In the Secret Service of Our Hidden Mistress [Drow Revolution, System Game]

Started by Avalon29, March 12, 2018, 11:17:37 AM

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Avalon29

Welcome to the Spire. A mile-high city in the land of Destera, ruled by cruel high elves, in which the drow – you, and your family, and your friends – have been oppressed for centuries. A nightmare warren of twisting passages and structures, built and rebuilt, atop itself. A city of a thousand gods. The furthest bastion of a terrible and burgeoning empire. A structure of unknown make that houses a blistering, rotten hole in reality at its center where the sane dare not tread.

You are a dark elf. The touch of the sun burns your grey skin, and you hide from the light in twisting corridors, crumbling temples and the lawless undercity of the metropolis known as Spire. The high elves, rulers of the city, alien and capricious, allow you to live here as an underclass forced to beg for scraps. 

Your religion, your culture, and your people are being destroyed all around you. You have seen your fathers, your mothers, your grandparents subjugated by the high elves, and you have had enough. You have joined the resistance: the ministry of Our Hidden Mistress, worshippers of a forbidden goddess. 

You have sworn in blood that the high elves will fall, that you will destroy them through subterfuge, and insurrection, and terror.





Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this. If you made it this far hopefully it means you’re interested in the premise.  In the Secret Service of Our Hidden Mistress takes place in the urban fantasy punk setting of the Spire RPG where the players will play a cell of drow resistance fighters working for the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress, also known as the  Ministry, a paramilitary resistance group trying to free their ancient capitol city, the Spire, from the high elf conquerors and oppressors known as the Aelfir.

The system is a simple one that is most similar to Blades in the Dark or other fiction first systems such as powered by Apocalypse.  It uses 1-4 d10s to decide success or failure with additional dice added based on the character’s skills, a character’s knowledge of a subject, and the character’s equipment. Classes give character special abilities and actions that they can perform. A link will be provided for those interested containing the rules needed for players for those interested.

I will be running the quick start adventure Blood & Dust, a story that focuses on the lawless Red Row undercity district of the Spire, run by a trio of gangs and their bosses. Once there was a tentative peace between factions, but now open war has broken between the three major factions as chaos spreads through the district. Gun smoke fills the air as a new church that worships an undefined deity but sees guns as a means of salvation and as their tools of change has begun to spread throughout the district. The Crimson Vigil, a group of anti-aelfir reactionaries has also come out from the shadows and now recruit soldiers openly for their banned cult. Yet while all this is going on a new play has come out called the Weeping Maiden which everybody seems to be talking about even with the growing the chaos. Your job as a new resistance cell in the Ministry and notable professionals within Red Row is to investigate this recent chaos and either figure out how to subvert it so it can be used to further the Ministry’s goals or stop it before the plans of who or whatever is causing it comes to fruition.

I’m looking for 3-5 players to go through the above adventure and would like an average of at least a post a week. Interaction in an ooc will also be important. This is my first time taking the place of a GM in a system game so feedback from the players as well as discussing what themes you would like to explore or things you’d like to see or focus on will help immensely. If you’re interested I will provide a link that gives access to the quick start rules, although it is best to avoid the pages after 47 which goes into detail about the campaign, and I will also give you access to the character creation rules. While I heavily encourage you to buy the book from the creators at http://rowanrookanddecard.com/spire-rpg/ or through Drivethrurpg but the quick start rules and the character creation rules are all you’ll need as a player. I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have or walk players through that isn’t understood.

Avalon29

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_QZJ8cY0rX_oYQN-B9WkedgaeWUm94xh

Decided it was best to go ahead and share the link to the quickstart. For those interested in the rp, I'll pm a link to the character creation rules.

wander

I do enjoy any Powered by the Apocalypse game, so I'll state my interest.

I'll check that google drive doc later on this evening and once read, share more what I'm thinking on character concept.

Avalon29

About to head to bed but I’ll pm you the character creation parts from the book when I wake up.

I would give this a look though http://rowanrookanddecard.com/spire-rpg/ if you wish to talk about concepts before I send you the character generation bits as it also gives a short blurb about the other 5 classes that aren’t in the quick start.

wander

That's fine.

There are a fair few classes that seem pretty interesting there.

Avalon29

Alright, character generation stuff should be in your pm box.

You're right about the different character classes. There's quite a few interesting choices. The setting and the way that adds twists to the traditional fantasy classes is definitely one of its strong suits.

The character generation process is pretty simple. You select how you spent your durance, the 4 years of indentured servitude  to the high elves  a drow is required  to serve that is mandated by law, which will give you some extra skills, domain, or resistances. Some may also give you access to extra abilities you can take down the line. You select your class,  pick which set of equipment you want if the class gives you a choice, create a bond between yourself and an NPC as well as one with another player. Then select two low advances you have access to for your character to start off with.

wander

Because you have the corebook, I was wondering if you could list the various places of the Spire and what sorts of elves live in each one. My concept and general map to character generation is below, though my knowledge of the City is pretty slim. Knowing more on the locales and occupations of folks in each would help me visualise the world better.

Nevertheless!

I like the thought of my character being trained as an assassin by the aelfir, so for my concept I'll go with the Killer durance. So one of the Bound makes the most sense, though Masked would fit too. However I'm leaning more heavily to the former.

Avalon29

Yeah, no problem. I'd be happy to give a brief over view of each of the districts. I'll start with the upper levels of the Spire. The Spire is huge and I'm not going to be able to describe all of it in a single post but hopefully this gives a better idea of what's there. I'll work on a post about the lower half as well as one about the undercity and places that don't fit else as well. I'll compile them into a general info thread later.

Edit: Added a summary of the Middle Districts and the Lower Districts, with each section divided by a spoiler.

The Upper Districts
The top level: New Heaven

At the top of the Spire is the New Heaven, covered in thousands of tall prayer flags which whip about in the blistering winds. This is a place of worship and a place for the dead. One sect of the Morticians, a special powerful organization that takes care of the dead in the Spire emerge from tall towers where they hold sky burials where the dead are picked apart by various carrion birds to free the spirit from the body.  A new religion has also developed here recently devoted to Charnel the god of the dead who have released hyenas into the district to devour the corpses and dispose of them with the proper reverence. There are two other groups who dwell here. There are small clans of druids one who listen to and devote themselves to learning the songs of the Sky Larks which they believe to tell the future. The other druid clan devotes themselves to bees, studying the way they build their hives and believing the hives are representation that civilization grows organically from nature and  that the construction of the bee hives reflect things that mortal eyes might not normally see. The last people that call this place their home are the Moonseekers of Grimaldi, a cult dedicated to the human inventor Grimaldi who creates mechanical marvels and most recently has devoted himself to the secrets of flight.

The next floor down: Amarenth

The next floor immediatly beneath New Heaven is Amarenth, a land of cold marble where the Aelfir live. Using blocks of Everfrost special ice from the north they collect sunlight which is used to keep the whole district just a few degrees above freezing. The high elves roam, wearing little other than their masks as showing your face is considered incredibly rude, while the drow and humans who work there or visit are dressed in heavy clothing to try to stay as warm as possible. The council which rules the city also meets on this floor. The Black guards also call this place home, the most elite guards in the Spire equipped with the best armor and weapons available. The ice caves are here as well custom building constructed by the high elves where they bathe in ice. The crystal tower, a tall tower of glass and ice stands in the center of the district where the sunlight is collected inside the Everfrost batteries. The official office of the Morticians is also here where the Aelfir can have easy access to disposing of their own dead. The last thing of note here are the Spiral Gardens. The high elves who don't understand natural beauty construct special gardens, nearly dead places where plants are twisted and grown into strange shapes, more of an art gallery then  places of congregation.

The Solar Basilica floor

The next level down contains the academic and religious centers for high elves and is also the home of the sky docks. The Solar Basilica is one of the religious districts on this floor where a large horse shoe shaped area is divided up into four where the high elves worship their gods, Father Summer, Mother Winter, Brother Autumn, and Sister Spring with temples devoted  to each filling one portion of each section. The paladin's an elite military unit devoted to the Gods also dwell here. They are small in number but powerful with a large network of spies and informants. They are devoted to unearthing and dealing with the most dangerous threats to the Spire and leave the most common cases to the city guard.

The next thing of note on this level is the most prestigious college in the Spire, the High Elven University of Magic, a campus so big that just finding your way around is considered an achievement. Here dwell the infinite library, a giant library containing religious text from almost every religion, the Lunar Font, where moonlight is distilled into a precious liquid. there's the inverted telescope used to study the heart of the Spire. The  interview room where the Aelifir keep various test subjects ranging from mutants, to drow, gutterkin, gnolls, and other beings are kept so they can be used for experiments, studies, torture amid other things so they may assist in pushing science forward.

The last notable district here are the Sky Docks, the center of commerce for the upper half of the Spire where luxuries, exotic equipment, and special ingredients are brought in from all over the world on the backs of Sky Whales while illegal weapons, drugs, and other black market items are brought up from the lower levels of the Spire. Megacorvidae, giant raven and crow like species flap through the air making deliveries or carrying people fill the air as do smaller versions of the same creatures delivering messages to and fro. Nets surround the exterior of the docks but also  the Air Larks drow and sometimes young umans who command small army of birds and ride small racing megacorvids catch those or things who fall but not out of their good will as not giving a good reward may end with them letting you go to plummet as a warning to others.

The Silver Quarter

The next  level down is entirely devoted to the Silver Quarter, an entertainment district for the wealthy who do not wish to risk their lives in Red Row. There are a variety of clubs here ranging from simple bars to clubs with high membership fees where the  well off get together such as the Boating Club where the brightest and richest students gather to play long complicated games of Orbit to the Gilded oyster where they eat rare gilded oysters and have a complicated membership hierarchy that could be compared to secret society. There's even a club dedicated to throwing galas and absurdly luxurious parties for the poor and some of the money does get down there, that isn't all tied up in red tape and various complicated money laundering operations. There's some that offer fights, although nothing compared to the Arena in Red Row as well as the second largest aray of drugs in the Spire, even clubs that organize visits to the lower levels where the Aelfir can hunt for the most twisted gutterkin they can find or people which many do. The three most notable places here are The Mermaid, a giant casino run by a group called the Hearts who make sure none of the games are fixed. In exchange it is blessed by and protected by the Goddess Stolz who rules over luck and as Stolz isn't the one to have churches it doubles as a temple to her devotees. The Hearts don't complain however as they have a two drink minimum on all entrants. The other place of notice is The House part secret society and part criminal empire it is run by a small drow and his outcast or exiled Aelfir staff. The House runs the Silver Quarter with shell companies, gambling dens, landords, and bankrollers.

Ivory Row

The final upper level of the Spire is Ivory Row. Ivory Row was once the social hub of the Spire filled with giant mansions and homes, but now most of the wealthy have migrated upwards to the Silver Quarter or Amarenth if possible. The district is now abandoned many of the mansions and homes have crumbled or been abandoned while three wealthy landlords fight over the district and refuse to give up an ounce of control while those who still live here are stuck are trapped in a faded era of glory. The Sunlight Collective is one group that lives here. They follow a set of 26 moving windows that rotate through the district. They are poets, artists, occultists, and bohemians who believe that the lights grant inspiration from the gods. Many are also the children of the wealthy, frittering away their parents money on extravagant rooftoop parties with the other creative types There are also the Hidden, people who hide in the various homes here from the guard and private security forces of the three landlords as they can't afford to live anywhere else. Punishment of discovery ranges from being roughed up and forced out of the district to being hung from old withered trees or forced to serve one of the landlords. It all depends on which landlord's territory the house is in.

The other places located here are the University of Gwynn-Enfor who study the unearthed machines of the prokatakos, an extinct precursor civilization with advanced technology when compared to the current world. It's also the home of the majority of the human retroengineers who study and invent things based upon this technology as well as the center for what human civilization there is in the Spire. The Tower division believe the Spire is a giant prokatakos machine and schedule expeditions to the heart of the place. There is also the Volatile Research division which researches the fringe science of  galvanic energy instead of the more serious studies mass production  and elaborate steam powered devices. The final part of the college is the Computational division which studies the Intelligence a massive prokatakos crystal which resonates in such a way as to process information.

Finally this level holds the Cathedral of the Glorious Lady, which worships Limye the glorious lady and the only part of the three part moon goddess Damnou that is allowed by the Aelfir. The Cathedral is huge, spanning multiple blocks with storage rooms, dormitories, hatcheries, and soup kitchens for the poor. The church is maintained by the Maintainers, roving bands of priests who liberate building material from construction sites, warehouses and sometimes other buildings. There are also small hidden shrines dedicated to the Hallows, venerated saints of the drow whose worship is forbidden. There is also a sect who believe the ministry does more harm then good and that it is better to go along with the Aelfir and try to get viewed as equals. It's not uncommon for them to out members of the Ministry if they attempt to hide there in the fear that they endanger whatever future the drow have. The upper level of the Perch is also nearby but I'll mention that when I talk about the Perch as a whole.


The Middle Districts
Perch

The Perch is unique in the Spire as it originally was not meant to be a place for inhabitation and yet people have found a way to live there. It is a collection ramshackle and scavenged buildings, bolted to the outside of the Spire. Starting at the outer portion of Ivory Row, and down to the level just below, the Middle City. On the Perch there is one stable building the Gutter, an ancient stone sewer system jutting out from the Spire. On top there is a small inn for visitors and bellow a long line of workshops dedicated to producing rope for the rest of the Spire. The rest of the Perch is unstable with the risk of falling masonry, raiders, and even errant sky whales scrapping the wall. The citizens here move about while connected to rope as they otherwise risk tumbling to their death. The religion here is dedicated to small gods that live in every object and most important are those who live in ropes as they protect you from death. Some of the notable things here are the Graveyard of Small gods, a place of lost and forgotten items are kept until the priests declare the gods have passed on and the objects are then sold back to the populace. The Dovecotte a place where small messenger birds are bred, and the Bound vigilantes who patrol the Perch and exact justice here, ranging from possession to exile, destruction of their shelter or severing their ropes, sending the worst of the criminals plummeting to the ground.

The Middle City

Back inside the wall and connected to the lower portion of the Perch is the Middle City which contains multiple districts as well as some that are connected to the lower floors. One of the most notable things on this floor is the Hive, a stone honeycomb like building that works as the headquarters and main jail for the city guard who work as the peace keepers for the majority of the city. The jail is not used often for common criminals as the most common punishments are repossession of property, exile, fines, and indentured servitude if you cannot pay the fines. That doesn’t mean the cells are empty however.

Surrounding the Middle City district and spanning the next few levels down is the Garden District. This district is in charge of the agricultural needs of the city. These farmers can be split into two groups. The traditional Dark-Farmers who specialize in the traditional drow crops grown in the city. Many never seeing the sun, they grow vats of algae, tend to swarms of locusts and grubs, shepherd herds of crustaceans and are masters of growing mushrooms, ranging from meant for meals to hallucinogenic toadstools for recreation or mystics.  There are also a few  places with external lighting where highly expensive fruits are tended. One notable location for the mushroom farming in the Garden’s are the Hanging Gardens where bodies sold to the Morticians are strung up in spider silk to grow carnivorous mushrooms. The other group are the human retroengineers who have dug up prokatkos arcologies lit by magic lights. These Hydroponic Vaults are used to grow more standard crops and fruits with the assistance of galvanic powered magelights which simulate the rays from the sun.

A few other notes of the area: There are druids who live in an enchated grove who listen to the Spire, believing it to be alive and interpret its sounds to decide what it wants for the month. There is also a new company that has sprung up called the Herald corporation that delivers cheap bread to the poor.

The Works

Beneath the Gardens lays the Works, the industrial center of the Spire. The place is filled with manufacturing plants and warehouses, where workers and lines of chained indentured drow hammer away on steel to create various products. Ash and smoke fill the air, a unique substance called spire black condenses out of the air which is collected by luckless drow and gutterkin, a mishmash of gutterkin, dirt-gnomes and weirder things which is refined into explosives and other products including cheap ink.

With the ease of acquiring ink the Works is also filled with printing presses and numerous news organizations each with a different spin. There are various religions worshiped here as well from the human created God Machine to the Forge Father and Hearth Mother of the Aelfir. Even to a local folk hero known as the Masterless Mask who protects the downtrodden from the oppressors and even more gods beside. Some important things here are the Machine Heart a mysterious ancient and alien machine whose priests can control machines in ways others couldn’t imagine. There’s the Greymanor Services, a detective agency run by an ex knight who accepts any case as long as it’s under the umbrella of investigation and most surprisingly follow the letter of the law. Other notables include Ptolemy Bay a giant arms trader and rumors of a forge with a smith who is a master of lost blade making techniques. there’s even rumors of a secret gutterkin parliament.

The Pilgrim’s Walk

The next floor down is the Pilgrim’s Walk, this level is filled with cramped winding streets with temples, workshops, and small homes littered on every side, owned entirely by two landlords. The corridors far from the exterior walls are lit with the flickering candles of alters and the fires of offerings of a myriad of religions. The place is filled with an undocumented and undecipherable tangled web of alliances, enmities, and imagined slights with the religions growing in power or being absorbed into another daily. It is not unusual for a faith to go to their morning service only to discover a new priest preaching a new religion or a cobbled together religion including their own and it’s not uncommon for fights to break out between religions for control of the congregations which has drawn attention of the Aelfir and city guard. Conflicts between members of the religions and guards often clash in the street until the other side flees, neither willing to pursue. The most notable being  Godstreet a long street that snakes its way through the district where travelers are  met with enthusiastic offers of salvation from various religions and comely priestesses with peddlers selling ‘authentic’ relics  on every side.

The Mezzanine

Between the Works and Pilgrim’s walk, and reachable only by traversing various ducts, is the Mezanine where 4 colleges face off against one another for space and control of students run by the Benevolent Order of Wisdom and Discovery. The Benevolent Orders of Wisdom and Discover preach and offer free education to any drow who wishes to better themselves with an offer between four different colleges. The Brotherhood of the Unlidded Eye, The Sisterhood of Illumination, the College of Undying Light and the Brazacott Technical Institute. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

The Brotherhood of the Unlidded Eye, The Sisterhood of Illumination, and  the College of Undying Light are all a bunch of dirty lying demonologists competing against one another for control of their students.  The other college the Brazacott Technical Institute receives assistance from the other universities and study the various sciences such as biology and engineering. Like all the other colleges it’s a front, this one for the research of the Intelligence, where a special experiment is going on behind the scenes.


The Lower Districts and the Out of Place


Saint Perdita’s  Circle
The ground level of the Spire which is entered from the outside through the Crack. This level contains three important areas. The North Docks, which is run by the Knights of the North Docks, a fallen order of knights split into various factions turned drunks and ruffians who run the district. Notable places include the Castle, a giant ex military steam paddler refurbished with a luxurious interior which now contains the coffers of the Knights. The Range, a pub owner who bought a street and turned it into a jousting arena and area for opposing factions of knights to fight over territory. The solace a shelter for the needy and abused, one of the few genuine charitable organizations. The Heap, a patched together group of boats run by gnolls and gutterkin. Plus, the High Streets a series of merchant stands across catwalks above the docks and Sanderson’s Arms a weapon shop who provides official weaponry to the knights as well as sell military grade swords and armor.

At the south side of this level and the first place that new visitors will run into is the Blue Port, a sea of blue cloth creates a large Bazaar where merchants and traders show their wares to visitors and citizens of the Spire alike while guides offer to show others where they need to go in exchange for a bit of silver. Other places of note are the Low Wall Boarding house, an inn and café built inside the wall where drow citizens and visitors swap news of the outside world. It’s also a hub of smuggling activity that spreads to various low and mid Spire districts. Blue port also has the tightest entry restrictions in the Spire where the Customs house directs merchants down various entryway streets for a price depending on how greedy the guard assigned is that day. The Bazaar is patrolled by various mercenary houses with which house is on patrol can change by the day and who handle security for the various visitors. This is also the home of the Azurites merchant priests devoted to the art of trading and markets as well as picking up new information Finally there’s the Aelfir district where the Aelfir who wish to travel across the Spire by land and wish to be seen descent to cross this heavily guarded area.

Alliance HQ The last notable area of this level is the Alliance Defense HQ which houses the Spire’s Militairy led by the mysterious and giant Aelfir  general Snow-On-Stone. It contains the Enlisted where indentured Drow serve in the military or those who can not find work elsewhere stay work in and belong to with those that survive their early battle quickly growing into skilled and experienced fighters. It is also home to the Aelfir Skald units, Aelfir warriors who wear and use what they want while mixing in artistic mastery, many ebing writers, poets, and artists among other who ride chariots into battle. Finally, there’s the Special Tactics Corps, elite troops with exotic weapons who work as the military’s special operations units. Many are also casters, using illegal demonology to decimate their enemies in the south.
The next level down and the first underground level is the Derelictus which houses both the Derelictus district and the Red Row District. The Derelictus district is where the poorest of the drow live and struggle to get by day by day. It’s home of the Hemlock fruit market where the corpsefruit considered a delicacy by the Drow is sold despite being illegal. It’s also where various other illegal drow delicacies are sold and many Drow run inns and bars scattered across the area. In the far corner of the district is the Grist, home of ghouls, cannibals who’ve eaten thinking flesh where they congregate and worship their leader King Teeth.  The district also houses the Church of Absolution, a church that worships the Deep Hunger, a god of nothingness and decay. Finally there’s a Civilization, the finest bar in the district run by a maskless high elf thrown out from society.

For Red Row look through the Quick Start as it goes through more detail than I can.

The Heart
The final district is the Heart. In the deepest portions of the Spire lies the Heart. A magical and strange place where reality is looser. There are no maps here and your only hope is to find a guide to help you navigate this place, the strangest place in the Spire. Here people who take a pilgrimage to see the Heart can become Blood Witches, taking in the strange disease the heart carries to give them special powers to control their own blood and others. This highly illegal but they’re mostly ignored as nobody wants to deal with them. There is also Peace Street which lies on the boundary near the Heart where families live with the ghosts of the past generations. There are rumors that the entrance to the Moon Garden, the drow afterlife can be found there. There are many more strange things here that go beyond what’s listed.

The Vermissian

There are two areas that haven’t been mentioned yet as there isn’t much other places to put them. first is the Vermissian, where humans tried to carve a massive subway system to connect the entirety fo the Spire but failed. Due to the closeness of the heart it’s difficult to navigate and no accurate maps exist, a guide is needed to get through abandoned train stations, a hidden black market where you can buy what you need no questions asked, the only smuggling route that connects the upper and lower half of the Spire. There are also the Rats who can get you wherever you need to go in the Spire without being seen for a price and if they don’t lead you into a trap. Finally it is home to the Vermissian Vault, a magical library that contain vast stores of knowledge, lead to places where knowledge can locked away, or led to the great Museum where artefacts from lost histories and seemingly impossible futures.
The Necropolis
The other place that has yet to be mentioned is the Necropolis, a large tunnel that connects the upper levels of the Spire to the Garden run by the Morticians where the wealthy dead were sometimes interred when it was in fashion for the Aelfir.  It is also a bustling city of ghosts who are able to see such things. Here are the small and expensive graveyard and the temple of Mehror, god of snuffed candles and one of the few ways a drow can rise above their station. There is also the Choke where the cold gray stone is lit by lanterns and filled with voices as fortune tellers ply their trade. There are special astrologers who have learned to read and manipulate the stars slightly, a cult that believes in manipulating the dead and the Library of Snuffed Candles, a restricted library where nearly lost knowledge can be found although copying is forbidden and reading frowned on.

wander

That's a fair bit to parse. ^^

Okay, let's start on character generation. I've shifted over to Firebrand, just as reading it through I felt it fit a more dark concept better than the Bound, which seemed more heroic and for justice.




Name: Skipp Wyrmsnap.

Concept: Former assassin for the aelfir.

Durance: Killer (shown in profile below).

Class: Firebrand.

Resistances: Reputation +3, Shadow +1.

Refresh: Take something back from those who would oppress you.

Skills: Compel, Deceive, Fight, Pursue, Steal, Sneak.

Domains: Low Society, Crime.

Bonds:
X corrupted member of the city guard  (Order Domain)
X human tinkerer (Technology Domain)
X PC bond.

Equipment:
Knife (d3, concealable)
Buzzard Sawn-Off (d6, reload, point-blank)

Core Abilities:
Lead from the Front: When you have 6 or more stress in Shadow, gain mastery on all actions.
Draw a Crowd: Once per session, you can draw a crowd to you in a matter of minutes. People will stop what they're doing, as long as it isn't life or death, and listen to what you have to say.

Chosen Low Abilities:
Force of Personality: Once per session, declare you have a Domain or skill you don't actually have - you are treated as having it until the end of the situation.
Always Outnumbered, Never Out-Run: When you flee a superior force, you do so with mastery.

Avalon29

Yes, the Spire is a huge and exciting place. I wholeheartedly recommend picking it up for those interested. I hope I do manage to encourage a few people to pick it up. Grant Howard and the rest of Rowan Rook and Decard, did an amazing job designing it. I'd love for the Spire to become popular and for them to get rewarded for it.

On to Skipp. He looks good. Throw a name on the bonds and he's good to go.

GunmetalDreamer

Oh hey, I actually bought this.

I'm going to need some time to do some reading, but I'll probably submit a Bound (because I'm down for Heroism and Justice) soon-ish.

Avalon29

Welcome aboard! Glad to have another player interested in the Spire. Can't wait to see what you come up with. ^^

wander

I'll have a think on suitable names and plop them in. Funny that I picked two bonds essentially the same as the sample Firebrand in the pdf without realising beforehand... :D

GunmetalDreamer

Name:  Sevir Burntember

Concept:  Red cloaked protector

Durance:  Information Broker

Class:  Bound

Resistances:  Blood +1, +4 Shadow

Skills:  Fight, Sneak, Pursue, Investigate, Compel

Domains:  Low Society, Crime

Bonds: 

- Dyr Whitecap is a carpenter who works out on the dangerous fringes of the Perch.  The most important thing to him is his fourteen year old daughter, Sofal, who he frets more after the closer she comes to her Durance.

- You have a bond with one of the other PC’s who you rescued from a dangerous situation.  Describe the situation they found themselves in.

Equipment:  Light leather armor (Armor 2), God-knife (d3, Concealable, Bound), Ceremonial red binding ropes and mask, sturdy leather gloves, Climbing Gear & Ropes.

Core Abilities: 
Surprise Infiltration, Nothing can keep you out.  Once per sessions, insert yourself into a situation where you are not currently present, so long as there’s some conceivable way you could get in there.

Bound Blade, You have captured a god and forced it into you blade.  As a Bound, you gain a god-knife when you join the order, and bind a small god inside it with a bloody and dark ritual.  This weapon has the Bound tag, and as such you can use your class abilities through it.  You can’t use your abilities through another weapon, but if your Bound weapon is lost or destroyed, you can create a new one with a night-long, exhausting rite held back in Perch.

Low Abilities: 
The Secret of Loose Tongues [Divine] Your bottle enchants the liquor inside it, convincing those who drink to share their secrets.  Gain the Compel skill.  When someone takes a drink from your bottle, they will feel compelled to tell you about a crime they were involved in, or adjacent to (You cannot turn this off.)

The Secret of Feat: [Divine] You rattle the cage that keep the god bound in your blade, and it terrifies your enemies.  Mark D3 stress to Shadow; your bound weapon dice size increased by 1 for the next situation.


Sevir is well acquainted with the corruption the rots the Spire from the inside.  Once upon a time, she spent her nights bending crooked lawmen, tempting duplicitous servants, and prying the secrets from enemies of the state.  Sitting at the center of a web of conspiracies, she fed her masters with the secrets of those less vigilant than she … and because her ear was to the ground, she heard the tales of homes set ablaze and knives in the dark when the Aelfar tightened their stranglehold on her people.

Becoming one of the Bound, in a sense, was her way of atoning for her role in those seedy affairs.  In the lawless, precarious warrens of the Perch, she lurked and listened, ferreting out the predators among her people and ensuring that justice found them.  Since she returned home, criminals cast more furtive glances over their shoulders than before, and huddle closer together during the day.  The Bound seem that little bit closer, and their success sews concerns about their associates selling them out for leniency.  That is, of course, just the way Sevir likes it.

Avalon29

Sevir looks good. I don't see anything wrong with her. She's accepted. Now if we can get another person or three we'll be good to go. I'm thinking 4 people is probably the sweet spot with stress distribution but 3 or 5 would work great too.

Avalon29

Alright, so as it's Sunday and we still only have two interested people so far, I've got a question for you guys.  Would you two be okay with it just being the three of us or would you rather wait a bit longer? I've pmed a couple people to see if they're interested but there's no guarantees. If you guys know anybody who might be interested feel free to send them a PM.

If you are interested in going ahead and starting this with two players instead of waiting here is my plan. I have a test on Monday so I'll leave this open but I recommend going ahead and working out your bonds between players maybe the activity will get some more interest. Wander, feel free to grab the names form the quick start for your bonds if you like.  I'll  get this started Thursday at the latest but I'll be aiming to try to get up by Tuesday or Wednesday. If we have less players I'll be using the alternative version of the stress system that's brought up in the book where each type of stress is independent rather than using total stress to determine fallout and give more opportunities for the pair of characters to reduce stress.

What do you two think?