Petra's Proposal - A Warhammer Story

It occurred to me that I had never posted this story. We have taken a long break with our Warhammer characters from our Monday game, and Petra was one of my characters. For those of you who wondered what has happened to her over the break, read on....

Petra's Proposal

                It was cold and wet. The air smelled partially decayed and green at the same time. The slight musky tang of swamp drifted from some unnamed direction and stung the nostrils of everyone in the tiny collection of hovels that made up Stony Hollow. Petra took a deep breath and smiled. It was a good day. It was one of the few times that this new landlocked location actually felt like home. She had been born and raised in the swamps, so seeing too much grass or sun made her feel uncomfortable. With the gray sky and the slight stink, it felt  better.

                As she sat on a boulder and watched, children laughed and played. Her own brothers and sisters had made friends with George’s children. Now, they made a small gang of snot nosed terrors. The adults banded together out of self preservation to give the children chores, but they simply worked together to complete the tasks quickly and get back to what they were doing before – being children. Petra did not begrudge them being children – it was a state that did not last long. She was barely an adult in the eyes of the law, but she had been an adult for a very long time. Lately she had felt more than adult. She felt old, warn, battered.

                It began with the tower. She was not the smart like some of the others, but she had valuable instincts. The tower was wrong, against the nature she spent her entire life with. Seeing her little brother Elric, dead inside the tower, was more than she could take. It instilled a fear within her that she had not been able to remove from her heart. Though she enjoyed traveling with Wilhelm, Maxwell, and even Bartleby, she had departed for her simple home, far away from the Hollow. There, she spent time trying to protect her siblings with her body and earning a small living, but she knew that it was not enough. Finally, while she was getting supplies one day, she had come across Max at the trading outpost in her village, on his way to Altdorf. He told her about Stony Hollow and she packed up, leaving here everything she and her family had known for generations to get away from the horror of the tower.

                But getting away from the horrors of the road had not been so easy. On a simple supply run with Wilhelm, Bartleby, and the new dwarf Milgrom, they ended up far from home. Biitten by a werewolf, she slipped into a deep and tortured dream. She remembered some of it – sensations of running, the way the moon shone of the soft bed of pine needles around her, the smells of prey, dirt, and grass. It called to her in a way that was horrifying and appealing all at once. Then, she awoke, far from home and with nothing. She adventured for a share of the money, but while the others had gained bars of silver, she had every single brass bit stolen, and the horse she had just paid a gold for. With nothing more than the clothes on her back she watched while the others got new clothing, shaves, and fancied up for a party that she almost wasn’t invited to. Wilhelm had stood up for her, and only his act of kindness had kept her from having to work for whoever would give her a few coppers for her protection of their wagons as they traveled. She owed him, and she wouldn’t forget. But she also would not forget that Milgrom and Bartleby casually spent their silver without giving her a brass. If she hadn’t attacked and killed the first werewolf they might not been alive to spend that money.

                Fortunately, she had more money now than she thought she would see in a dozen lifetimes, thanks to the Elector Count’s gifts. They were a much needed surprise when she was destitute and desperate. Most of that money would be saved. Her family would not go hungry, and she could afford to build them a proper house. She could even move them into a city if she wanted, but she didn’t want to. Seeing the children play with their new friends was powerful incentive to stay at the Hollow.

                Seeing George cross the field toward Belle’s house stabbed Petra with a certain nervousness she rarely possessed. Straitening up, she smoothed down her short black hair and wondered if she had any dirt on her face. She rubbed her hands over her face, took a deep breath and walked quickly enough to catch up with him. “George,” she greeted. Suddenly, her mouth was dry.

                “Petra.” The name was both greeting and question.

He stopped walking. They were not alone, but no one was close, either. If she was going to do what she considered, now was as good a time as any. “George, I have a proposal for you.”

He nodded, and wore the sage look he bore at times. He was neither handsome nor ugly, and the years had worn on him out in his place with its vampires, wolves, and zombies. The death of his wife still haunted his eyes, yet he still managed to maintain an air of dignity and kindness. “What would you like to propose?”

She could tell he still had no idea. If she wanted to back out, she could now. Instead, she plowed forward. “I want to marry you. I have money, I can build us a place. I won’t lay with you in a way that will get me pregnant, but I will in any other way you want. That way, if you die, I’ll watch your kids because they will be mine and if I die, you do the same for me.”

He looked a little started. She was a full decade younger than he was, with a bridge of freckles across her nose and dark brown eyes that were at once curious and hard. Her lips were thin, and she did not use them to smile often, but when she did, she was pretty. He looked past her shoulder at their collective families playing together and back at her. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yep,” she answered with a nod of her head. “Been thinkin’ about it. They’re practically family anyway and this way, should the worst happen, I know they’re in good hands. Besides, been watching you. You’re a good man, and I could do worse.”

“You could do better,” he answered with a wistful smile.

“Not around here, and not like I am.” There was no criticism or harshness in her words, only truth. “You interested?”

“Yes, I will marry you,” he replied with a soft smile. He took her hand and kissed it. She nodded, before turning and going back to sit on her boulder in the cold mist, to watch her family, and try not to think of the tower…

 

Keeping Track

A short pencil is better than a long memory.

 

My stepfather Tom says that all the time. He is the one that looks and sounds like a cast member from the Sopranos, so sometimes I listen to what he has to say and sometimes I just walk away. However, that one phrase is something he says so much it stuck in my brain like spit out gum finding its way from the sidewalk to my shoe. Ewww.

 

Yet, the one case where this advice is never more necessary is with gaming. Just when you think that you don’t need to write everything down, write it down and then write some more. A thousand things can interfere with you remembering details from one game to another. Perhaps your gaming group only meets once a month, or perhaps you are playing 2-3 times a week! Either way, your brain can become taxed. Did your character buy a point in charm, or is that your other character? Did you spend your XP on getting loyalty for your organization or did you just think that you did?

Recently, I was talking to a group member about their organization. They said they wanted to buy a trait for it. Next week, they were saying they had that trait even though we had no XP yet. This wasn’t done to be fraudulent, it was done because nothing was written down. I have had similar things, but always default on screwing myself over. Character sheets help keep track of XP spent on your character, but when you have a more complex system such as our Dark Sun system where you can buy things for your organizations, always keep track on paper, because the memory can be a flimsy thing.

 

However, it also pays to take great notes on every game session. Keep track of things your character is doing, things you find interesting, and big events. My advice on this is to not rely on one person to do it. What your teammate finds interesting may not be the same thing you find interesting. I try to keep very even, detailed notes. When I have posted them in the past I have been told they are very based on my character by one person, and told they were far to detailed by another.

The best thing you can do you make your gaming experience a little more smooth is take some notes, and be very sure that you know where you are spending your own XP. Then when the DM asks, you can answer, and when you look back, you know for sure.

Reviewing the Highlights or Playing Monday Morning Quarterback

 

This morning I woke up early enough that I was able to engage in something of infinite gaming value – mentally recapping the game. This is not just going over the game again to make sure I commit the details to memory, it is taking it apart bit by bit to assure that I have both been fair in my judgments and not made any huge mistakes. I believe that if you are playing a dungeon crawl, this is not that essential (did I stab that kobold enough times?) but if you are playing a multi-year intrigue game it is invaluable.

 

For instance, last night, I felt I was getting cut off by one of the other players. At the time, I solved this by splitting from the party and doing a few things on my own. Instead of carrying this feeling over into the next game, the isolation of meditating on the game allowed me to break this little scenario apart. My character is not the brains of the operation (but I as a player am not exactly stupid, so this is a fine line) and I had a real life migraine that was messing with me. It could be that distorted my view, or perhaps the other person felt that speaking up for me was helpful. Nothing to hold a grudge over. For me, who can hold a grudge better than a dwarf, this is a break though.

 

There is also the matter of how to improve my own performance. I painted myself into a corner when I designed this particular character. She is a ‘one-shot’ organization character which means I will likely play her for a handful of times over the next few months. Still, I have a character I pigeonholed myself with. She is good at three things – breaking and entering, and being stealthy. That is about it. When I have nothing to steal, and nowhere to sneak to, I find myself thinking – what now? So recapping the game also allows me to tear apart her abilities and where I can better use them next time. Should I have been the one that went to the estate to look for clues, or should I have stayed in town and tried to break back into that noble estate for a second time? There are always clues for ways to do things better.

 

If you are really being reflective on how to improve your gaming, invite a trusted game member to give you feedback, too! I have one member of my gaming group and we always call each other the day after a game and recap. Usually this involves making sure the other noticed all the clues and significant bits of information, and sometimes he tells me I messed up or did something really right. These bit of praise or criticism I file away for future endeavors. If I blew it when I talked to NPC X, how, and how can I get it right?

 

I am 5 foot 1 inches and have short stubby legs and a large chest. Gaming is my sports. Recaping by myself and with others are my highlight reel, because I want to be the best gamer I can be, and that comes from reviewing the footage.

Returning to Athas

So after a long game break, our group has begun the return to Athas and the start of Dark Sun Chapter 4. Jason (our long suffering DM for those who do not know) has been running mini games for us with the spotlight on various characters. As I get ready to start gaming Zarnian again, I wanted to highlight a few moments for her.

One moment that is important to chapter 4, at least to me, is her newly cemented relationship with Trakas. Chapter 2 ended with them going their separate ways, Chapter 3 saw them go through rocky times, but Jason and I both decided that they would be together at the start of Chapter 4. But anyone can tell you, unpacking what has been at times a tempestuous romance can be tricky.

I wrote and rewrote this a few times, yet I am happy with it. The part of me that is Zarnian is thrilled and this makes me anxious to start Chapter 4.

So here it is, a story snippet with Zarnian and Trakas, a few days after Kalak's death.

*****

 

                She felt his presence before she heard even the softest of his footfalls. His scent and presence were familiar to her, so she did not move from her place as she tried to arrange things in her new room in Tyr. Then, she felt his arms around her. A flood of comfort tinged with guilt stabbed through her all at once. “Zarnian,” he whispered as he buried his face in her neck. She turned to see him now. Trakas had not recovered from his ordeal in Kalak’s chambers over the last few days. His skin still hung on him like beggar’s rags and the dark circles under his eyes made his face appear as haunted as her soul felt. Seeing him like his, some of the pain of Malik’s death leeched from her bones. She hugged him with her one working arm, holding him against her. For long moments, they said nothing, just holding each other until finally Trakas confessed, “You were all I thought about while I was in the chamber. You kept me going. Just thinking about killing Kalak and being with you, raising the kids, being a family.”

                Her confused feelings over Malik wrenched her soul. She loved Trakas but she had loved Malik, too. Malik had rejected her twice before he died. Why? He wanted her to be happy, to build a life without him. It was what gave him hope. Trakas had hurt her to the core, but he hadn’t meant to. He probably felt he had no choice. The druid’s smell swept over her, the way his heart beat against her skin, the way he gently touched the base of her neck. If she said she would try again for this third time, it had to be permanent, no regrets, nothing held back. “Trakas, right before the fight, I kissed Malik.”

                He gently positioned her good shoulder so he could look her in the eye. “I don’t care,” he divulged with a trace of his old mischievous twinkle in his own green eyes. “I don’t care what happened yesterday or before this minute, with either one of us. All I care about is the two of us, here, now. Zarnian,” he paused for just a moment as he gazed into her eyes, “I love you.”

                Zarnian released a breath that she didn’t even know she had been holding for the last three years and with it allowed all the old hurt to flow out. She didn’t say the words this moment, instead saying them with a lingering kiss. She’d tell him how much she loved him and wanted a life with him, but later, when they didn’t sound mimicked. For now, she would just enjoy this moment.  

Only Children and Gaming

 

I will say that I am a proud only child. When I was seven, my mother sat me down and told me about boat children from Cambodia. They had no homes, and they needed to be adopted. She said we could adopt one so I would have a brother or sister, my choice. I started crying and said “Give them my clothes! Give them my toys! But I don’t want a sibling!!” My mom left, going to the other room. I thought that I upset her, but it turns out that she was laughing her ass off.

 

The irony is that skip forward a few decades and I have a large extended family – my gaming family. I have siblings I love, a few that have driven me nuts, but we are all there for each other at each and every crisis and life point. Recently, when Jason and I talked about starting a family, I evaluated a local birthing center. I found myself making sure that the immediate waiting area for family would support a game of Lords of Waterdeep or Cthulhu Munchkin. Sometimes my Mother-in-Law talks about ‘family only’. Not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but when your biological brother does not invite you to the Christmas party and your friend on 30 years shows up the instant he finds out you need help picking a lock at your own house at midnight, how do you define ‘family’?

Now learning how to game late in life and as an only child has not been without its own challenges. Sharing is something I still struggle with at times. I have always been unique – a fact I pride myself on. I am unique for a few reasons: being an only child, having red hair, being a female comic book nerd in my youth, and knowing Star Wars front to back while still being able to ‘pass’ in society as my mother calls it… all things that are rare. I LIKE being rare. I LIKE being unique.

 

This does not always work in the RPG world. I play with people I think of as siblings. We think alike. We act alike. This means that if I come up with something that is cool and ‘unique’… well, Solomon said a hell of a long time ago that there was nothing new under the sun, and we was right then and now. Does this sometimes cause me ‘chaos’ as we say in my group? Yes. Have I learned to live with it a hell of a lot better? Yes. At 30 something I have learned the concepts of sharing (most things) with at least an air of grace… and now those in my group can stop laughing at me making that statement.

 

At the same time, I would love to hear from all of you. Do you care if you have something who creates things very similar to you, or do you think that there should only be 1 ranger in a party of 4? What do you think?

 

-Madelyn

School Wars - Dark Sun Notes from 12 10 12

Notes for Dark Sun 12/10/12 – School Fighting

 

Barok was approached by the templars to a great display in the arena. Tosh from Nibenay arrived and he wanted to see the best of what the school had to offer. Barok was even invited to sit in the posh seats with the other dignitaries. He was asked to select five of the best gladiators from Barok’s School for Gladiator Who Want to Fight Good and Do Other Things Good Too (now called Barok’s School). Barok chose Xraneth, a thri-kreen from Xanus’s clutch, Tryranicus Thawk, the younger nearly identical brother of Adamicus Thawk, Red Teeth, a Halfling with teeth stained red from blood, Mighty Nautilus a dwarf in a mask, and El Draque, a Dray with yellow and black armor. There would be five challenges.

 

After arriving at the arena, they learned they would be facing two other teams of gladiators. One group was from Nibenay, and the other was from a famous but unnamed school within Tyr. There were nicely dressed elemental priests from all the elements, plus one. The challenges would be based on these elements. Each gladiator could only represent their team once and then would only be relegated to a helper role.

 

The first challenge was the challenge of Earth. Barok’s team fronted Nautilus the dwarf, while the other two teams but in a human and a mul. Everyone else on the teams could throw rocks at the other two school’s entries as they scrambled to get to the top of a small hill of jagged rocks. At the top was a crown of obsidian. The winner would scramble up, snatch up the crown, then they would win. The three tiers they had to climb were covered with sharp rocks, though. Once the competition started, Team Barok pelted the mul with a ton of rocks. He was almost dead before he made it to the third tier, but the human remained pretty unpelted. He made it to the top at the same time as Nautilus and snatched the crown. Nautilus used his giant hair belt as a whip to snatch the crown away and won at the last minute. In reward, he received a very nice set of armor.

 

After the game of the Earth, everyone got a small rest. The mul was dead, and the human battered. Barok’s team used some of their special items to bribe the attendants to learn the next contest was the contest of fire, and that one of the opponents was a half giant. Tryranicus bribed an attendant to slip a laxative into the half-giant’s drink, and then the game began.

 

The challenge of fire was to defeat a fire elemental in a ring of hot coals. Everyone only had a dagger, but better weapons could be obtained from burning braziers around the ring. The dray competed for Barok’s school and there was also a half elf. The dray grabbed the half-elf and face planted her into the elemental, beating her until she was unconscious. The half-giant attacked the fire elemental a few times before the Dray turned her attention on him, breathing fire in his face. Then she attacked the elemental, almost killing it, but the half-giant could have stolen the victory. Tryranicus Thawk distracted the half-giant, giving the Dray a chance to make the killing blow, which she did and got the gem.  In reward she got a nice sword.

 

The next competition was the competition of air. Barok’s team selected Red Teeth. In this chariots of various colors and prestige would attack those teams who summoned them. Each had two colored kestrekel tails and if the gladiator could grab those they would score points. The other members of the team built the stands to attract the chariots. Red Teeth proved very effective, as did the rest of Barok’s team. Because they had good teamwork and better tactics than the other teams, Red Teeth was able to attract the best chariot, the Golden chariot, twice. Both times he took the tails, and he won. In reward, he got a new cloak of kestrekel feathers.

 

There was a small break before the next two contests to be resolved next game…

Grandmother's Notes 12/8/12 - Warhammer

Grandmother’s Report 12/8/12

 

Aloysia

Just before riding out to the group, Aloysia joined the group. She was hired by Grandmother to keep an eye on the group. Then everyone took the coach out to the Holtz farmstead, the lead that Kat got from the Tilian. Riding up to the Hotz farmstead, smoke and fire were seen off to the right. After some “quick” caucusing, everyone decided to investigate the smoke and fire, even though it was to the right of their  destination.

 

Bloodbath

The farmstead was in ruins when the group arrived. The barn was still on fire despite the rain, and after a few party members investigated, they found the animal pens had been smashed and there was a torch tossed in to start the fire. There were no animals left in the barn. The house was also in ruins, with blood on the floor in splotches. There was a chaos star painted in blood. There were a few bedrooms in the house with empty bunks. Since no one was alive, everyone decided to quickly ride to the Holtz farmstead to warn them or see if they needed assistance.

 

The Farmstead

It took 20 minutes to get to the Holtz farm, and when they did they found two people arguing. One was a mutant, the other man normal. The other members of the farm were also mutants. The larger man said “I warned you not to stop Tristan” but the other man said “My whole family are dead, damn you!” and tried to stab the larger man. Aloysia managed to net Tristan and other members of the Holtz family pounced on Tristan beating him into unconsciousness. When the group said they were looking for Reiner Holtz, one man started looking uncomfortable and an older man ordered him to talk to the group. He said that he did encounter Florian but Florian sold him his cart and horse and said he was leaving town quickly. However, he broke under further interrogation and explained that he had taken Florian to sacrifice to the Beastmen at the Hag Tree. Everyone in the area did this once a month or their farms were attacked. Tristan’s family stopped making the sacrifices and they were attacked. However, the Holtz’s wanted to stop. They wanted to save Stromdorf. An older woman offered to take the group to Fredrik who was a shaman of the Beastmen and willing to help. He said the only way to stop the beastmen was kill the leader and capture the white stone in the clearing that was emitting lightning. The group agreed to help, and started walking out into the woods.

 

How to Commit Suicide, Quickly

After about 30 minutes, the group came to a large tree in a clearing that looked like a hag. Once there, Fredrick (the shaman beastman) explained that Iska of the Mad Teeth clan wanted to destroy man. But Fredrick’s mother was human and he did not want to see that happen. After scoping out the clearing where Iska was having his meeting, the team could see the stone and an altar was the symbol of Khorne painted on it in blood. There were about 25 beastmen in the clearing, and Florian who was bloodied. The team made a plan to attack and launched an attack on the leader of the beastmen while Kat crept forward trying to rescue Florian. Quickly, the beastmen attacked back. Shortly after reaching Florian Kat was attacked and fell to the ground, as Heinrik shot Iska and then got cut down. Aloysia climbed a tree and shot the beastmen that tried to come after her, as Hanz launched into a fury with his halberd. Franz used the stone’s augmentation of his Celestial magic to cast several spells, wounding beastmen. Geita rushed to Kat’s aid then got cut down herself. Finally, Iska fell with only three beastmen left. Hanz, Franz, and Aloysia threw the stone and their unconscious party members in the cart and left for the town.

Oh Sigmar! It hurts!

While most of the team were in the temple of Shallya trying to heal their horrific injuries, Franz (or Franz the Uninjured as certain members of the team started calling him behind his back) took the stone to his friend Nicholas Shulman, another Celestial Wizard for viewing. After saying he would need some time to look the item over, he stole it. Franz and Aloysia gave chase, on horse, then in boat when Nicholas stole a boat and rowed out to a vortex the stone was helping channel. In his attempt to draw the power into himself, Nicholas was destroyed, and Franz almost died. Aloysia recovered Franz and the stone, taking them back into town.