What I sent my fellow gamers

Suvs, Bela, Steve D and Steve X,

This is to fill Suvs in but all should read before the next game as it has a new NPC below. The next Ars session is this Thursday night. So far we have had three sessions.


Background

The first and second got Thierry Ex Jerbiton, his True Friend Louis, Roger the Norman, the Magi Folquet and a mishmash of survivors from Theirry's covenant and nearby village across the Pyrenees with a wonderful, for Theirry and the Faerie, dalliance with the Spring Fae of the pass. There was also the kidnapping of Louis' new Bride and the massacre and destruction of the nicest village and Covenant in all of Europe, watched by the frozen but magically protected Famous Poet Theirry ,while Folquet and Roger tried valiantly to protect everybody. Strange beasts came through portals to do this, Roger the Norman has declared them Beasts from Hell or some such and clearly from their clawed hands, lantern eyes and grotesque old women appearance and willingness to massacre and kidnap in a horribly bloody fashion - including wearing someone's skin - they aren't nice. This was followed by the seizure of one member of Thierry's Coveant - Gautier - by the Magi Batiste, to be his apprentice. Batiste is famous for incorporating magic from the Schools of Islam into Hermetic Magic and infamous for beating, torturing and killing apprentices that displease him. Theirry was well please d to be rid of the annoying Gautier and it was Batiste's right under Hermetic Law - as a member of House Bonisagus - to seize Gautier.

The Third session saw Viriathus, Mythic Hero and Redcap, arrive in a town on the coast of Iberia to escort three newly Gauntleted Magi to their new Covenant. Before this could occur the townsfolk rose up to drive these suspect individuals from their fair coastal town, the Magi and Viriathus left as quickly as they could after terrorising the town with a Demon Horse and sending the local Priest packing in fear after he attempted to drive the demon's from the town. The four indivdiuals are now trecking across the countryside with only meager supplies, chicken theft and nabbing the meager belongings of shepherds their main sustenance. They are apparently being stalked by a wolf while Viriathus guides them towards his own objective prior to depositing them at their new abode.


What has been going on

I have been organising the sessions so that their are two PCs played by players and at least one NPC played by a player. The NPC has some broad goals that I am keen for the player to pursue as well as some personality guidelines but otherwise people play them as they see fit. This allows rules to be learned by people playing lots of different kinds of characters as well as hopefully getting everyone engaged while spreading the PCs out so they are not a DnD party wandering the countryside. I have an NPC that I am hoping you will be keen to play for the next two sessions. The current program is to get everyone's characters to the Covenant. Each group of two to three sessions should be seen as running in parallel. While Thierry and Roger do battle and make their way across the Pyrenees the current group are moving west across Iberia.

Next session will commence at the border of the forest that Viriathus has been guiding people to. The central cast will be the Italian Ex Miscellanea Magus (Steve D.) who hunts beasts, a Merinita Magus (Steve X.) with an interest in drugs and the fae. With them are an Ex Miscellanea Carthaginian Maga who terrifies most normals she encounters and Viriathus the Numantine (Bela), Mythic Hero, Redcap in the service of House Mercer and the Order of Hermes and Bloodcap, born on the fields of the final massacre by Rome of the Numantians. In addition they will encounter young Jihad (Suvs) and his magical Magpie (NPC).


Young Jihad

Jihad ran away from his Master, Zaid, a landholder on the East Coast of Iberia, when he was eight – this occurred within hours of Zaid getting him home. Jihad has been on the run ever since gradually working himself westwards across Iberia in the hope of finding his home and parents. Zaid long-ago gave up looking for his run-away slave, he was cheap and a suspicious little Berber anyway, but he has reported him to the authorities and should he hear of the boy he will come looking.

Brave in the face of threats to animals, stoic about his life, Jihad has become adept at hiding and trapping animals to survive. He is particularly adept at finding locations to hide that no one seems able to find. He found that sometimes he gets a tingling sensation and he perceives entryways that apparently escape the notice of others, he slips into these entryways and easily escapes his pursuers. Though he does not know it, he is currently using a Magical Regio inside a forest as his base of operations. Whenever he feels at threat, he slips into this area. His powers are magical in origin.

It goes against his nature but Jihad keeps to himself, his fear of others finding him and returning him to slavery ensures Jihad continues to hide. However, of course a greater fear may push him towards people that he may perceive as similar outcasts.

Ameliorating his curiosity and desire to associate with people is his only friend a Magpie, which Jihad rescued from a particularly ferocious cat and brought to one of his hiding places to nurse. The animal and Jihad have grown close, it troubles the young boy not a bit that the Magpie and he chat endlessly about Iberia, scavenging and other topics of mutual interest.

Some things the players should know about Jihad to help along the story:

• Jihad shares some interesting abilities with the Mythic Hero Viriathus.
• Jihad has just been scared out of his wits by a huge group of what he first thought where merchants but on closer inspection appeared to be animals walking upright, bringing carts of goods and animals arriving in his hiding place.
• The Magpie quite likes Magi, though his first loyalty is to Jihad.

Jihad's character sheet looks long but that is only because I have cut and paste the information on each of his Virtues and Flaws into the sheet for ease of reference.

I finally got to use this young slave, developed from this joke character, in hopefully a fun form.