Klaus' downtime tale.

Explanation: whenever the cancellation of the game is my fault and lasts more than a single missed session, I like to whip up a little narrative on what has happened to their characters, and depending on a dice roll each player makes, I access a random table I’ve made up (and expanded significantly over the campaign). This table can contain Faction points, EP (though I post about my Grim Hack rules, we still haven’t converted over except in one-shots), skills, characteristics, equipment, contacts, cash gains (or losses), new adventure locations, and just some bizarre shit. Most of the results are actually a combination of these things, with a scattered big gain for a single thing.

I usually just pass it on through group texts, but others may find some interest in this, if not mechanically, then for entertainment purposes.

Will post these as I finish them.

This time around since we had such a big break, I asked the players what their characters were attempting to do along with the result from their die roll, and tried to integrate, with the following results:

Klaus, Initiate/Disciple of the Flesh (John) – Klaus spits into the dust of the faint trail that he and the team have made over time travelling to their secret manse in the mountains northwest of Crown’s Hold. He’d been planning on getting here before this, but his studies into the nature of magic and particularly the mysteries of Hypergeometry. He knew he was close to cracking it. Just one piece was missing, and he was sure it was just within his grasp. When he’d gotten too frustrated, he’d gotten some satisfaction from tracking Lenora Hatley’s doings. He’d tracked her multiple times entering a heavily residence in the northeastern part of town. She’d be there for a couple hours at a stretch, then emerge with her dress soiled with dirt, and a servant with a bag. He was itching to get in there, but the rest of his compatriots have been incommunicado of late.

Something’s wrong with Kyle.

You start running towards the trail, the hired hands you‘d acquired stop in shock, then begin walking after you faster, but they’re laden down with paint and masonry repair equipment. As you scramble up the trail towards the manse, everything seems the same as you’d last seen it, but you’re tie with Kyle says otherwise. You slow as you enter the large foyer, hands held in front of you, the Rend spell ever ready to be unleashed.

You find Kyle in the middle of the theater. He barely breathes, his armor cracked and shattered next to him. A message has been carved deep into his chest.

“GO BACK TO YOUR EMPIRE”

Kyle’s eyes flicker open, trying to focus on you. “Just missed ‘em, boss. They’re hitting yer town, now.” He fades in and out of consciousness. “I’ll be alright, boss. Just find some strippers-” His eyes close as he falls into a stupor. You work your spells upon the fallen Siddich. Once you figure he’s stable, you give some terse orders to the laborers and leave, your teeth gritting in anger.

From the summit of the trail, you can see flashes of light on the horizon in the direction of the Hold.

Someone is going to pay.

You catch them just north of the Hold. A Mageregime sorcerer gestures and the ancient bars guarding a sewer overflow in the side of the mountain begin to change shape, fade into mist, and disappear. Of course. He’s calling and folding open elsewhere. You know you should write that down, but you’d rather Rend them instead.

Later you wipe the dripping gore from your face. They hadn’t expected you. You know you were lucky this time, but the victory still tastes sweet. You look down and notice that some of the blood is, indeed, yours. A lot, in fact. No magic left in you, you rip some rough bandages from the cloak of the enemy wizard. You pick up the piece of paper that falls out. Well, well, well.

+ Arcane language: Hypergeometric Formulae, + Map of the Crown’s Hold sewers (not to be confused with the map for the Stead’s sewers)