A Sundered World War: Episode 001

Cast

• Magnus (level 1 kobold warlock)
• Minu (level 1 cambion battlemind)
• Ryker Tideson (level scion 1 shaman)
• Yuurian (level 1 t'pual wizard)

Summary

The characters returned to the cloudfish hatchery with the water cores in hand.

They met their contact Yorg, who told them that a tarchon scouting vessel had been spotted near Hell's Precipice. Their next mission would be to intercept it and leave no survivors.

Given the food shortage issue from the previous mission, Magnus and Ryker demanded a higher pay. Yorg agreed, so long as they could complete this mission to his satisfaction.

Their voyage to Hell's Precipice was uneventful. Ryker took the time to learn more about Yuurian's capabilities, all of which revolved around burning things. Magnus slipped away to communicate with his patron: it wanted the tarchon general's brain, and provided a canister for him to store it.

Eventually, using the linecharts and predicted course that Yorg had provided, they managed to somewhat narrow down the scout's likely location. Unfortunately it was still a fairly vast region of Astral, and there was lots of cloud cover.

Ryker tried looking for any spirits nearby: he figured he could ask them if they'd seen the vessel, maybe even help them search. There weren't any spirits nearby, but they didn't have to search long: the tarchon's vessel emerged from the clouds and rammed them. Though the damage to Ryker's ship was extensive, the weapons were untouched.

And they had a clear shot.

Ryker, Magnus, and Yuurian opened fire with the ballista and bombards. Their barrage shattered the tarchon vessel, but a squad of ten tarchons survived; they leaped from the wreckage and flew towards Ryker's ship. Minu was the closest, and the only one not manning a siege weapon. Assuming the rest of the party wasn't foolish enough to open fire on her, they swarmed her first.

Minu drove her arm-blade through one, but it held her fast, giving the rest the opportunity to strike. She hardened her flesh into iron: this diminished the damage, but her attackers still inflicted grievous wounds.

Yuurian dazzled the tarchons with a brief burst of flame, allowing her to slip by untouched and make it to Minu's side. She wasn't there to help her, at least not directly: once Yuurian was in position he unleashed a cyclone of fire all about himself. The tarchons bellowed in pain and anger, mostly the latter, which was bad.

At least Minu was still alive, albeit barely.

Ryker tried forcing his way past the tarchons so that he could heal Minu. They stabbed and cut him, causing his spirit to burst free from his body. It snatched one up and carried it away, worrying it violently as it went. It was one less tarchon to worry about, but it also meant that he couldn't heal anyone until his spirit calmed down.

The tarchons were surprised by this newfound foe, which gave Minu enough time to refocus her mind and Yuurian to unleash another explosion of flame. When the fire and smoke cleared, the tarchons were reduced to ashes. Ryker was able to fly away in time to avoid it, and Minu's entire body was encased in iron.

Magnus was wondering if there was enough tarchon brain intact to satisfy his patron, if indeed the general was even among them, when the front half of the tarchon's ship impaled the deck. Perched atop was a dragon. Lava oozed from its mouth and fissures in its chest, and each flap of its wings conjured forth clouds of scorching ash.

Good, Magnus thought: the general had survived.

Behind the Scenes

I'll post the region map that we got going on once I make it look nicer (and not frantic scribbles). Apparently most of my players like mobile islands: one was a kind of zoo built onto a giant jellyfish, another was a nomad training academy built on a giant turtle (which might be the pet of a slain god), and yet another was a giant serpent, with steadings both on and within it.

Two of them also had a fire/volcano theme: one was basically a giant volcano with a fortress at the top, with a giant gun that could wind about the mountain (think the Sister Ray/Mako Cannon from Final Fantasy VII, just in a more villainous locale), and another was a chunk of rock that contained a fire vortex, with several smaller volcanoes to allow it to vent.

It sounds like the players really want to stick with this campaign, but we're keeping it in the same campaign as the other, which will allow them to bring over their other characters as replacements (Melissa really likes Katra, and Adam really likes Waive, who is featured in two pieces of art in A Sundered World).

They also want me to kind of bring the whole devils-messing-with-the-tarchons plot over as well, which is nice because it means I don't have to make up as much shit on the fly.

Announcements

DriveThruRPG is running their Christmas in July sale. During this time (which is another few days), everything in our store is 25% off.

We just released The Headhunter: kill your enemies and take their heads, using them to fuel your strange, gruesome magic. We're working on The Rakshasa (which is nearly done: just gotta do the cover art), followed by another class that's getting close to being revealed.

Lichfield is available for public consumption. If you want a concise adventure with a Silent Hill feel, be sure to check it out! Primordial Machine is also out, so if you want to catch a glimpse of A Sundered World, now's your chance!

The Dungeon World GM Screen is currently available in pdf and landscape insert formats. No matter which you choose, you get eight sets of pdfs that let you have access to the screen in both landscape and portrait orientation, in color or black and white, and with or without art.

We're waiting on the portrait inserts. Assuming they look good, they'll be available soon. They're now available.

Next up, mini screen!