Fabula Ultima - The Romance of Ys - Session 12
We have a quiet session after the holidays this week, during which we visit a goblin market, flee a banshee, and establish that not only do Takis exist in the game, they cause air damage.
Episode 3, "Hunters X Horses: Showdown at the Stallion's Roost." Session 12
Cast
- Aurelia, she/her, Ex-Inventor Turned Spy (Absent this session)
- Hemlocke, any, Loyal Servant Looking for Answers
- Mio, she/her, Headstrong Pugilist with a Heart of Gold
- Rhiannon the Blue, she/her, Academic Ghost Bride Looking for Answers
- Seren, she/her, Kindhearted Princess on the Run
Rewinding the Clock
We rewind the clock back to foul, magic smoke erupting from the large magpie the party caught and disenchanted. A trail of dark energy launches out of it and heads northwest, over farmland and forest, before reaching a spectral lady and her contingent of skeletal warriors. The energy enters the ghost and she reveals to the skeletons that not only has the magpie failed to retrieve the Red Book of Elves, adventurers have claimed it. Resigned to relying on good manners to earn their favor with the ruler of the fairy kingdom, the ghost enchants the tree gate leading to the kingdom and musters her troops to enter.
Back in Caer Ys, Mio asks the exhausted magpie a few more questions, but doesn't get any new information. The magpie offers to trade shinies with the group if they ever meet him at his nest, and Mio gives him a shiny zennit coin before sending him off.
The party chat with Pepper Croaktoad again, replaying last week's scene where the goblin toymaker gives Hemlocke 350 zennit and the promise of a toy if she lends him her gunbrella to study for a day. The fey seneschal agrees, and Pepper passes along instructions on how to find him in the Goblin Market - look for the purple lantern that always burns, rain or shine, night or day. Knock on the door it hangs over twice, then once, then three times. It will open into the Goblin Market.
The group bids Pepper farewell and retreat to Greenhome with the Red Book of Elves in hand.
Rest and Reading
The group retreats to Greenhome, stopping only to resupply as they go. Inside they relax after a busy evening and morning. Mio moves her bed down to the basement, which she claims as her bedroom and gym. Seren and Rhiannon each teach Thistle the fairy hound a spell to use on their upcoming trip. And Hemlocke makes folks a meal and studies the Red Book.
Hemlocke hones in on the likely kingdom, identifying it as belonging to Rhiannon, a powerful Ysbridian spirit. The book also mentions she's been married several times, most recently to a man named Manawydan, and the various descriptions of feasts in the book suggest an oat, milk, and alcohol dish called Ring-in-the-Fen is popular. Hemlocke does their best to recreate it, and thanks in large part to the quality ingredients the group collectively bought, made an excellent version of it to bring as a gift.
Cooking and reading done, Hemlocke experiments in the kitchen and fills out the rest of his cookbook. Most of the recipes are sweets or drinks, but they make sure to include a steak for Mio and in what must be a sponsored advertisement, Takis.
As the day winds down, Seren writes a note to Vesper requesting a call tomorrow night and posts it in-front of her enchanted mirror. When she checks it in the morning she finds a message from Vesper asking if it might be two nights from now - she's busy this upcoming day.
To Market
After breakfast the group set out for the Goblin Market. Some quick advice from Joan Johnson points them toward the purple lantern door, which opens to their knocks, despite nobody seeming on the other side. They pass through the hall into a cramped, crowded, dingy market city that stretches up-and-up. The group pick their way through, asking directions as they go, and eventually reach Pepper's shop.
The inside is filled with shelves of toys and toy parts. Dolls and marionettes hang on strings from the ceiling. Pepper greets the group excitedly, returns Hemlocke her gunbrella, then presents her with a choice between two toys as payment - a Toy Mogan or a Toy Titania.
Hemlocke tearfully picks the doll fashioned after their missing queen.
A Dip Into the Stream
Business in the market complete, the group collects their gear and heads out for the fairy kingdom, stopping only long enough for Hemlocke to fill-up on ingredients. The first day of travel is uneventful until nightfall. As the group prepares for bed a horrible wail picks-up - a banshee is nearby! As the wail gets closer, threatening them with a terrible curse, Seren collects Mio and Rhiannon and leads them in a ritual to open a rift into the Stream of Souls. The trio succeed as Hemlocke ties cloth bandages around everyone's ears and Aurelia scrambles to pack camp. The party leap in and ride the cacophonous Stream far enough to escape the noisome banshee.
Boar Hunt
We end the session on another cut scene, rewinding the clock to earlier in the day. The camera cuts to King Niyonin carrying a boarling spear, trailed by Sir Roric, as they tromp through thick forest. Just as Niyonin is about to turn back and rejoin the main party, a group of lizardfolk sellswords appear, bows trained on him. He calls for Roric, only for the knight to draw his sword and decapitate the king. The head rolls along the ground, stopping at the feet of Vesper. The young woman picks it up and Roric directs her to get to her grim work. She dismisses him and the scene ends as she carries King Niyonin's head through the brush to a giant, chained coffin.
Referee Thoughts
This was a pretty light session, with us spending close to an hour chatting before we began, almost another hour coming-up with what dishes Hemlocke makes with her ingredients, and an hour-long post-game chat. Honestly, it was a relief. Between winter and the holidays I didn't have a lot of energy to prepare the next bit of the game, and what prep I did work on was focused on designing a new travel encounter and writing more entries for Matty's Immram. This was good prep - both sites that were rolled for the Immram this week came from those I wrote for the session - but it did mean that I would call the session as soon as we reached the fairy kingdom. In the end, we only wrapped about 20 minutes early, so things worked out.
I was surprised to learn that Hemlocke's player still wanted to have the exchange with Pepper. I gave her the option to just have Pepper give her the zennit and toy as an apology since she was despondent and reluctant to lend the goblin Hemlocke's gunbrella last session, but she seemed excited to visit his shop. I didn't write-up a description for the market in advance, and left it to the players to describe. Seren's player immediately latched onto it being a fairy Kowloon Walled City, and we ran with that evocative image.
Most of the session was given over to a rest scene, which in-turn became an extended conversation of what snacks Hemlocke makes when they use their Cooking skill. It was fun, though I did get flashbacks to working at a Barnes and Nobles Starbucks Cafe when the group suggested several flavoured coffee drinks. The stand-out was the aforementioned Takis, which when fed to someone cause 20 air damage. Given the anime season theming we have going on, it absolutely must be sponsor product placement.
The travel challenge was a nice way to cap-off the session. I described the banshee wail and let the group know that if they did not find a way to address it, they would be cursed to fumble on rolls of two-1's or two-2's until the next new moon. We recently established that it was a New Moon only a couple nights ago, so the threat of going several in-game weeks cursed lit a fire under the group.
Hemlocke's player suggested blocking the sound out with cloth, which given the banshee is supernaturally loud I suggested would allow them a check to resist instead of automatically working. At that point Seren's player suggested they use the planet oracle's still-new Esper skill and enter the stream of souls. The ritual went fine, and I was glad the group played this card. It opens the possibility of using the Stream more, with chances for failure causing things like sickness or monsters following them out.
A fun session all around!