Pariah Session 6 - Play Report

After a 6 week hiatus due to some real-life shenanigans.

Use the tags to find previous and for some more details. Hex fills used this session:

• Llama herds, predated upon by Nameless One in wolf pack.

Awaking after their psychedelic experiences, the Band saw that the weather had improved. They decided to climb the nearest mountain to get visibility over the area, building a rope ladder from their rope and bundle of sticks. Blue-Grove Hairy Auroch led the band to the peak without incident.

Creating a tool and having a developed skill in climbing meant no need to roll in this situation.

From these heights they saw several clearings, one with smoke rising from it and a strange mound of earth in the far distance, immense to be visible at such a distance. As the light began to fade, they decided to move towards the smokeless clearing to the north-east. Descending the mountain, they sought a cave in which to spend the night. Idle Quiet came face to face with a bedraggled nude figure, who they immediately terrified with their eyes and dispatched, throwing their corpse down the mountain as the rest of the Band settled in.

They made a small fire before setting up watches. During the second watch, Blue Fallen heard strange mewling sounds coming from above the cave entrance. Awakening Idle-Quiet and Golden Other, they tied a rope to a rock and threw it forwards to bait out whatever lurked above. A huge leonine form with bat-wings and a tail protruding spikes leapt upon the rock. Blue Fallen charged in and scored a crushing blow to the back of the creatures skull, causing it to immediately flee. As it took flight, Idle-Quiet and Blue-Fallen launched their weapons at the flying creature, Idle-Quiet’s weapon becoming lodged in the haunch. Golden Other leapt upon the flying beast, only just managing to grab hold of the tail. The tail began to twitch, so Golden Other bit the creature in the testicles, tearing one clean off. The pain too much for the monster, it crashed to the ground and died. The Band descended upon the beast and began butchering it, discovering its distressingly human face.

This combat had a lot of improvised checks and rolls - suiting a dynamic situation. This involved allowing Golden Other to decide if they wanted to risk the fall damage or cling on as the manticore prepared to fire its tail into her chest - at which point she had the idea to attack with her teeth.

They recovered 5 of the strange spikes from its tail, carved off the mane to make a ruff and extract the claws as trade goods. As a celebration, the Band decided to once again drink the puffball tea, all but Golden Other deciding to partake.

Their journey to the other world was fraught - as they left material reality behind, entering the infinite dark corridors of the Beyond, they were waylaid by horrible beasts with the forms of lobsters and soft pillowy flesh. These began stealing fragments of the Band with their strange, fleshy pincers until Blue-Grove chose to protect their flock. In so doing, their very name was stolen, leaving them Nameless until their bound Leopard spirit intervened, saving their name (and thereby their soul) but perishing in the process. In this chaos, the Band was separated.

This was the result of a huge dose and not-quite good enough Entheogens check and a failed Poison save. The Leopard sacrificing itself was instead of what can be character-death.

Cunning Mountain found themselves looked after by a strange towering insect wrapped about in its own flayed flesh. It released pheromones into his bloodstream, forcibly implanting ideas as if by accident. He realised all physical reality was merely an illusionary wrapper over a roiling chaos of forms and feelings. This knowledge gave him a terrifying stare, but left him out of sync with reality - forever floating an inch off the ground.

Purple Point found their form mixed with others, leaving the infinite black corridors howling like a wolf when in pain. They then found themselves in the empty between the stars, and witnessed the crawling, slithering things that lurk between them. The stars alone fill them with a nameless fear.

Idle-Quiet was stolen away by an swollen bird-figure, eyes pouring some strange black oil the creature drank from. Over indeterminable time the thing tutored Idle-Quiet, secretly slavering over the ever-ripening mind it cultivated. In a final instant, it stole his name - his soul did not return from this trip, leaving his body a Nameless husk.

Both Blue Fallen and Blue-Grove found themselves abducted by betentacled horrors, their limbs tipped with surgical tools and self-mutilating instruments. Each was bound to some curved surface, their chests split open and squirming somethings implanted within the cavities. Each was let free to wander the black corridors after this, eventually returning home with their respective passengers.

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2. The Screaming Rock

This is just a snippet from the upcoming update to Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign.

2. The Screaming Rock

Screams, warped and amplified and distorted, echo across the waves. The strange stone of the Screaming Rock is filled with winding tunnels which resonate with human screams, broadcasting them miles around.

Atop and within the rock dwell 46 Ogres, who wish to possess all screams. The rock floats, untethered from the sea floor, seemingly magnetically attracted to inhabited coasts.

Whenever the Screaming Rock is encountered, it is either en-route to the nearest village-sized settlement (70%) or fleeing it, the ‘hold’ filled with the population of the village, minus any killed or lucky enough to escape. The Screaming Rock is slow, travelling only 2 hexes a day.

The Ogres of Screaming Rock do not kill quickly - they lovingly coax every possible sound from their captives before devouring them, varying their diet of fleshy crabs which dwell in the flooded levels of the Rock. On average, a single captive is killed each day.

Those not currently being tortured are held in a single large vault towards the centre of the Rock, wherein some have learnt to hide and thrive across long decades in the dark wet. They prey upon their fellow prisoners, hiding the bodies and slowly consuming them over weeks. Worse than these, some come to see the music in the screams which wash over them night and day. They come to desire them. When the hold is next opened, another Ogre joins the crew.

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Pariah Session 5 - Play Report

Use the tags to find previous and for some more details. Hex fills used this session:

• River Rapids. 42, fishing village - salmon spawning.
• Nothing.
• Llama herds, predated upon by Nameless One in wolf pack.

The Band determined they would head north-west and investigate the warrior-lodge beyond the mountains. Checking they had rope and bundles of dry wood, they headed off - bringing their entire group, planning to establish a base-camp at the foot of the mountains. They passed through quiet alpine woods, unknowingly drawing the attention of a family infected with The Hunger. Quickly finding the foothills of the mountains, they set about finding caves to camp within whilst Purple Point, Blue Fallen and two followers headed out to search for firewood. At this point the family attacked, charging the group. Blue Fallen succumbed to the terrible muscle-cramps caused by some serum which dripped from their gnarled fingernails, as did one of the followers of the Band. From the cave entrance, Idle-Quiet One spotted the combat and raised the alarm. Purple Point commanded their wind spirit to make a great noise, noticing that the three surviving attackers were attempting to drag away his paralyzed companions. This terrible din drove them fleeing back to whence they came, leaving but a single corpse. Purple Point applied a draught of the healing-honey to Blue Fallen and brewed a restorative tea for himself and their companion. The rest of the night was uneventful.

A random encounter roll led to a small group of Ghouls ‘surprising’ the party. Since they had said they were moving at speed, not stopping to forage or hunt, the Ghouls, numbering only 4, elected to bide their time - hence the encounter actually triggering much later on. Morale, as it often does, gave a swift resolution once spirits got involved.

The next morning, the Band awoke to find the weather had turned, heavy winds and rain dissuading them from challenging the mountain that day. Instead, they elected to investigate more caves amongst the foothills, finding a niche-filled cave with burnt moss and a damaged idol depicted a heavily pregnant woman. Leaving this second cave, they saw 6 wolves and a nude human surveying them from the mountainside. This odd group left when waved at.

During this time, Cunning Mountain caught an entire warren of hares whilst Golden Other led hunters to trap and kill and Llama. When trying to help with the hide preparation, Gold Other was begged to please do literally anything else - something they acquiesced to. For their wind-spirit exploits, Idle-Quiet One tattooed an incredible skull design on the chest of Purple Point. Meanwhile, Blue Grove brewed some strange puffballs they had found into a potent tea, drinking deeply.

A terrible ringing filled their very being as a heavy sea of nothing leaked from their eyes. Their cranial fault expanded like a balloon stretched over a cactus. They felt this ringing pass into them and through them, reverberating like a scan. They were both observer and subject, but were all to aware of an other also observing. As they came down from this potent trip, he found his physical form changed - his tongue replaced with that of a butterfly, a ribbon-thin coil within his mouth.

Idle-Quiet One immediately took the offered cup. The weight of reality crushed them down into a molecule thick pancake of suffering, aware only of the infinite everything bearing down upon them before it finally relented. The return to three-dimensions was almost as harrowing as existing in two - the pain haunting their eyes forevermore.

Blue Fallen was the last to drink of this tea - after which the colour slowly drained from reality, leaving everything monochrome. This slowly turned into true chrome, everything a shining reflective silver, the boundaries becoming murky and then immaterial - all reality a mirror reflecting the self/other that Blue Fallen recognised as themselves and as reality itself. A scream built within him before emerging metallic, echoing - a sound burnt into his ears to be heard and re-heard in every waking moment until he dies.

Interesting how much impact weather can make on these plans. The wolf encounter was simply a high-distance, neutral reaction roll. I like having the fills appear in some way in the encounters, allowing for multiple interactions during extended periods in one hex. I didn’t expect to have to ad-lib so many highly powerful drug-trips, but there you are. I think I’ll expand out the Banes tables for the journeys to other realms - two mutation results may have given the players the wrong idea about this brew. That said, nothing wrong with them not understanding what they are playing with.

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USER.LOG

Every time you are about to use your computer for something, you must first record it in USER.LOG. This is a physical lined notebook stored near the computer.

The format is DATE - TIME - PURPOSE - LENGTH. The LENGTH is an estimate of how long you’ll be on the computer for. Keep the purpose specific. Once you’ve completed your PURPOSE, or your time is up, you must add a new entry to USER.LOG before continuing.

CONSIDERATIONS

• Do not use shorthand or abstract terms. Be specific and concrete.
• Do not make USER.LOG a digital file.
  
• Do not use this notebook for other things. Ideally it should be a cheap, nasty one you already have hanging around.
• The goal here isn’t to read back the log and feel bad - it’s to stop you wasting time and getting annoyed at yourself in the first instance.
• You could have “browse the internet” as your purpose, but I’d suggest against it - or limiting your LENGTH severely.

Belgic Wickermen

This is just a snippet from the upcoming update to Wolves Upon the Coast Grand Campaign.

Belgic Wickermen are Golems made of ensorcelled branches, woven into a 15’ tall humanoid form. They are powered by the living humans trapped within them, having HD equal to these prisoners - although always fighting as a 8HD creature. They are able to borrow the voices of those trapped within them.

41.24 Aunios

Aunios sprawls out into the ocean, hemmed in by its palisade walls and ditches maintained for generations. 65 call it home, living off the sea and their toll upon the road - 5sp a head. Such a toll does not allow access - this requires the relinquishment of weapons.

Orbissa (3HD, Maille, Bow, Sword) sits upon the stone throne of Aunios by right of combat, her predecessor and uncle buried some five years. She is much beloved by the people, her youth and vigour fêted. She brooks no insult to her power - to those showing decorum, she asks for aid. A Belgic Wickerman, sent from parts unknown, guards the road to the south. Her court priest, Ambilli (2HD, Maille, Spear, dedicated to Cernunnos), has been unable to command it away. To those able to destroy it, or drive it away, she offers 1000sp in the bronze coins of The Marches.

Where the jetties lick the sea, a crone, Divogenia (1HD) sleeps in an abandoned cart. Her biting wit and puerile imagination are well-known - her origin a secret. To one who would give her a horse, she acts an advisor. She knows many Wards, but only metes out her knowledge as needed. She knows of Betony, a Chant praising the deeds Ludeks which protects against illusions and mind-affecting magics, Cowslip, the creation of a Gargoyle-charms featuring the face of bearded serpent, Hazel, Hellebore, the skulls of horses, Rosemary, Rue and Yarrow.

10 footmen, 12 skirmishers plus 4 fishing boats.

41.25 Punitive Wickerman

Upon the road stands a lone Belgic Wickerman, filled with 6 living souls, screaming for release. It permits none to pass without offering - one human, scooped up and placed within its chest to join the chorus. If given Divogenia, it returns to 39.32, although it does not know her name.

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The Toothed Wind

Man brought fire with them but they found the Toothed Wind waiting. Some have learnt its language of screams and howls, and are able to invoke it. Others have opened themselves up to it, letting a little of the wind dwell within the hollow places of their chests. When they howl, it is with the full force of the Toothed Wind.

Those left exposed to it are chewed as by beasts of the land, leaving only scoured bones which are taboo to handle. A blade made of such bone kills like a rabid dog, but treats the wielder likewise.

No sacrifice pleases the Toothed Wind - it is aimless, irrepressible desire. Possessions and offerings only remind it of hunger, of what it does not have. How can one satiate a wind? Evoking it requires first-hand knowledge of its bite.

A maximum roll on the encounter dice represents an encounter with the Toothed Wind. Those outside take 1d6 damage per round. Those reduced to exactly 0 HP are left alive, gaining the ability to exhale the Toothed Wind - dealing 2d6 damage to all in a 20’ cone before them, and taking the larger d6 of damage themselves. The wind blows for d20 rounds.

Gnawed Bone Blades cause a save vs poison when they strike true. If the victim passes, the wielder must save in turn. Failure in either case results in death.

Those who have taken damage from the Toothed Wind are able to try and evoke it when outside. Roll Reaction:

Any result but Disinterest summon the Toothed Wind, which squalls and bites all in the area for d20 rounds.

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