These events run parallel to those of the NINETEENTH session. The real world session took place on Saturday 21st November on the Atelier Hwei Discord.
- Eugene https://twitter.com/eakiselev playing as Mercifully-Wasted-from-the-Tribe
- jfur https://jenniferixon.itch.io/ playing as Fallen-far-from-the-Wind
- Oisín https://twitter.com/OisinoftheHill playing as Over-Hollow-Hills-Flies-the-Cuckoo
- Semiurge http://archonsmarchon.blogspot.com/ playing as Mortally-Garnished-of-the-Fallen
To find out more about PARIAH please read this post:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/p/pariah-proto-neolithc-psychedelic.html
DAY 21, CROW MOON WANING
Garnish and the recently-arrived pariah Fallen-far-from-the-Wind were making some repairs to the compound of the "Unlucky Ones". With Earnestly Wood, Rides and Wither seeking answers at the Temple of Water, the remaining pariahs were killing some time, though considering travelling to the goat village on the east coast to see whether they needed any so-called "eagle witches" slaying.
And then 2 new pariahs came by... the diminutive and somewhat expressionless Cuckoo and their pale-skinned travelling companion Mercifully Wasted.
Hi! I'm Cuckoo. My face was generated with https://artbreeder.com/ |
In this case jfur elected to gloss over Fallen's arrival and we assumed she'd been with the community of "Unlucky Ones" for a short time. Cuckoo and Mercifully wasted were assumed to have been travelling together, with Cuckoo's excellent listening and awareness compensating for MW keeping his ears covered nearly at all times (the animals say bad things about him constantly). We try to keep the history pre-game to the minimum and just see what comes out during play, but it was nice that the characters had an established relationship, even if it was only briefly.
Alex— who previously played as Little-is-the-Gazelle — has decided to leave the campaign. his character is now an NPC AND was present for the arrival of the new pariahs, but won't be joining them on any expeditions.
Every player in this session had another character engaged in matters elsewhere, so we discussed what they could choose to do with this session. The principal leads were as follows:
- Further investigate the drought and the Temple of Water
- Clear an adjacent jungle hex to expand the agricultural land of Etau's settlement.
- Travel to the eastern goatherders to find out about the eagle witches.
Goat Herders & Fisher Folk
Real life city of Yawnghwe in Myanmar courtesy wikicommons. |
The pariahs were presented immediately with a friendly-ish NPC, aware that the elder of the village (Crawfish) was perhaps a little less friendly. After consulting those elders they were informed of the following:
- The "eagle-witches" were either beautiful or ugly, no-one could quite agree.
- They took local villagers to be there husbands and wives.
- Recently they took a village boy.
- They live on an island 12 miles out to see (Eagle Island).
- A coracle would be better than a canoe. They are not permitted to take a coracle.
- They were not skilled enough to pilot a coracle (though Garnish had previously done so).
- No one would part with their boat (it was accepted that though no one owns anything in the village, a coracle is treated as though it were a family member).
Tracking
Note the original mechanic was inspired by Goblin Punch's encounter stew.
Essentially, if that die comes up with a 4 then they will have found tracks. An unskilled pariah has about a 50% chance of seeing some tracks. GMs might choose a higher number to represent environmental difficulty.
- Die lower than 4 plus and encounter rolled: The pariahs will have to spend more time searching through the wilderness.
- Die lower than 4 but an encounter rolled: the pariahs stumble onto an encounter while trying to look for tracks. Resolve distance and surprise as usual.
- Die is 4 or higher and encounter rolled: the party pick up tracks belonging to the generated encounter. Calculate normal distance and double it. If the party follow the tracks carefully they might gain surprise.
- Die is 4 or higher but no encounter rolled: There are some tracks. This will lead them all the way back to a randomly determined creature's lair (pick a row or column on your wandering monster table and roll for type). The lair should be within the same hex but an hour or more away (you can roll for other encounters while they follow those tracks!)
Bargaining
However, Cuckoo felt a strange energy emanating from the hive, and elected to investigate further by projecting their spirit. The hive housed a powerful spiritual intelligence, which communicated with Cuckoo's spirit in a peculiar way. After a short exchange (multiple reaction rolls) it emerged that...- It wished for the smoke to be extinguished.
- In return it would guide them to some more worthy food...
- ...but it wanted to give something else, in exchange for something that Cuckoo valued.
Cuckoo returned to their body and advised Fallen to put out the fire. In doing so, Fallen's eyes fell upon recent tracks of a family of wild boar leading into the undergrowth. They seemed fresh and quite distinct. She felt certain that they hadn't been there before.
Collecting Stories
Mercifully Wasted wandered the village while Garnish mended his new net. The stilt-like construction continued, even among those houses built on dry-land. The atmosphere was relaxed: the villagers could even be described as incurious toward the recent arrivals.- The village's two concerns are goat-herding and fishing. Adult men and women take the coracles out in the early morning and harvest fish. They sleep at noon and spend the afternoon preparing food, playing, or crafting.
- Typically, adolescent boys are sent to tend goats on the wide scribe, while adolescent girls mend nets and repair coracles. No-one is really sure why this gender distinction arose, and they're not very strict about it.
- Stories of eagle-witches are scratchy and inconsistent, and take on a more "folkloric" timbre than the more compelling stories of ghouls and blood-drinkers on the coast to the south.
- The boy who went missing was something of a loner.
- One of the coracles went missing about a week ago, roughly the same time the boy went missing.
- One old woman described the eagle-witches as good-looking, but not attractive enough to make her want to become their wife.
- They claimed to see them flying around the north and south sides of the island.
Boar Hunt
The tracks led Fallen-far-from-the Wind and Cuckoo fairly swiftly through the jungle to a small clearing... with 3 adult boars (including one sow protecting 4 boarlets).Cuckoo fired. The arrow whizzed through the air and pierced the alpha boar's flank.
- INTERJECTION -
- Staying on her feet but losing her grip on the rope.
- Falling prone at the boar's mercy but keeping the boar hoisted up in the sky.
Anyway, Fallen didn't fall but she released the rope.
The boar fell.. about fifteen feet.
- RETURN -
Princess Mononoke is big at the animist end of Pariah's APENDIX N |
The boar shivered as Cuckoo usurped its egg from its figurative nest: she assumed control of the creature, and charged towards the boar/sow bothering Fallen.
Fallen studied the huge, blood-covered boar at her feet cautiously. It seemed calm and... almost distant. She looked over to the body of Cuckoo. She'd assumed the young pariah had perished, but they seemed to still be breathing, though they were covered in... not blood, but some kind of ink?
Keeping her eyes on the boar, she slowly descended from her tree, pulling her hand axe from her belt.
Fallen-far-from-the-Wind swung the hand axe across the creature's neck. A spray of blood decorated the undergrowth.
The boar collapsed, dead.
Cuckoo awoke, wheezing.
Feast
Garnish and Mercifully wasted fended off multiple questions from the local fisher-folk and goat-herders about the imminent feast until finally — spirits be blessed! — a bedraggled Cuckoo and Fallen emerged from the forest, dramatically lit from the side by a rapidly sinking sun.The locals were impressed by the boar and checked over Fallen for injuries, the enormous bruise on her side testament to her tussle with the sow/boar. Cuckoo, the more grievously hurt, did their best to stay away from the locals' radar, lest their secret be revealed.
Between them, Mercifully Wasted and Fallen-far-from-the-Wind put on quite the show: MW combined snippets and elements of the folklore that day with his own highly embellished account of Fallen and Cuckoo's hunt, while fallen provided musical interjections with a trilling voice and idiosyncratic drumming. With fire, clear skies, music and meat, the villagers returned to the beds one by one, sated and happy.
Before the camp fell silent, the pariahs were blessed with not one but two coracles: one would be piloted by the first person they met at the village, Fleet Snailwife. The second coracle was donated begrudgingly by an old couple without children, who were apparently too lazy to use it anyway.
The campaign continues at:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2020/12/pariah-discord-session-21-are-there.html
Purchase digital print edition of PARIAH at Soulmuppet:
https://soulmuppet-store.co.uk/products/pariah-volume-1
https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/pariah-art-free
The net is called "Death Spider Web"
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