Saturday Godegian

We were forced to kneel and then sent into the restaurant with the others.  We then had an Out-of-Character break where we could eat dinner and chat for awhile with plans to re-establish our character ties and then set the game one week later.

My character ended up the pet of the new Cregan pyromancer.  She continued to act skittish and insane and utterly broken, hoping to use that to survive.  I also forged a lasting tie with another character who was my best friend in youth.  We were both thugs in youth though mine preferred to distract with magic tricks while she did the coshing.

• The new pack was far more organised than the last, in part because they were designed as a group, rather than as a set of individuals with leverage points that the Godegians could use against us. This made them a very good end-game pack as there was less wiggle room with this lot.
• One of the Cregans found the apothecary’s doctor’s mask, wore it on his forehead and pronounced himself “Bird.” He took a liking to Jack and it was stated that each night he took Jack down into the cellar to torture.
• The Pup was still around and he kept trying to convince the Alpha to kill his father for his weakness, but the Alpha wanted that Cregan die in honourable combat and was giving him time as a Godegian “pig” to help him turn back toward the light.
• The Pup actually had mercy marks on his arms (marks that appear when you save a life out of mercy) which he hid all game. When I saw them, I asked the Cregans about what kind of tattoos they wore and the Pup so viciously condemned tattoos as likely to cause death that she went silent, not understanding but feeling there was something more happening there.
• The Pup was in love with an Arwinnian woman who was a travelling sex worker. He tried to woo her rather awkwardly with cloaks and flowers and special treatment.  She knew about his mercy marks and felt somewhat sorry for him.
• We were split up into two groups, each guarded by two Cregans, and one lot cleaned the tavern while the other lot cleaned up the other rooms.
• When there were sightings of Valbian rangers (people from another country known for their poisons and sneaking), we were then forced together as a big group in the barracks where we told the Cregans jokes and made up stories to keep our spirits up. We found a note from a Valbian pressed up against the window that threatened the Cregans.  As they were illiterate, we had to read it out to them.
• They gave us all numbers that we had to call out. Though my character was first in the queue she asked for the number “four” and was given it.  We then had to keep sounding off here and there.
• While cleaning up the other rooms, we would make a lot of noise while doing it so that the Valbians knew where we were at all times. Although it was a rather pointless exercise that nearly got us all beaten, or worse, it *felt* important to have that little act of resistance.
• We ended up being hauled into the restaurant to wait. We mainly served the Cregans and sang songs in the corner, hoping against hope that we would survive until tomorrow.
• The half-Cregan butcher (a villager who had been recruited into the Cregans because of his lineage) went out and was startled by a ranger. Thinking it was the Valbian ranger (it was the Cregan ranger), he declared that he wasn’t a Cregan but a Godegian and wanted to help.  Then he saw which ranger it was and tried to lie.  The Cregan ranger reported on him to the other Cregans and then took him outside to be executed.  Apparently when the Cregan ranger went to kill him, the butcher used a knife he’d hid up his shirt to stab him several times and the ranger fell to the ground, dying.  The Valbian ranger finally came forward and when the Cregan’s eyes opened, he got to see the Valbian’s face and have a short conversation before being killed.  Very cool.
• The Valbians ended up negotiating with the Cregans via our priest.  If the Cregans left us alive and departed tomorrow morning, they would get to live.  The Alpha agreed to that, though he was enraged at having to do so.
• My character inhaled a handful of dust to set off a realistic coughing fit, pleading to be taken outside as there wasn’t enough air indoors. This nearly caused the Alpha to kill her but the pyromancer happened to get up at the right moment and that defused the situation.  While I coughed on the grass, staring off into the darkness, my friend headed off under guard to collect the required herbs and then we were all taken back inside.
• The Cregan Alpha sent two of the slaves off with the priest to the Valbians as a show of good faith.
• Later the Valbians and our Godegians who’d been sent off as a show of good faith, then killed the Alpha highborn on the way to bed.  They then attacked the others through the windows of the tavern. The pyromancer grabbed me as a human shield and dragged me outside, positioning me between them and the Valbians / freed villagers.  Luckily I was wearing a Valbian cloak that I’d pinched off a branch that had belong to the apothecary’s husband.  That cloak attached at the throat via a clasp, and that was what the pyromancer had hold of, not the full robed coat underneath.  So I slipped the clasp under the very tree that the cloak had once hung from, and fled toward the Valbians.  That cloak saved my character’s life.
• I made it — they fled into the barracks. The last two remaining Cregans.
• The pyromancer set fire to herself in the barracks.
• The pup barely made it out alive. His father wanted to slay him, but Jack and the others stayed his hand.  The pup had to leave at dawn, but the Arwinnian sex worker was willing to go with him.
• And thus ended the Occupation of Lilydale.

The Sunday mainly consisted of a few fun “Release the Godegian” scenarios, a hearty breakfast of delicious pancakes, and then a whole bunch of cleaning up!  There were war stories aplenty as we all found out what happened, to whom and why it had went down like that.  So much fun was had!  Those little dot points barely cover off on a quarter of what I got up to, let alone everyone else.  I can very much recommend that game!