Anyone running a Talislanta game currently? If so, could you let me know?

I recently read on RPG.net that Stephan Sechi, the creator of Talislanta he is going to release the entire catalog of Talislanta as free PDFs (when they are all scanned) at the Tal website.

If this is true it's bloody awesome. What a superb thing to do.

"Those Who Fear Death Deserve To Die"   Xultar KHADUN of RAJAN

Well, here we are. Five parts worth of build-up and prelude, and we've finally reached the war.
Our heroes, you may recall, had just escaped the throne-room in Tian as it fell in on the heads of the Kurok conspirators. Where did they end up? you ask. Good question...

Abdul landed in darkness. He could smell the familiar, musky, animal scent of Flyn next to him. Suddenly, Warlord Rakshan's commanding voice rang out, "Lights."
Torches flared to life all around, illuminating the interior of a massive cave. Abdul, Flyn, Torren, Crush, Lucas, and Kenjok found themselves standing on a short pier. Just a few feet away a massive, black, wedge-shape hung in the air. After several moments of staring, they realized it was an enormous windship of alien design. Dragonlord Kol called down to the group over the rail, "Come aboard, we must depart immediately."
The group climbed aboard the long, black-panelled vessel. A small army of Vajra engineers and Kang warriors swarmed the upper deck, readying the ship for launch. Kol approached the party looking grim. "Welcome aboard. The situation in the city has deteriorated beyond our control. We are forced to regroup at Clan Rakshan's holdings, to the east. Hopefully, the Dragon Elite will complete their mission, and drive the conspirator army to us." After only a few moments, the chief Vajra engineer pronounced the ship ready to lift off. As the crimson sails unfurled and the massive wind-machines roared to life, the far end of the cave began to part, like gigantic doors opening on hinges (fine Vajra stonework built the secret cave and its miraculous doors). As the twin suns fell over the horizon... as thousands of traitor Kang battled furiously in the twilight of Tian... as the mightiest nation on the face of Talislanta began to rip itself in two... the first Kang windship-of-war, Sword of Zoriah, cleared its moorings and flew.

So, the war has begun. Seven of the Kang war clans are banded together as traitors. They call themselves the Bloodpact Legion, after the sacred Kang blood-oath that binds them. The other ten clans remain loyal to Rakshan and the Red Horde. Anarchy strikes all the cities of the empire, seemingly overnight, as clans take sides and begin numerous small skirmishes. The main battle, near Tian, dies out just before dawn on the first day of the War, as the Bloodpact host withdraws from the city and is pushed east by the Dragon Elite cavalry. Thanks to the speed of Sword of Zoriah, Rakshan arrives at his keep well before the Bloodpact Legion. When he arrives, he orders that his personal pride of Crested Dragons be unleashed and sent south to further harass the Bloodpact troops. The five dragons prove instrumental in containing the forces long enough for the Red Horde to mobilize against the enemy.

Further complications erupt across the Empire, as the Mystic Warriors choose this time of confusion to strike. Huge populations of slaves are abandoned on the estates surrounding Tian and Jacinthe, and are led to saftey by the Mystic Warriors. The party is moved to Rakshan's keep and assigned to a "special mission" team. This team (consisting primarily of seasoned Kang Dragon Elite warriors) is stationed on board Sword of Zoriah for maximum mobility. They are to be moved rapidly to the enemy's weak spots, and dropped off to complete their missions. At least, that was the original plan. As usual, trouble rears its ugly head.

If you recall, Kalesh had made certain "deals" with the Rajans -- soliciting their aid in his coup. Well, part of that assistance arrives in the form of four Rajan windships. They cross the border on the second day of the war. By the time word of this development reaches Rakshan, the Rajan vessels are only hours away. Once they arrive, the Bloodpact troops will be able to turn their fighting withdrawl back into attack. Rakshan deploys the windship and the party, to deal with this new threat as quickly as possible.

The Sword closes quickly with the enemy craft, and begins firing broad salvoes from it's balistae to scatter the group. Once broken of their formation, Sword swings in behind the lead craft. The plan is for the party to fly down to the ship and disable or capture it while Sword engages the remaining three vessels. Torren and Kenjok are to use their Levitation spells to glide the team onto the deck of the Rajan ship. No problem. Except for Crush, that is...

"You're doing what?"
"I'm casting a Levitation spell on you so you can fly onto that Rajan windship."
"A what?"
(sigh) "A levitation spell. Now hold still. (zim zam!)"
"What was that light?"
"That was the magic..."
"Oh. So, now what?"
"Just jump over the rail when I give the signal."
(Crush looks over the rail) "You're kidding, right?"
"The spell will keep you from falling. You'll just float down to the other ship."
"Hmpf. Sure it will. That green light is gonna keep me from falling. Do you think I'm stupid?"
(another sigh) "Look. It's magic, okay, Crush? You can't see it, but it works."
"I'm not jumping out of a perfectly good windship."
(frustrated) "Jeez. Abdul! you talk to him."
Abdul: "Alright Crush, get ready to jump."
Crush: "No way, Abdul. I'm not trusting no green light with my hide."
Abdul (grins) "Alright you tattooed sissy, you stay right here then."
(Abdul puts his back to the rail)
Crush: "What did you call me?"
Abdul: "Um.. a big, dumb, funny colored, cowaaaaaard!!!!"
Abdul gets to 'funny' and Crush tackles him at full speed. At the same time, Abdul hurls himself over the rail. The two spiral toward the Rajan ship, under the guidance of Torren's spell. Abdul can be heard cackling the whole way down...

Well, the party hits the deck running and begins dealing out punishment with their usual flair (remember the Mangar incident?).
Except, of course, for Kenjok. Kenjok's tactics, (as I've mentioned before) consist mainly of: get-surrounded-and-go-down-fast. He chooses to land in the middle of a group of startled-but-nasty Rajan troops (rather than at the perimeter where the rest of the team set down). He finds himself completely surrounded and cut-off from his team (big surprise). This time, however, they cannot save him soon enough. Lucas and Abdul begin charging a path to Kenjok, wildly knocking down Rajans in an attempt to reach him. But the opposition is too fierce, and requires too much concentration to fight off. Kenjok's defensive aura finally shatters around him, and he is cut to ribbons by the circle of Rajan swordsmen. There is nothing anyone can do. Flyn reaches the scene just as the crew dumps the mortally wounded swordsman over the rail.
[Despite how it may sound, this was not in any way a tragic moment. Kenjok's player had been goofing off all night anyway, and wasn't helping the role-playing much at all. I did NOT kill him on purpose. Not at all. On the other hand, I didn't save him. I allowed him to die. This is how I usually GM. If a player does something stupid, they face the consequences.]
So, the team defeats the Rajan windship crew after a very tough battle. (At one point, Lucas gave everyone "the signal" and yanked hard on the windship controls, causing the craft to roll sharply. The party members all managed to grab something in time, but a good portion of the Rajans did not. Three-hundred feet is a pretty hefty fall, too.)

Sword of Zoriah also defeated its enemies. (it actually rammed one of the Rajan vessels with its specially designed bow. That's Kang for ya. If they build a windship, they build it for frontal assaults). So, the mission was a success (with only seven casualties, and they gained a windship).


This was the last of our KCW adventures. I moved to Seattle a week after that session. This was far from the end of the War, however. Patrick, Chris, and I have spent the time since plotting the course of the War and the PCs role in it. I'm sure I'll be tempted to share some of this in future posts, but for now, I'm giving the war to you.

These posts should have helped you understand the origins of the conflict. It begins on the third day of Laeolis, in the year 623 N.A. (of course, you can adjust the year to fit your campaign... the month is significant, though). How the war goes depends on what happens in your world. It may even depend on the actions of your PCs (even if they are in distant lands... those indirectly involved in the war reach as far as Aaman).

You've been introduced to some of the major players in the war, but not all of them. For instance, there's Captain Kret, Khasar the Golden, Ramek, Khuthan, Kanar and the Brothers of Death, Slet of the Chana, and Warlord Kerrl. Who they are is up to you (but I'll tell ya if you really want to know...)

There's also Kang Windship arcanology (which is somewhat different from the Phantasian standard).

And, of course, the status of the slave races in the Empire, before, during and after the War.
There's a lot more to cover. I'll tell you this: The first decisive battle of the war is lead by Kalesh's offspring, Kahn, at a place that future generations call Kahn's Rift.



And that's it folks. That's the entirety of the Kang Civil War. There's one more post, but it's essentially an email asking about the KCW and John's response to it - it doesn't really add anything to the above: it merely lists some NPCs with brief descriptions. I'll probably post it in a subsequent post later on.

Glad that you've all read and enjoyed. And that this is here for posterity's sake.

tags: kcw, talislanta

Abdul has just been promoted to Dragonlord of House Kurok, by Warlord Rakshan. Taking it all in stride (as usual), Abdul decides he's gonna be the best darn Dragonlord the Kang have ever seen.

Pat told me that Abdul suddenly felt 'right'. Coming to Tian was like coming home. He felt like he'd been given the soul of a Kang (he'd certainly played that way) and this was best thing that could have happened to him. K'Dul was a Kang, dammit... through and through. First, he goes back to the imperial forges and orders a suit of blue iron Battle Armor, marked for a Dragonlord. (probably the smallest suit of Kang Armor ever made... and made from blue iron so it's light enough for Abdul to wear.)

The other party members are nervous (understandably). So, Abdul orders his troops to obey all and any orders given by the other party members. This helps, somewhat, but the guys are just not too comfortable. They're afraid of Kalesh (Battlelord of Kurok), and they should be. Kalesh is a total bastard and a fierce warrior. He's also the mastermind behind that deep, dark plot I mentioned several parts ago. Remember that?

Well, so the following events make sense to you, I'll outline that plot now.

Rakshan led the silent insurrection against the Quan for one main reason: To free the Kang from their slave status. Rakshan had another reason that no one really knew about, however. Rakshan wanted to free all the races from slavery, not just the Kang. Yep, you got it. Vajra, Mandalan, Sunra, and Ispasian. Rakshan felt that if given freedom, the races would be more inclined to assist the Kang in the future (rather than being a constant internal threat like the Mondre Khan and Mystic Warriors). Rakshan was a visionary and a reformer, wearing the guise of an ass-beating Kang warrior.

But, because of counsel from Kol and others (Lantu the Vajra, for example) Rakshan held off on his freedom proclamation. It was decided that once Rakshan had become well established as a powerful warlord, he could begin seeking support on the Kang war-tribunal (Karal). Rakshan also began seeking contacts among the Ispasians, Sunra, Vajra and Mandalans, which was greatly assisted by the fact that Lantu was already behind him.

Now, somehow, Kalesh discovered what Rakshan was up to and was very much against the idea. (to put it mildly). So, he maneuvered his house's Dragonlord, Ket, into a position that would keep him in close contact with Rakshan -- thereby "spying" on the Warlord's activities. So, when in 622 N.A. Rakshan and Kol began their secret journey into the west, Kalesh knew about it. All the other houses had been told that the Warlord was in Shonan, overseeing the completion of the new Warlord's Keep. A "double" had even been put in place there to fool the workers at the Keep.

While Rakshan was out of the Empire, Kalesh began drumming up support. He believed that if Rakshan was confronted by at least seven of the powerful clans who were opposed to freeing the slaves, the Warlord would realize what a foolish idea it was. Kalesh did not hate Rakshan. They had grown up together for the most part, and had served in the same unit on the Sauran front. Kalesh beleived that Rakshan was just making a poor choice based on the advice given to him by Kol and others.

So, Kalesh began his campaign. By the time Rakshan returned to the country, Kalesh had solicited support from no less than six of the Imperial Clans. The Clans did not know what Rakshan was planning. Rather, Kalesh had told them that he suspected one of the major Clans was going to propose a freedom initiative on the Karal. These six clans agreed to put a stop to it, even if it meant a clan war. This is very important. The pledge given by these houses to "put a stop to it" was a sacred Kang oath, called a "k'tuk". It could not be broken under any circumstances. The houses had essentially made a promise in blood.

Everything was pretty much going according to plan, for Kalesh. He had even decided to propose the freedom plan to the Karal, himself. His house was already weakened to the point where it would not survive the next clan war, so he decided he had nothing to lose. And, when Rakshan heard of the overwhelming negative feelings to such an idea, he would change his mind. Kalesh would immediately withdraw the proposal, and all would be set right. The K'Tuk would never be called upon.

Unfortunately, Abdul showed up. Abdul was the wrench in Kalesh's plan, in more ways than one. First, he disgraced Ket and caused him to be demoted. This removed Kalesh's pawn in the Karal. THEN, he further insulted the house by defeating Ket's replacement, Kraaz. Finally, he was put in the position that Kalesh most needed to control for his plan to work.

Kalesh was outraged as no sentient has ever been. A FOREIGNER as the leader of his house! It was far too much for Kalesh to swallow. He could see his plans falling apart around him, and he was convinced that Rakshan was insane. Kalesh completely flipped out. He immediately put into motion an ill-conceived series of events that would ultimately lead to the Civil War.

First, he demanded the k'tuk be honored. The other houses had no choice but to comply. Kalesh then told the conspirator houses of Rakshan's plans for freedom. In light of his recent decision regarding Abdul, this made Rakshan look less than stable. The houses pledged continued support, though they feared for the worst. If Rakshan was openly opposed, Clan warfare would certainly follow. And if the other houses remained loyal to the Warlord, it looked to be a bloody battle indeed. However, if Rakshan was not opposed, he would destroy an institution that the Kang felt was part of their divine right as Zoriah's children (the enslavement of 'inferiors').
Second, Kalesh called in his trump card. Months before, when Rakshan was out of the country, Kalesh had been seeking mercenary contacts in other lands. He knew his house was too weak to survive a clan war, so he intended to bolster his resources with hired warriors (a rarely used, but accepted practice among Kang). His first contact was a Farad war-broker with contacts throughout Rajanistan. Kalesh declined the Farad's offer to hire expendible Vird and Shadinn for his cause. Kalesh felt that the Rajans were without honor and could not be trusted (plus, the Rajans had been sometime border enemies of the Kang in the past). But, after the affair with Abdul, Kalesh was desperate and completely nuts. So, he contacted the Farad again, and began formulating a deal with several powerful Rajan war-leaders (in particular those that had access to windships). The Rajans agreed to assist Kalesh. In exchange, thousands of slaves and a certain portion of the Imperial Treasury would be transferred to Rajanistan once Kalesh was warlord.
Several other parties became notified and interested as to the coming turmoil in the Empire. The Imrians discovered the plot when the Farad "accidently" spilled the information. The Imrians became very worried, as it looked like the largest slave-using nation on the continent could potentially become a 'free-zone' if Rakshan succeeded. They added their resources to Kalesh's cause as well. No one knows how certain Mangar discovered the details of the situation, but their attempt at kidnapping the Warlord before he returned to Tian met with no success.
Also, Kalesh, in a frenzy of recklessness, instructed the conspirator houses to withdraw their units from the Sauran front at his command. They opposed this plan, vehemently, but were forced by their blood-pact to comply.
So, the stage was set. MANY forces waited on the brink of what could be a massive power-shift in the east.

And the party went out for dinner.

"Mmmmm. This boiled mudray is pretty good. I like this strange wine-sauce, too."
"That's mudray? I've never seen it cooked like that. My rainbow kra is a delight, let me tell you."
"Well, it certainly looks good. Pass the brandy, will you?"
"Here you are. Anyone feel like dessert?"
[later]
"What's that, Abdul?"
"I don't know. A servant just handed it to me. It looks like a note."
"Well, what's it say? ... Abdul? ... Hello?"
"Uh. Not good."
"Huh? Not good? What do ya mean?"
"Kalesh has challenged Rakshan to a duel for Warlord."
[sounds of party rapidly packing their gear]
So, Kalesh has made THE challenge. The party knows that if Kalesh wins (and they expect him to), he can instantly order their slow, painful deaths (and he will, too). They intend to get out of the city, and get out FAST.
"I'm staying."
"Huh? Abdul, Are you nuts? Well, obviously. But, you can't stay!"
"I'm staying. I'm Dragonlord of my house. I can't just run away. It would be dishonorable."
"Kalesh WILL have you killed, you know."
"He can try."
"Jeez. You are crazy."
"I want you guys to leave tonight and don't look back. I'll use whatever clout I have to get you a ship. But I have to stay."
"I'm with you, Abdul."
"Thanks, Crush, but you have to go too. I can't be responsible for both of us. And besides, someone has to keep Lucas out of trouble. Flyn will make a good leader. You'll see."
Well, yet again, Pat manages to impress all of us with his courage and dedication to his character. We all looked at Pat like it was Abdul's funeral or something. Patrick felt the same way. He told me later that at that moment, he mentally said goodbye to Abdul and decided to just play Lucas for the remainder of the campaign. Abdul would die for something he really believed in, and that was good enough for Pat. We sure were going to miss the little guy, though.

So, the other PCs need to get out of Tian. Abdul discovers that he can't arrange anything as Dragonlord without arousing a lot of attention. So, Flyn goes into action (his first decision as party leader). He scouts around Tian (sneakily... Jaka are great at this) looking for that Mandalan Gardener that he saw at the tournament. Chris starts calling the guy "Master Wu" so the name sticks. After a few diplomatic conversations with some manadalan slaves, Flyn is admitted into Master Wu's garden.

Wu Tsen is sitting at the far end of the garden, carefully pruning a minature tree. In the tradition of the chinese masters, Wu ignores the Jaka for several minutes. Flyn sits pateiently. Finally, Wu looks up and speaks, "I enjoy contemplating this little tree in the afternoon. It's small size does not diminish the power it has to block the light of the suns, and to provide shade for the smallest avians." Wu is refering to Abdul. He obviously feels positively toward the little Arimite.
Flyn speaks, "Master, my companions and I seek passage out of the city, and soon. We fear for our lives."
Wu Tsen looks at a towering tsela tree nearby, "That old tsela is truly mighty, but despite my best efforts, it seems to be dying. I believe it has a sickness within, that it cannot resist."
Wu is referring to the conspiracy, of which the PCs know nothing.
Flyn: "Master, this is urgent. If there is any assistance you could provide us..."
Wu looks annoyed by Flyn's bluntness. (I actually roll here and Flyn's terrible Charisma finally catches up to him. The master turns back to the little tree).
"I'm afraid my garden requires my full attention, friend Jaka."
And here's where Chris saves the day. It looks like Wu isn't going to help the group (mostly because he would have to risk the lives of several Mystic Warriors to arrange for passage). Chris doesn't panic though, and without missing a beat, he says:
"Life too is a garden; you must choose what to prune, and when."
We look at Chris for several long moments, stunned into silence. Chris rarely performs in character like this. The most you normally get out of Chris is, "Die!" or some such. But for some reason, during this scene, he actually acted out his part. Starting with the "Master," quotes above and ending with this pearl of Zen wisdom. How could I resist? Wu looks impressed by the Jaka's words and says, "Perhaps you are right. I will look into the matter."
So, after some more sneaking around, etc., the party has a boat out of town. It leaves at dusk. All set. They will be taken by a small boat out of the straits of Tian, where they will meet a merchant vessel bound for Thaecia. No worries. Then, the players surprise me again!

They come to me and say, "John, we really want to watch this duel. When will we have the chance to see something like this again?" I'm amazed. And flattered, kinda. They enjoy my descriptions enough to risk their character's lives to watch a duel that they have no real part in. I mean, it will basically just be me telling them what happens. But, they've just got to see it. Go figure. And, if Kalesh wins, they're gonna be in the same room! They're gonna have to run for their lives to make it to the boat! They don't care. They want to watch the duel.
Okay, I agree. They can go in with house Kurok, and sit with Abdul.

Next... The Duel ...and the beginning of the end...

tags: kcw, talislanta

I seem to have deleted my only copy of the 2001 Shooting Iron PDF The Puzzle Box. Would any of you mind replacing it for me? And for that matter (since I'm determined to acquire as much "official" material as I can), do any of you have the 2006 Morrigan Press PDF Riding the Sky: A Guide to Windships?

---

Edit 2008-Jul-23 (Wed) 03:30 LTZ:
Ne'mind on The Puzzle Box, but I still need Riding the Sky: A Guide to Windships.

mood: curious music: Lín Qīngxiá, "Remembering Today's Laughter"

Howdy Talislanta fans. Just dropping a quick note here to let you know that there's a new list for Talislanta at Yahoo. The old list owner/moderator disappeared, and folks weren't able to join and a number of people couldn't post due to having never been taken off Moderated status.

So it's picked up and moved to a new location. Several active members of the Talislanta community are Moderators, so we shouldn't have any problems on that front.

In an effort to cut down on the spaminators from grabbing this, I'm posting the address slightly different:

http://games.groups.yahoodotcomslashgroup/Talislanta/
Just replace the dotcomslash with .com/ and you've got the address.

Had all of this up on another site, but it's experiencing some difficulties, so i'm reposting it here.

If you haven't read it before, I hope you enjoy it.

( Midnight Realms Adventure Seeds )

tags: midnight realms, talislanta, writing

Part Four

The guys have defeated the Pirates and are sailing triumphantly to Tian (but they don't know why). The trip to Tian is mostly uneventful. Abdul works on his seamanship, and Crush watches the Kang do their Kanquan drills up on deck (minus the old Kang).
Everyone congratulates Flyn on his exceptional bravery against the pirates (and teases Chris for his lack-luster die rolls). Lucas shamelessly recounts his remarkable deeds of swashbuckling daring-do that the rest of the party somehow missed.
Okay, Tian. I actually have my notes from that session with me, so I'll quote from them:
[editorial comments in brackets]
[my notes for the description as the Players enter the harbor]
The ship enters the harbor and is immediately flanked by four elegant Sunra Dragon Barques (show drawings). Each Barque flies colorful banners and has trumpeteers and drummers on on its deck. They are playing a steady, triumphant march. Sounds like an anthem of some kind. [I really wish I had your tape, Steve.] The Kang are still below. The player's ship is guided to a secluded dock adorned with massive golden statues of armored Kang Warriors. [the players give me looks of "uh... what's going on here?"] Along the dock are thousands of figures, mostly Kang warriors in full dress battle armor -- standing in rank and file. There are also Vajra infantrymen (show pictures) and Mandalan servants. [Pat decides Vajra are cool-lookin']. A Crested Dragon lounges among the humanoids as well [!!!!].
[oh yeah, there was a Quan with them on the boat, too. Forgot to mention that... the PCs expect all this is for him...:)]
The Quan noble emerges and is swiftly and quietly escorted away by his handful of attendants. There is silence. The ship creaks. The Dragon breathes. Everyone waits. [PCs gulp] Two Kang appear from below and there is a fanfare of trumpets. All the warriors salute in the Kang style. (there is that sound of thousands of arms snapping to attention... I love that sound). The younger Kang (Dragonlord Kol) wears black full-dress battle armor with brilliant blue silk undergarments. Under his arm is a silver- bound tome. The older Kang is clad in gleaming adamant dress battle armor and black silk undergarments. A black iron sculpted band crests his helm and his bracers bear ornately carved sigils. His rings glitter in the sun. As they pass the party, Kol whispers, "Follow me -- at a distance, do not speak." They mount the dock and walk towards the throng. Three figures move from the group to intercept them: A Vajra engineer wearing costly garments and armor, and two Kang Warriors. All three bow their heads deeply and salute. They all utter a single word in the language of the Kang, "Kirún". This is a Kang word almost everyone knows. It means, "Warlord".
[at this point the party looks at me with this... look. kinda like, "WARLORD?!!" "THE KANG WARLORD?!!!" "ARE YOU KIDDING?!!" "WE'VE BEEN TRAVELING WITH THE WARLORD?!!!" I think they remember how close they came to fighting him...]
If anyone knows the Kang tongue - they can translate [no one did], otherwise, the Sunra captain will. The Vajra says, "My most honored lord, Rakshan," He turns to the younger Kang, "Dragonlord Kol, welcome back to Tian." Lord Kol speaks, "Chief Lantu, Dragonlord Kalat, Dragonlord Kyreel, the Empire is again complete. Our journey is at an end." Lantu speaks,"Was your journey fruitful, lord?" Kol: "It was, my friend." he pats the tome. Lantu grabs his own wrist, a smiling gesture among the Vajra. Dragonlord Kalat speaks, "Warlord, we are at your mercy. Do with us as you will." Warlord Rakshan looks at the Dragonlord and nods. The three retreat back to the head of the throng. Rakshan and Kol walk down the aisle between the assembled troops. Another trumpet fanfare. Warlord Rakshan mounts the Crested Dragon. The warriors and assembled personnel turn as one and march down the avenue on either side of the striding dragon, to the sound of drums.
[that was fun to describe. the players responded well.]

Next scene: Each party member is given spacious accomodations in what was once the Emperor's Estate (it's being turned into a museum to Kang history, but in the interim, visiting big-wigs are housed there). The golden spires of the Former Imperial Palace can be seen from the estate (the "seat" of the empire is being moved to Shonan, but in the mean time, the throne remains in Tian. Tian will also remain the "heart" of the imperium... the trade routes and contacts are well established. The Warlord's Keep in Shonan will be the "official" capital, however). In their quarters they each find a leather pouch which contains 29 quan emperors (still official imperial currency) and a gold ring stamped with the imperial Dragon. Also in the room is an outfit of luxury quality in the style of the occupants heritage. It is made from fine silks and hides with silver clasps and buttons. [for Crush the Thrall this consisted of an exomporph hide loincloth and a vest of land dragon hide, dyed black. Flyn the Jaka received a similar wardrobe in brilliant red silk.] The mandalan attendants show the adventurers the pools where they may bathe. [the party ate this up. especially Lucas (Pat). Most of them are used to sleeping on the ground and going weeks in the same clothes]
[why the attention? well, there are several reasons... I'd rather wait to go into them, though... you'll see...]

It's the 47th of Jhang. The party is invited to stay three days for the feast of the Red God (1st of Drome).
Okay, some editorial comments. I, as the GM, have no idea what's going on here yet. Granted, I know what's in the tome now, and why Kol calls Lantu (a slave) his friend. But that's it. The party is concvinced that this is actually going somewhere. Me, I'm worried. It's obviously building toward something, but what? I have to come through in a big way. And fast. We're playing while I'm making this stuff up. I had about a week to plan the Tian return and the above is as far as I got. So, I'm strapped. And, as usual, the players save me.
Pat gets the equivalent of 2900 gold for each of his characters (Lucas, Abdul) and he wants to go shopping. (Pat is notorious for this... he spends his money as soon as he gets it) (in games, I mean). The other players are willing to take a look around the city. So, for the next THREE HOURS (real time) we shop. All I have to do is colorfully describe the city / shops / stuff (and I have been imagining Tian for so long it's easy to do... It's like I've been there). This gives my brain three hours to plan. I really needed it too.
Unfortunately, those three hours go by and I'm still mostly clueless. Ooops.
Some cool purchases the group made:
Abdul got a great tattoo of a dragon (which he'd been wanting forever) that covers his left arm and side and appears to be biting his shoulder). 300 gold worth of tattoo.
Abdul also went to the forges and requisitioned a pair of large fighting knives (Abdul uses khu for close up fighting) with dragon heads on the pommels. (why were the store owners so obliging to foreigners? because the foreigners were wearing the warlord's seal... the rings)
Hmmmm. I know Lucas bought some stuff... jewelry I think. I don't remember the other guys. They spent a lot of money, though.
Oh, I just found a short description of the city... here it is, for those of you adventuring in the Kang Empire:
...by the way, the land around Tian is green and mountainous, like Hawaii (remember the great scenery in Jurassic Park?). Tian itself is a massive city, some say it's the most beautiful city in the world. The palace district is full of golden spires, arches, bridges, and walkways. Banners fly over the streets that arc and curve over and through the estates of the imperial elite. Mandalan parks and gardens fill every square or intersection, with canals, streams and waterfalls flowing between them. All of this was built for the excessive Quan when they ruled the Empire but the Kang don't seem to be in a hurry to change it. Outside the palace district, however,....
That's where the notes end. Don't know where they were going, either.

Okay, back to the story. After shopping and hunting around the city for three days (three hours real time) (during which they witnessed several kanquan matches and other martial demonstrations... the Wu Tsen story happened during this time, if you remember that...more Master Wu on the way...). It's the 1st of Drome. The feast is the biggest day on the Kang calendar. it's a very big deal to them. Lots of really important things happen in the palace during the feast (I made them all up as we went). The party members are to be guests of Clan Rakshan.
Two notes here. I use the terms 'Clan' and 'House' to translate the Kang word 'Kamok'. Neither term really captures the spirit of the word, which is closer to 'memory of those before' or 'blood of the ancestors'. 'Clan' is just easier to use and conveys the meaning in english (kinda). So, I may switch between Clan and House. (I don't use 'kamok' for the same reason I don't use 'kirun' for warlord... clarity) And... Rakshan's Clan was named after him as soon as he became Warlord. It was previously called 'Kaless' (KAY-less). Rakshan usually referred to his clan with the old name, and it was not disrespectful for others to do so (Kaless was one of the Kang's great legendary heroes of the pre-Quan days)
So, the party is taken by coach to the palace and escorted into the mammoth throne-hall. Can you stand more description? Well, here we go.
The Throne Hall was a truly massive room (it was the largest open space under a roof on the face of the continent). It was perfectly circular (quite a feat) and consisted mainly of two "sections". The outer wall formed a ring of pillars and statues, lit by the occaisional torch. Still the outer section of the room was quite dark. The 'inner ring' was defined by a circle of columns in the center of the room (about 200 meters in diamater).
The ceiling of the inner ring (roughly 300' above) was a massive stained-glass skylight, that provided daytime illumination for the hall. The outer section had marble floors, inlaid with gold and silver patterns in the shape of battling dragons. The inner section was polished hardwood, stained in the center with the Kang Imperial Dragon.
The golden Throne (sculpted as a life size dragon's crest spreading from the back of the throne) was at the back of the inner circle, facing the 40' tall doors at the front of the hall. The columns throughout the room were massive (supporting that humungous ceiling) and were carved with reliefs that depicted ancient Kang battle-tales (like the first battle with the Saurans in Kang pre-history, and the famous duel between Kaless and Kor for war chieftain). One of the columns even depicted Rakshan, seizing the imperial crown from the "defeated" Quan. Lucas and Kenjok also noticed magical glyphs around the base of the columns, but could not decipher them.
For the feast, long tables had been brought in for each house (seventeen at this time. there were twenty-one before the 'silent insurrection' during which several clans took the opportunity to murder each other. Some clans were wiped out, others merged to form more powerful alliances. there are considerably less after the war...).
At the tables were most of the 'Noble' officers from the house (Dragonlord through Forceleader)... or at least all those that were not on duty on the front. (Note: duty during the feast is sometimes a subtle form of punishment for the upper officers). Many non-noble warriors were in attendance as well. Overall, the room wasn't packed, but the inner ring was pretty cozy.
A large empty space was left before the throne, for the various events that would take place during the feast. These included: The presentation of "new warriors" to the Warlord. A ceremonial war dance performed by the warrior-priests of Tian (the description of which is just too long to include... this thing is long enough). Several duels for rank and a few duels for honor (those to the death...). The promotion of a few Battleleaders from house Kor, and another significant promotion...the new Dragonlord for house Kurok.
You see, when Abdul had beaten the Dragonlord Ket (back in Tarun, remember?) Rakshan had stripped him of his title (Ket lost to a foreigner... and a little foreigner too). So, at the feast, Rakshan promoted Ket's cousin, Kraaz (who wasn't exactly Zoriah's gift to Kang, either). One of House Kurok's Battlelords, Kalesh, was the obvious choice for Ket's replacement, but Rakshan overlooked him. Kalesh was famous for his prowess in warfare (on the Sauran front) and his ambition. Kalesh's house, on the other hand, was one of the weakest houses in the Empire. Mostly because of it's inept Dragonlord, Ket (whom Kalesh had been attempting to control, with some success). Kurok was not exactly doing well honor-wise, either. Several units of the house had deserted prior to the silent insurrestion, and only because of Kalesh's ruthlessness did they survive the clan wars.
[editorial: I made all this up during the feast. can you say 'suddenly inspired'?]
So, Kraaz accepts his promotion and returns to House Kurok's table (which is pretty darn empty compared to the others). The servants begin serving the food and some music starts up (War Drums). Then, for the millionth time this adventure, all hell breaks loose (now do you see why I don't plan too far ahead?)
Abdul gets up from House Rakshan's table (which happens to be adjacent to Kurok's) and approaches Kraaz. The other players start sweating.

"Where is Abdul going?"
"I don't know, I didn't ask him. He was grinning real big, though."
"Like this?" [maniacal grin]
"Yeah, kinda. How'd you know?"
"Oh, shit."

I know what's coming, and there is nothing I can do about it. I mentally chuck anything I had planned for the feast. Abdul walks up behind Kraaz and taps him on the shoulder. Kraaz turns, expecting his dinner, and scowls at Abdul.

Abdul: "You Kraaz?"
Kraaz: (in broken Talislan) "Yes." [scowl]
Abdul: "I'm Abdul."
Kraaz: (silence) [confused scowl]
Abdul: "That wuss, Ket? He went down crying like a coward. Most pathetic excuse for a Kang I've ever seen. But, I can already tell he was about ten times the warrior you are. Is house Kurok a bunch of spineless old- women, or what?"
Kraaz: [scowls as he translates. He gets as far as 'coward' and stands up, drawing his weapon]
Abdul: [grins wider and draws his knives]

The other players are wetting themselves at this point. They just know all the Kang present are gonna skin them alive. But... they don't. Instead, the Kang at nearby tables turn at the sound of drawn weapons and begin growling and beating their mugs on the tables. Kraaz says somehting in the kang tongue that sounds like a challenge and the other warriors at his table get up (thankfully, Kalesh isn't there). Rakshan sees this and scowls at Kraaz's breach of honor (outnumbering Abdul). Rakshan stands and starts to speak when the other players say "What the hell" and run to catch up with Crush (who had started moving as soon as Kraaz drew his sword). Rakshan sees this, and sits back down... intent on the skirmish.
Meanwhile, Abdul is just grinning more and more as the odds get worse and worse. "C'mon you cowards! All of ya! I'll take your skulls home as trophies!" [Abdul has figured out the word 'coward' has the desired effect] The Kang at the other tables are still growling and urging the fighters on. Warriors at distant tables move to get a better view. [I'm utterly amazed at this development, as GM. I'm glad Pat has given us something to do, however...]

The fight. Well, basically, the other party members show up and "contain" the House Kurok soldiers, so they can't help out Kraaz. This involves kicking some butt, but nothing too serious. After a few rounds the Kurok guys calm down and realize they better let Kraaz fight his own battle (Crush and Flyn use their respective unarmed abilities [Mandaquan/Tazian Combat] to throw the Kurok guys around a bit. This slows them down and makes them reconsider). Ironically, this is another blow to Clan Kurok's honor (they back out of the fight). Kurok is just losing face left and right (and in front of the Warlord, no less!).
Abdul and Kraaz go at it, full force.
Kraaz (like his cousin, Ket) is pretty low-level, but has built up his sword skill quite a bit [+12], since he has time to practice sword among his duties as a House "administrator". Pat (reading my mind again) has Abdul go for a disarm straight off -- and he gets it! This leaves poor Kraaz with his mediocre Kanquan ability to fight with. Abdul lays into him with a flurry of attacks, but has trouble getting his blades past Kraaz's dress battle armor (a few hits land soilidly, but aren't deep enough wounds to drop Kraaz. He is hurt, however.).
So, Abdul backs off, and lets Kraaz come to him, drawing him in for an aimed shot. Kraaz advances, wincing slightly from the numerous cuts on his arms and side. Abdul leaves himself open for a long kick to the abdomen and waits for Kraaz to see it. Kraaz does, but fails to recognize the trap. He kicks, going for Abdul's solar plexus in hopes of stunning him. Abdul mananges to avoid the shot, and sets himself up for the aimed stroke he's planned on. As Kraaz moves by, Abdul draws his elemental flame knife (same place Flyn got his bow) and sticks it between Kraaz's armor plates. The knife begins to burn and Kraaz howls and hits the floor, desperately trying to pull out the white-hot brand. It takes him several agonizing seconds and he gets burned very badly, but finally, it's out. Kraaz rises, dazed with pain. Abdul takes this opportunity to walk up and smash Kraaz in the face with the pommel of his knife, knocking Kraaz to his knees.
He then leaps behind the Dragonlord, grabs his queue and cuts it off. Abdul jumps onto House Rakshan's table, brandishing the queue in his hand like a trophy. The Kang growl and cheer and stomp their feet, thoroughly delighted to see the weakling leader of a weakling house get soundly defeated by this little foreigner. [in Steve's teminology, this is worth a lot of Khir -- Battle Honor] [By the way, Pat didn't know the significance Kang place on their ponytails, he just thought it seemed like an insulting thing to do, so he did it. Another lucky guess by Pat]
Well, unknown to the party, Kalesh has come in during all this and is furious. He gets as far as Kurok's table when Rakshan stands to speak. Everything gets dead silent. Everyone turns to listen to the Warlord's proclamation. Rakshan says something in kang with the word KEDOOL in it. Kalesh turns a deeper shade of red and looks like he really wants to break something. Kraaz starts to protest, but Rakshan gives him a look that freezes the blood of everyone that sees it. Kraaz shuts up. The party looks very confused. Abdul gets off the table and apoproaches Kol.

"Hey, Kol... uh... I mean, Dragonlord Kol... what's going on?"
"Kraaz has been removed from his position as Dragonlord."
"Really? Just because of that? Wow. That was quick."
"And you have been selected to replace him."
"Oh... huh? What??!! I've what??!!"
"You, K'Dul, are Dragonlord of house Kurok."
"Kedool? What? Are you kidding?"
[Kol just looks at him]

So. Well. Hm. The Kang in the throne hall look at Rakshan as if he just announced that he's a pretty little bird. They can't believe it. A foreigner as a Kang Dragonlord. Leader of the clan. The one that votes on the Karal. AND he gave him a Kang Warrior's name to boot. The party (including Pat) give me similar looks. I just smile knowingly (a very important GM skill). Dragonlord. The inherited position. Which means no one can duel him for it, or claim his title. Which means everyone in the clan has to follow his every command. Including Kalesh. They're neck-deep in it now...

Next... Part Four... the plot thickens... and Wu Tsen makes another appearance.

tags: kcw, talislanta

Ok. I am playing Atlantis 2nd Age, but it's close enough to Tal5 to ask here.. If I am a spellcaster and casting an Attack Mode spell, do I make a spell casting roll and then a ranged attack roll? Or do I add the whole thing up and roll just once? All those range penalties mount up, baby.. If the target doesn't declare an active defence then do I subtract their relevant defensive skill from my spellcasting roll or my range attack roll? If they do declare an active defence do I ignore their defensive skill (since they'll use it in their active defence roll later)?

mood: puzzled

Kang Civil War - Part Three

We left our heroes stranded in Tarun with a very injured Abdul needing some o' that healin' magic... which he got (thanks to Lucas and his witchcraft). He did pick up quite a few nasty scars, though. They are allowed (at Rakshan's insistence) to remain at the Farad's estate (ironically, the only safe place in Tarun all of a sudden).
Rakshan completes his "business" during the next week. The party pretty much lays low and hopes no one decides to kill them after all. Week passes, and Rakshan's right-hand-man, Kol, visits the party. He informs them that they have been hired for the remainder of the journey as (he shrugs) "guards". He leaves.

"Journey? What journey? Where are we going? Who was that blurry guy?"
"Go back to sleep, Abdul. You're hallucinating."
"Oh. Okay."

So, in the dead of night, the party and the three Kang sneak back aboard ship. This was tricky, but they did it, so I'll skip the drama. The Kang that Abdul embarrased (Dragonlord Ket) looks like he's hating life. They sail away under cover of darkness (avoiding the coracles in the harbor).

So, the Far Seas.
Once at sea, the party discovers their destination is Tian.
"Tian? Where's that?"
"It's the capital of the Quan..er, I mean Kang Empire, stupid."
"Oh, that Tian. Yeah, Tian... good ol' Tian..."
"Oh, shut up."

The Far Seas adventure really has one major event, so I'll skip the days of uneventful water-watching (and cookie-tossing) the party had to endure. Abdul was up on deck, shmoosing with the captain (shmoosing; to shmoose: endear oneself to, make friends, be a pal, etc.), hoping to learn how to steer the ship. The Sunra captian was more than happy to teach Abdul the basics, and the Kang apparently didn't mind their slaves doing as they pleased.
Just as an aside here, I had no idea Abdul was gonna become a sailor all of a sudden... it was important to this adventure that the elderly Sunra captain take ill, and have to go below for a while. His replacement was a completely green Sunra sailor, with no battle experience. SO, when Bad Stuff (tm) started happening, he would freak out, and the ship wouldn't have a pilot. Well, Pat read my mind or something and suddenly wanted to learn how to steer a boat. What could I do? I taught him just enough to give him false confidence and a zero in Pilot... I figured I'd let the dice decide things (worked so far).

"Lucas, what's that tube-thing ya got?"
"It's a spyglass... extends your vision, see?"
"Yeah, this thing is great."
"Got it from Abdul, he said the Sunra let him borrow it."
"I think it's broken or something."
"Why?"
"Well, there's these black dots on the glass."
"Lemme see... uh, I don't think those are dots."
-- Flyn runs over, looking concerned --
"What is it, Flyn?"
"Is there anything wrong? I just got a funny feeling."
"Uh-oh. Those are definitely not dots."
"Dots."
"Not dots. Those ships that are following us, see?"
"Yes. I'll inform the captain."
"He's in bed."
"Who's steering this thing?"
"Uh...Abdul was..."
"Knife-boy? Knife-boy is driving the freaking boat? We're dead."

Enter the Mangar Corsairs and their astonishingly fast ships. Everyone goes into action (except the Kang, who just sit in the prow and watch the water). As expected, the Sunra freaks, and it's up to Knife-B... er, Abdul to steer. Of course, Patrick is thrilled. "I get to use my new skill!" Typical.
The Mangar get to them as they enter the Forbidden Straits. There are three Mangar pirate ships, all loaded with guys (where are the Gao when ya need'em?). This is looking bad. The party has a pow-wow (minus Crush and Abdul, who are discussing how many Mangar they're gonna bleed) and comes up with a Great Idea. Feel free to use this one, folks:
First, Kenjok (remember him?) is gonna use his wizardry to Conjure a bunch of highly flammable oil. This will slick the sea between the Kang ship and the pirates. Then, Flyn will use his bow to light the stuff (he has an elemental flame bow... did I mention that? Got it as a reward for fighting the Ice Giants a long time ago). This should create a floating patch of badness, that the Mangar have to sail around... um, make that sail through. They're gonna wait to do this until the Mangar are right on their tail. Tricky.

So, the plan is ready, Abdul is ready (as ready as he can be) and everyone waits. The Mangar are on their tail and begin shooting arrows at the ship (not flaming ones... they're hoping to capture the ship intact). Everyone looks for cover and Flyn begins responding with shots of his own.
Another aside here: never give your party's archer an elemental flame bow as a reward. It's practically an artillery piece, for god's sake!
SHOOM!
Flyn nails one of the ships and it stops shooting as the crew tries to put out the fire. Meanwhile, ZIM ZAM! Kenjok makes lots of oil (he got a critical success... not surprised are you?). Followed quickly by another SHOOM! Flyn ignites a small lake of oil just as baddies #1 sail into it.

"Say, wooden sailing vessels actually burn pretty good, huh?"
"Yep. I like that exotic smoky aroma."

Baddies #1 enter hell on the high seas as their ship is engulfed in flames. That leaves two. Well, says the party, if it worked once... ZIM ZAM! more oil... fire... you get the picture. This time, however, the pirates ain't stupid... they try to tack out of the way and...
(don't roll these kinds of things in front of the players. Normally I wouldn't have, but we were all sitting around the deck plans of the ships I had drawn up, and I didn't have my screen. So I just rolled. The Mangar pilot had a -4 to his roll since it was such a difficult maneuver, but I thought -- all he needs is a partial success, right? Piece of cake!)
I roll. Do I have to tell you what it was? Okay, for the clue impaired: it was a 1. One. A freaking 1! Right there for the players to see. What could I do? The dice love this party. When you start cheating for the bad guys, you've gone over the edge. So...
BOOM! Another ship gets torched. Not kinda torched either. That 1 sitting there on the table said conflagration. So be it. (actually, this was a much better way of getting rid of two of the ships than I had planned. I knew the party would never survive if they had to fight all three, so I was gonna let them try and outrun the Corsairs... ya know the obligatory car chase. They would manage to outdistance all but one. Well, I don't know about you, but I think the firey destruction of their pursuers is much more dramatic than a chase!)

So, the last ship gets within range (those pirates are brave! what would you do if you saw your fellow pirates get the ol' flambé? I'd get the hell outta there, personally. But not these pirates. No sir, they were tough! Grrrrrr!)

They start throwing grapplling lines over the rails and steering in to board the ship. Trouble. Well, Flyn goes over to the rail to introduce the pirates to Mr. Elemental Flame Bow, when the pirate pilot gets a great roll (finally) and the ships slam together. Most everyone gets knocked off their feet (including Abdul, the wheel starts acting crazy) but not Flyn the Jaka! Nope. He stays on his feet. Not only that, he leaps onto the other vessel, climbs up the side and hurdles the rail, growling like mad. Seems Chris thought this was part of The Plan. Everyone else just watched him go.

"Why is Abdul wearing that furry suit?"
"That's Flyn, I think."
"Wow. Maybe we should have followed him?"
Flyn the (suddenly lonely) Jaka stared down all the bloodthirsty Mangar pirates, who were preparing to board the ship. The pirates were not just a little surprised that a Cat-Thing was standing on their deck. Not wanting his valor to be wasted, Flyn took out his mace and did his Abdul impression.
Meanwhile, Abdul got up and yanked back the wheel, trying to control the ship. Flyn watched his vessel drift apart from the pirate ship... leaving him even more alone. But, unflappable, that's Chris (Flyn's player). Never flapped him yet. Flyn just put away his mace, bared his teeth, growled, and rushed headlong at the pirates (who were still a bit confused by all this). At the last second, he lept into the rigging and began climbing over to their only raised sail. Chris said, "Well, I might as well try to slow them down... can't fight all those guys myself." Practical. Chris is practical, too. Good plan, Chris. Kudos to you. Maybe it would have been necessary, but...

Abdul fails another pilot roll (I don't think I even asked for one... Pat was just into sailing...). And the ships crash back together again. This time, the pirates lash the rails together real well and fire burning arrows into the sails (not their own sails, okay?). So much for a running battle. The sails are shot, and the two ships begin to slow.
Flyn realizes they're stopping ("I guess I won't rip the sail after all"). So, he jumps down from the rigging, hoping to land on a pirate or two. Unfortunately for Flyn, the pirates all rush over the rails at that moment to engage the other ship. Bad Timing had struck the Jaka, again.

Pirates flood over the rails --
Abdul and Crush: "YAY!"
Lucas and Kenjok: "Oh, No."
Kang: Silence. The Kang are still sitting in the prow like it's a fine afternoon for wave watching.
Everyone starts fighting.

There's way too much going on here to be real complete, so I'll just give ya the high points of the fight. Crush and Abdul lay into the pirates like it's christmas and the Mangar are colorful packages with possibly exciting gifts inside. Lucas finally gets to do the rope-swinging and swashbuckling he's been dying to do for ages. And Kenjok does his usual technique of get-surrounded-and-go-down-fast. It's original, I'll give him that.
Flyn, determined to actually do something, looks around for a target, and finds one. One of the Mangar has positioned himself near the rail and is preparing to fire his bow into the melee below. So Flyn pulls out his trademark mace and rushes him. Chris rolls abysmally and gets a partial success. He then rolls terrible for damage. Something like one point. Since his intent was to "Stop the Archer" I interpret these rolls to mean Flyn walks up and slaps the bow just as the guy shoots. Twing! -- arrow shoots off into nowhere.

Now, I had to leave Flyn there in order to play out the rest of the battle, and when I got back to him... I'd kinda forgotten where things were. So, I said, "The archer prepares to shoot again... looks like he's aiming at Crush." So, picture this. Jaka runs up and swats the guy's bow. The Archer just looks at him all-annoyed like, then calmly draws another arrow and prepares to shoot. Flyn attempts to pummel him again, with terrible results (the dice take their revenge!). So, Flyn slaps the bow again. Twang! -- another arrow joins the sea. Same treatment... when I get back to Chris, I forget again (!) and have the guy try another shot (The archer really needs to stop Crush, who's dismantling his ship-mates). So, basically, Flyn and this guy are just standing by the rail together, watching the fight. The guy tries to shoot, and Flyn swats it away. The guy does nothing about the Jaka standing next to him... he just pulls out another arrow. This gets repeated twice! (I hope this translates into retelling, it was hilarious when we reconstructed the battle).
Finally, I get my senses back and have the guy attack Flyn. Flyn uses Mandaquan on him (he's gotten real good, too) and pitches the guy overboard. SPLASH!

"What was with all the arrow-slapping, Flyn?"
"I was provoking him. Mandaquan teaches us never to attack first."
"Oh... are you sure that's how that works?"
"Don't make me enlighten you."

So the battle starts wrapping up, and the party is still in one piece (even Kenjok... no small miracle, that.) But, one of the Mangar manages to break free from the main battle and rush the prow of the ship. Abdul tries a really long knife toss to stop him, but misses (Abdul actually missed! now that's amazing). The older Kang turns and draws a gleaming adamant sword as the pirate mounts the stairs. The Kang begins a low growl and the pirate realizes he's outclassed badly. Too late though. Slash! the pirate and his head part company. The spouting body tumbles down the stairs. One of Dragonlords (Kol, the cool one) looks at the party like all this is their fault.
(okay, it was gratuitous bloodshed. But I really wanted to try out the 50th Level Warlord's Combat Rating, okay? Not every day ya get to roll a 56. Ugly.)
So, after much slashing and bashing, the day is saved. Typical high-seas adventure... nothing too tricky, just a chase and a tough fight. This was one of our shorter sessions (we were up way too late already).

Next on the itenerary:
Part Four...The Straits of Tian... and all is revealed (kinda)

tags: kcw, talislanta

So, finally back to Talislanta.

Outside of Maledictus the group picks up another straggler. A Cymrilian windskiff apparently recently crashed leaving only one survivor. Sharan attempted to dispel the magical emanations sparking across the windship as it seemed in danger of exploding only to cause some sort of magical backlash. The vessel exploded into splinters and left her and the lone Cymrilian survivor - Califax - hover a few inches above the ground (and a little deaf).

After sorting that out and convincing Califax that journeying into the cursed city of the dead would be safer than trying to navigate across the Ghostlands alone without provisions, the group headed into Maledictus.

The city was shadowy and still. Quiet as the grave. It was obvious that the very edges of the city had already been picked clean by looters, but that deeper in things appeared to be relatively untouched. An odd bit of architecture to the city - although there were broad thoroughfares that meandered around and across the hills, there were no alley ways or side streets. Presumably there were interior alleys and private gardens hidden behind the facades of what might once have been homes and stores, but without in depth investigation it would prove nothing but idle speculation.

Attempting to seek out a central point of reference, the PCs roamed one of the large boulevards (some of them loudly discussing and debating the merits and high points of a series of comedic, if raunchy, Sarista plays). The PCs stopped in a open air plaza dominated by a small (but dry) fountain in the middle. Also here were what at first appeared to be two other treasure seekers - one wounded, the other crouching over him trying to administer some assistance. However at the sound of the PCs approach it was revealed that the samaritan was actually a ghast. The creature attacked the party, but was soon dispatched. While checking its body and that of its victim, some of the group fell to arguing amongst themselves, two of their number noticed that there appeared to be at least three more ghasts moving their direction along one of the boulevards, keeping to the shadows and moving stealthily. As the group readied for a fight however, the three ghasts suddenly fled. Before they could figure out why, the sound of the fountain coming to life behind them clued them in that something was amiss. As they turned and watched it seemed that light and color and vibrancy flowed out from the fountain just as its water now did. Smashed flagstones became decorative mosaics, walls seemed less scorched and shadowed. Then into the plaza walked a towering 7' humanoid. Ebony introduced herself and learned that the being's name was Atroyus. Atroyus was a bit unnerving, but invited the PCs to journey to his abode for dinner so that they might tell him further of their purpose in the city (he calls it another name, not Maledictus).

However, as the PCs travel with Atroyus through a strange building they begin to notice that there are a distinct lack of people, or even signs of habitation (also, no hallways... just room after room after room). Things do not look ruined, but they do seem empty. But, when things do appear, they seem to be horrific, disturbing, and frightening. Atroyus seems completely unfazed - either not seeing the nightmarish images or so used to them that they no longer affect him. Disturbed by the sights (in particular the body of a small boy covered in nails inserted in a perfectly gridded pattern across his flesh), the PCs confront Atroyus demanding answers. They notice that the boy seems to be alive but when they attempt to heal him, he vanishes completely from their eyes - no puff of smoke, no trace of dust, nothing. Just. Gone. The PCs continue to follow their 'host' to the dining room (some of them being forced at this point by the others) where a melee finally breaks out - between the PCs while Atroyus and others in his 'family' ('household'? he was never quite clear about it) simply watch in amusement.

Eventually a bell chimes and Atroyus calls everyone to table. Even the most reluctant and the combatants find themselves unable to resist and are soon all sitting down together to eat.

tags: gaming, talislanta

Howdy, all. I'm new to this group, but I've been a fan of Talislanta since the Second Edition. I've been out of touch for a bit, missing out on the whole Morrigan Press edition. Can someone give me an idea of what changed between it and Tal4? I'd appreciate it.

Kang Civil War: Part Two
by John Harper

The guys find themselves at the Farad's estate (big, big place.. this Farad is one of the key players that "borrowed" the windship arcanology from the Phantasians / Cymrilians and "loaned" it to the Rajans). They are escorted into a massive hall that is prepared for a feast of some kind. There is an awful lot of seafood on those tables... and what's that smell? roasted land dragon? who eats dragon? Wait a minute...
I really wish you all could have seen the looks on their faces when they put 2 and 2 together. It was a priceless moment. And it was far too late. They were promptly surrounded by a zillion bowmen and ordered to drop their weapons. Just as several fat Imrians entered and took their places at the table, to watch the slow, painful death of the group (revenge for what happened to their countrymen). The Kang entered as well (the middle aged one and his two young bodyguards / aides). In my mind, the Kang were somewhat glad to see a group of honorless thieves die. Also, they were cutting a major deal with the host, so they were content to watch. Who cares about foreigners, anyway?
This was the crucial moment. Everything stemmed from the events of the next minute. Ready?
When Abdul saw the Imrians, he snapped (he had been a slave in childhood to some Imrians). The rest of the party put down their weapons and were preparing their groans of "great..." and "not again". Everything was going according to plan. This capture was going to get the adventure back on track... or so I thought. Abdul looks at the Imrians and says "I will drink your blood and eat your hearts." The Imrians chuckle and then everything goes straight to hell.
You see, Abdul has these little "acorn" type things. He got them many adventures ago in the Aberrant Forest. So long ago, I'd forgotten he had them. They were from a peculiar kind of tree that would fade in and out of existance (the ghost willow). When crushed in the palm, they would make you fade into a noncorporeal, "ghost" form (along with anything you were carrying) for a random amount of time. Not terribly useful (the random time thing could be a killer). Or so I thought.
Abdul reaches into his cloak to get an acorn and the bowmen react like they're supposed to... they shoot him. The rest of the party is just looking at Patrick like, you are one dead Arimite. And he almost was. Two things saved him. None of the bowmen got a critical hit, and the last one rolled a 5 for damage instead of a 6. Abdul had 1 hit point left. The effect was, he got peppered with arrows, but none in a vital organ (normally I would have dropped him from shock, but killing Imrians was Abdul's life-long quest... he struggled on somehow). The party almost cheered. Abdul drew his knives, crushed the acorn, and stumbled past / through the dismayed archers. He charged the banquet table shrieking at the top of his lungs (screaming ghost bristling with arrows... scary) and his acorn wore off. Thinking to protect the warlord, one of the Kang bodyguards (the youngest most foolish one, it turned out) jumped in front of Abdul. Abdul was almost berzerk at this point, and he attacked the Kang with a frenzy, in order to get past him and at the Imrians (who had stopped chuckling and were running for their little fish-lives).
Now, here's a very important part (and why I like dice systems, they lead to funky stories). Abdul and the Kang have equal combat ratings (both 10 if I recall right) so it's pretty much up to the dice who wins this (barring great tactics). All I have to do is hit and Abdul goes down. Six or higher on d20. No problem. The other players are beginning their "nice try, Abdul" speeches.
Patrick rolls and gets a 20! First thing. Just like that, he criticals the Kang with a viscious knife cut to his abdomen. The Kang makes his CON roll and stays up. Now he's mad. He lunges with his falchion and... a three. I rolled a 3. Whoosh... a clean miss. Patrick says Abdul ducks under the sword (I'm expecting him to run) and cuts the Kang again, this time on his sword arm. We all look at Pat like he's crazy. He looks back like, yes, he is crazy. He rolls. Guess what? Yep. Another 20. Slash! the Kang's arm is cut to the bone. The Kang makes his CON roll with a partial success, so he stays conscious, but drops his weapon. The Kang goes to his knees clutching his ruined arm and Abdul (and Pat for that matter) laugh at him as he runs after the Imrians. The other characters (and their players) stare open-mouthed at the Arimite-Who-Could-Not-Die. It was one of those moments.
The Imrians were already out of sight, however, and the Farad had regained his senses enough to order his bowmen to shoot the other characters if Abdul didn't stop and lay down his weapons. The tension in the air was very thick as Pat debated what to do. Abdul wanted those Imrians more than anything. We all knew it. We all knew that Abdul would go after them, and damn the consequences. The other players expected to die. And that's the moment that changed Abdul forever, and changed the campaign beyond all recognition. Abdul turned around and said to the assembly:
"Your weapons cannot harm me. I am vengeance. I kill whom I wish. I do not wish the deaths of my companions, so I will not pursue the Imrian scum. But I will not surrender to you. Ever. If you want these knives... come and get them."
For the third time in as many minutes, we all looked at Pat with open-mouthed wonder. He was the bravest thing we had ever seen. And that's when I decided. The Farad turned and was prepared to give an order when the older Kang stood from his place at the table. His commanding presence captured everyone's attention. He spoke in thickly accented Talislan:
"Stop."
Everyone stopped.
"These foreigners will not be harmed."
He sat back down. The Farad looked meekly at his bowmen, then gestured curtly. They returned to their guard positions. The other characters rushed over to Abdul as he collapsed on the intricate mosaic floor.


============================

Okay, some comments... I love that session. Several great things happened during it. This is to help define those events.
1. Pat recognized a turning point for his character and acted accordingly. He didn't sacrifice his concept to save the party and he didn't sacrifice the party to save his concept. It was a very artful (and brave) solution to the problem. He sacrificed Abdul's life, instead. This was a real sacrifice, despite the fact that Rakshan (the Kang warlord) stopped the archers. That leads to my next point...
2. The session was so powerful for all involved, no one said "Oh great the big, nasty NPC saves our bacon. Wonderful." No one even thought it at the time. It was Abdul that had saved the party, and every one knew it. Abdul's fanaticism and bravery and Pat's careful attention to his character's motivation had saved the party... simple as that. Rakshan's commands were just reactions to Abdul's bravery. Without the actions of Abdul, they would have been slaughtered. Which leads to my next point...
3. A particular method of Game Mastering seems to work suprisingly well. Pat uses it often, and I used it accidently in that session. It works like this: Put the PCs in a no-win situation, and when they succeed, it will be a real success. Not a scripted victory by the GM or a "difficult" scene, but a real success. The GM puts the PCs in immediate, dire, danger, from which he has planned no escape. If they escape, they do so because of their own merits, not b2ecause of the demands of the story. It's a big if, too. What if they don't escape? What if they die? Well, you have several dead PCs. However, if you want "real" danger from a roleplaying scene, you have to have "real" consequences (of course, I DON'T mean "real" as in "real world"). Not just the illusion of danger, but danger. No GM safety net. This is a very iffy style of play, one I have done only three times. Pat runs all his CyberHERO games like this, however, and we have yet to loose a character. And believe me, when we succeed in CyberHERO, we feel it. It's real success. Pat was not going to pull our butts out of the fire if we messed up. Just an aside about GMing... back to the War...
4. The reason Abdul's actions radically changed the campaign was because Rakshan had witnessed them. The Warlord of the Kang Empire watched a crazy little Arimite survive a dozen arrow hits, stagger up to a trained Kang warrior and beat him without getting a scratch, and then jog after a pair of slavers in order to exact his vengeance. He then defied all the powers in the room and dared them to attack him. Abdul displayed more raw courage in those moments than Rakshan had seen in a long time. So, he decided Abdul was too valuable to allow him to die (even with an honorable, warrior's death). Remember this... this attitude colors almost everything Rakshan does regarding Abdul for the rest of the story.
5. At this point, there was no civil war. All I had in mind was that there was a deep conspiracy going on in the Empire, and the Warlord was travelling abroad personally to "secure" something or other. I didn't know what yet. The actual civil war was sparked by... you guessed it, Abdul. But that's a ways off yet...

Next... The Far Seas... and Flyn in action...

John "I'm blessed by great gamers" Harper

tags: kcw, talislanta

KCW - Part One

Characters

So, the guys are in Tarun... about to get slaughtered by the fish-heads. This is as good a time as any to outline who was in the party at this point.
We had:

Abdul of Arim
Knife-fighter / revenant, all around crazy guy. Official Plot Starter and Short Guy (5' 3"). Played by Patrick Cunningham (of Cobalt Commander fame). General concept: former slave with enough unfocused hate to be mean. Abdul started as a bloodthirsty bastard and Pat slowly crafted him into an all-around good guy. It took a while... and it was so gradual that we didn't realize Pat was doing it (maybe Pat didn't either). At this point in his career (before the war), Abdul is closer to bastard than good guy... but the midpoint happens sometime around the start of the war (when Abdul finds something worth fighting for and suddenly has a reason to be who he is...)
Flyn the Jaka
Beastmaster, archer, Mandaquan student. Sound weird? Well, it was, kinda. Flyn is played by Chris Holmes (the creator of Rail, among other things). Flyn is an old Tal characterr that has been shuffled around in several campaigns...so he looks like a patchwork. Chris somehow managed a consistent persona despite his hodge-podge of abilities. In fact, he fused them in a way that none of us expected... turned Flyn into something of a Mystic, Zen Archer, type. It worked. We were all amazed and delighted.
Lucas the Gypsy
Scalliwag, Con-Man, Flamboyant Rogue. That's Lucas. Sarista Gypsy... pretty much just like the archetype. Lucas did became much larger than the archetype, eventually. In fact, he and his brothers became Tal folk heroes of popular myth (they were all named Lucas, so *all* their wild adventures got attributed to 'Lucas the Gypsy'... he quickly became larger than life. In a distant future session, Abdul tells his grandchildren that he knew Lucas. THE Lucas?, they ask... heh heh, that was fun :). Lucas was played by Patrick and myself (he was Pat's creation, but was GM run some of the time).
Crush
Thrall hand-to-hand expert. What more do ya want? He is just like his name suggests. Crush craves glory in combat (the Kang loved him) and is commited to following Abdul through every one of his insane plans (heck, the little guy gets it the coolest fights). Crush has a huge sun tattoo across his back (his tribal emblem) (anyone know where that's from?... many virtual twinkies to any who guess right). He also has earned the Blood Tears (red triangular markings under his eyes that signify his bravery vs. superior numbers). Crush is played by the GM (which is me... jeez Thralls are fun to play). Aside: Crush's brother, Torrent, was played by Chris in another campaign, which gave me some insights into playing Thralls well. Thanks Chris.
Kenjok
Zandir swordsmage. Hm. What can I tell you about Kenjok? He was a casualty of the war. It wasn't a tragedy either (I like character death to be a good tragedy if it *has* to happen). Kenjok was played by Hiren, and Hiren just didn't seem to care either way whether Kenjok lived, died, got the plague, turned into an ogriphant... whatever. As long as he got to flip his sword around and cast a spell occaisionally. Not exactly a stunning role-playing performance to say the least. I think Hiren would agree with me, it wasn't his best work. I won't go into detail here. Just don't be surprised if there is little mention of Kenjok in the story. He didn't really do anything. I tried.. but, oh well... water under the bridge I suppose.

Okay, that's the group. Onward...

tags: kcw, talislanta

Prelude

It was all an accident.

Honest. I didn't mean to embroil the mightiest nation in Tal in a bloody seven-year civil war that would ultimately lead to the subdivision and conquering of part of the empire; medium scale genocide; and a shifting of the power structure of the entire continent. It was an accident.
We were playing Tal one night and I made a comment like, "There's a few Kang traveling with the caravan... one of them looks older." Just a throwaway bit of detail... something unusual, different from the standard Orgovians, Kasmir, and Djaffir that the party usually caravans with. I didn't even think to myself, "why would three kang, one of them an older guy, be traveling way outside the empire [in south Cymril, heading for the Dark Coast]" Never crossed my mind. Until..
One of the players (Pat, I think... he plays the knife-fighter, Abdul) says, "Hmm. I wonder why three kang, one of them an older guy, would be traveling way outside the empire like this?" Players say the darndest things.

So, out of nowhere, my mind says, "It's the Warlord. The two with him are Dragonlords. One of the dragonlords is a weak puppet controlled by a Battlelord of his house. There's a deep, dark conspiracy going on in the Kang Empire." I thought, "Huh? What's a Battlelord? Conspiracy?" My mind said, "Shut up. I'm thinking." So, I shut up and put on my "Yes-the-GM-does-know-what-he's-doing-after-all" face. To answer Pat, I said... "Yeah that's strange, isn't it?"

And we got on with the adventure (which was something about traveling through the Ahazu jungles and trying to stay in one piece. I don't know the details... there where these merchants who were dead set on going through the jungle and they needed guides and guards... they had to meet a ship on the coast at a certain time... something like that... typical adventure for our party -- we meet the weirdest merchants --). Turns out it's the Kang's ship that they're meeting. The Kang (and the merchants) are traveling by way of the jungle so they won't be seen on any of the normal trade routes. The party really doesn't care why (at this point) they just want to live to see the ocean. Which they did (after dealing with an Imrian slaver subplot... Abdul has an old grudge against the fish-heads so it was appropriate... in fact, everything in our party revolves around Abdul... no one seems to mind).

So, they make it to the shore and find that the ship they are to meet has been captured by the slavers, and they capture the ship back (along with freeing the Ahazu slaves, and collecting some brass rings). The Kang sorta sit back and watch all this. The party, in a fit of greed, decide they're gonna keep the Imrian Coracle, and sell it in Tarun where no questions will be asked. (they even figured out a way to get it there, but that's a longer story) (also, the party wasn't just being power-hungry, they actually needed funds at this point in the campaign in order to accomplish some of their long term goals) This does pertain to the War... stick with me.
So, the Kang come forward at this point and say, "Nope. The coracle is the property of the Empire as soon as we step on board and no one will stop us." (major paraphrase). At this point, the Kang are sick of dealing with these foreign mercenaries, and are hoping to get rid of them. Doesn't work. The party almost fought the Kang for the vessel (that would have been astonishingly short). I watched as my fine role-playing troupe degenerated into a bunch of money-monkeys chanting "gimme gimme gimme". Ugly. But, what could I do? I bullied them.

"Say, guys? Kang are warlike and aggressive, right?"
"Right."
"So, to live to middle age as a Kang means..."
"Oh. Okay. We don't fight them."
"Good idea."

Jeez. Munchkin syndrome was not over, however. Instead of fighting, they decide to steal the darn thing once they reach Tarun. I am amazed at the underhandedness of my players, sometimes.
(Unbeknownst to the players, the Kang are traveling to Tarun to make a very important deal with the Farad. They have contacts in the highest of places.)

So, forward to Tarun. The Tarun adventure could take up volumes... It would take me pages just to relate all the schemes the players had for stealing the Coracle. But, the really important thing is this: Before, entering port,one of the Kang comes out on deck and says "Go ahead, take the vessel, consider it payment for your services, and begone." (another major paraphrase, Kang don't exactly talk that way).

What? you ask. You just gave it to them? You didn't teach them a lesson about greed or anything? Heh heh. Not so fast. You see, the kangs' Sunra captain had this neat-o device called a spyglass. With his spyglass he had seen that there were several coracles in port at Tarun (slavers selling to the Farad) and it would be bad for them to show up with a stolen Imrian vessel (it would certainly ruin all hopes of remaining inconspicuous). So, they dumped the thing off on the players (who were happy... the fools! ha ha ha ha.... excuse me...).

So, the suckers, er, players sailed happily into Tarun port (trying like mad to steer the giant Kra). Until...

"Hey Flyn, aren't those Imrian Coracles over there?"
"Um, yes. So are those. And those. And those."
"Uh..."
"Turn around."
"Are you kidding? I just convinced these freaking fish to go straight!"
"Never mind. They've already seen us."

So we played Lets-Meet-The-Huge-Crowd-Of-Unhappy-
Imrians-With-Their-Sympathetic-Farad- Soldier-Buddies. But, you've probably done that one a million times.

"'We'll sell the coracle' you said. 'It's worth a small fortune' you said. 'They ask no questions in Tarun' you said."
"Shut up, I've almost got this lock picked."
"With a piece of straw? Abdul, you're picking the lock to our cell with a piece of straw. Where are your picks?"
"Strip search, remember? Now shut up... I can feel it giving..."
"You are a moron."

Prison in Tarun is not a nice place. I won't go into the gruesome descriptions I used in the game... let's just say the party really wanted to get out. Like yesterday. Miraculously, they were freed only after two weeks in prison (enough to give them nightmares for the rest of their lives). Someone payed their freedom-price. This was good (they were free). This was bad (every Imrian in the city wanted them dead). Actually it was one of the Imrian's main Farad supporters that had freed them (so his fish-head buddies could slaughter them).

The Farad approached them as someone in trouble with the Imrians, in need of mercenary help (right up the players alley). He invited to take them to his estate where they would be safe until they escaped the city together. I have never straight-faced lied to my players this badly before. They were very suspicious (naturally), but I lied and lied and lied. I lied in that "this is the way to go with the adventure" GM voice. I lied until they really believed that the "plot" (what plot?) depended on them helping this guy out. It was shameful, but this Farad was supposed to be slick. A lot slicker than I could pull off... so... I cheated (kinda). And they bought it. It was a miracle. It was such an obvious trap, I think they just wanted to believe it was for real... and they were desparate. So they accompanied him to his estate. Now...

This was the session that led to the War. Not causally, but the events of this session led me to invent the war and why the players would be involved (I was ultimately wrong about the second thing, however).

tags: kcw, talislanta

The Kang Civil War is a write-up of a game run by one of the Jons of Shooting Iron back in the Tal 4 days. It has been absent from the web for far too long.

There's a new Talislanta website out there - TalFans - that's going to host it. However, I'm also going to post here, a chapter at a time. Maybe just one chapter a day or week or something. So, be on the look out for it here. I'll be sure to tag it and add it to memories as well.

tags: talislanta

Years and years ago when I first got into Talislanta, there were a few books of fiction available. It has long slipped my mind with what they were but I'd love to own copies of them at some point in time. These specific books I believed were collected short stories, but I'm not sure, and were not part of any of the source books (including the original Chronicles). I figure this is the best place to ask since I lost my last gaming group by moving cross country.