Part 2
The last session ended with the players hiding in a guardroom, healing up before moving toward the ritual being held in the centre of town. The druid shifts to monkey form and scouts ahead on the rooftops, while the princess and cleric move along the alleys.
A scream attracts the druid and he discovers a group of cultists menacing a young girl, he shrieks to attract the others and throws pebbles at the cultists to draw them off, two give chase and he retreats, shifting to panther form as he does. The princess clambers onto a rooftop and begins sniping at them as the panther pushes one of them off the roof before dropping down to confront the others.
The cleric arrives and charges the cultists ( to little effect ) and the druid becomes an elephant to push them back. Meanwhile the cultist on the roof charges at the princess and she runs, calling on her ‘friends’ to aid her ( one of her starting moves ) – she established that they were the monsters in the closet, the nature of whom we haven’t explored as yet. They create a hole in the roof and pull her to safety. The fight with the cultists swings back and forth until the druid throws caution to the wind and charges, trampling the cultists and wrecking the surrounding architecture.
As befits the tropes the princess has attracted more unwanted attention and the others rush to help as she climbs back to the rooftops only to be confronted with a lone cultist whose tattoos begin to writhe and envelop him in smoky tendrils which reach for her. The princess brandishes her amulet, given by her mother which has begun to glow, and with a blinding flash and scream, the cultist vanishes. Everyone, is surprised by this, there seems to be more to the princess’s family than anyone realized (including her).
Once the dust settles they push on, the druid leading the way in elephant form ( the player is really getting into the shape shifting routine ). They reach the town square where dozens of cultists are enacting some sort of ritual. Realizing they cannot win by force the cleric implores his god for a sign which leads them to a temple, Inside many people are hiding, and the high priest, tells them there might be a way to stop the ritual. Many centuries ago, in the time of war a guardian was created to defend the town, but has since been sealed away beneath the town since they feared it’s power.
The agree to try and locate the guardian, and the people give them what little they can in the way of provisions. The princess uses her powers to persuade a couple of the town guards hiding in the church to accompany them and they set off through the catacombs.
I think this session went a lot smoother, I was better psyched up for narrating failures and consequences despite how frequently the failures seem to crop up. The 7-9 hard choices seem to work well, the princess had think carefully deciding between losing 1 ammo or exposing herself to danger, and the cleric finally gave up his healing spell, deciding his god wanted him to prove himself without it.
TLDR : Session went more more smoothly, players still having fun.
