Legacies of Exera: Session 5

 

After the party collects themselves, divides the treasure found after the defeat of the Warlock, and finds their way safety out of the mountain stronghold the party comes across odd tracks in the ground. After a quick discussion, the party decides to follow the tracks as the tracks were leading down the mountain anyway. After sometime, the party realizes that the woods of crown silent and the party notices that there are strange looking animal statues and some humanoid statues around that all appear to be carved with faces of fear.

As the party was discussing what this could mean, they are ambushed by a large multi-legged reptilian creature. During the ensuing battle, Helenista and Claren feel their limbs start to stiffen after meeting the creature's gaze but are able to resist whatever magics was going on. The fight started to drag on longer the party anticipated and some of the members were fighting gravely wounded as it became impossible to tell who's blood was whose and how much of it belonged to the creature. In an act of desperation, Gareth using all of his focus to grab the creature by an unseen force and fling it straight up in the air. The party took cover by the nearby tries as the flailing creature came back down and landing on the ground with a sickening crunch. After making making sure the creature was dead, the party knew that did not want to be in the woods after dark and limped back to the village they stayed in before their journey to Firetop Mountain.

When the party returned to the village, they are greeted as heroes and are given supplies, food, and drink for their efforts. The party enjoys the words of praise and free food well into the night as Harl and Shaleera make their way upstairs to celebrate the victory properly. Sometime later, Gareth goes outside to go to make water and notices a small cloaked figure outside who takes off running when the figure notices that the figure has been seen  by Gareth. Gareth quickly takes chase and ends up capturing the figure which turns out to be a Kobold and after some aggressive negotiation, the Kobold admits that they are all doomed. Gareth knocks out the Kobold and runs back to the tavern to warn everyone that there might be an attack coming as Gareth thinks he caught the forward scout of an attack party. 

The commotion rouses Harl and Harl assists rallying the townsfolk to defensive positions as the village is swarmed by Kobolds. Harl helped direct the village folk to put out fires the Kobolds started as the rest of the party helped with the physical defenses. At the break of dawn, the party was able drive off the few remaining Kobolds which scattered in the woods. In the aftermath, there was only handful of injured villagers and a couple of charred 1/4 burnt buildings. In the hemorning light and during cleanup, the party decided to stay in the village for a couple of days to help the village clean up and to make sure the Kobolds do not come back.

The party found no more traces of the remaining Kobolds in the woods and premised that they are long long. It was also discussed and the party came to the conclusion along with the village that Kobolds attacked the village in some type of revenge plot because of the death of the Warlock. 

________________________________________________________________________________

PLAYER'S NOTES: I have no notes as I was not at the session due to other obligations. I was given the information of what happened during the session second hand by other players and the DM.

Vampire: The Masquerade Timeline

 

Below is the timeline for Vampire: The Masquerade that has been updated into the Modern Nights, This is part of my attempt in keeping a lot of the relevant information in one place. 

1022

• Tremere and his inner circle become Vampires

1204

• The Crusaders sack the city of Constantinople, starting a fire that burns for eight days. During the sack, the Inconnu destroy Gregorius Dimities. Michael lets Peter the Humble lead Mary the Black to him, where he is finally diablerized. The Byzantine Empire is torn asunder and divided among the Crusaders.
  

14th Century

• The First Anarch Revolt was spurred on during the days of the Inquisition. Vampire neonates were appalled by their clan elders who were eagerly sacrificing their young to the Inquisitors. The neonates were perishing at alarming rates during this period. A voice on the Ventrue council was the Brujah named Patricia who expressed to Hardestadt and the elders that they must stand up and fight against the mortal humans. However, Hardestadt and the fellow elders rejected her notions. They felt it was better to hide, create a masquerade, and form rules that would later be known as Camarilla. Disgusted with inaction, Patricia left the council and sided with rebellious neonates. To drive her point across to the elders as to what she felt was best for vampire society, she donned the name Tyler, formed a resistance of Brujah, and marched right into Castle Hardestadt. A huge battle ensued. Though she suffered heavy losses, she successfully committed Amaranth on Hardestadt.

1493

• The Convention of Thorns was a peace agreement between leaders of the Camarilla, the Anarchs and the Assamite clan made on October 23, 1493. It marked the end of open conflict between the three groups, and more specifically an end to the first Anarch Revolt.

1944

• Despite the formation of the Camarilla and the Sabbat, self-proclaimed anarchs would continue in isolated groups. During the French Revolution, prominent anarchs used the opportunity to fight the traditional claim of the Toreador to France. Despite intentions to take the fight to the rest of Europe, the mortal revolution soon fell apart, allowing the Camarilla to move in and restore order.

  Afterwards, many of the remaining anarchs made their way to the United States and from there to the West Coast. As Los Angeles quickly increased in prominence, the Camarilla established Don Sebastian as prince with the hope that he would curb the growing number of anarchs in the region. He largely ignored their presence, however, and over the next few decades, several famous anarchs made their way to the city. Finally, in 1944, Don Sebastian realized the full extent of the discontent in his city and ordered the savage beating of one such luminary, Jeremy MacNeil. Instead of instantly rebelling, MacNeil lead the anarchs in locating and studying the havens of the local Elders over a period of six weeks, and on December 21, 1944, the Second Anarch Revolt began.

  The prince was killed and those Elders that were not destroyed fled the city, making it a strong victory for the anarch movement. Soon thereafter the anarchs moved south to San Diego and then attempted to liberate San Francisco. They were repelled by the then-current Prince of San Francisco, Vannevar Thomas, but in those three months they had claimed everything from the border of Mexico to San Jose. This region would come to be called the Anarch Free State, ruled under a set of principles entitled the Perfect State.

  Despite such ideals, the Anarch Free State soon became little more than a region dominated by roving gangs that were often at each other's throats. Whatever the reasons for the inability to create their perfect society, the invasion of the Cathayans and their efforts to turn the anarchs against one another resulted in several anarchs eventually joining the New Promise Mandarinate, with little remaining of the Free State by the year 2000.

1999

• Kindred debate when exactly the Week of Nightmares fell, with some claiming it landed just prior to the turn of the millennium, while others conflate it with the supposed commencement of Gehenna. In truth, the “Week” of Nightmares sprawled across years, sweeping up several thousand vampires in its wave. During the Week, an impossibly ancient vampire arose and purged its own clan: the Ravnos. Thin-blooded vampires emerged with omens and portents as the Red Star, Anthelios, blazed in the night sky. The Ravnos Antediluvian met Final Death in July 1999 at the hands of parties unknown, armed with advanced weaponry and the power of the sun. Before he died, he drained vitae from all his clan, driving them to frenzy and cannibalism in his death throes. Thick, sentient ropes of his vitae stained the ground in Bangladesh where he fell. The noonday sun did not destroy it all and some can own a small vial containing the Blood of the Ravnos Antediluvian.

2002

• Admiral John Poindexter takes control of the Information Awareness Office. He greenlights a number of DARPA initiatives intended to help expose and combat supernatural threats.

2003

• Felicity Price of the C.I.A. heads up project FIRSTLIGHT.

• The Camarilla feeds information about the Sabbat to government agencies, using them to help burn out the Camarilla's rival sect.

2004

• The NSA discovers and penetrates SchreckNET.

• The Eighth Direction in Russia joins what will come to be called the Second Inquisition. Members include the Newburgh Group from England, BOES in Brazil, and the Society of St. Leopold.

• The Red Question releases the first version of their manifesto.

• Some time after the Ankaran Sarcophagus crisis in Los Angeles, Isaac Abrams, "Nines" Rodriguez, and Therese Voerman each recognize the other as baron over the respective domains of Hollywood, Downtown, and Santa Monica, agreeing to work together as a council to resolidify Anarch sovereignty over the city.

2005

• F.B.I. Special Affairs Division is resurrected due to the work of FIRSTLIGHT. Retired members of Project Twilight are brought in out of retirement to advise.

[Conjecture - the Sabbat begin the slow migration to the middle east that will be known as the Gehenna Crusade. The year was chosen to coincide with Gehenna from the Revised edition and from contextual clues. Sabbat cities slowly empty out over the span of the next decade]

2006

• Anarchs Unbound is officially banned by the Camarilla, and dire warnings are issued about sect members mingling with the Red Question.

• British anti-terror unit SO13 begins the sterilization of London. This will continue for the next seven years.

• Camarilla elders begin to feed information about Anarch holdings as well Sabbat in an attempt to deflect attention from their own domains.

2007

• The Red Question deal directly with Camarilla Justicars; the next day, the 2007-08 financial collapse begins.

• Marcus Questor becomes the agent in charge of the Special Affairs Division, and his ties to the IAO aid in securing intelligence of the blank body phenomenon.

2008

• A joint SOCOM task force destroys the Tremere Prime Chantry, decapitating the Tremere pyramid and purging Vienna of Kindred.

• Carna begins her flight across the United States, spreading word of what she has learned from The Book of the Grave War to her followers.

• Anarchs take the opportunity to conquer several weak Camarilla domains.

2010

• Video leaks to vampire websites showing a member of the Red Question poisoning a Tremere rival in 2001. It is the last highly publicized act of the Red Question.

• The Camarilla of Milwaukee fend off a Sabbat invasion from the north.

• Rafael Obrero, a medical examiner from Minneapolis, loses his wife Maria after a "Jane Doe" they were dissecting turns out to be a torpored vampire. Driven by revenge, Obrero goes on to form the Mortician's Army.

2011

• Meeting of the Camarilla Inner Council chooses a new slate of Justicars, elevating Lucinde to Ventrue Justicar for Unlife.

2012

• Simultaneous conclaves are held in Chicago and Prague. Theo Bell assassinates Hardestadt (and possibly Jan Pieterzoon) at the Prague Conclave. The Brujah formally leave the Camarilla.

• Juggler surreptitiously produces a Hollywood zombie movie filmed in Gary, Indiana. The film is heavily coded with pro-Anarch messages. The Anarchs of Hollywood recognize his handiwork, and back his claim to become the Baron of Gary.
  
• A group of Kindred led by an infiltrator compromise Second Inquisition operations in the Midwest across three states, disrupting a city-clearing operation in Detroit.

2013

• Queen Ann is decapitated in London, effectively concluding the sterilization of the city.

• The Camarilla meets with the Banu Haqim and the Setite Ministry on the same night to weigh the merits of admission into the Camarilla. The Ministry meeting ends prematurely when a bomb levels the hotel where the dignitaries are convening. The preferential optics of the Banu Haqim selecting a discreet, small-town kitchen in Denmark as their venue likely results in their admittance to the sect. Facing rejection, the Ministry instead moves to align themselves with the Anarchs.

• The Camarilla takes Mexico City.

2014

• Modius is deposed as Prince of Gary, Indiana after a ghoul lets slip that it is he who is responsible for the deaths of numerous Kindred in the city after sending Sullivan Dane a box full of intelligence. With the blessing of Annabelle Triabell, Modius is placed under arrest by the Anarchs.

2016

• A progressive mayor is elected in Gary, Indiana.
• The Sub-Ministerial Level Consultation Program to Address Stochastic Crisis Events (SMLCPASCE), an operation of the Second Inquisition, is formed.

2017

• Massive slaughter in Berlin stretches the Masquerade to the breaking point. Berlin becomes an Anarch domain after the Prince is destroyed in the street.

2018 

• The initial jumping-off point of the timeline, as of the publication of the V5 Corebook.
• Vannevar Thomas claims praxis over Los Angeles. The city's Anarch barons quickly negotiate a truce with the Camarilla in order to avoid an immediate, highly destructive war.
• Antwerp, Belgium is taken over by the Anarchs after centuries of Camarilla rule. Storming Elysium at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts under cover of the city's ongoing gilets jaunes protests and riots, the rebels crush in the skull of Toreador Prince Delphine Gaël, who was trapped in a trance. He meets Final Death being stuffed into a barrel and burned next to a police barricade.

2019

• Clan Lasombra is granted formal membership in the Camarilla after a vote in Chicago, following a diplomatic campaign by the Amici Noctis. The ritual sacrifice of Malenkov and other high-ranking Sabbat members are among the notable concessions rendered. Most other cities accepting of them begin following the general rule of thumb that one Lasombra must be sacrificed for every one who is to join the sect.
• The domains of Boston, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut merge into one under the praxis of Hazel Iversen.
• The torpored body of Zelios is discovered in a labyrinth hidden deep within the sewers beneath Griffith Park in Los Angeles. He was eventually recovered and awakened by Maximillian Strauss.
• Baron Isaac Abrams of Hollywood leaves Los Angeles to answer the Beckoning.
• The M. F. Sumtsov Historical Museum in Kharkiv, Ukraine hosts an exhibition on Ancient Egyptian artifacts, including among other items an intact enameled sculpture of Set that dates back to at least the 15th century BCE.

2020

• A devastating Second Inquisition offensive, spearheaded by the Society of Leopold, roils the vampiric population of Los Angeles. The Camarilla, finding the situation untenable, withdraws from the city once more as Prince Vannevar Thomas and his court abandon the city. The L.A. Anarchs quickly regroup and attack the Society, decapitating their leadership and crippling their operations in the city. Victorious in the moment, they redeclare the sovereignty of the Anarch Free State and pronounce the Camarilla persona non grata.
• New York Anarch baron Douglas Callihan is unexpectedly found dead in his office. Prince Hellene Panhard sends Lasombra clan representative Julia Sowinski to investigate on behalf of the Camarilla.

2021

• Prince Arundel of Ottawa goes missing, leaving Seneschal Eden Corliss in charge of affairs.
• In the wake of a bloody assault by the Mortician's Army, Cecily Bain becomes Prince of the Twin Cities.

Unknown/Indeterminate/Ongoing

• Augustus Giovanni is murdered, staked, or otherwise driven into involuntary torpor. His personal menagerie of wraiths and spectres are unleashed from captivity.

• Clan Hecata is founded at the Family Reunion, reconciling Clan Giovanni with the Cappadocians and their cousin bloodlines the Samedi, Harbingers of Skulls, and the Lamiae. A contingent of displaced Nagaraja is also brought into the fold.

 

A Great Campaign Experience

 

Over the weekend I was looking through one of my gaming bookshelves to see if my physical copy of Engine Hearts. Sad to say, it looks like my copies of that game did not survive the great purge of 2018. But I digress, during this search I came across my copy of GURPS Riverworld and seeing that book triggered memories of one of my favorite role playing experiences I have ever had. GURPS Riverworld is based on the book series by Phillip Jose Farmer. For those of you that are interested in playing in campaign and do not want anything spoiled, do not click on the previous link about the books or read any of the books.

So, this campaign happened about twenty years ago and the group and I were in-between World of Darkness games. One of the usual Storytellers of the group called up myself and a few other players and pitched an idea for a campaign. The only direction we were given was that we are going to use the Storyteller system from World of Darkness and we needed to create mortal characters. Our characters could be from any time in history and they could have any background we wanted (royalty, secret agents, ninjas, knights, pirates, etc.). I was not aware of what the other players created but I created a modern day over the top secret agent and our storyteller ran solo sessions for for each of us where our characters ended up dying at the end of the session (which we had no idea that was the goal). My secret agent survived a lot of near death experiences throughout the session to only meet his untimely end as the church the secret agent was hiding in roof collapsed. It was kind of a deus ex machina moment of "rocks fall and everyone dies" situation but it was fine.

Our Storyteller scheduled a game where everyone was going to be there and thus, the campaign begun. All of our characters woke up naked, in a grassy field, a bucket with a lid attached to the the wrist by a string, and the characters could travel south and come across a giant river or north and run into a dense forest. There a gigantic stone stable with holes in the legs off in the distance as well. This information was not presented to us up front as our characters had to explore to find out about the obvious landmarks. 

Our characters also explored the food and other items inside of our buckets, the mysterious stone tables, the dangers in the forest, the dangers in the river, and the interactions of the other people who were resurrected (the societies they created). Some of the people our characters ran into were famous people from history. It was also interesting to learn how the rules of death were different in River World. 

Yes, I am being vague on purpose and why? Because I do not want to spoil it for anyone who may end up as a player in this world. If you are interested enough, then grab the book or watch the miniseries - though full disclaimer I have not seen the miniseries and I cannot vouch for its quality or accuracy. 

Anyway, I am getting lost in the weeds. There was countless reasons why this campaign was such a great experience and something out of the norm that I have not experienced since or I think a lot of people do not experience. I will try to codify a handful of them.

• The entire premise of the campaign and the source material was kept completely secret. The Storyteller even had brown butcher paper folded over the cover of the book so we could not see it. 
• The players created characters from any era with any background in a vacuum. The other players did not know who the other characters were until the characters met in game. If I remember correct we had my secret agent, a Samurai, a cowboy, a person from the future, and a teenager form the 80s. We all got to know each other characters and about them in game and it was glorious. 
• It was sandbox to the max and it was truly up to us to explore, figure out our surroundings, interact with people, and watch the various societies grow and change. 
• Due to the lack of character and player knowledge, the setting and the world became real as the characters explored it and we actually drew maps/kept notes. 
• It was honestly surprising to learn how death and time worked in River World. 
• Our characters had to learn just about everything from trial and error and sometimes those errors were huge. 
• When we uncovered secrets of the world, it was awe inspiring. 
• It was fun as the players would talk between sessions and think of all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories and try to make all kinds of outlandish connections. The campaign just inspired so much talk outside of the table which I think is just rad. 

I think those are all the important points anyway. I feel lucky that I got to experience such a campaign and I hope to do so again.