Kyneros Episode 1
filed under actual play on 09 Nov 2016 tagged kyneros, kairael valeyn, mutable, scarlet heroes, and pre-1.0.0
Rambling in Hindsight: I’m posting this but it’s actually from a good while ago – only my second or third attempt at a campaign. I’d actually decided not to post it given that I was using my personal Mythic panel and Pythia core used FU, but now that Mythic is part of Pythia it doesn’t seem like it would confuse anyone.
It definitely shouldn’t be taken as a good representation of what Pythia is like now. More as part of the history of Pythia. The generators and oracles used in this campaign (through the end of the last 11/09 log) are at least pre-1.0.0 (and probably much earlier). Many have been phased out or replaced, especially the ones that generate regions – I ultimately discovered that it just wasn’t a good use of the limited panel space.
With the updated (post 1.0.0) oracles and generators there’s very little you need to bring to the session except your game mechanics and a list of randomly generated names. I’ll hopefully get a chance to post something using those sooner or later.
Being the first part of the adventure of Kai Valeyn, currently a statue with no history.
The adventure begins...
Let's figure some things out. First, the kingdom we're in.
Total area: 303891, subtype: Pre-Crusades, population density: 60, population factor: 4, kingdom age: 1700
Total population: 18233460
#Cities: 3, #towns: 0
City/town populations (8k): | 72591.0 | 30488.0 | 28353.0 | 220.0 | 720.0
Agrarian land percent: 30.0, percent wilderness: 60.0
Ruins: 123, active castles: 364
So it's a relatively large country, about the size of Australia. Population is relatively high, and it's old! 18 million people, too. Largest city is about 70k people, and there are 123 ruins, just under 365 active castles.
Kai awoke.
[Habitations room] Kitchen
Encounter? No
Treasure? Yes, but hazard
Hazard? No
Feature? No
Macguffin? 16
Somewhere nearby he could smell something baking, and his stomach rumbled.
Is he alone in the room?
[unlikely, 64 ≥ 35] NO
Is the other person responsible for him being revived?
[somewhat likely, 95 ≥ 94] Exceptional NO
Are they a burglar?
[somewhat likely, 95 ≥ 94] Exceptional NO
So they belong here, and they're not expecting/responsible for his revival.
[Age - Any] Young Adult.
[Gender] male
[Motive] Generous [4] in context of a prized possession [3].
[Motive] Generous [2] in context of struggle [5].
He sat up and swung his feet off the stone platform he was lying on. It was dark black marble, ornately carved and gleaming a bit.
A sound made him look up.
A young man, about his age, was staring at him with a mixture of horror and...
[Stranger NPC Reaction] Admiring consent
Admiration. Kai found it a bit unsettling.
Is Kai wearing his clothes?
[fifty-fifty, 57 ≥ 50] NO
Why do my heroes keep starting out naked?
It was starting to come back to him in bits and pieces, but he still wasn't clear on what was happening.
Or where his clothes were.
"Ahem," he said. "I seem to be at a disadvantage here."
"Where am I?"
Is it a museum?
[fifty-fifty, 65 ≥ 50] NO
A private residence then. Of a famous art collector?
[fifty-fifty, 69 ≥ 50] NO
Interesting. So as a statue, he was being prepared for shipment somewhere.
"A warehouse -- one of Turan's," the man stuttered. He still seemed overwhelmed. "How are you -- alive?"
Kai shot him a look and leapt down from the platform. The room was filled with crates and paintings, some packed, some half so. The young man had ink-stained fingers and a bill of lading lay near his feet.
[Oracle Adjective] Duty
So his first thought is of his duty. Was he part of a team seeking to deal with the medusa?
[likely, 70 ≤ 75] YES
Was it officially sanctioned?
[fifty-fifty, 48 ≤ 50] YES
"The snake demon -- did it survive? And my companions?"
Attitude: Combative
"Demons? What are you talking about, statue?"
Kai controlled the sudeen sinking feeling, along with his expression. He took a deep breath. "What year is it?"
Scene ends here, I think.
How many years has it been since he was petrified?
Is the scholar speaking a language Kai knows?
[somewhat likely, 71 ≥ 65] NO
So there's magic, granting him the language of these people.
Is this the largest city in this kingdom?
[likely, 35 ≤ 75] YES
Thread Added: discover where his team is
Has it been more than a lifetime?
[very likely, 2 ≤ 16] Exceptional YES
So it's been many lifetimes. Before this kingdom, which is 1700 years old, was founded.
What was his social status?
[How Much?] Less than expected.
So, he was a prince, but not the crown prince.
Was this due to birth order?
[very likely, 35 ≤ 85] YES
Was he "the spare"?
[fifty-fifty, 31 ≤ 50] YES
So the second son, always in the shadows.
Was he also less prominent because of his mother?
[fifty-fifty, 87 ≥ 50] NO
So the crown prince was his full brother, no bastardy or remarriage.
Did his kingdom fall within a few years of his disappearance?
[unlikely, 44 ≥ 35] NO
[RANDOM] NPC negative "Travel Elements"
So Dac has been fired, for no other reason than the prized statue from the exotic ruins got up and walked away on his watch.
It's unlikely, given that it is the dark ages and the city is so small, that it was headed to a museum. So likely the statue was to be a prize for a king.
In Kai's day, mutables were known?
[fifty-fifty, 80 ≥ 50] NO
So he has no idea what's happened to him. He was part of a unit sent to deal with the medusa. Did one of his allies insult it?
[fifty-fifty, 66 ≥ 50] NO
Did it attack them first?
[fifty-fifty, 73 ≥ 50] NO
Did one of his allies attack it?
[fifty-fifty, 27 ≤ 50] YES
So they arrived to parlay with the creature and -- medusas were oracles, perhaps they were there to ask it a question?
Propose Danger
Seems logical. But it.. took a fancy to Kai?
[very likely, 1 ≤ 16] Exceptional YES
It fell madly in lust with him and tried to trade the knowledge they were seeking for him. One of his guards was working for a mutable and tried to assasinate her, and then was turned to stone.
This triggered Kai's mutability and the subsequent feedback knocked out most of them; the survivors fled, likely thinking their companions were dead.
Leaving him and at least a few of his compatriots as prisoners of the medusa.
I think that's plenty of backstory for now.
Thread Added: who restored Kai from a statue
Is Turan a wealthy merchant?
[very likely, 90 ≥ 85] NO
So he's a poor one, or not one at all. I'm going to say he's a gambling man; he finances expeditions into dangerous, dark places and sells the results, over what his agents keep. Things like statues and magical items and carpets.
Are mutables widely known now?
[fifty-fifty, 94 ≥ 91] Exceptional NO
They're absolutely unknown; nobody has ever heard of such a thing.
Amend that; there was a period shortly after Kai vanished where mutables began appearing.
Did they attempt a coup?
[fifty-fifty, 47 ≤ 50] YES
Led by a charismatic mutable, they attempted to overthrow the king.
Were they successful?
[fifty-fifty, 11 ≤ 50] YES
[RANDOM] Move toward a thread "Adjourn Fame"
So they overthrew the king, but were unable to control their powers or themselves, and quickly fell into infighting and then obscurity, along with Kai's people.
Kai doesn't know of any of this; Dac knows that the previous civilization was destroyed by monsters in human form who could wield the powers of many different monsters at once. But that's just all legend and superstition, of course.
Going to need a nice name for Kai's people and for Dac's.
Right now I'm picturing Dac as Kai's Watson, at least for a bit.
So it's roughly as if a noble from ancient Rome woke up in the Dark Ages. If ancient Rome was a mageocracy.
World building; we know lots now. Medusas are seers and lusty; two Facts to add to them.
