< Session Zero | Game Logs | Session Two >

1.20.07

This was a relatively short session, mostly dealing with introductions. We started with action in the middle of some ruins outside of the city. Pietro is there, as are Kara and Brun, and the lot of them are pinned down near the ruined central fountain by crossbow fire. Their attackers are troglodytes of some type. They are yammering back and forth to each other as they fire from the second floor windows and walkways that face into the courtyard. Using her Scholarly training (and some Gift Dice), Brun is able to make out the key element of their communication in the word "Dragon."

"That's interesting; I've never seen a dragon before," Brun comments to herself.

Leonardo Soranzo, the sole heir to the Grand Duchy of Petrana, looks back around his own pillar at Brun, his eyes and grin both wide. "A dragon?!? That's excellent! This is the best idea I've ever had!"

~Two Days Earlier~

Leo sets his tankard down on the table with a solid thunk and announces. "I'm bored, Pietro. We need to find something to do."

Dave's Pietro Pontdeladia sits at the Golden Ducat with Leo. Also at the Ducat is Randy's Kara Prokofieva, a minor noble from the frozen north -- she is currently engaged in an impromptu contest of sorts with a performer in the Ducat's bar -- coming up with racier and racier lyrics for a well-known folk song.

The two noblemen hit on a plan to gain fame for themselves, have some fun, and maybe do some good -- ridding a long-abandoned ruined "manor" (really a sort of castle/folly) a half-day's ride outside the city of an infestation of Troggs who have apparently proven to be particularly virulent and organized and are causing a lot of problems for the farmers in the area.

Finally, encouraged by Pietro, Leo stands up and announces his intentions for heroism and camaraderie to the Ducat-at-large, calling for any brave adventuring souls to immediately seek them out for the quest.

After he's done talking, everyone generally returns to what they'd been doing -- it's possible that this isn't the first time that Leo and Pietro have made such grand announcements in the Ducat.

This time, however, Kara is here, and she's very interested in what Leo has to say -- she approaches the two young men and asks them enough questions about their plans that they actually have to make some -- it is eventually decided that the three of them will set out from the Copper gate at the very crack of... proabably about four in the afternoon sounds good. Leo comments that they can't leave in the morning in any case, as his father-the-Duke has to meet at 9 with another stodgey old diplomat sent from the Republik to the north... and since its practically morning already, the three of them should just stay up the rest of the night and 'plan'.

Right. Plan. Planning takes a lot of wine, apparently.

~At the Ducal Palace~

The stodgey old diplomat from the northern Republik is, in fact, Brunhilda Von Braun, who is neither old, nor stodgey, and is spending the evening settling in to both her guest rooms in the castle and into her new 'laboratory' -- a cleaned-up section of the dungeons. Her escort explains that this was the only area in the castle grounds that met her specifications for space and lack of flammable materials close at hand... and wasn't in use -- Brun doesn't seem to mind and starts unpacking -- she'll be unveiling two new guard-clanks (special gifts to the Duke from the Republik and designed by her father) to the Duke in the morning, and she's got quite a lot to do.

~In the Morning~

The Duke is grimly apologizing to Brunhilda for the tardiness of his son. Leo and Pietro do arrive shortly thereafter, but Leo mistakes the relatively plainly-dressed Brun for a new servant and sends her off for some light wine and juice. Brun covers for this without any problem, despite the Duke looking more and more displeased, by ordering the servants to bring fresh fruit, which she then pulps using a clank of her own design.

Following that, Brun shows the latecomers the two new guard clanks (very fancy, looking like nothing so much as twenty-foot-tall mechanical replicas of a nutcracker, but with working rifles. (These are, incidentally, about a decade behind the leading technology in the Republik, but quite a bit further ahead of what any of the inventors in Petrana design -- they are the creation of Brun's father, who is quite skilled, but also quite old and set in his ways... and possibly senile.) Both men are quite impressed... with the noise the two machines make, if nothing else.

The Duke, displeased with his son (and Pietro, whom the Duke had specifically mentioned was not invited), informs Leo that he will be escorting Brun for the next several days throughout the City, showing her the sights, making her feel at home, and essentially never leaving her side unless it was appropriate to do so. He intends this as a punishment, but Pietro actually sees quite an opportunity here, provided the girl knows how to make clanks as well.

The two men take Brun aside and ask her about clank design in some (relatively ignorant) detail, but the upshot of this is that they pique her interest to the point where she is excited about the clank design challenges, if not their actual quest -- once Pietro said the words "field test", she was pretty much in.

Thus, with about six hours to their meeting with Kara at the copper gate, the company now numbers four.

To Be Continued.