before they could see each other again.

When the opportunity came for the party to travel to Absalom, Svetlana was surprised the party did not realise her eagerness for the journey stemmed not just from the desire to help a friend but also from the excitement at knowing Noleski was already there and would still be there for some time after they arrived. But they didn’t seem to notice and she caught control of herself again.

She couldn’t get to him to begin with, but once she’d worked out where he was staying it wasn’t difficult for her (even with the enhanced security, which worried her more than she let on) to shimmy up the wall and to tap on his window. He let her in, as pleased to see her as she him, but not before she overheard him talking with Malliard about the difficulties his sister is presenting. Malliard’s speech is magically muffled so she can only hear Noleski’s side, but she gathers Natalya is trying to force Noleski into a marriage with a woman of her choosing; someone she could control.

After that, she made efforts to come see him during the day with official-sounding excuses.

After Absalom went into lockdown and Svetlana learnt that an attempt really had been made on Noleski’s life she became very anxious for his safety. The assassin proper may not have been after him, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be another time. Once the lockdown was lifted, she spent as much time with him as she could without drawing attention.

She didn’t want to leave him, but still wasn’t ready to talk about forever, and that meant going once Vlad was free. She knew she would see him again, and soon, and she wasn’t ready for her companions to know – it was still too complicated in her young head.

They were indeed summoned to New Stetvon for their promotion within a matter of weeks. After, the party sat with Noleski. He asked if he could see her later and she assented readily, and the discussion turned to various political concerns that, it seemed to Svetlana, her companions could only see resolved by marrying Noleski off to strangers. She leant back away so that she could message Noleski without drawing the attention of the others.

“I think I know where this is going” she whispered “It frightens me, but I understand.” His response reassured her that he wasn’t going to ask anyone before her and she realised that since Absalom there was only one answer she could give – that since Absalom it didn’t frighten her any more.

The others returned to the party in their honour, but Svetlana accompanied Noleski to his study where he apologised for the lack of romance but would she consent to being his wife. Smiling, she agreed. He apologised again – did not want her to think this was a political move on his part, wanted her to understand that this was always something he wanted to do. She knew, she reassured him. He wanted to ask her mother’s blessing – she kissed him and ran off to find Natasha at the party.

If Natasha was surprised at the request, she hid it well and, knowing her daughter well enough to see how important he was to her and seeing the way he looked at her, she consented readily.

The engagement ring was ruby-encrusted and Svetlana could feel the protective magic emanating from it. He gave her also a private means of contacting him, knowing she would still need to oversee her lands and knowing he could not stop her from adventuring. Knowing she would insist on being part of the forthcoming Crusade.

Together they walked back to the party to formally announce the engagement. She found it surprisingly liberating to be able to touch him in public – to physically lay claim to him in front of others.

The wedding was set for 3 weeks time. It might not be much time to prepare, but she would be leaving for the World Wound Crusade just 2 weeks after that.

*Mostly she stayed behind because I as player had to miss a couple of sessions with Real Life commitments. Worked out quite well, though, because this sub-plot didn’t get made official until more recently – it started out as a bit of a running joke but I thought we could run with it and it worked out quite well!

**Svetlana has pretty good willpower but I always imagine it comes from strong self-belief rather than discipline. My dice seem to agree, too – she’s far less likely to succeed willpower tests when it comes to denying herself something she wants than when it comes to preventing someone else having some kind of control over her.

Pathfinder - 10th May 2014

I was going to write about Aberrant and the further development of Chrissie, but then last night’s Pathfinder was awesome so now you get the highlights of that first instead!

As things in Absalom begin to settle following the Blood Mistress’s rampage, the party kill time until Malliard has finished freeing Vlad from his altar/tomb. Arron tries to see his former friend Kit – with Alexei’s help, manages to visit her where she is held in the Wizards’ Tower – but her mind seems to be gone. Alexei and Kieran question her, try to dispel curses or geas, but it seems she was acting of her own violation. The trial is short and she is hanged.

The new Duchess of Absalom comes by to offer her formal thanks for their assistance.

Alexei spends time in libraries, investigating the various tomes and texts he has acquired, including the one Svetlana keeps safe, the one from an unnamed magician that was found in Varnhold. He learns the reason they are struggling to read the text is that it is written in the earliest language. The things written about suggest parts were written over 4,000 years ago, and parts more recently. It is all written in the same hand, so by someone very long lived (the party know the Cyclops liche they dealt with in Varnhold is named in the text as Vordecai; he had been in the Varnhold area for about 5,000 years when they put an end to him). The specialist Alexei speaks to notices the runes that accompany the text and advises they should be kept in a lead-lined, scry-proof box he provides. They are not safe to be handled, as they may throw magic off unexpectedly. Alexei relays this to Svetlana when he returns them.

Our GM has provided some amazing props for the game: this is the wibbley magic book with accompanying handmade runes

Kieran spends some time hunting in the lands around Absalom.

Through her growing network of spies, Svetlana identifies an individual whose promotion to the Grand Council of Absalom – the Council on which she and Alexei now have seats – would benefit Brevoy, in that Noleski considers him fair and even-handed and it wouldn’t be a bad thing if he owed them a favour. He is also not looking for the position, which makes Svetlana suspect he is better suited to it. She puts things in motion.

She spends time with Malliard, hoping to help free Vladimir, and with Noleski, trying to learn more about the diplomatic and political threads she is beginning to need to navigate.

She also returns to the Forthright Men, the group of thieves and spies with a sense of honour. She recalls their apparently insane leader, the Harlequin, and recalls the passing comment from one of his crew that he shouldn’t be taken at face value. Svetlana believes he would be a powerful and valuable ally… and she rather likes his eccentric exterior. She accepts the tea he offers – a cup of water – and asks if he has any gossip. That she is a Countess. Indeed. That the Duke of Absalom is dead. True. That it was the Blood Mistress. Does he know why? No. Does he know how to find out why? Yes. Can he tell her how to find out why? No. Fair enough: she accepts another ‘tea’ (this time hot). Who would he wish to see on the Grand Council? Suddenly lucid, he provides some details, including the Duke she has already begun to manoeuvre into position. Why does she ask? She shrugs. The Council needs to be rebuilt and it seems to her that it should be rebuilt in the best manner to aid Golarion. He makes her a cup of real tea and she drinks it in silence.

When Vlad is freed from the altar, he seems to be ok (as far as they can tell – he appears to be a teenager but this is the baby Svetlana helped deliver only a few months ago). He recalls being on a boat with the creepy man (presumably Thanos) and his companions. He recalls they wanted to put him in a box. That’s about all he tells.

Taking their leave of Noleski and the Duchess of Absalom, the party make their way back to the Dawnlands. Their journey takes them through Mivon. Alexei and Svetlana are struck by how like Pitax it has become. Kieran is initially quite taken with the guards that patrol, until Alexei shares his suspicions that they are, at best, mindless automata and at worst have souls bound into them. Svetlana reiterates her dislike of Irevetti, King of Pitax and now Mivon.

As they near the final leg, Kieran heads to the region to the west that has newly been granted them, to take over from the previous barons. They are not best pleased at being sent from their home (they refer to it as ancestral, but in truth this was previously part of the Stolen Lands and they received it in much the same way as Svetlana, Chester and Alexei received the Dawnlands). The Baron Drevel challenges Kieran to a duel – Kieran bests him and heals him back up before demanding he leave Fort Drevel (now Fort Castello). Kieran advises they can move to the dilapidated inn, as long as they reopen it. They refuse and advise they will take this to Alexei. Kieran lets them go, not mentioning his connection with the Earl of the Dawnlands. He gets to know the people of the town surrounding the fort and realises how badly they were treated by the previous barons. He also finds a letter from King Irrevetti to Drevel and his associates, acknowledging their surrender and thanking them for their continued assistance in infiltrating Brevoy.

Brutus flies Kieran to the Fort of Light, the seat of the Earl of the Dawnlands, and he arrives a day or so ahead of Drevel. Svetlana takes the letter from him and runs from the room – Arron follows her and hands over a letter sealed with Irevetti’s stamp addressed to the captain of a small armed encampment to the south of the Dawnlands – they had seen this abandoned on their way to Absalom and not thought anything of it. Arron advises that his god told him to kill the captain and the rest left – the letter commanded the captain to continue harrying the Dawnlands. Svetlana adds this to the first letter and places these with a hastily scrawled covering note into the box used to communicate with Malliard in New Stetvon.

10 minutes later, a letter from Noleski arrives with a writ of execution for Drevel and his companions. The letter advises he should be dealt with publicly and humiliatingly and apologises for asking them to do this. Svetlana replies simply with “As you wish” and speaks to Alexei.

The next day, Drevel arrives demanding to speak to Alexei who was, of course, holding Court. Svetlana ensures the pettiest problems are brought ahead of Drevel, to show their disdain for him. When it is finally his turn to petition Alexei, he demands his lands be returned as they had been unfairly stripped, refusing to believe the letter produced to be genuine. Alexei arranges for another duel, which this time Drevel wins so Alexei returns the lands. Svetlana signals to the guards to be ready by his 3 associates as Alexei adds “however, there is another matter that has come to light.” Svetlana reads the letter as evidence and then the writ of execution as the guards close in around the group. They are taken by cart back to the town their ruled, where the 3 are hanged and Drevel is flogged and cut to pieces. The town is renamed ‘Drevel’s Folly’ and Drevel’s head is preserved and sent to Irrevetti with a note dressed up in diplomatic speak that basically boiled down to “Don’t fuck with us”.

They return Vlad to his mother, who is delighted to see them, and ensure the region is running well.

They have been back maybe a couple of weeks when they are summoned to Noleski in order that their new titles can formally be transferred. Svetlana is delighted to see several of her friends from her home town have been invited and arrived. The ceremony is simple and over quickly, followed by a big party.

Noleski catches the group and asks to see Svetlana privately later; she agrees and Noleski advises them that the greater extent of the Dawnlands may give them some new problems. He is very pleased with their decision to post the head to Irrevetti: his contacts advise that Irrevetti was furious on receiving it and that is wonderful (he doesn’t like the man any more than Svetlana does) but their lands are bordered by Pitax on the west. Furthermore, they have upset the Restokovic family and Restov borders them to the east. His sister has been seen with the Duke of Restov and there is suspicion she is trying to ally herself with him. Alexei suggests that Noleski may wish to make a politically sound marriage either for himself or for his sister to prevent her doing the same. Svetlana goes very quiet. Talk turns to the western border and the barbarian tribe known to live on the edge of their lands by a suspected silver mine – Noleski suggests they could be befriended to assist in warding off Pitax.

Alexei, Kieran and Arron then head off to the party whilst Svetlana accompanies Noleski to look at some paperwork he needs her help with. A bit later, Arron spots Svetlana race in, find her mother (a woman in her mid-thirties bearing a striking resemblance to the 19 year old Svetlana – Natasha’s hair is a fairer shade of blonde, her eyes blue rather than grey and she is human, but otherwise it is clear they are closely related) and leave again with her.

A bit later, Natasha returns with Svetlana and Noleski close behind. They are smiling and have linked arms – a formal engagement is announced. Arron is surprised – he didn’t think Svetlana was the type to do something like this but looking at them he realises only the timing is political.

Natalya, Noleski’s sister, is furious. Alexei attempts to seduce her to calm her down, and it seems to work.

The wedding is set for 3 weeks time. It may sound soon, but a fortnight after that Svetlana will have to leave with the others to lead their portion of the Crusade into the World Wound. Now that their relationship is official, Noleski feels less concerned at asking her to take more troops for protection and she is happy to assent: the orc population in their lands includes many skilled fighters who would probably jump at the chance to help, and she knows their general, Sir Akaros, has been training an elite mounted unit known as the Dawn Riders.

They depart (with promises between Svetlana and Noleski to see each other soon, but he must return to Absalom and she to the Dawnlands), and head west to the barbarian tribe. A scouting party is befriended with the help of a deer carcass and the party learns that there has very recently been a change in leadership. This does not seem to be a popular change, but the new leader (Amag) killed their previously leader so is now in charge through right of conquest. They are led to him, sitting with the corpses of the previous leader and his guards rotting around him. He is in seclusion, Serec has advised us, until he is officially confirmed as leader.

Amag proves intractable and Kieran opts for another choice: he reminds Amag that he isn’t yet the leader of the tribe and suggests the previous leader may be a better choice for us to speak to. Amag starts to laugh as the Paladin reaches down and lays his hands on the corpse of the previous Elder. The corpse glows with fiery wings and he opens his eyes…

Chrissie Walker

I recently shared the thought process I went through creating my new Aberrant character. This is the result, as given to my GM. The second session is tonight and I'll be sharing a few ways in which she's developed from the paper to the game after that.

January 1998. London.

Christina ‘Chrissie’ Walker.

Parents: Harold and Linda

Sibling: Peter. 6 years older. 80’s materialistic. Successful businessman

Assorted cousins etc.

Mentors:

• Margaret Turner, A&E Matron. Was Chrissie’s tutor when she was training and assisted her in getting a job at the hospital. She manages to combine strict and no-nonsense with fun and supportive, as the occasion demands. Chrissie has a lot of respect for her, both as a nurse and a mentor, and will turn to her with career, medical and certain personal enquiries.
• Bill Drakeford, owner of the Styx nightclub (Chrissie’s favourite haunt). Chrissie’s known Bill for many years – he was friends with her brother at school – and he has helped shape her music tastes. If she feels threatened or generally stressed, he’s her port of call. They’ve been friends too long for the relationship to be more than siblingly.

Friends:

• Janet Wilkins, hospital receptionist and fellow metalhead. The same age as Chrissie, she wants to find a nice man and have kids. Chrissie thinks she’s mad.
• Tanya ‘Tanny’ Hart; Max Sanders; Evan Lewis – drinking buddies
• Sandra King; Angela Beauford; Esther Jenson – nursing buddies
• James Reed; Martin Parker, Barbara Downes – GP buddies

Rivals:

• Dr Williams, A&E GP. Late 40’s. Does not appreciate being shown up by a nurse but doesn’t stay up-to-date with current practice. From her point of view, he is pig-headed, arrogant, unwilling to learn and prepared to risk patients to protect his reputation. From his point of view, she is insubordinate and doesn’t know her place.
• Sian Brewer – there was some dispute some years ago involving a guy. Accusations were thrown. Sian is now married to him but there is still anger between them. Mostly they just try to avoid each other.

Chrissie qualified as a nurse a bit over a year ago and now specialises in A&E – she thrives on the adrenalin driven aspects of the role and doesn’t mind the antisocial hours. In her job, she is neat, exact and organised; at home (a rented small one-bed flat), clothes litter the floor and the washing up needs doing. She is friendly with her nursing colleagues and firm with her patients. She is learning to stand up to some of the doctors when they get things wrong; she likes those who are happy to accept her comments but with one in particular – Dr Henry Williams – conflict is threatening to brew. At the moment, it’s pretty low level but as her experience increases it’s likely to get worse.

Chrissie is not particularly close to her family. No falling out, they’ve just drifted apart. She doesn’t feel she has much in common with her brother and, between work and socialising, she doesn’t have much time to spend with her parents.

To relax, she’s a metalhead and will usually be found in the centre of the moshpit. Her favourite band is probably Pantera. One of the advantages of London is the clubbing scene – she often takes the anti-social shifts in A&E so appreciates being able to go out on the nights she has off and not be limited in choice of where to go. The days she has off are often out exercising – to be a successful A&E nurse, she needs to keep her stamina high – or, if the weather’s bad or she’s feeling knackered, curled up in her duvet with a library book. She’s a bit of a thrill-seeker and will generally agree to accompany her friends to theme parks or on more adventurous holidays: abseiling, hand-gliding, scuba diving... she may not be good at the activity, but she will give anything a try.

Being a good nurse is important to her; she loves the feeling of helping people and works well in high-stress conditions. She doesn’t often think about the future – if asked, she vaguely imagines she will be married with children in 10 years, but more because that’s what’s done than because she’s actively seeking it. For now, she wants to progress in her work and enjoy her social life.

Pathfinder - The Story So Far (Part 3)

A Brief History

A recap of our Pathfinder campaign thus far, as best I remember it and primarily from Svetlana’s point of view. We play fortnightly and the game has been running for a few years, so I’ll be breaking this down into as logical segments as I can figure. A lot of it is probably out of order and sometimes in the wrong geographical location. I may need to offer a corrections page later. And I’m not sure of all the spellings of all the names, so they may keep changing. But here goes (Part 1 here) (Part 2 here) (this is Part 3).

Absalom:-

Returning to the Dawnlands to lick their wounds and mourn their loss as well as oversee their barony, Alexei is holding court when Oleg arrives full of fury and vengeance: he is ready to beat Chester to a pulp. Eventually, it comes out that a priest of Serenrai called Thanos has taken Vladimir because of a letter Chester wrote. It seems Thanos has gone to Absalom with the boy. King Noleski is there already for a big conference on the threat from the thanodaemon and Chester, Alexei and Svetlana will be required to attend as witnesses so Oleg and Mollos join them to find help find Vlad.

The journey is uneventful and they make good time in Svetlana’s awesome magic boat of awesomeness (I think it probably has a different name, but that’s more or less what’s written on the character sheet. They found it in Varnhold), but Thanos had enough of a head start that he should have arrived first. He proves hard to track down but they do meet Anna Hencheck’s cousin.

Chester speaks to his church and it is confirmed that his letter was received but they did not send Thanos. At this point, Chester returns to the Dawnlands on church business (presumably he gave his evidence to the Council before going: Svetlana and Alexei are summoned a few days later).

Whilst they’re investigating, some of the members of the Council of Absalom and other important people in town for the conference are being assassinated. This is also very bad. Noleski is safe and offers his body guard, a Paladin called Kieran, to assist them in seeking Vlad and the assassin. Kieran has a falcon called Apollo and rides a griffin, Brutus.

With the help of local group The Forthright Men, the Pathfinder Guild and Mythic Investigations, they learn that Thanos was an urchin boy who fell in with a bad crowd and died and was cremated a few months ago. Using their position, they manage to gain access to his ashes and, with the help of a gumshoe from Mythic Investigations, learn that these ashes actually belonged to a baker called Steven Baker. There are three bakers by this name of the right age, so a trip to buy lots of bread and cake follows. All are alive but one is a bit odd and warrants further investigation: Kieran and Alexei create a distraction by preaching in the streets, whilst Mollos and Svetlana sneak round the back and in through an open window.

They find a portal to a temple of Rovagog (not Rubberduck). Steven is beaten up and tied to a chair whilst the party go in. They rescue a Drow Gunslinger/Demon Hunter by the name of Roland. He summons assistance from his order (two tough-looking individuals who refuse to give their names) and they return to the temple to find out more. When the party returns, they find many priests of Rovagog lying dead of no discernable cause*. This adds to the eerie air of the place, but Svetlana spots a large pair of doors and, peering in, sees living priests around an altar.

The party goes in and has slaughtered most of the priests when the supposed Demon Hunters turn on them: this is, in fact, Thanos and his cronies. They nearly succeed in killing the party before Alexei manages to shift them all to the Ethereal Plane. It is creepy here, but they heal up as fast as they can and walk through the wall into a room beside this great hall, where Alexei has spotted a prisoner. Dropping back into the Prime Material Plane, they learn this is the real Roland and he readily agrees to accompany them back to get vengeance on Thanos and the fake Roland. Suited up and armed, they return.

As they walk through the door, Svetlana takes careful aim with her crossbow and lets fly a bolt. It transverses the hall to hit Thanos square between the eyes with enough force to carry him backwards and pin him to the wall. She doesn’t enjoy killing but this victory fills her with relief. Between them, they manage to dispatch the other two. Svetlana races to the altar: her suspicion is confirmed when she sees a teenage boy within. She is confident that this is Vladimir Leveton. Thanos uses a dying breath to throw a final curse on her, but Alexei eventually realises and removes it.

They dig the stone altar from the ground to remove that before Mr Tiddles sanctifies and burns down the temple. We take the altar to Noleski and he summons Malliard to help figure out how to free the lad. This is complicated when the assassination efforts pick up: Mollos reports to us that his contacts indicate Noleski may be next on the list. Concerned, Svetlana and the gang head over to protect him. The message arrives: several members of the Council of Absalom have been killed, including the Head of the Council. Absalom has gone into lockdown.

Absalom’s lockdown is pretty impressive: a god put it into place to keep the city safe before leaving. It prevents anyone entering or leaving by any means and to do this cuts off access to all but the Prime Material Realm. Yep, no access to items in bags of holding or other extra-dimensional spaces. No access to any deity not manifested and in Absalom (ie, no clerical spells). No access to the Ethereal Plane (ie, no spells for Alexei). No access to the Arcane Plane. Any spells to be cast can be done only by spending mythic chips and sacrificing your own health. We’re a rather magic dependent party who keep basically everything (except, in Svetlana’s case, a few hipflasks of different drinks) in bags of holding or similar, so this is markedly debilitating.

The party heads to the Arcaniam, the Tower where the mages live, to see if we can help. They advise that the assassin is in one of 3 places and they have teams heading to two already. The party heads off to the third and get there seconds too late to save the Councilman but we do catch the assassin. As Mollos feared, it is an old friend of his, Kit, who seems to have gone rogue. She didn’t recognise him when he saw her earlier. Kit is arrested and returned to the Arcaniam as the party realises that their rings of sustenance are no longer working.

Svetlana finds food and cocoons herself into the bed provided for her in the Petal District – a room she has scarcely looked at until now. It is here she is woken several hours later by a persistent tapping at her door: two more Council members have been murdered and an attempt was made on Noleski’s life. She races to him, uncomfortably aware that she can no longer use minor cantrips to make herself presentable. He is ok, but Malliard has taken a nasty blow to the stomach that would have killed a lesser man.

Ezekiel reveals his underworld contacts and leads the party to the Bloody Blades. This is a gang similar to the Forthright Men but more brutal. Nonetheless, under the emergency circumstances the group is prepared to follow Ezekiel’s lead. A bit of negotiation takes them to ‘Dancer’, a duellist who admits to the attempt on Noleski: he was hired as champion by one of the nobles of Brevoy, someone known to disapprove of Noleski’s coronation. He knows nothing about the other killings and tags along out of interest.

Svetlana has spent some time learning the noble houses and political interlinking and from this makes a list of possible future targets. Following the trail of blood and death, they interrupt someone leaving the third house – it is the Blood Mistress, the head of the Red Mantis order. Mollos manages to take her down with, seemingly, the help of the Red Mantis god, who does not approve of meddling in politics. The lockdown is lifted.

Back to Noleski for reward and promotion. Mollos admits his name is actually Arron. Svetlana and Alexei are now Earls (the female earl title isn’t Earless but, apparently, Countess. Svetlana’s equally tolerant of Countess or Earl) and Brevoy’s representatives to the Grand Council of Absalom. Kieran is released from Noleski’s service with similar lands etc. He opts to join the Earls in their next endeavours.

And that, I believe, brings us up to date.

*This is something to do with Alexei but so far I don’t know what. I think we all have personal plots going on that aren’t being fully shared with the other players so that they can be more fun when they come out – Mollos/Arron has largely come out now because a lot of the plot has been tied up and partly related to Chester who was played with my brother before he dropped out. Husbit (playing Alexei) I think has the most involved personal plot and I am looking forward to learning more about it, but I want to wait until it is revealed in game! I’m not sharing my personal plot here just yet, for the same reason.

Pathfinder Campaign - The Story So Far (Part 2)

A Brief History

A recap of our Pathfinder campaign thus far, as best I remember it and primarily from Svetlana’s point of view. We play fortnightly and the game has been running for a few years, so I’ll be breaking this down into as logical segments as I can figure. A lot of it is probably out of order and sometimes in the wrong geographical location. I may need to offer a corrections page later. And I’m not sure of all the spellings of all the names, so they may keep changing. But here goes (Part 1 here) (This is Part 2)(Part 3 here).

Fiddling Around the Dawnlands:-

I can’t remember exactly when these various bits interlink with the rest of the story – we try to get back to the Dawnlands from time to time to ensure the region remembers us. An early visit involves clearing the walking dead from the local graveyard. It’s not clear why the dead rise, so Svetlana, Chester, Alexei and Mr Tiddles go into the tomb of the Lord who originally built the fort, many, many years ago. And walk back out none the wiser, but at least the dead stay dead after that. (A big adventure took place in another realm where the party defeated a powerful Lich; they just don’t remember it. Svetlana’s hand does carry a strange burn mark in the shape of the stone she found herself carrying as they left the tomb. She’s kept the stone but doesn’t remember it’s an inter-planar transporter.)

Among the advisors provided by New Stetvon are Akaros, a paladin of Erastil and leader of the Dawnlands’ army; Gregor, diplomatic advisor; Ezekiel, an alchemist who is friendly enough with Alexei to make Svetlana very suspicious of him; and assorted others as needed. Alexei is formally the head of the Danwlands; Oleg Leveton becomes the official trade advisor; Chester takes on the role of church head (although Svetlana manages to make sure Erastil remains as important a deity to the region as he tries to make Serenrai); Mr Tiddles is Court Wizard; and Svetlana is Master Spy.

There is a silver mine on the lands that isn’t haunted.

A werewolf has been terrorising one of the villages and is defeated by the Barons.

The Barons of Varnhold, the reclaimed region east of the Dawnlands, went missing so the party go in to find out what happened. They find a curious and powerfully magic book and lots of undead cyclopses and clear the region out. It is added to the Dawnlands.

An orc warband causes trouble along the southern border. Initially the Barons try teaming up with the Dukes of Galt (south of Brevoy and The Dawnlands) to face down the orcs, but ultimately manipulation leads to a change in leadership of the warband and the orcs will fight amongst themselves until the orcs on our side win, at which point they will join the Dawnlands as equal citizens (a propaganda campaign is begun to help ease the non-orc populace into this).

A tiefling ranger by the name of Mollos shows up. Svetlana’s spy network can’t find anything out about him, but he proves himself useful so sticks with them.

Alexei’s charisma is growing him a following. He has a bodyguard called Evander. (Alexei’s mythic nature will turn him god-like, so most of his followers will be his worshippers.)

One of the Duke’s of Galt is assassinated. A notice by his body indicates Chester is intended. Mollos explains there is a rogue mantis assassin and he is actually there to protect Chester and find out who the mantis is.

A protection racket has been set up in the Barons’ absence, so they try and deal with that but the woman to whom the money is being delivered beheads herself before they can speak to her, and magical efforts to speak to her fail. At least her mum’s pub should be left alone from now on, Svetlana hopes.

Vladimir Leveton:-

Oleg and Svetlana L’s son Vlad seems to be a very healthy baby, getting bigger every time the party see him. In fact, it only takes a few months for him to have the size, shape and behaviour of a toddler and not long after he’s more like a child of 6 or 7. Chester is concerned and writes to his church for advice. Svetlana sends her spies off (as subtly as she can manipulate them so they don’t know why she’s asking) to find out if there are any records of anything like this. They return empty handed.

Meanwhile, Back in Restov:-

On returning to Restov, the party become concerned as to Anna’s whereabouts. Malliard also hasn’t heard from her and some investigation reveals Gavin of the Thieves’ Guild to be in possession of at least some of her body. With Mr Tiddles and Malliard fully on the war path, the party (which now includes Mollos) march down to confront the Guild. An epic battle ensues, in which Mollos’s cover is partially blown when he falls and his armour rescues him, dressing him in the style of the assassin Chester faced in Pitax.

Gavin is ultimately slain and transpires to be a changeling. Anna’s remains are given a proper burial.