April: What a Shower of— (plus Brù-Gar Campaign report!)

 Work sucks - I know.

April panel from a Roman mosaic of the months (from El Djem, Tunisia, first half of 3rd century AD)

Life continues to be a struggle, yet still I manage to deliver! The first is this twenty minute rambly podcast by yours truly where I talk about all the things I would be doing if I had time:

https://anchor.fm/alonein-thelabyrinth/episodes/Notes-from-the-Labyrinth-evtcb9

The second is an ACTUAL PLAY REPORT by Louis/Gen2K whose name I mention 4 billion times in the podcast above. It's a first for me as I was not participating in this game in any way: I think you'll agree the outcome was no worse for my absence (indeed, possibly improved?): read on!

PARIAH – Brù Gar setting – Session 4 28/04/2021

(Written by the session's GM, Louis the Engineer of So Much Game)

Players:

• Slayer of the Father (Nye)

• Crying Curlew (HereOnTírnanÓg)

Season:

Middle to late spring

Session:

• •Slayer awoke swept up against the shore of the mainland with only a hazy memory of an island and his former companions.
• Curlew was travelling from the east along the shoreline and encountered a figure washed up on the shore.
• The two decided to travel together after Curlew helped Slayer up. They decided to prioritise finding food and capture some of the translucent and luminescent crabs scuttling about the coastline.
• The crabs made a dash for the coast to the West in large numbers, as if drawn there for some reason.
• The pair followed the crabs, finding bioluminescent jellyfish washed up on the shore in such great numbers that they pretty much filled the beach. The crabs immediately began to eat the jellyfish.
• Slayer decided to follow suit, picking one up by the bell and taking a bite out of raw shimmering jellyfish.
• To Curlew his new companion appeared to be rooted in place as his pupils blew out to full dilation.
• Within the dawn, Slayer found himself surrounded by shimmering creatures, jellyfish and crab alike. The countless crabs formed ever widening circles around his feet.
• Worried for his new travelling companion, Curlew attempted to shake him from his stupor to little effect. He then decided to fetch water in the hopes of using it to rouse Slayer.
• At the mercy of a powerful entheogen, Slayer heard the cry of a bird above him, turning to find a giant, glittering albatross circling him with an angry glare.
• Curlew clambered the cliff face, filled a jar with some muddy water and clambered down, stumbling in the descent and spilling the jar on the floor.
• As the albatross dove to attack him, Slayer ran, stomping on the endless crabs as he went and getting pinched and cut for his efforts.
• Deeply concerned at the convulsing Slayer, Curlew summoned his bound spirit, costing him tremendous effort. The called spirit was commanded to bring water to Slayer, who almost immediately started to drip from his clothing.
• The albatross grew nearer and Slayer turned to face it, flapping his arms wide and cawing to intimidate the spirit bird, which backed off at the last second.
• Slayer felt stinging in his eyes and suddenly awoke as Curlew’s spirit spell drew water from everything upon Slayer’s person that may have once contained it, flooding Slayer with salty sea water.
• Curlew helped the exhausted and damp Slayer up and they decided to travel in land, hoping to find the Yam, a forest tribe that Slayer had vague memories of hearing about on the island.
• Curlew gathered up a few of the jellyfish in a jar before leaving.
• Heading into the forest for the first time, they noted it was dense, verdant and very full of life.
• They managed to bump into a robber fly but decided to go around it and both parties continued on their way without altercation.
• Heading in the vague direction of the Yam, Slayer and Curlew came upon a clearing within the forest with a single, dead gnarled tree at its centre.
• Stepping into the clearing, they spotted a hooded figure knelt at the other end of the clearing, digging and planting seeds.
• Approaching and greeting the figure, they were introduced to an elderly man named Fallenthrough-the-Giant One. He confirmed that he was one of the Yam and that he’d decided to plant seeds in this area to bring life to the otherwise desolate clearing.
• The pair asked him for directions to the Yam and he agreed to take them, walking towards the edge of the clearing before turning around and heading back towards the gnarled tree at its centre.
• This happened a couple of times, with Curlew and Slayer becoming aware that something was wrong.
• Curlew attempted to leave the clearing, encountering the same problem as Fallen.
• They decided to sit at the centre by the large gnarled, dead tree and Curlew lit some Sorcerer’s Sage in an attempt to commune with its spirit.
• Fallen revealed that as far as he was concerned he was merely three years past his naming ceremony and that it was only just coming to spring time. He joined in on the Sage and had a rather bad experience, becoming aware of his true age.
• Curlew found a spirit willing to talk, not that of the tree, but rather Soth, a spirit connected to Lunwé. The spirit claimed to be tasked with guiding the death of things in these lands. It also revealed it had been trapped within this tree for many ages of cycles by a person who sought to gift themselves life over death.
• The tree spirit itself was muffled and could not answer.
• Returning from the realm in between the here and there, Curlew discussed their predicament with Slayer.
• Attempting a few methods of escape, Curlew and Slayer realised that the sun was static overhead and no noise escaped the clearing into the forest beyond.
• Curlew got out the jellyfish, expecting them to have dried only to find they were still bioluminescent, wet and squishy. Placing them on the ground, a small area beneath them returned to some form of life.
• Fallen found the jellyfish quite interesting mentioning that they were associated with Solwé.
• Using it on the tree created patches of life and released the tree spirit’s voice from a long slumber.
• The tree spirit explained that a pariah had long ago bound it like this upon the moment of its death before Soth could guide it to the next place. To restore the balance, it needed to be allowed to pass and new life needed to replace it.
• Slayer and Curlew set the tree on fire as best the could and knocked it over. Instead of burning to ash, its burnt remains seeped into the ground and Fallen spread seeds over those area’s which instantly grew.
• Free of its prison, Soth provided its saviours with a spell spirit bound between the two pariahs.
• The session ended here with Fallen offering to guide the pair to the Yam. I threw out some X’s at this point because both players were eXcellent and deserved recognition for their characters, roleplaying and effort. So far, I have created one random table per session and each time it has served me well, so I’ll probably keep using this method throughout the campaign. I had great fun and I hope the players enjoyed it as much.