The game started out rough. We were missing two key players. Dagan forgot that it was Monday, and Mike ended up being all sickly. My Dragonblooded book being in Mike’s posession had me winging it a bit for some charms for the main antagonist for this game, but I think it worked out in the end.
The game starts out with the majority of the group steeling some horses from a local stable in the city of Larjyn, as they’re trying to get the heck out of dodge. One of the characters got seperated in the retreat, and ended up in a tree watching what the enemy was doing.
Tharon is perched on top of a rather small Oak, with limbs that are going through their fall cycle, thus somewhat lacking in folliage. A botched roll to hide causes him to fall from the tree, as he’s trying to leap across a gap between the tree and a nearby house. He falls on a wooden privacy fence, barely managing not to kill himself, and taking 3L damage. When he manages to stand up, he’s surrounded by immaculate monks with seven-section staves, sais, and chopping swords. A large man with flame-like hair and red whorls that look like fire on his skin pushes through the crowd, and faces Tharon down. He’s just seen Tharon help “murder” his brother, and is intent on Tharon’s death.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group starts a mad dash out of the city. The first gate they come to is covered by two talons (80 men each, total of 160) of soldiers with spears, shields, chopping swords, and a lot of attitude, so they move onto the next. And the next. And the next. Finally, realizing that all of the gates are guarded, Glory stops and assesses the situation. They don’t have a force that she’d like to use to take on such a large compliment of men, so she pauses. (I stepped in here, because my planning for the game involved having all 5 PCs and 2 to 6 NPCs available, so I needed to tone things down a bit for the encounters.) Gydeon’s sister goes a wee bit ape, and decides that she’s sick of ineffective men being in charge. (When thinking of Gydeon’s sister, one may want to reference an Atan woman from the writings of David Eddings.) She orders her husband to charge, pulls out a massive greatclub that she usually uses as a walking stick, or to nudge her husband in the ribs during an argument, and charges the single tallon at the current gate. In the process, an image of a bull appears over her (some would recognize this as Gydeon’s anima before he was killed.) and she charges forward in a whirlwind of light and essence, sending men careening left and right as she uses the tallon like so many golf balls. The rest of the group follows in her wake, and they make their escape into the nearby wilderness.
Meanwhile, Tharon’s still dealing with a very angry Fire Aspect DB exalt. The man pulls two sais made of pale jade from his sash, and flares his anima. The anima wraps around his body, and centers itself around the two sais, obviously effecting them in some way. He feints in to test Tharon and see his skills, Tharon simply stands there, trying to talk the man down. Next the man flies into a rage and stabs out with the sai in his left hand, landing a hit that scores Tharon from his lower ribs, up into his armpit, right where the armhole in his armor sits. The armor and Tharon’s own soak take a good portion of the damage, but the hit still sends through 2L and 2Agg damage (if I remember correctly). Tharon decides that a strategic retreat is a good idea, and leaps to the top of a nearby building. The two combatants face off again. Sensing that his opponent is about to strike, Tallon pulls four shuriken from his belt at the same time the Fire aspect pulls two from his. The DB misses with both of his attacks, one being dodged easily, and the other easily side-stepped as it strikes a nearby chimney. Three of Tharon’s stars miss, shattering the ground where they hit. The last one strikes the exalt, but does no damage as the exalt’s aura deflects it off to the side, where it too hits the ground. Continuing his retreat, Tharon is scorched as a fireball slings up against the side of the house. He retreats, bounding back and forth from house to house until he finds a safe-haven in one of the storage rooms just outside of the local temple complex. Exhausted, he passes out.
The rest of the group has been guided by the new character in the group to relative safety, where they all pass out from exhaustion for the most part. Gydeon’s sister is unconcious most of the day. An assessment of her shows that she did not actually exalt, but rather was apparently visited by her brother’s former anima as a last attempt to help the group. Her physical form is worn out, and rest will hopefully help her recover. Talon heals the group as best he can, and takes care of Glory as she passes out from exhaustion herself. The next day, the group travels even further from Larjyn, and Glory recounts a dream. Gydeon’s essence has told her that walls will fall, the threat of Thorns will be faced, and he will see her on the Blessed Isle at some point in the (relatively) near future.
Later that evening, Tharon has snuck out of the city, and eventually tracks the group down after leaving a message for a certain someone.
