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After a two month break, tonight I returned to the Liam Solo.
* * * * *
We open up on the city of Mistgate, being pounded by a fierce blizzard. Then we shift focus to the room of Liam Easthill, where he is tucked up in bed, with a fever. As the scene unfolds, Liam's fever grows worse. He falls into a fitful sleep, waking in bright eyed delirium. His landlady, Sigmara, is standing by the bed, as her spouse, Aithlore, tends to the feverish Liam. He drifts in and out of consciousness, waking once to find Ulda Bordis standing at the foot of his bed. In his delirium, Liam hallucinates auras around the three women and hears the fire in his hearth hissing like snakes.
The view shifts to Ulda Bordis and Sigmara. They discuss this fever, which is sweeping the city. Sigmara reports that half the people at The Wheel & Lantern have caught it. Ulda Bordis announces that The Singing Beetle has been shut down, as have all the other festhalls in the city, by order of the City Council.
During their conversation, Ulda Bordis jokingly asks if Sigmara is on good terms with any priests of the plague-goddess, the Lady of Maladies. To her surprise, Sigmara tells her that she might be.
The scene shifts to the Court of Peacocks, very close to the Great Plaza. Here, Ulda Bordis enters the temple to the Lady of Maladies. She finds that Sigmara's old friend, Sister Gwenabyr, is no longer a humble accolyte, but a full fledged Priestess to the Lady of Maladies. She is also a victim of the Rot, a leprosy-like disease that leaves those who survive it terribly deformed, forced to wear masks to hide their ravaged condition.
Pushing past her personal revulsion, Ulda Bordis asks if there's anything Sister Gwenabyr could do for Liam. The sister confesses that several others have come to the temple with similar requests, but that there is nothing they can do for the ill, except pray for them.
Somewhat despirited by this news, Ulda Bordis makes her way to her office/home in the Court of Ironsmiths. She finds the elf-girl, Honoria, curled up in a blanket-nest beneath her desk, surrounded by empty bottles of beer. Ulda Bordis settles herself in her chair and drifts off to sleep, where she dreams that she is back in Edelsyor's Tomb, with the giant snow-tiger prowling around outside, howling to get in.
The next day, Ulda Bordis returns to Liam's place, and gets good news. His fever broke some time during the night. Aithlore has gone upstairs to sleep, leaving Sigmara and Ulda Bordis alone in the kitchen. They talk over cups of strong black tea and Sigmara confides in Ulda Bordis that Liam has very old scars on his body. Deliberately inflicted wounds that he must have received in childhood, that were never Healed. Basically, Ulda Bordis learns that Liam must have been tortured as a child. She admits that he never talks about his past and now she has a better understanding why.
After their conversation, Ulda Bordis leaves, thanking Sigmara for looking after Liam, and advising that she'll return in a couple of days to check on him. She leaves, vanishing into the swirling blizzard.
The next morning, Aithlore wakes and goes about her morning routine. She goes downstairs to check on Liam. His room is dark. The window shuttered. The fire in the hearth reduced to coals. Aithlore kindles a new fire and turns to the bed.
But the bed is empty.
Liam is gone.
* * * * *
So, after a brief hiatus, we returned to The Unfolding World, to Mistgate and the adventures of Liam Easthill nee Marrik. Since it had been a while since I played, I approached things a little differently, writing short scenes prompted by my oracle tables. The first thing I did was roll to see if the opening scene in my head was going to remain unchanged. It was not. So, I rolled on my Oracle tables and got "Struggle Illness" which prompted me to make Liam sick. Once he was sick, I rolled to determine if he was taking damage from his fever and he was.
After that, I shifted the focus to Ulda Bordis and her efforts to cure Liam. Which led to the introduction of a new deity, the Lady of Maladies, who is both the cause and the cure of plagues. It also introduced us to the Rot-afflicted Sister Gwenabyr. It seemed perfectly natural to me that a plague goddess's priesthood would include the survivors of plagues and illnesses.
More prompts and rolls, led to the revelation that Liam had been abused as a child, and that Sigmara had a dark childhood as well.
And then, of course, there was the ending, where Aithlore discovers that Liam has vanished.
I'm going to say right now that he did not get up and go for a fever-fueled walkabout. He's been taken. But by who?
There are a few possible suspects: (1)agents from his family in Lionscliff, (2)the coldhearted Lady Uldwig and Xasha, her orc muscle, or (3) individuals from Frostkeep connected to the mysterious notebook that was briefly in Liam's possession.
I know which one I would like to choose, but I'm going to leave the final decision in the hands of fate and roll the dice next session.
Although, now that I think about it, I could probably add a fourth suspect: the Wildbrook Sisterhood, the ritualist witches from Liam's first adventure.
Or maybe it was Eyasu the Blackmailer?
It'll be interesting to see who's the culprit.
* * * * *
We open up on the city of Mistgate, being pounded by a fierce blizzard. Then we shift focus to the room of Liam Easthill, where he is tucked up in bed, with a fever. As the scene unfolds, Liam's fever grows worse. He falls into a fitful sleep, waking in bright eyed delirium. His landlady, Sigmara, is standing by the bed, as her spouse, Aithlore, tends to the feverish Liam. He drifts in and out of consciousness, waking once to find Ulda Bordis standing at the foot of his bed. In his delirium, Liam hallucinates auras around the three women and hears the fire in his hearth hissing like snakes.
The view shifts to Ulda Bordis and Sigmara. They discuss this fever, which is sweeping the city. Sigmara reports that half the people at The Wheel & Lantern have caught it. Ulda Bordis announces that The Singing Beetle has been shut down, as have all the other festhalls in the city, by order of the City Council.
During their conversation, Ulda Bordis jokingly asks if Sigmara is on good terms with any priests of the plague-goddess, the Lady of Maladies. To her surprise, Sigmara tells her that she might be.
The scene shifts to the Court of Peacocks, very close to the Great Plaza. Here, Ulda Bordis enters the temple to the Lady of Maladies. She finds that Sigmara's old friend, Sister Gwenabyr, is no longer a humble accolyte, but a full fledged Priestess to the Lady of Maladies. She is also a victim of the Rot, a leprosy-like disease that leaves those who survive it terribly deformed, forced to wear masks to hide their ravaged condition.
Pushing past her personal revulsion, Ulda Bordis asks if there's anything Sister Gwenabyr could do for Liam. The sister confesses that several others have come to the temple with similar requests, but that there is nothing they can do for the ill, except pray for them.
Somewhat despirited by this news, Ulda Bordis makes her way to her office/home in the Court of Ironsmiths. She finds the elf-girl, Honoria, curled up in a blanket-nest beneath her desk, surrounded by empty bottles of beer. Ulda Bordis settles herself in her chair and drifts off to sleep, where she dreams that she is back in Edelsyor's Tomb, with the giant snow-tiger prowling around outside, howling to get in.
The next day, Ulda Bordis returns to Liam's place, and gets good news. His fever broke some time during the night. Aithlore has gone upstairs to sleep, leaving Sigmara and Ulda Bordis alone in the kitchen. They talk over cups of strong black tea and Sigmara confides in Ulda Bordis that Liam has very old scars on his body. Deliberately inflicted wounds that he must have received in childhood, that were never Healed. Basically, Ulda Bordis learns that Liam must have been tortured as a child. She admits that he never talks about his past and now she has a better understanding why.
After their conversation, Ulda Bordis leaves, thanking Sigmara for looking after Liam, and advising that she'll return in a couple of days to check on him. She leaves, vanishing into the swirling blizzard.
The next morning, Aithlore wakes and goes about her morning routine. She goes downstairs to check on Liam. His room is dark. The window shuttered. The fire in the hearth reduced to coals. Aithlore kindles a new fire and turns to the bed.
But the bed is empty.
Liam is gone.
* * * * *
So, after a brief hiatus, we returned to The Unfolding World, to Mistgate and the adventures of Liam Easthill nee Marrik. Since it had been a while since I played, I approached things a little differently, writing short scenes prompted by my oracle tables. The first thing I did was roll to see if the opening scene in my head was going to remain unchanged. It was not. So, I rolled on my Oracle tables and got "Struggle Illness" which prompted me to make Liam sick. Once he was sick, I rolled to determine if he was taking damage from his fever and he was.
After that, I shifted the focus to Ulda Bordis and her efforts to cure Liam. Which led to the introduction of a new deity, the Lady of Maladies, who is both the cause and the cure of plagues. It also introduced us to the Rot-afflicted Sister Gwenabyr. It seemed perfectly natural to me that a plague goddess's priesthood would include the survivors of plagues and illnesses.
More prompts and rolls, led to the revelation that Liam had been abused as a child, and that Sigmara had a dark childhood as well.
And then, of course, there was the ending, where Aithlore discovers that Liam has vanished.
I'm going to say right now that he did not get up and go for a fever-fueled walkabout. He's been taken. But by who?
There are a few possible suspects: (1)agents from his family in Lionscliff, (2)the coldhearted Lady Uldwig and Xasha, her orc muscle, or (3) individuals from Frostkeep connected to the mysterious notebook that was briefly in Liam's possession.
I know which one I would like to choose, but I'm going to leave the final decision in the hands of fate and roll the dice next session.
Although, now that I think about it, I could probably add a fourth suspect: the Wildbrook Sisterhood, the ritualist witches from Liam's first adventure.
Or maybe it was Eyasu the Blackmailer?
It'll be interesting to see who's the culprit.
