Category Archives: Game Diary
A Plaguebearer in Skyrim: The Epiphany
The base of Northwind Summit, rumored nest of a dragon.
(Before reading, you should read the first part of our heroes’ adventures. It’s right here.)
Illia continues to be worried about Innohunk as they near Northwind Summit, the northernmost peak in the Rift. It is a lawless region, barely overseen by its jarl in the capital of Riften. It is populated with bears, wolves, bandits, and, if the rumors prove true (they almost always do in Tamriel), dragons. If anything ill should befall them, there will be no help, as nearest civilization is either the unprotected mining camp of Darkwater Crossing on the river to the west, or the city of Windhelm across miles of desolate marshes to the north. That is to say, only weeks ago Innohunk would have been reveling in the danger of their quest. Today he is as gloomy as the Northwind mountains.
Illia has had a witchly premonition (though she quietly disclaims that she is not a witch, not anymore) that the source of Innohunk’s bleak mood will be revealed this very day. The anticipation is killing her.
A Plaguebearer in Skyrim: Meet the Dragonborn
Innohunk is so heroic, he blacksmiths in plate. Doesn't even feel the heat.
Meet Innohunk.
Innohunk is the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn. This means he’s got a capital-d Destiny. As such, he’s one of the most talented men in all of Skyrim — nay, all of Tamriel! Everyone wants him to solve their problems. Women want a peek of what’s under his mail skirt, and men want to die by his side. He’s amassed so much treasure that his eventual barrow will be looted for centuries to come. Basically, he’s got everything a red-blooded Nord man could ask for.
So why does Innohunk look so sad?
Mansions of Madness: Blood Ties (Part 3)
Last time on Mansions of Madness: Blood Ties...
That is not dead which can eternal lie,
and with strange aeons even death may die.
— H.P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”
When last we saw our investigators, things weren’t going well. You should read all about that before continuing on (Part 1, Part 2) . “Ashcan” Pete’s uncle Artimus has made some sort of black bargain, and now that he’s died it’s blowing back Ashcan’s way (“Just my luck,” he mutters repeatedly), who is now trapped between a mi-go and a zombie. Professor Harvey Walters has contracted an otherworldly case of kleptomania. Kate Winthrop and Sister Mary were ambushed by a very suspiciously quiet zombie, and now they’re hiding out in the house at the north of Artimus’ estate.
Is this the end for our ragged band?
Mansions of Madness: Blood Ties (Part 2)
Our four investigators, searching the Artimus Estate for clues.
West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut.
— H.P. Lovecraft, “The Colour Out of Space”
When we last saw our intrepid investigators, they were about to begin their adventure. Such suspense! This time, we’ll definitely get to see some actual adventuring as they investigate the estate of “Ashcan” Pete’s deceased uncle, who was quite strange. Before continuing, you should probably read Part 1.
Mansions of Madness: Blood Ties (Part 1)
The "Blood Ties" map, complete with starting setup cards.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
— H.P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”
Mansions of Madness by Fantasy Flight Games is about an ancient conflict, between incomprehensible things and a few ignorant people willing to peer into the unknown, and in the process push back the darkness for a few minutes more or lose their sanity. It takes place in the thick of Lovecraft’s (and his inheritors’) fiction, in a vast universe hostile, or perhaps worse, indifferent, to man.
I sat down on Halloween night with my wife, my sister Emilie, and two friends to play through one of the game’s scenarios, “Blood Ties.” This is the story of what befell four investigators as they struggled to uncover the mystery of a blood relative, and the legacy he may have passed on…
RPS Ascension: Annum Belli Apparatum (Spring and Summer, Year 2)
Ichiro is feeling good about himself, for the first time he can remember since he joined the Demon Priesthood. There is peace between Wayland of the Marverni tribes and Akenbei of the Yomi, and the dominion of Akenbei is secure all along the coast thanks to Ichiro’s temples. So he’s mortified, naturally, to learn that Akenbei intends to invade the Marverni lands so soon after an agreement has been made.
The situation in the southern half of the western landmass of Antopeos
Ichiro sees some problems with Akenbei’s plan. First, there is no guarantee that Raidon’s army will be able to survive an attack on Bogger Wold after the army has been worn out by months of combat. Second, when the forces of the Yomi are compared to that of the Marverni, it is apparent that there are three Marverni soldiers to every Yomi currently fielded. Third — and most importantly — Ichiro has been left without any attendant army in Roca while Akenbei and Raidon have camped their forces in Temiglia. If they invade Bogger Wold, the inevitable reprisal from Marverni will likely consist of their army in Diluphe marching north to where Ichiro is stationed, burning and plundering everything in their path. Ichiro’s good mood simply won’t abide this possibility.
RPS Ascension: White Candles (Winter, Year 1)
With peace brokered between Yomi and Marverni, Akenbei’s reign is secure for the time being, allowing him to turn his attention to resolving the war of faith with Nerae of Oceania and expanding south as quickly as his army will march. As winter begins, Nanvather the Demon Priest announces the construction of a temple in Cynaphe, the first temple dedicated to Akenbei outside of the capital. Soon after, Akenbei’s army, led by himself, Raidon the bandit, and Ichiro the prophet, conquers the meager defenders of the wasteland-province of Boggiton.
Winter begins
RPS Ascension: The Autumn Accords (Autumn, Year 1)
After the long summer campaign and successful conquest of Histyra, Akenbei is so swollen with confidence that he returns with his army to Yomi for a month of feasting and reinforcement. While there, his researching sorcerers inform him that they have completed their first forays into the lost science of Alteration — the school of magic concerned with bending the physical world to the will of the caster. Akenbei immediately decides to forget that he ever bothered with the useless Twist Fate spell, and sets to practicing one of the new Alteration spells being passed around Yomi: Personal Luck. This trick grants him immense fortune in combat, making enemy ankles catch in molehills as they charge, and swords slide uselessly off his rough hide.
But while Akenbei is delighting in his new powers, he receives some bad news, both from Rai in the south and the watchposts along the borders of Yomi.
Marverni, a nation of druids and allied tribesmen
RPS Ascension: Relearning Warfare (Summer, Year 1)
Akenbei is an imposing god. He stands fifteen feet tall, is gifted in earth and astral magic, and is a veritable battering ram of a warrior. He has marched north to the modestly wealthy independent state of Talito with a mind to expand his power. His army — more a band of ruffians at this point, but Akenbei reminds himself he is a patient god — is enthusiastic. How much trouble can the defensive forces of such a small state be, anyway?
Akenbei and his glorious army
Unfortunately, Akenbei’s long slumber has left him drowsy in the tactics department.
RPS Ascension: The Awakening (Spring, Year 1)
And so the RPS game of Dominions 3 begins, with the awakening of a pretender long dormant: Akenbei. Akenbei has risen from his long sleep in the fissured netherworld beneath Yomi, where he was laid to rest during the rule of the Pantokrator, the Old God. Long did Yomi-backs bend before that foreign king — and to think, he called Akenbei “pretender”! — but now the jubilant cries of all the creatures and cultists of Yomi have fallen upon ears no longer dumb with slumber. Akenbei has been made to stir, focus lidless eye, and shudder throat and tongue with speech long forgotten.
Antopeos, abandoned by its patron.
SPACE-BIFF! 