C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 199

Adventure Edition - Babes in London: Little Girls Lost, Act Two Rewards

You can find the introduction to the Babes in London adventure sequence HERE, the background to Act One HERE, the Overview for Act One HERE., Act One Scenes 1-2 HERE and Act One Scene 3 HERE.

Act Two Preparation and Scene 1 can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 2 can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3A can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3B can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3C can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3 Finalization can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 4A can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 4B can be found HERE, and Act Two Scene 4C can be found HERE.

To play or run this game you will need the following:

PLAYERS: Fireborn Player's Handbook ;
GAME MASTERS: Fireborn Gamemaster's Handbook ;

This is a piece of fan fiction. It is NOT endorsed or acknowledged by Fantasy Flight Games; it is IN NO WAY official; it DOES NOT indicate any form of relationship between myself and Fantasy Flight Games; and I DO NOT CLAIM any of the setting specific material or setting specific concepts as my own.

GMs, please remember that there were options at the end of the last scene in Act Two that lead to different scenes within Act Three. It is strongly advised that you do not begin running Act Three until you have all the scenes and all their components.

PLAYERS SHOULD NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT  
      







REWARDS FOR ACT 2
Adventure Points:
Scene 1
Up to 1 humanity AP: to be awarded for good roleplaying.
Scene 2Up to 1 humanity AP: to be awarded for good roleplaying.
Scene 3
3A: Searching Anika’s House:1 humanity AP: to be awarded for good roleplaying and/or clever investigation of the house.Modern Rewards: Anika’s Book of Law. This thick volume of laws is based on Anika’s time as a lawgiver in Atlantis. Because these are the actual laws of Atlantis and have been inscribed with the passion of a child finding her identity, this book is a rank 2 karmic item. In addition to this, PCs who spend time reading this book gain a -1 modifier to any Knowledge (Ancient Cultures: Atlantis) test OR the edge to allow them to use Knowledge (Ancient Cultures) for mythic cultures, if they do not already possess it.Modern Reward: disk belonging to the Cult of Set. This disk will provide a valuable clue to future investigations, as well as being one of the items required for entry to certain of the cult’s hideouts.
3B: Hounds of the Law:
Up to 1 heritage AP: to be awarded for good roleplaying1 heritage AP: if the PCs manage to capture Karymnos and Brinna in Part C: Rendezvous rather than finding out they had eventually captured them in Part D: Sentence & Reward.Karma = Base AirMythic/Modern Reward: Title “Hound of the Law”. In mythic times, ‘Hounds’ were accorded a special place in Atlantean society. Their services were recognized in legal arenas. Mechanics: -2 modifier to Research tests carried out in mythic Atlantis. In modern times this correlates to a -1 modifier to Research tests carried out in relation to mythic Atlantis.
3C: Friends of Kredak
1 heritage AP: awarded for defeating the minions of Set rather than finding out that this is how the scene played out.Karma = Base AirMythic/Modern Reward: The PC has saved the dragon, Kredak’s, life and earned his gratitude. The PC now possesses the title: Friend of Kredak and gains an ally in both mythic and modern times (Mechanics: PCs gain the free Edge – Allies 2: Kredak, which can be upgraded (if PCs spend an additional 3 APs) to Allies 3: Kredak + 1 other member of Kredak’s Brood, OR if they spend an additional 7 APs, they can upgrade this edge to Edge – Allies 4: Kredak + 2 other members of Kredak’s Brood. This reflects the other interactions they have had with Kredak – and his brood, over the ages.).
Scene 4
4A: Searching Leyila’s HouseUp to 1 humanity AP: to be awarded for good roleplaying and/or clever investigation of the house.
4B: Kehebite Dancer
1 heritage AP: for defeating the Setite assassinsUp to 1 additional heritage AP: for good roleplaying in the aftermath of the Setite attack.Karma = Base AirMythic Reward: Title: Friends of the Dancers of Prophecy (may also be a modern reward if the dancers still exist). The PC has saved the life of Leyila, in her disguise as a temple dancer of prophecy. The Dancers of Prophecy will give the PCs any assistance within their capability. Mechanics: Once per adventure set in mythic Keheb, PCs can ask for assistance from the Dancers. This can be in the form of a foretelling that gives them a -1 modifier to attacks and actions in their next battle, or it can be a vital piece of information that the Dancers divine on the PCs behalf. This benefit transfers to the Modern era, if the PCs find the Dancers of Prophecy in modern times.Mythic Twist with Modern Effect: By saving the dancer and interfering with the assassination, the PC has earned the Enmity of Set, something that lasts through the ages to the present day (but only activates if the PC’s modern form is discovered by the Setites). The PC has gotten in the way of a Setite goal; this time by interfering with an assassination attempt against a Dancer of Prophecy. The PC’s description is being circulated to Setite cells with the instructions that any Setite encountering them is to, where practicable, seriously injure the PC and/or actively work to foil the PC’s apparent goals. Mechanics: Once per session, on a roll of 1 on a six-sided dice, the PC experiences some Setite-originated setback in their plans or actions OR is attacked by a Setite assassin.
4C: Defense of Leyila’s Parents
1 humanity OR heritage AP: depending on PC method, awarded for the successful defense of Leyila’s parents.Modern Consequence: For their interference in the attempted capture of Leyila’s parents, the PCs have earned themselves the Enmity of the Setites and activated the Enmity of Setites: earned in 4B as they reveal their modern identities. The PC has gotten in the way of a Setite goal by interfering with the capture of the Leyila Andrews’ parents. The PC’s description is being circulated to Setite cells with the instructions that any Setite encountering them is to, where practicable, seriously injure the PC and/or actively work to foil the PC’s apparent goals. Mechanics: Once per session, on a roll of 1 on a six-sided dice, the PC experiences some Setite-originated setback in their plans or actions OR is attacked by a Setite assassin in a scene set in modern times.

END OF ACT TWO REWARDS
Next week, I will post the Background section for Babes in London, Part 2, Little Girls Lost .

Australian Spiders: A Large White Tail came to Visit

This is a whitetail spider. If you look very closely, you can see a faint white marking near the end of her abdomen that gives it the name. The sun glare is from the bathroom, she later headed into.




That, as well as the long, almost cylindrical body and distinctive layout of the head and legs is a giveaway. As you can see, they are climbing spiders.

 

 


 They also have a nasty habit of dropping onto things that pass below them - and biting them. They are quite poisonous.

This one measured around 2.5-3 cm (approximately an inch) long and about 0.5 cm (or around 1/4-1/5 of an inch) across, which makes it probably female, and most definitely the biggest of these spiders I've seen in an urban environment. I've used a door jamb here to give you an idea of the size. Not my best photo, but I hope it helps in understanding the size.




I've seen one larger, but not much, and that one was in a still-establishing housing development, in a crease in a pair of jeans that were waiting to be folded. Quite a surprise - and one that was none too pleased to be disturbed.

They also like to hide behind things, and fit into quite narrow spaces. This one tried to take shelter behind a bathroom mirror, but we couldn't afford to let her get away - not with a small child in the house. Actually, not in the house at all. They can make adults quite ill, as well.

Progress Report: Week 2 October 2013

Progress Report: Week 2 October 2013A busy week playing catch up, but at least my health has improved. Monday sees a return to the day job, so more adjustments are in store.OverviewNew words produced: 5,257Old words revised: 22,618Works completed: 12 (all for larger projects)Works revised: 3 (1 partial, 2 complete prior to publishing)Covers created: 0 (1-3 variations)Works published: 0 (2-3 release platforms)Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Publishing TasksCreated 3 blog posts for this blog;Edited work for Eleanor Maine and Ellie MoonwaterEdited ShortStory45—The Reptiles’ BladeNew ArrivalsThe following ideas arrived this week:
Chapbook14E-F: two more wheelchair tales;Poem182—When Talking Doesn’t Help: literally—a poem;Poem183—The Ogre Raid: poem about an ogre raidPoem184—Starlight and Dreams: about maturing and what happens to our dreams;Poem185—An Apology for Being Different: about being a nerd;Poem186 —Hellfire and Trolls: about a dragon and some trolls;ShortStory92—The Sonic Slayer: flash fiction about a different kind of slayer;ShortStory93—The Apocalypse Bride: flash fiction about a starship;ShortStory94—Voices on the Wind: flash fiction about voices;ShortStory95—The Negotiator: about a new kind of negotiator;ShortStory96—A Murderer in our Midst: flash fiction about a fantasy murder investigation;ShortStory97—Trial by Dragon-Fire: flash fiction about a plague;ShortStory98—The Vultures’ Feast: a ghoulish flash fiction tale about a dinner invitation;YANovel15A: About a duck pond

Record-Keeping for Indies

I originally wrote this for the Dark Side Down Under's regular Magic Thursday Feature, but I've added a little bit more and thought it worth repeating here. Enjoy. Promotion. Regardless of whether or not you’re independently or traditionally published, it’s a nightmare, a time-eater, a word-creation-time thief. But there are ways of reducing the amount of time you spend preparing each promotion and blog post. The simplest of these is to create an Excel spreadsheet or Word document capturing the information you’re going to find yourself needing to repeat for each and every title you produce. Arranging it in alphabetical order makes it easier to find in a list, or document. The following is a list of the information I find myself looking for every time I write a post to promote a particular title:Title: Well, duh. Helps you find it on the spreadsheet or Word documentAuthor Name or Pen Name: for those of you who write under different ones. Trust me, when you’re in a hurry, mistakes happen. This will help reduce the chance of attributing the wrong pen name to a title. It’s been known…Blurb and description: Trying to remember what you wrote last time rarely ever works. It is better to have a good basic blurb and description pre-written. That way you can copy and paste and then tweak it to suit the market or blog entry or platform you’re marketing to.Spiel on availability: It’s easier to create this once, put it into a blog post or web entry, and then add the links you’ve prepared below, than to try to write it anew each time.Release Date: You’d be surprised how easy it is to lose track of these, especially if you’re publishing on multiple fronts.Book Buy Links: You need to list a link for each platform on which you make your work available. Having these links available in one document makes it easy to copy and paste them into blogs and emails when writing a promotion. It makes it easier to find the links, too, when you are formatting your files for upload to different platforms. Every title I publish has at least an Amazon Kindle, and a Smashwords link. My longer works have links for Amazon Kindle, Amazon print versions, the CreateSpace store, Kobo, and the iTunes store. I should also add one in for Nook. In addition to those, I distribute my longer fantasy and science fiction titles via DriveThruFiction, so I have to include a link for that on those titles. When I start to produce roleplaying game titles, I will need to add a DriveThruRPG link as well.ISBNs or Equivalents: Some platforms have free ISBNs you can assign your books. Others give you a combination of letters to which you affix a number. While it’s useful to have your ISBNs, it is absolutely essential to write down the letter-number allotments, because forgetting can lead to a frustrating time of guessing what number you were up to.Benefits: Since I’ve been putting this information in one document, promotions have been a lot easier. I also find I can add links to the ‘my other work’ sections of my e-book editions a lot faster, now I don’t have to search the titles up each and every time I do the back matter for a title. They’re also helpful when updating your titles on Linked-In or adding your covers to Pinterest.Little things like this buy you writing time, and in this busy, busy world, writing time is precious.

Adventure Edition - Babes in London: Little Girls Lost, Act Two Scene 4C

You can find the introduction to the Babes in London adventure sequence HERE, the background to Act One HERE, the Overview for Act One HERE., Act One Scenes 1-2 HERE and Act One Scene 3 HERE.

Act Two Preparation and Scene 1 can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 2 can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3A can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3B can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3C can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3 Finalization can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 4A can be found HERE and Act Scene 4B can be found HERE.

To play or run this game you will need the following:

PLAYERS: Fireborn Player's Handbook ;
GAME MASTERS: Fireborn Gamemaster's Handbook ;

This is a piece of fan fiction. It is NOT endorsed or acknowledged by Fantasy Flight Games; it is IN NO WAY official; it DOES NOT indicate any form of relationship between myself and Fantasy Flight Games; and I DO NOT CLAIM any of the setting specific material or setting specific concepts as my own.

GMs, please note that this scene is the end scene to Scene 4A, and that there is cut-scene (posted last week) preceding it. You should not run this scene until you have all the parts belonging to it. Also, please note that these scenes have not been playtested, so you may need to adjust them on the fly. If you do, I would be grateful for any feedback.

PLAYERS SHOULD NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT  
      








SCENE FOUR C: SETITE ATTACK
A soft knock at the door heralds the return of DI Mullins: “If you’ve quite finished…” he says. NOTE: Allow PCs to start to interact with the DI, and then have them make an Earth (Senses) TH4 test to hear the arrival of the assassins in the kitchen. If they make the test and head downstairs to investigate, or follow the DI downstairs immediately without discussing anything with him, the PCs will meet the assassins as both parties enter the dining room. If they do not hear the assassins, or stay discussing things with the DI, they are alerted to the attack by a shout of alarm from Leyila’s father.
Hearing the Sound: It’s no louder than a whisper but you hear it anyway. Below you, a door to the house opens and closes quietly. A foot slides against a tiled floor and nudges something into the wall.
Coming Downstairs Straight Away or After Hearing the Sound: You step into the dining room just as the door from the kitchen opens part way. It pauses for a moment before opening the whole way and a darkly-clad figure steps through. Two paces it moves, then three, heading for the atrium, turning its head and body to survey the dining room as it passes.
NOTES: Unless PCs find a miracle, or are taking extraordinary precautions, the assassin sees them as it half-turns to face the alcove where stairs join the dining room. Roll initiative.
Assassins’ and DI Mullins’ Tactics:Round 1: The first assassin attacks. A second assassin enters the room and joins the first in the attack. DI Mullins calls the constables outside on the radio. (He has followed the PCs out of Leyila’s room and down the stairs and is at the back of the party.)Round 2: Two more assassins attempt to slip past the battle. Have PCs make an Earth (Senses) test at +3 difficulty (due to the fact they are engaged in combat) against these two assassins’ Air (Stealth) TH3 tests. DI Mullins calls for back-up, the assassins now have five minutes. (The constables outside are out for the count and have been hidden from view from the street.)Round 3: Unless the PCs interfere, the last two assassins make it to the lounge room, where they will attempt to capture Leyila’s parents. DI Mullins takes out his sidearm and either shoots an attacking assassin (if he can get a clear shot) or tries to work his way around the melee to the lounge room in order to protect Leyila’s parents. Go to Leyila’s Parents Vs the Assassins.
Not Hearing the Sound: PCs who don’t hear the sound will be alerted as follows: Downstairs, there is a scream of frustration and fear, followed by the sound of something breaking. DI Mullins swears and bolts for the door.
Combat After Hearing Mrs Andrews Scream: PCs miss the first three rounds as described above. They arrive at the lounge room at the first dot point in Leyila’s Parents Vs the Assassins. Make the following alterations before running this section:(i)                 DI Mullins does not get the chance to radio for help so no cavalry is on its way;(ii)               Add two more assassins to the lounge room scene.
Beyond this, the assassins’ tactics remain the same.
Leyila’s Parents Vs the Assassins: It takes the assassins five rounds to subdue Leyila’s parents and get them out the front door to the car waiting in the street.
If the PCs get to Leyila’s parents before the assassins subdue and remove them, then read or paraphrase the following: Mrs Andrews has picked up a lamp. Pale-faced and as determined as before, she has hold of the shade and is swinging the heavy end at one of the assassins. Mr Andrews is brandishing a cushion, although a shattered teapot lies on the floor nearby. The two assassins facing them seem intent on driving them back towards the open window and, as you watch, a third assassin rises out of the shrubbery beyond holding a long tube to its lips. DI Mullins lies next to the door a livid bruise covering one side of his face. If the PCs fail to get to Leyila’s parents before they are taken, read: Car doors slam in the street and you glance through the open door in time to see a white delivery van drive quickly away from the front of the house. Before you can reach the door, it turns a corner and is gone. You can hear the sound of approaching sirens. If the PCs win the battle with the Setite assassins and manage to rescue Leyila’s parents, they are able to find the three (still breathing) constables and can attempt to bring DI Mullins back to consciousness before his back-up arrives. Otherwise they have a lot of explaining to do. Play out the scene where PCs decide what to do. If the PCs show any sign of leaving, the Andrews beg them to stay.Mrs Andrews says she will make another pot of tea, before realizing that the pot is smashed and bursting into tears, pulling herself back together and apologizing for being ‘such a wet blanket’.Mr Andrews offers to square things up with the police when they arrive and asks for help with the officers. If pressed, he admits he doesn’t think they can ‘cope’ with another attack.DI Mullins, if he can be brought round, asks them to stay and make their statements. He says they should at least give the police time to recognize their allies, and he makes a call to get the back-up to come in more calmly.By the end of this section, PCs should be established as being ‘helpful’ to the police and the Andrews will be heading back to the station so they can be protected. Once all the loose ends are settled, read or paraphrase the following:
With the door the Andrews house being firmly locked behind you, you realize what’s probably happened to Anika’s parents. The only problem is that you can’t work out what the assassins would want with them. There’s something you feel you should remember about the assassins and children and children’s parents, but, for the moment, it escapes you. In the meantime, your mind buzzes with the things you must do – and the artist in Cambden is only one of the items on your list. Finding out about the symbol on the disk is another. Overlaying it all is the need to act. The children must be found and found quickly. What are you going to do next?
After Searching Leyila’s House: When PCs have finished searching Leyila’s house, they have a number of options. They can:go and search Anika’s House (Go To Act II, Scene 3);try to find mythological references to assassins of Set, Dancers of Prophecy, Het or Keheb (go to Act III, Scene 4);go to Emblae (if they have played The Fire Within) – in which case the faery identifies the assassins as Setites and warns them that the Setites were often known to use the parents of children as leverage to get the children to do what the assassins wanted, either by brainwashing the parents, or threatening to kill them;go the Fae of Haverhill (if they have played The Fire Within) in which case PCs receive the above information;contact the Gehenna Consortium, go to Act 3, Scene 3.contact allies in LN7, go to Act 3, Scene 2. 
END ACT TWO SCENE 4B
Next week, I will post Act Two, Rewards.

Australian Birds: Swallow over Water

So, I was taking pictures of the European coots swimming on the lake, but these little guys caught my eyes and just dared me to try to catch them on the wing. It wasn't easy, but this is what I got:








And now they have set me a challenge... I know where they nest. Between the shift in light and their swift movement, those shots are going to be hard to get.

Flash Fiction Challenge: Roll for your Life - The Apocalypse Bride

This week's flash fiction challenge over at Chuck Wendig's terribleminds blog involved randomly rolling two words and joining them together to become a title. We were allowed to add 'The' in front, if we wanted to. I rolled a '9' and a '1' and came out with 'apocalypse' and 'bride'. My first reaction was that I did not want to write a zombie story. I know it would have worked but... just 'no', okay? So, I ran the words together and the next thought that struck was that this would make a great name for a starship. And the story came from there. The Apocalypse Bride is 1,000 words long - excluding the the title. Enjoy :-)




The Apocalypse Bride
The Apocalypse Bride came down in a shower of star dust and meteor debris. She took the hit that would have set the world askew, and her fleet sisters did the rest. Her entire crew were snagged from orbit after sending her on her way. Most of the rescue ships even made it planet-side, avoiding the aftermath through luck and sheer pilot bravado. No AI could fly like that.
We watched Apocalypse Bride fall, saw her sink from the ocean of stars in pieces not much larger than housing blocks. Damn, she’d been a big girl—the only one who could’ve done it, although nothing could have done it *and* survived. I mourned her loss. The others just stood with mouths agape and hoped nothing would land on their heads.There was one thing that hadn’t made it off the ship. I hoped to hell it had made it through the crash and then the fall. Why no-one had thought of the research stored in her data files, I don’t know. Maybe it was too much panic and too little time. Heaven knows, the scientists hadn’t been given the time to pack. Getting them off and away in an orderly fashion had been hard enough to swing while we maneuvered her into place.The meteor had very nearly blind-sided us, and we’d been reeling as it was. A mega-storm, an earthquake and a pending volcanic eruption hadn’t been enough to worry about? Apparently not. If Karma is a beeatch, then Mother Nature is the biggest Mother out there, and she’d obviously had enough of the way we’d been treating her—enough to throw a meteor at us, while we were repairing the only space station able to look in that direction.What can I say? That station had been broke a long time, and the government had been just as broke—broke enough that looking into space hadn’t been a high priority. Well, it is now.We’d lucked out when the guys in Orbit One decided to take a peek out the window pointed away from Earth. Granted, it had been a wild and stormy day, and there’d been nothing to see dirtside, but they’d known about the broken satellite station, and they’d been joking about being able to see what the rest of us were missing. The meteor had been an entertaining shadow blotting out the starscape, until the radar started to beep. They phoned home right away.So, I watch, dividing my time between the sky, the radar, and the machine-that-goes-beep, which I’m holding in one hand. That beep is going to go a long way to re-stabilising the population—if it survives impact. If we can get to the Bride’s research centre. If it misses the nuclear power plant, and anything else that goes boom on landing.I swing the detector, aiming carefully at each falling chunk. The Apocalypse Bride is coming in hard. The old girl is taking this marriage of fate a bit too seriously for my liking. I’m pretty sure that whole joining-together-as-one thing did not mean being embedded into each other so tight it’ll take a seismic survey to tell the two apart. Still, it ain’t my wedding, so what do I know?The detector tells me the chunk we need is coming in as predicted. It sucks we couldn’t predict who’d need to evacuate. Pretty early on, we’d been thinking the Bride would come to roost in a remoter part of the country. Well, she didn’t and she ain’t, and…I shake myself together. Grieving will come later, and that’s only if we can stop the plague that arrived in the volcano’s aftermath. Whole world was busy tracking the ash cloud and trying to pull itself out of the morass left by the storm, while the aftershocks rolled through more densely populated lands than ours. I vaguely remember someone saying they’d lost sight of at least one island. Apparently there were houses floating on the same currents carrying plastic bags to that garbage island in the South Sea.No one had time for an itty bitty flu. Not when it was only us.I’d thank God for international travel and humanity’s tendency to selfishness, which means they fly when they know they’ve got a fever and darn well shouldn’t. If so many hadn’t, we’d be fighting this particular devil on our own. The world’s like that.But people did travel sick, all hoping to get home before the ash cloud grounded them for God-knows-how-many months, and now enough of the world is trying to get a vaccine or a cure that I have a machine to detect the bit of Apocalypse Bride that we’re all gonna need, because that particular bit—if it survives—holds the key to this particular fever. Because some medical organisation found an interesting bug, and some unnamed conglomerate wanted to see how it fared in space—for reasons it won’t name—and the world united and said the results were ours.The chunk is just a smouldering ruin of metal and plastech, where before it was a descending candelabra of flame. Re-entry is over and that budgie is comin’ home to roost—along with a whole flock of its friends. Satisfied it ain’t gonna land on the bunker, I signal the team inside. Three need a quick tap on the shoulder to get them moving, and I can’t say as I blame them. One needs a sharp slap upside the head.The bunker seals and holds, but we know when our bit of the Bridesets down. It’s like a small earthquake all on its own. We’re just lucky it’s not going to set off a real earth shake, not here. There are other parts of the planet not so lucky. When everything settles, and I can get feeds from the cameras outside, I take look around. It’s an hour before we can shoulder our packs and head out to the vehicles.Now, it’s time for retrieval.

Agravaine's Rest Released by Raging Swan Press

So, a while back, I submitted an idea for Raging Swan's Village Backdrop series called Agravaine's Rest.  The good news is that it was accepted, better news is that it released last week, and the best news is that it received a five-star review shortly afterwards, which was pretty exciting.

What's it all about?

Agravaine's Rest is a waystation, built around a paladin's grave at the foot of a mountain pass. It is also a haven for half-orcs and orcs and a fortress for civilisation in a very inhospitable area. This small settlement is designed to be added to a campaign set in a hilly or mountainous region.

More details are available from its page at Raging Swan Press, and it can be purchased from DriveThruRPG, d20pfsrd, e23, Paizo, and RPGNow.

Progress Report: Week 1 October 2013

I am so sick of being sick.OverviewNew words produced: 650Old words revised: 27,359Works completed: 0Works revised: 0Covers created: 0 (1-3 variations)Works published: 0 (2-3 release platforms)Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Extra Tasks
ShortStory39—Death Comes in Bone: Added1,800 words, completed and edited story
Researching new setting.
Publishing Tasks
Created 3 blog posts for this blog;
New ArrivalsThe following ideas arrived this week:

Poem176—Remnants of a Lost Art: about old magic;Poem177—Trolls in Acrostication: about trolls;Poem178—Thieves:about thieves;Poem179—Sorceress:about a sorceress facing overwhelming odds;Poem180—A Storyteller in the Aftermath: About a storyteller in the aftermath of an apocalypse;Poem181—Do not Dwell in the Night—Remember: A farewell;ShortStory87—Paperwork Makes the World Go Round: seriously, it’s true;ShortStory88—Holographic Control: an exploration of virtual reality;ShortStory89—Orders from an Ogress: as it says;ShortStory90—Future Slayer: a science fiction ‘slayer’;ShortStory91—Surviving the Gates’ Demise: a tale of Tzamesch;

Rediscovered work assigned a project number editing and production:

RPGAdventure22A—The Trouble in Telandy: a large adventure where PCs uncover and attempt to foil two kidnap plots, a protection racket and an annexation.RPGAdventure23A—Earthly Ties: in which PCs have to deliver a message.

Adventure Edition - Babes in London: Little Girls Lost Act Two Scene 4B

You can find the introduction to the Babes in London adventure sequence HERE, the background to Act One HERE, the Overview for Act One HERE., Act One Scenes 1-2 HERE and Act One Scene 3 HERE.

Act Two Preparation and Scene 1 can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 2 can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3A can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3B can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3C can be found HERE, Act Two Scene 3 Finalization can be found HERE, and Act Two Scene 4A can be found HERE.

To play or run this game you will need the following:

PLAYERS: Fireborn Player's Handbook ;
GAME MASTERS: Fireborn Gamemaster's Handbook ;

This is a piece of fan fiction. It is NOT endorsed or acknowledged by Fantasy Flight Games; it is IN NO WAY official; it DOES NOT indicate any form of relationship between myself and Fantasy Flight Games; and I DO NOT CLAIM any of the setting specific material or setting specific concepts as my own.

GMs, please note that this scene is a cut-scene interlinked with Scene 4A, and that there is a final scene following it. You should not run this scene until you have all the parts belonging to it. Also, please note that these scenes have not been playtested, so you may need to adjust them on the fly. If you do, I would be grateful for any feedback.

PLAYERS SHOULD NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT  
      









SCENE FOUR B: KEHEBITE DANCER
Drums beat and flickering torches join the glow of three-meter tall braziers. The smell of incense hangs heavily in the air. You are standing on the ground floor gallery in what appears to be the inside of a church. On second thoughts, you realize it is a temple of some kind and that you are barely dressed! Before you can react to this, there is a clash of symbols, and a beam of reflected light hits the centre of the open space before the gallery. A dancer stands there. You did not see or hear her enter – a seeming impossibility as she raises her head causing a myriad of bells to come to life. Like you, she is barely covered. Like her audience her clothes are of the lightest fabric. Unlike her audience, she is covered in a dusting of gold. Somewhere in the shadows a flute begins to play, tambourines and lutes join the drums and the woman begins to move. Everyone around you seems to be holding their breath. Every eye is on the dancer.
Give the players time to respond. A successful Knowledge: Mythic Culture or Knowledge: Mythic Religion test will reveal the following:
·         TH3 The apparent lack of clothing and the fact that no one around you appears to be embarrassed by it, the warmth that can be felt radiating from the wall at your back, and the sandstone pillars separating the gallery from the dance floor – these things point to you being in the Land of Keheb, a desert country south of Atlantis. ·         TH4 You’re not absolutely certain, but there was an entire pantheon of gods, and temple dancers were part of certain ceremonies.·         TH5 While temple dancers were to be found in most temples, only a few priesthoods gave them the status of a single performance to a packed house like this one. You catch a shimmer of gold at the end of the room and realize that there is another member of the audience carefully screened from the rest. Royalty? You feel like you’ve come in half way through a conversation – that you missed something really important. Now, if only you could remember which gods gave the dancers such prominence!·         TH6 Of all the deities in Keheb, there were only two that gave dancers so high a place. The most famous of these was Het in charge of revelation and the dancers were a form of seer. To be dancing alone like this meant the dancer before you must be one of the elite of this elite group – A Dancer of Prophecy. Her dance is a reply to someone’s question regarding the future and will be interpreted by the priests at its completion.
PCs making a successful opposed Senses (Air) test against the Set assassins Stealth (Air) to notice one or more of them moving through the crowd on the ground floor. Those that succeed by 2 or more see the assassin in the upper gallery. (NOTE: There is +2 TH modifier to the PCs test due to the dim light and musicians). When (or if) they succeed read, or paraphrase, the following:
A movement in the crowd catches your attention. One shadow amidst all the rest is gliding forward. A shadow, or someone who’s overdressed for the occasion? Now that you’ve noted it, you can see other shadows on the move, all taking routes that will bring them closer to the dancer’s path. As you watch, the shadow nearest you takes something out of what can only be robes and crouches. It looks like it is taking aim at the dancer and you realize, as your brain screams CROSSBOW! that it and its companions cannot be allowed to succeed.
These shadows are Set assassins. Their mission is to kill the temple dancer before her dance is complete and to force the city’s ruler into a position where he can no longer check the advice he’s been receiving from the vizier they control. If he takes the vizier’s advice, the result will be chaos and, hopefully, for them, a civil war that will draw attention away from their operations in the area. If the dancer completes her performance, the vizier will be revealed and their operations will be in danger of collapse. There are three assassins altogether. The PCs need to act quickly or the temple guards will take the glory.
Notes: Allow the PCs to act. The dancer continues to dance and their goal should be to allow her to do so – if they try to intervene, she raises her hand in a command for them to stop and allow her to dance. Describe how strongly they feel the importance for her to finish the dance. Don’t forget the sudden tension from the dais and other audience. Describe the way the temple guards begin moving through the crowd towards them. (Once the assassins are revealed – either through a foiled attempt on the dancer’s life, or through PC actions; the guards will change target to the assassins.) Once the action is over, go to Aftermath below.
SETITE ASSASSINEra Mythic; Race Natural being; APL 4; Init ; Aspects Fire 4, Water 4, Air 3, Earth 3; Health 4m; <3 / 6+ / 9+ / 12+ / 15+ / 18+ / 21+ / 24+; Size/Reach 0 / 2; Armor 0; Karma 15; Stride 20 ft. (Moderate) Combat Gauntlet Bow 2/L + poison (6/H), Throwing Dagger 4/L, Punching Dagger 5/L, Throwing Dart 4/L, Scimitar 9/M, Fist (2) 3/L, Kick (2) 4/M, Sequences Knife Fighter Abilities Skills Athletics 4, Knowledge: Geography 2, Melee 4, Ranged 4, Senses 4, Stealth 4; Edges Deft 3, Network: Cult of Set 1, Stealthy
AFTERMATH: Once the Setite assassins have been defeated, read or paraphrase the following: The dancer completes the last step and bows gracefully to the dais before shaking the bells at her wrists and striding swiftly towards you. “You have saved my life,” she says. “You have my friendship in this and other eras to come.” With her smile of gratitude still foremost in your mind, the scene fades, and you find yourselves back in Leyila’s room, looking down at the picture in the child’s Book of Songs.
NOTES: Go to Scene 4C: Setite Attack below:

END OF ACT TWO SCENE 4B
Next week, I will post Act Two Scene 4C.