Hi all, still Alive, Campaign Update

[Thirsty Viking]

3rd Job and New Campaign have eaten up most of my former posting time,  Heres the news from my first two campaign sessions.

6 mages and a Bishop of the church of the Trinity (whatever the name is  lol)  was my expected starting group.   Of this group 4 mages chose to start with Prisoner/Slave as thier starting class!?!?!?   So i decided to p8ut some teeth in this and put 3 of them in jail to start the adventure (powers blocked)  I made the 4th one a Slave Apprentice to one of the ones in Jail.  I had decided the the Druid from Ehld and the Druid from Angharad had been locked up after capture at a local stone ring, and the Witch/seer had been Framed as having been there.   The Captured mages were scheduled to be shipped to "THE QUARRY"  A fabled prison outside the capitol from wich few survive...  Where major political prisoners and mages were sent to dissappear.    As a Back up plan,   The escaped druids from the Raid on the Ring Ceremony would free them from the caravan.

Major plot seeds,  The Framing of the Witch.   Soldiers minds had been altered to believe she was there as they reported.  Who is behind this?  The starting location was the city of Vaiden (Valden?) which I ruled to be in oustenreich near the Gelure Border.   I also gave the 1/2 satyr Wizard from Zaporozhya a letter of introduction to the mage from Gelure from a "Former Mutual Collegue"  (as yet undefined NPC mage)  

Just when you thought it was safe to start an adventure....  I got my son late in the evening. pushing the start time back to almost 9.  THEN the big news...   the witch/seer ...   didn't like thier charachter or get the magic system and brought in a new charachter...  A swordsman who hates the Church,  Hates Uglub, had a drive to save mages?  and is destined to insinuate mages into the church....   A 2nd native of gelure I made him the chief Bodyguard of the Landed Noble Charachter,  And also assigned the Magically Branded slave Mage (5 ranks in Sword and specialized in armor of Air) as Bodyguard To the Farrenshire younger son of a nobel who's father bought him a Bishop position in the church because his son didn't want to be a soldier.  The Services of the Bishop was then called in and he met theJailed druids.

Not much was accomplished in the first night in the Two hours we played, other than introducing and uniting the Group.  The Bishop bailed out the Druids and they now work as Gardeners....   The Bail was Quite expensive,  but the Bishop got a Pair of Jeweled Bracelets of it.

Second week we had a 4 Hour session,   but the Party spent most of it's time in the Bishops Walled Manor House  (Read minor Castle).  Scheduling conflicts caused both druids to miss the night...  the were assigned gardening duties around the manor and were ignored. Roleplaying was good,   but being Charachter Driven,  and not furthering any plots...  I naturally had to stir the pot...   Guards reported suspicious people who seemed to be watching the Manor to the bodyguards.

4 people Reported,  Peasant sitting against a tree,  with an horse and cart in the road nearby,  a street urchin, An older man with a scar,  and a mid 20 ish "servant" spending considerable time near the servants entrance of a nearby nobels house.   The Bishop Asked the Two mages for help,   One disguised himself as common Laborer for the bishop,  while the other one cast a 10x magnification spell for everything in line of sight.  I rulled this a TN 3 spell.  He then walked the walls maintaining this spell.

He didn't see the Older Gentleman,  did sse several urchins, spotted the "servant"  A Perception roll of 18,  revealed a network of scars on his forarms, and a MA roll of 15 recalled that the cheif bodyguard had similar scars...  The chief body guard new these were the results of combat with live steel, probably knife fighting,  this charachter was almost totally forgotten though, because the peasant under the tree was noticed to be VERY STILL...  no blinking, no breathing.  The Gellure mage with magnified vision went to tell the chief bodyguard,  dramatically saving the dead peasant for last,   he decided to drop his vision spell,  when i started telling him about the clogged pores on people faces  :-)

Following this a fair sized Group went out to see/verify the dead guy.  Yep he's dead.  Puncture wound to the heart.   A tracking role of 28 revealed he had been killed a couple feet away dragged and propped against the tree.  Also seen was the older man with the scar,  loitering about a block further down the road,  He turns a corner and walks away as the party exits.  Conversation with a gate guard revealed he'd been there over an hour!  (totally missed by the mage with his enhanced vision) When spell pool was full,  the Vision mage reviewed the death of the "peasant"  he was killed by a knife that "appeared in his chest" as he spent an hour examining/fiddling with his horses' hooves around dawn, and then vanished.  Bent grasses and puffs of dirt revealed footsteps that disappeared on a paved street. The watch was summoned by the person with the worst local language skill,  The bishop arranged a funeral in a church graveyard,  the watch hauled the body away in the public "meat wagon"  while the bishop took the cart and "old decrepid non-descript cart horse" (yes i used those words) into his stables.  Taking in the horse and cart was the bishops idea,   being a person of high nobel standing,  though not ruling the city,  the guard happily complied.

Afterwards the Zap. Mage in Servants livery talked to the "Older Man".  This conversation was done fluently in the native tounge of Zap. The "older man" also used the mages "full and propper name" in greeting when approached.  The city was aware than minds had been tampered and that the Angharad druid was "set up".  A brief discussion was held about the Presence of magical refugees and spies in the area...  being a crossroads for those seeking to join Uglub,  and Uglubs' "information gatherers" Leaving for points north and east.

The finalrevelation as the night ended.....  The cart horse Vanished!

Given the Rampant magic in the player side of this campaign,   We have Magical mysteries to be solved by Various Parties.  Since one player Is a landed noble,  we have intrigue to make him feel he isn't safe in his own home or hopefully at least spur enough curiosity to move him into action.  that leaves only the 1/2 satyr hitleresque desire to clense the tainted side of his family tree from the face of the earth to be weaved in...   it is there of course,  just not revealed as yet.

Roleplaying was good in the second session,  though SA involvement was low.  1  SA each gained for the single Game day of rather sedintary action.  Except for the charachter who also got the bonus luck SA for rolling a 28.   The most fun as a seneschal is watching what charachters tell,  and what they withhold from the rest of the group.