Pariah Session 4 - 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.
• River very deep. Giant Bee Hive - 262.

The Pariahs awoke after their celebratory feast the night before. Shaking off hangovers as the tribe set about their daily tasks, the decided to ask Dismal Fortune, the chief of this group, about the local area. He revealed to them a warrior lodge beyond the north-eastern mountains, a Giant Bee hive with healing-honey to the west, drowning-spirits upon the coast and friendly bog-dwellers to the south-east with powerful shamans - required in their dangerous home. The band also asked after the source of the Desert Rue used to secure fires against spirits - to the best of the chief’s knowledge, the desert lay 2 weeks upriver. The band decided to investigate the hive, feeling the honey may be useful in future expeditions. Blue-Grove recalled that some honeys were psychoactive, and best gathered after exposing the hive to smoke. Armed with this knowledge, they set off.

Gathering these rumours was as simple as looking at the nearby hexes and seeing what this tribe might know. This was made much faster due to the super-slim format - to the point I think it might remove the need for a rumour table. The fills used in this case:

• River very deep. Giant Bee Hive - 262.
• Dog Eating Lodge - 18 members
• 13 Glaucon, coastal. Sun Eagle Spirit.
• Boat people, 38. Crocodile god, filled with spirits. 9 ghouls.

As the Band sought the hive by following the river, they stumbled across a huge tree hosting a colony of bats. Beyond this, they found the hive - terrier-sized bees coming and going from the base of a fallen tree, some carrying entire squirrels. The band bound two curved pieces of bark together, and filled this with a mix of pine-needles and wet grasses. Taking some time, they lit this mix from the bottom, creating a slow-burning fire outputting gouts of smoke. Purple Point called upon his spirit once more, bidding it to keep the fire close. Choking and spluttering but protected from immediate harm, the band sans Blue Fallen entered into the burrow - following the agitated bees deeper into the hive. On the surface, Blue Fallen watched the stragglers slowly begin to form a swarm. He was still safe as the wafts of smoke drifted up from the entrance to the hive. Meanwhile, beneath the earth, the Band hit it big - discovering the honey-cells of the bees. Realising they hadn’t brought any containers, they emptied sacks and used Purple Point’s colourful flaxen cloak to gather 5 doses of healing-honey. They began climbing back up as the wind-spirit lost cohesion and released the smoke, allowing it to generally drift upwards. Upon reaching the surface, the swarm began agitatedly moving towards the group. Blue-Grove bid their spirit possess a bee and attack the others, providing a distraction for the band to begin fleeing. Realising the bees were slow but determined, they made for a clearing, planning to create a much bigger fire to drive away the swarm. Whilst gathering leaves, Cunning Mountain kicked a snake and was bitten, falling to the ground with a rapidly swelling leg. Purple Point applied a makeshift to the tourniquet the wound before spending a dose of their precious healing-honey to cure the poison. They through their smoker onto their pile of dried leaves, which quickly caught - before spreading to consume the entire clearing. Thankfully for the band, the wind carried the flames and resultant smoke towards the swarm, driving them away although rapidly growing in size. Seeing that they couldn’t manage this fire, the band elected to return home.

I allowed the smoke to effectively pacify the bees after some quick research. The expenditure of the spirits energies was simply determined using the initial roll to evoke the effect. The snakebite was due to an encounter roll - as they fled, I rolled for an encounter and knowing their plan (gather tinder for a fire) it made the most sense for it to happen then. From there I randomly determine who it was sprung upon. The healing-honey cured the failed poison saving throw - I like to have failed saves kill over hours or days where possible, as it drives a lot of play in my experience. The wind direction, as ever, was determined with a d12 roll. As a result of the fire, I’m going to update a number of the fills to show the passage of the flames.

Upon returning to the village, Dismal Fortune questioned them as to the huge and spreading fire behind them. The party plead ignorance, which the chief did not buy for a second. The shaman of the settlement traded Desert Rue for healing-honey whilst Idle-Quiet One told a story of a stealthy exit, aided by Blue-Grove burning Sorcerer’s Sage to ensure a receptive audience. This mollified the ill-will of the tribe somewhat, although the fire and subsequent lying still leaves a bitter taste in their mouths. During the trip, Blue-Grove saw the form of their spirit - the mother-leopard that haunted his sister. Idle-Quiet One tattooed himself with a screaming baboon using the viscera gathered previously, and convinced Cunning Mountain to get the word FEAR across his chest, offsetting the DEATH on his face nicely.

I’m tracking the reputation with each group as a simple +/- to Reaction rolls. Often the roll isn’t needed so much as the integer showing general good/bad sentiment, but it might be useful to have it tied to an ‘objective’ mechanic at some point.

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