[The Shadow of Yesterday] Rats, Revenge, and Revolution (part 3)

[KingstonC]

This is the third and final post describing the last act of my The Shadow of Yesterday campaign.

Kamia took the vial. She swore to the sky, screamed, spit, called the elf who held her loved ones hostage an inhuman monster (which was undoubtable) who was beneath her contempt (which was a transparent lie); but she gave the elf the knife she swore she would use to kill him, as she had killed the others, and swore to give up the hunt. 

The elf said "fascinating", then disappeared, swallowed by the darkness.

Jessica crossed out the key of vengeance on her character sheet.

Kamia took the vial and rushed to her beloved captors. Trevor hid in the shadows, ashamed to see his brother. She fed them the potion as they gasped for breath. The antidote worked, as promised, and soon Drawcreek could draw enough breath to croak "it's a trap". In seconds, the party was surrounded by Philippe's troops. The party quickly broke though a weakness in the line. Kamia and disapeared into the forest taking the hostages as Trevor and Stich drew the army to them. Some time later, Trevor and Stich emerged from the forest. They had met thirty men on the field of battle and emerged victorious.

The party reconvened at the healers shack. There, Drawcreek explained how Philippe would march on Ionsguard today. A plan was formulated. Later, Trevor called Drawcreek to speak with him privately, which they did for some time.

In Fox Bridge, the army of Philippe the Dawnbreaker had mustered. Philippe, seated on a white horse in gleaming armor, called his troops to battle, and spoke of blood and glory. But his oration was interrupted by a man in noble dress (Trevor, heavily disguised). The man called Philippe an incompetent, a man not worthy of the mantle of Abslon, a man who would whore himself to foreign powers, a man who could not protect his own lords from the attacks of rebels, a man who lost priceless treasures to the hands of thieves. A man too cowardly to kill a man himself.

A conflict began where Trevor wishes to goad Philippe into fighting him man on man. Philippe loses and draws his sword. Trevor draws his and a fight begins. Trevor strikes first, and wishing to kill Philippe, brings down the pain. Trevor then uses his oratory to push the crowd of soldiers into turning on Philippe. Philippe uses his three corner magic skill of enthrallment to stop Trevor. In the casting, Philippe's eyes and the blood spilling from his wound turn black as ink, full of magical energy. Trevor wins the conflict, and Philippe is soon torn limb from limb by his own mutinous soldiers.   

At that moment, Kamia, who is watching this from a dark alley, finds Cyric holding a knife to her ribs. Cyric demands the book (which has been split into three parts, each held by a party member). He calls the party a group of fools, duped by their own myth of revolution and a better tomorrow. He says that power is the only real thing, and that he will have that power. Kamia breaks from cyric's hold, and soon the party is in the alley fighting Cyric and his two henchmen as the army begins to riot. Cyric takes a fatal blow, only to reveal that he has made himself into a human bomb, and is about to explode.

Each of the party members emerge from the explosion. Trevor calls to the troops. He says that both tyranny and terror have died today, and from this, a new leader will emerge.

He says that leader is Richard Drawcreek.

Matt rolls to convince the crowd to accept Drawcreek as leader, aiming for a transcendent success. Every person at the table puts all remaining gift dice in Matt's hands as he rolls two sixes. The sun eclipses the moon as Trevor speaks.

In the end, Kamia and Drawcreek become the lord and lady of Fox Bridge. Some call her the Wench Queen, but none to her face. Stich becomes the ambassador to the Ionsguard rats. The Steel works of Ionsguard now stand on the banks of the Fox River, ensuring the principalities independence.

And Trevor disappeared. Some say he fights aganst oppression in the swamps of Zaru, or the forests of Khale. Some think he crossed the mountans to the west.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Holy frijoles, man! What a game!

Matt rolls to convince the crowd to accept Drawcreek as leader, aiming for a transcendent success. Every person at the table puts all remaining gift dice in Matt's hands as he rolls two sixes. The sun eclipses the moon as Trevor speaks.

I love this scene. This is why gift dice are awesome - you can use them to set something like this up.

Another thing that blows me away about this campaign is how you took this sprinkling of setting that I had in "Rat Moon Rising," the sample adventure, and used it to realize a really detailed area of the map, something your own, but with true TSOY flavor. That's just neat to me.

Kamia is my favorite character I've seen in a while. It seems to me that your original scene that you were worried about (the rape of Kamia) ended up being a true focal point for the campaign, something that truly focused it.

[KingstonC]

Clinton,

Holy frijoles, man! What a game!

Thanks! I literally couldn't have done it without you.

Quote

Matt rolls to convince the crowd to accept Drawcreek as leader, aiming for a transcendent success. Every person at the table puts all remaining gift dice in Matt's hands as he rolls two sixes. The sun eclipses the moon as Trevor speaks.

I love this scene. This is why gift dice are awesome - you can use them to set something like this up.

And the act of giving gift dice is a powerful (dare I say, ritual) act. It says "I endorse this action, and by endorsing this action, participate in it, regardless of my character's action". This allowed all of the players, in a way, to be in on the game ending heroic speech, even though only one character gave said speech.

Kamia is my favorite character I've seen in a while. It seems to me that your original scene that you were worried about (the rape of Kamia) ended up being a true focal point for the campaign, something that truly focused it.

True. The only way I could redeem the situation (as the GM) is by focusing on it. By making it about Kamia what she does, rather than about the Armeni and what they did.  The Key mechanic was a powerful tool in focusing play on these issues. I cannot imagine the game working as well without it.

[Kamia]

aaaaaaaawwwwwwww

*sniff*

that was the coolest game ever!  i'm all sad that it's over.

and my coolest comeback in the game was to the elf when was saying that for may (hundreds?) of years he has been putting people into their worst nightmares to try to understand humanity :blah blah blah:

and i said to him (very cool and collected of course) and yet you're still here (implying that he hadn't learned enough to ascend)

<bows to all>