tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4202612634352350608.post878689396926646576..comments2024-03-26T02:03:33.336-07:00Comments on Mazirian's Garden: Ultan's DoorBen L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04568198881628052274noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4202612634352350608.post-58498362163688428582017-11-01T15:23:01.048-07:002017-11-01T15:23:01.048-07:00Here's the campaign news I posted in preparati...Here's the campaign news I posted in preparation for the last two sessions in Rastingdrung:<br /><br />Here's the campaign news I posted for the last two sessions, which will give you a sense of Rastingdrung in play: <br /><br />The sights and sounds of Rastingdrung wash over you, a welcome homecoming after journeys parlous and absurd. The city is a bustle with preparation for the coming Festival of Sybarites. The streets have begun to swell with foreign dignitaries, having purchased their festival tickets early for an extended debauch. The Crimson Censors are about, stirred to great vigilance by the usual paranoia about foreigners, but suddenly strangely powerless.<br /><br />Court gossip is focused squarely on Lord Kex of Viridistan, nephew to the World Emperor. He came two weeks ago in a swaying palanquin atop a white elephant, accompanied by a mighty entourage. His bare green chest and unnaturally tall and graceful form have become a fixture around the court. Fishwives state with great certainty that he has been sent to seal through marriage the World Emperor’s alliance with the city state. Civic pride prevents them from asking what his interest in an alliance with this backwater might be. <br /><br />Business booms in the Temple of Ulim, which is decked in holiday finery. Foreigners eager to taste the pleasures on offer are met by a mix of prostitutes, some experienced in the byways of delectation and other fresh from the slave boats, stunned and terrified. As is to be expected, entertainers of all kinds, acrobats and mountebanks, jongleurs and stiltsmen, are in high demand at the Temple, and will be through the festival. <br /><br />The Mercury Whistle—that redoubt of foreigners, poets, and those of dubious orthodoxy—where the party first heard the whispers about Ultan’s door, has reopened its doors. Although its owner, old Ludlow went down to the White Halls in one of the periodic roundups of undesirables, his son Peters has taken up the mantle. The characters from this waking world know and like him. He has a wandering eye and is a great teller of stories, none of which are true. The bar is in the dilapidated neighborhood of Chanticleer. <br /><br />Old men sit smoking from their long pipes as they always do, sipping bitter tea, and playing at shards in the small courtyard cafes. They gossip relentlessly about the floats and effigies for the Blasphemer’s Parade, and chuckle at the growing anxiety of the censors who will soon be running the Gamut. But today their normal chatter has dried up. For eerily, yesterday literally all of the fishers’ nets came up empty. Being a superstitious lot, the old men view this as a great ill omen. Some whisper that the Bishop, the mythical talking fish of Lake Wooling, has called his congregation to a great sermon deep in the oily waters. Others that he has recalled them to safety against some terrible threat. <br /><br />Ben L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04568198881628052274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4202612634352350608.post-10646122997867436692017-11-01T15:22:28.922-07:002017-11-01T15:22:28.922-07:00The initial conceit of the campaign was that every...The initial conceit of the campaign was that every session was another trip through the door. This allowed it to be a focused hangouts game in its early phases. But, over time, the party has both moved towards much longer excursions through the door, and also played more in Rastingdrung. <br /><br />In fact, most of the last two sessions was spent in the waking world. In the session before last, the party had to fight their way through organized forces from Zyan Above to get to Ultan's Door. They think the Hidden King may be reclaiming the area around the door in order to stop their excursions into Wishery, or for some other reason. This development, and the threat of a possible organized force coming through the door, allowed them to scare Ultan into selling them his print shop for a high fee, but well within their price range. They also resolved a longtime blackmail threat from Almurek the beastmaster third apprentice to the Chatelaine.<br /><br />In the last session, Salinger won the opportunity to perform one his dances for the Chatelaine and her royal guests, at the Festival of the Sybarites. While the rest of the party caroused in the drug and pleasure dens above, Salinger went poking around in the "Gaming Rooms" of the Temple of Ulim and was ambushed there by a long time rival who he slew. In other words, a lot is going on in Rastingdrung right now. <br /><br />Ben L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04568198881628052274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4202612634352350608.post-89853995297804021822017-10-30T00:37:28.608-07:002017-10-30T00:37:28.608-07:00Is adventuring not possible/feasible in Rastingdru...Is adventuring not possible/feasible in Rastingdrung? It seems as magical/fantastical as Zyan it's self - what advantage to adventurers have going there than now?<br />Bardahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04720894187721869446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4202612634352350608.post-29638836075830219132015-09-18T11:54:01.701-07:002015-09-18T11:54:01.701-07:00It's convenient for me, since it's the slo...It's convenient for me, since it's the slot that's eked out from family life for my face to face game, which is now meeting only about once a month. If I can't muster a good showing of players, I'll certainly try another date. Ben L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04568198881628052274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4202612634352350608.post-23664319749227152002015-09-18T11:40:54.420-07:002015-09-18T11:40:54.420-07:00Man, I wish I could play! Friday's are out for...Man, I wish I could play! Friday's are out for met for a while, alas.Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.com