MOUNT AND BLADE RETIRE FROM ADVENTURING SKIN

I was careful to note that Erin got up off the altar on her own, because of course, she hadnвЂ™t been restrained. But Erin was pretty good at rolling with the punches, so she happily thanked the PCs for her вЂrescue.вЂ™ A ritual the players interrupted on the assumption that they were rescuing her. Under ErinвЂ™sВ orders, the cultists were performing a ritual to transform her into an undead creature. She was, in fact, a very important member of the cult, and a fellow worshiper of their god: Vecna, lord of magic, undeath, and secrets. But, I certainly didnвЂ™t plan for the whole conspiracy which grew out of this improvisedВ moment. I mightВ have even outlined who the characters in that rival party would be. I seem to recall it had always been my plan to have a rival adventuring party inВ this campaign. I donвЂ™t remember exactly how much about ErinВ was improvised on the spot. A young woman lay on an altar, with chanting cultists and burning braziers around her. Some additional adventuring revealedВ a hidden cavern beneath the city, and what appeared to be a human sacrifice in progress. So I began weaving rumors of cult activity in the town theyвЂ™d just arrived in.

The group wasВ still going strong, even as they approached the end of my prepared notes. More to the point, these were the halcyon days when D&D lasted for as long as everyone felt like playing. It was all sorts of amusing, but thatвЂ™sВ neither here nor there.

The halfling rogue went off with the bandits, while the rest joined up with the caravan as guards. As an amusing aside: the players immediately split the party. I actually wrote notes for three different paths the players could take through the adventure, and felt quite proud of myself for the level of agency I was providing. If they turned down the job, theyвЂ™d be approached by the governor with a counter offer to protect it. TheyвЂ™d first be presented with the opportunity to join a group of bandits planning to ambush the caravan. The players would begin in town A, and there was a caravan going to town B. The structure of the adventure was, indeed, generic. Like I said, a different kind of referee. The first line of my notes is вЂњStart: Almost cartoonishly generic.вЂќ This is followed by what I think is supposed to be boxed text. I still have all my notes for that first session of what I later called the вЂњ Ascendant Crusade Campaign.вЂќ IвЂ™d recently grown close with some new friends through World of Warcraft, and I wanted to introduce them to the hobby. The kind who planned out storylines in advance, loved D&D 3.5, and had never killed a character at his table. I was a different kind of referee back then. Neve Canri began life circa 2008 as an NPC I largely improvised on the spot when a game session lasted well beyond the material I had prepared. At the center of the top level is a great mountain, at the peak of which is the granite throne from which Neve Canri rules. Each of the towerвЂ™s 16 levels appears to be a whole world, with the pathway upwards hidden somewhere in its landscape. She resides in the Citadel of the Seed, a tower hidden amongst the mountain ranges of the abyss.

MOUNT AND BLADE RETIRE FROM ADVENTURING SKIN

There are diamonds where her eyes ought to be, and her withered hands that are little more than skin and bone. She typically appears as a dark haired woman wearing an elegant gown. The rest are mere infant godlings by comparison, having risen to fill the vacuums she created. But her ceaseless campaigning has left only a few gods that remember a time before her. Neve Canri is the patron only of her own unknowable will. But these are human attempts to understand the divine. Various worshipers claim she is the patron of various things: secrets, lies, conspiracies, undeath. Whether her machinations are visible to the players, or her attention is focused on some far off corner of the cosmos, she is there. If I am the referee, then Neve Canri exists in the game world. Any enjoyment you get out of it will be purely incidental.

Mount and blade retire from adventuring