The Adventures of Rem and Thurn
Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 11:39 am
I have finally had a chance to get a game going. Short sessions, only about four hours each, on Mondays, but at least it is something (I much prefer solid eight to 12-hour Saturday sessions).
I have two players so far, with a third supposedly starting tomorrow.
It started out as a one-on-one game idea, and Matt (the player) wanted to play a thief (er, rogue), so I thought Punjar, which I have cast in a complete “Lankhmar/CSIO/Sanctuary/City of Rogues” style, would be the perfect location for such a campaign. Then his friend, Jason, decided he wanted to play, and created a barbarian... so suddenly, I had a classic Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser style adventure going.
Rem (Matt’s rogue) is a native street rat of Punjar, an orphan who survived and made money as a street acrobat and sneak thief. Human, age 16.
Thurn (Jason’s barbarian) is an Aesmannar barbarian, far from his home on the cold shores of Asur Bay. He was taken as a slave during a raid on his people by another tribe, one of the sea tribes that trade regularly with the merchants from the far-off south. He was sold to them, to work the plantations of the Southern Province. Fortunately, the slave ship foundered off the coast in a storm during a slave rebellion, and, as far as he knows, he was the only one to survive. He slowly made his way to Punjar, thieving his way up from bare-naked in chains to a small kit.
In Punjar, he made his way to The Reek, the lowest-caste suburb of the city, outside even the furthest walls, between the walls and the eastern swamp known as The Reeks. There, Thurn met Rem, and the two became fast friends, as they complemented each other’s strength and weaknesses.
I prefer to start my games in media res, so here’s how I started the very first session…
“You are walking along the Street of Red Lanterns in the Maul early one night, looking for... well, either entertainment or “employment” opportunities. As you pass a dark alley, Thurn hears cries in some guttural language; as you look down the alley, seeing nothing more than shadows upon shadow, a large monkey staggers out and falls at your feet, blood dripping from several wounds. The monkey holds in its paws a much larger paw, or perhaps a hand, with sharp black claw-like nails, all covered in gray fur-like hair, the paw itself clutched about a large blood-red glittering gem. The shouts down the alley are getting closer… What do you do?”
Naturally, they grabbed the paw. The little monkey held onto it with his dying breath, then his hands fell away. Thurn grinned at his new and obviously expensive prize, but his grin turned into a frown when the cries of anger turned into cries of discovery… “Derka derka, jihad!” Whoever it was down the alley had obviously seen him!
So he ran down the street, which was a bad idea, as it was one of the most crowded streets in the city on just about any evening, let alone a festival eve, as this night was. Rem, who was in front of Thurn, and apparently not seen, ducked into the growing crowd, just in time as three men in black cloaks and red turbans, wielding long scimitars, dove out of the alley, screaming for Thurn’s blood. “Derka derka! Haka sherpa-sherpa! Abaka-la jihad!”
Screams broke out all around them as the turbaned men flailed about with their scimitars to clear a path toward Thurn. Though the crowd was thinning, even with Thurn’s barbarian speed, the turbaned men kept up (hmm… desert nomads, maybe?) Then the way was blocked by a mass of horses, wagons, and screaming people. Thurn turned to fight…
The turbaned men closed. I can’t remember the exact details (this is more than two weeks ago, now, as I write this), but IIRC, Thurn staved in one’s skull with his morning star, and Rem killed two, striking first from surprise as one of the mass to the side, then flanking the final turban with Thurn. Rem also took a cut to the chest, but Thurn was unscathed. After the three bad guys fall, Rem and Thurn decide not to stick around to answer any questions the guard might have, so they melt into the shadows quickly.
They went back to their hovel to look over their prize. A huge, gorgeous red ruby! Try as they might, though, they cannot pry it from the paw, and the paw, though warm and flesh-like, resists all attempts to cut it or chop it…
The next day (well, late afternoon… early risers, Rem and Turn are not), the two decide to try to sell the thing as-is. Rem goes to his fence, Mansur the Khonsurian, in the Khonsurian District (southern district, south of the Maul, nearest the outermost wall). Mansur took one look at the thing, made a sign of protection, and told Rem and Thurn to leave and not come back with it… it was a thing of evil, he was sure.
Having had an uneasy feeling about it since last night, Rem and Thurn both agree that it’s best just to get rid of the thing… after all, found money is just as easily lost! So Rem threw the thing onto the back of a passing hay wagon as he passed through the Maul.
Rem and Thurn then made their way to the Bursa, the easternmost district next to the Reek (but in the walls), the district where all the leatherworkers and hide-cutters lived and worked. There, in a hole-in-the-wall bar, they sought news and information for a job, something, anything that could make them some quick solid cash.
Fortunately, Thurn was able to contact one of his few other acquaintances, a Valheimer from Uthur, named Osric. Being in the same line of work, he told Thurn of a new jeweler, recently moved into a townhouse on Moreña Court in Al-Maqqara district. This jeweler apparently was a bit cheap on security, and hadn’t sufficiently bribed his workers to not leave a few chinks in the armor, so to speak. For a 10% cut, Osric was happy to clue a fellow northerner in on the chief weakness of the townhouse…
Meanwhile, not making any contacts of his own, Rem reaches into his satchel to pay for his drink, and his fingers brush upon something large, hand shaped, and furry…
And though this is only halfway through the first session, I must end for now… more later, maybe tonight.
I have two players so far, with a third supposedly starting tomorrow.
It started out as a one-on-one game idea, and Matt (the player) wanted to play a thief (er, rogue), so I thought Punjar, which I have cast in a complete “Lankhmar/CSIO/Sanctuary/City of Rogues” style, would be the perfect location for such a campaign. Then his friend, Jason, decided he wanted to play, and created a barbarian... so suddenly, I had a classic Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser style adventure going.
Rem (Matt’s rogue) is a native street rat of Punjar, an orphan who survived and made money as a street acrobat and sneak thief. Human, age 16.
Thurn (Jason’s barbarian) is an Aesmannar barbarian, far from his home on the cold shores of Asur Bay. He was taken as a slave during a raid on his people by another tribe, one of the sea tribes that trade regularly with the merchants from the far-off south. He was sold to them, to work the plantations of the Southern Province. Fortunately, the slave ship foundered off the coast in a storm during a slave rebellion, and, as far as he knows, he was the only one to survive. He slowly made his way to Punjar, thieving his way up from bare-naked in chains to a small kit.
In Punjar, he made his way to The Reek, the lowest-caste suburb of the city, outside even the furthest walls, between the walls and the eastern swamp known as The Reeks. There, Thurn met Rem, and the two became fast friends, as they complemented each other’s strength and weaknesses.
I prefer to start my games in media res, so here’s how I started the very first session…
“You are walking along the Street of Red Lanterns in the Maul early one night, looking for... well, either entertainment or “employment” opportunities. As you pass a dark alley, Thurn hears cries in some guttural language; as you look down the alley, seeing nothing more than shadows upon shadow, a large monkey staggers out and falls at your feet, blood dripping from several wounds. The monkey holds in its paws a much larger paw, or perhaps a hand, with sharp black claw-like nails, all covered in gray fur-like hair, the paw itself clutched about a large blood-red glittering gem. The shouts down the alley are getting closer… What do you do?”
Naturally, they grabbed the paw. The little monkey held onto it with his dying breath, then his hands fell away. Thurn grinned at his new and obviously expensive prize, but his grin turned into a frown when the cries of anger turned into cries of discovery… “Derka derka, jihad!” Whoever it was down the alley had obviously seen him!
So he ran down the street, which was a bad idea, as it was one of the most crowded streets in the city on just about any evening, let alone a festival eve, as this night was. Rem, who was in front of Thurn, and apparently not seen, ducked into the growing crowd, just in time as three men in black cloaks and red turbans, wielding long scimitars, dove out of the alley, screaming for Thurn’s blood. “Derka derka! Haka sherpa-sherpa! Abaka-la jihad!”
Screams broke out all around them as the turbaned men flailed about with their scimitars to clear a path toward Thurn. Though the crowd was thinning, even with Thurn’s barbarian speed, the turbaned men kept up (hmm… desert nomads, maybe?) Then the way was blocked by a mass of horses, wagons, and screaming people. Thurn turned to fight…
The turbaned men closed. I can’t remember the exact details (this is more than two weeks ago, now, as I write this), but IIRC, Thurn staved in one’s skull with his morning star, and Rem killed two, striking first from surprise as one of the mass to the side, then flanking the final turban with Thurn. Rem also took a cut to the chest, but Thurn was unscathed. After the three bad guys fall, Rem and Thurn decide not to stick around to answer any questions the guard might have, so they melt into the shadows quickly.
They went back to their hovel to look over their prize. A huge, gorgeous red ruby! Try as they might, though, they cannot pry it from the paw, and the paw, though warm and flesh-like, resists all attempts to cut it or chop it…
The next day (well, late afternoon… early risers, Rem and Turn are not), the two decide to try to sell the thing as-is. Rem goes to his fence, Mansur the Khonsurian, in the Khonsurian District (southern district, south of the Maul, nearest the outermost wall). Mansur took one look at the thing, made a sign of protection, and told Rem and Thurn to leave and not come back with it… it was a thing of evil, he was sure.
Having had an uneasy feeling about it since last night, Rem and Thurn both agree that it’s best just to get rid of the thing… after all, found money is just as easily lost! So Rem threw the thing onto the back of a passing hay wagon as he passed through the Maul.
Rem and Thurn then made their way to the Bursa, the easternmost district next to the Reek (but in the walls), the district where all the leatherworkers and hide-cutters lived and worked. There, in a hole-in-the-wall bar, they sought news and information for a job, something, anything that could make them some quick solid cash.
Fortunately, Thurn was able to contact one of his few other acquaintances, a Valheimer from Uthur, named Osric. Being in the same line of work, he told Thurn of a new jeweler, recently moved into a townhouse on Moreña Court in Al-Maqqara district. This jeweler apparently was a bit cheap on security, and hadn’t sufficiently bribed his workers to not leave a few chinks in the armor, so to speak. For a 10% cut, Osric was happy to clue a fellow northerner in on the chief weakness of the townhouse…
Meanwhile, not making any contacts of his own, Rem reaches into his satchel to pay for his drink, and his fingers brush upon something large, hand shaped, and furry…
And though this is only halfway through the first session, I must end for now… more later, maybe tonight.