Session 2 - Cloud Empress
Fungal Festering Fugitives
This is an ongoing series about my open table of Cloud Empress. This is part 3.
Players Present: Veer, Grimalkin, and Ponti
Hexes Explored: V27, V20
Days: 3, 4
Provisions Used: 1
I'm continuing my GM reports of the open table Cloud Empress campaign I'm running, and this post covers Session 2, including my behind-the-scenes note taking, traditions in lore, etc.
Day 3
The party is quick to leave the caravan which is exactly what I was wanting. It's only in later sessions they're starting to wish they were a little closer. Teehee. Here, they enter hex V27. The entry has the party discover 2 dead Cloudling riders with no Crests and 2 dead packsquabs. The book says Gari, a Spore Merchant, reanimates after 8 hours.
Referee Note: I did a roll to see how long Gari had already been reanimating, and he reanimated while the party was actively preparing the bodies to be burned due to Cloudling superstitions around funeral rites.
Gari convinces them to bring the bodies to the Monastery which they start to do until realizing Gari's motives might not be aligned with their own. A Sellsword spears him through, starting the reanimation process all over again. They learn of Prickly Pear and see the Monastery on the horizon but encounter a Spire Guardian, Terri, who takes them to Small Child Spire for instead.
Referee Note: While in a loose downtime structure here, a player asked if small service jobs could be done in exchange for goods. I ageed and started generating some to use.
Available Jobs at Small Child Spire
- Misting the spire to keep it moist for X time
- Helping a Sporesmith fix their smithing operation
- Mending clothes
Here, they learn more about the White Monastery and the condition that Small Child Spire is in. After bartering and investigating, they set out once more to White Spore Monastery.
Referee Note: Rather than give the entire map of the monastery to the players, I had a NPC provide a sketch of one with a 1-in-10 chance of it being wrong (it wasn't). It also only included rough outline of the exterior buildings as the NPC was a trader.
Day 4
An encounter with Spore Beasts leaves one player wounded on their way back to the monastery. Our first wound of the campaign! Poor Ponti! They flee the Spore Beasts (wise) and take refuge on the outskirts of the monastery, preparing to inquire within after a respite.
Referee Note: One of my players, Ponti, claimed to be from Perrytown, so I've made it a note to generate the place. His characted claimed he was the, "Hero of Perrytown" but in what regards, none were provided. Fun character development that I am always encouraging my players to do! Worldbuilding is collaborative.
Bonus: Session Quotes
This area is where I grab pull quotes from session recaps/memorable one-liners I've written down.
"After this event I believe Veer had changed his mind on my purchase and I believe I earned his respect, but I can not stop thinking of the Sliplander I killed. This is my second kill, the first being during the invasion of Castle Notus. As we made camp in a hidden ridge near the monastery, waiting to recover I couldn't stop seeing their faces. The Sellsword, no older than myself, and now the Sliplander controlled by a strange entity." - Grimalkin of House Notus, Teeanger Lordling
This is one of the best things I think Cloud Empress does. This balancing act of community and survival among limites resources. I'll be talking on it more as we get further in the campaign.
"That lordling might have some guts after all. Rare in his kind, but I have seen that precious steel come sneaking out in great noble lords in times of crisis. It must nestle in his breast as well." - Veer, Full Grown Sellsword