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Gary N. Mengle
04-01-2005, 07:20 PM
We had our first session yesterday, mostly taken up by the task of character creation, which went (I thought) very smoothly. We did get about an hour of play in as well - I'll get to writing that up with next week's session summary.

Those interested in the campaign setup and in writeups of the important NPC's (many of which are mentioned below,) should refer to This Thread (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=177784&highlight=tekumel).

Here are the PCs:

Drakóhl hiSharvóya of the Clan of Dark Fear
Age 20. Clan Swordmaster. Worshipper of Chiténg.
Son of Kotáru and Raisákka.

Drakóhl is quick to anger, quick to judgment, and quick with the sword. A family contact with the Clan of the Sword of Fire got him admitted to the martial academies of the Temple of Vimúhla at age 12, where he prospered studying one of the few subjects which could hold his attention.

During a "private weapon practice" at the academy, he killed a scion of the Clan of Sea Blue - a very, very high Clan, and one which would be a formidable enemy indeed. A close friend in the academy had the matter hushed up and arranged for an "accident scene." The truth of the matter remains hidden... for now.

Drakóhl is gifted enough with the blade that he is now in charge of training the young scions of the House in its use. Treshélmu, the Clan-Head's dilettante eldest son, hates him for that - that position should have been his.

Zhurák hiSharvóya of the Clan of Dark Fear
Age 19. Ritual Priest of Sárku, 5th Circle.
Son of Kotáru and Ta'ána.

Zhurák was a shy little boy packed off by his father to the Temple academy of Sárku at age 8. The young Ritual Priest who emerged is nervous and cruel - and he wakes up in the middle of every night in a cold sweat. That woman who was his patron for five years in the Temple... the one with flesh like meat left too long in the butcher's shop... he did things at her command... and with her... that will not be spoken of here. But none question his dedication to the faith of Sárku or pursuit of the Temple's goals - he makes very sure that they don't.

Arkháne hiKoródu of the Clan of Dark Fear
Age 20. Worshipper of Hrü'ü. Former Kási of the Legion of the Deep Purple Dark.
Son of Horú and the deceased Sídla.

Arkháne's father was himself a veteran of the Legion of the Deep Purple Dark, and used his contacts within the Legion to set his son up with an officer's commission. There Arkháne served with... well, not distinction, since he broke and hid during a decisive engagement during the recent Civil War, regrouping with his decimated unit later. Shamed over the affair, he mustered out as soon as hostilities wound down and came back home to Katalál. He hopes that no one knows of his cowardice in battle...

His father Horú is very proud of his second son. Nobody's told him the tale of his boy cowering in an old ruin while his subordinates fought and died mere paces away. Yet.

Nríga hiKoródu of the Clan of Dark Fear
Age 18. Lay-Priest of Ksárul, 3rd Circle.
Son of vanished Ngáya and an unknown father, brother of No'ómu; husband of Jaishá.

Clever, ruthless Nríga recently spent 18 months attached to a Clan trade embassy to N'lüssa headed by Clan-Elder Charikása hiSharvóya - one that ended in financial disaster, and is partly responsible for the Clan's current fiscal woes. Charikása found himself packed off to a remote clanhouse in the hinterlands upon his empty-handed return, and Nríga has himself been tainted by association with the failed venture.

The young sorcerer also came back with an additional embarrassment - a female N'lüss "bodyguard," who at just over 7' tall, towers over everyone in the clanhouse. He hasn't told anyone that he married the woman up in N'lüssa - he certainly hasn't told his pretty little wife.

Ed Cha
04-01-2005, 07:24 PM
Sounds like a pretty good start. Please keep us updated!

Epengar
04-01-2005, 07:27 PM
Heh. Looks like "Has a Secret" was a popular option in character creation. Or was it compulsory? And oooh, that Sarku priest's background is creepy. Looking forward to more. :)

Gary N. Mengle
04-01-2005, 07:34 PM
Sounds like a pretty good start. Please keep us updated!

That is the plan. I'm writing up the play part of the session right now, but all that really hapenned is setup for the actual adventure, which will start next week.

Heh. Looks like "Has a Secret" was a popular option in character creation. Or was it compulsory? And oooh, that Sarku priest's background is creepy. Looking forward to more. :)

You noticed that, eh? I'll say this... somebody owes an NPC a huge favor.

The only Defect I handled in any special way was Nemesis - I stipulated that, if you wanted to take it, everybody had to have it. Rest assured that they'll be plagued with that Nemesis very soon.

Gary N. Mengle
04-02-2005, 12:07 PM
As evening nears, the characters are at the Hirilákte arena with several of their clan-cousins. The final event of the day is between Jésekh hiKutanyál of the Clan of the Great Stone, and a scion of the Golden Sunburst Clan, who Jésekh handily defeats.

Jésekh is an old friend of Drakóhl from the Temple academy. On their way out and home, the PC group runs into him and introductions of the other PCs are exchanged.

It seems that Jésekh casually insulted the young fellow from the Golden Sunburst, who then demanded satisfaction according to the strictures of the ancient Manifesto of Noble Deliverance. Jésekh won the duel to first blood, so the matter is officially resolved. But will bad feelings linger between him and the powerful Golden Sunburst?

Jésekh invites the group to a party at the Great Stone clanhouse that evening, and the characters agree to attend.

At the event, which requires dress in the 13th form, there are many pleasures available in the side rooms and alcoves. The Clan of the Bright Sword provides some of the entertainment; singers of the epics, jugglers and fire-breathers, musicians and dancers. Other entertainments occur away from the locus of the party, arranged by enthusiastic worshippers of Dlamélish in an unofficial capacity. Drakóhl participates in some of these, and Zhurák makes a show of listening to the deeds of Hrúgga.

Nríga runs into Omél hiChársha of the Clan of the Cloak of Azure Gems, who he knows from the Temple of Ksárul. Omél does not seem entirely comfortable away from his books and studies, though Nríga makes an attempt to embroil him in some of the festivities.

Late that night, the characters return to the Dark Fear clanhouse to find the Clan Elders waiting up for them. Drakóhl is looking a bit disheveled...

Lord Achán explains that the Clan-Elders would like the characters to venture into the underworld to find a forgotten shine to Hrü'ü, a scarp of evidence for which has recently been uncovered by Nríga's elder brother No'ómu, a Scholar-Priest of Grugánu the Knower of Spells.

As the characters come to an agreement to go on the venture, Treshélmu, the Clan-Head's eldest son, watches from the shadowed corridor, his eyes glinting with hatred when they fall upon Drakóhl...

welshbard
04-02-2005, 01:23 PM
Nicely done. You seem to have really absorbed the feel of things in Tsolyanu. Was any of the party inspired by the party from Adventures on Tekumel? Just wondering, cuz I love that little adventure for a nice interlude between big adventures.

Congratulations on what seems like a fine start.

Gary N. Mengle
04-02-2005, 01:33 PM
Nicely done. You seem to have really absorbed the feel of things in Tsolyanu. Was any of the party inspired by the party from Adventures on Tekumel? Just wondering, cuz I love that little adventure for a nice interlude between big adventures.

Indeed it was, though I didn't use it straight. There's a lot in the Adventures on Tékumel series to help people understand the details of running games on Tékumel before we had a shiny new rulebook to show it to us. I probably relied more on AoT than the material in T:EPT for this, just because I've had them for years and have gone through them myself many times.

Congratulations on what seems like a fine start.

Thanks! To be honest, we didn't get much actually done on thursday, but the players seem to be really getting into it - using elaborate forms of "you" without any prompting from me at all. They picked that up from the book on their own.