The Rosewar Chronicle
The Game: Current Status
04.16.99
Character Creation will commence at 2100 hours. At that time, those players assembled will create their characters and prepare for the Prelude, entitled Ęstival Tide. This will also be a time to explain any rules and procedures, as well as the C:tD system if any are not entirely familiar with it.
On Saturday, commencing at 1900 hours, Ęstival Tide will begin, and the characters will begin their descent into the complex tapestry which is the Rosewar. The chronicle will commence with the characters presentation at court in Newford, a town they have just moved to. (Yes, it is De lint inspired.] What will happen next? Stay tuned...
04.22.99
Ęstival Tide, or What has Gone Before. Edward emerged from his Chrystalis inspired haze within the forest and began walking back into the city. Meanwhile, Randy and Anthony are having a snack before hitting the clubs to pick up their usual dozen or so partners for the night. Charlie was sitting reading his book,a s per his usual routine, in his apartment across the street from the Dennys where the two frat brothers are enjoying their meal and the eye-candy around them. All would've been fine, except unto this scene comes Eddie, who sees a glaring light coming from the second story of the building, and crashes through the window, presenting Charlie with flowers. A brief conflict ensues, and soon Anthony and Randy follow to see if everyone is ok, having seen Eddie jump two stories up to the window. Just as the tensions eems to be building to a new level, a tall bald headed man covered in blue tattoos appears in Charlie's living room, summoning all three (Anthony has vanished) to the court of the Duke.
Upon arrival, the man leaves the throne room, and Randy is called to task by the counsellor of the duke, a boggan. Randy is unrepentent, and rebukes both the duke and his trusted friend. In return, the Duke casts a Geisa on Randy, that he never be able to enter another's dwelling unless invited. The Duke's son barges into the room and plays with (annoys) Eddie in several different forms, and seems to gaze mysteriously at Randy. Almost immediately, Randy passes out and has a series of visions. By the time that Randy awakens, a fair portion of the entire court begins to crowd in to watch the excitement. The Duke then places both Randy and Eddie in Charlie's care, for Randy's impertinence and Eddie's adjustment to life as one of the fae. As they leave the now crowded court room, Eddie is slipped a note.
After leaving, Randy attempts to explain his vision, but largely fails. Eddie relcutantly givs away his secert note, and when the notes contents are read, several images from Randy's vision are evoked strongly. The Note states "Queen Takes Bishop, Sleeping Bear Dunes, at the witching hour." Determining to get at the route of these mechanizatoin (and in the case of Charlie, to make sur ehis new cahrges dont land themselves and him into any more hot water, they agree to go to the beach. Upon arrival, they see nothing out of the order, until they spot someone down at the sea line, looking down at something they can't see. They try to get closer, and then see this person's hands rise tall into the air, shining things sticking otu of it, and then come crashing down, over and over again, glinting in the moonlight. In the space of a blink, however, the being is gone. They investigate and discover the corpse of a strange being unknown to them, pierced several times and a green slimy substance coating the wounds.
Upon finding this, they return to the duke's estate, and are lead in by Eddie, who opens the gates with a gesture and seems to be almost sleepwalking. The sleepwalking Eddie guides them to a passage unkown to them, whereupon they see a room whose walls are covered in candles. Entering the room, they find nothing out of the ordinary, when a hooded figure appears, and begins a riddle play with Charlie. As they do so, Randy notices a figure hiding behind one of the displays of candles on the far wall, and as Charlie goes to caox ity out, his language is far too forcegful (as is his frustrated visage) and the creature refuses to come out. The hooded figure, however, coaxes the being out, only to be revealed to be the Duke's Son, Auggie, who cast the visions upon Randy earlier!
At this point, Eddie awakens from his stupor, and Charlie makes an educated guess as to the identity of the hooded figure. It is indeed the Duke's counsellor, and when told of the dire events they had witnesses grows quiet and troubled. He tells them that he believes the creature they saw killed was a Sea Bishop, a legendary race of incredible knowledge and wisdom who dwelled beneath the sea. The Sea Bishops have only made contact once before, to anyone's memory, and thus something truly dire must have driven this Emissary to contact those who dwelt on the land. Fearful of the repurcussions, He states that he will send an emissary to King Daffyd and ask for royal advice as to how to proceed.
Meanwhile, he shows concern for the safety of the trio, for if word got out that they witnesses the slayings, both those who would seek to use it for their own advantage as well as the killers themselves would rend them in two. In order to hsutle them to saftey, and in hopes of providing answers, he sends them off to the Mountain Kingdom, as he calls it to the south. This kingdom is secret in location, and while it is both Seelie and holds loyalty to King Daffyd, it is unbound by any local kingdom. Furthermore it has made peace with the Nunnehi in the area, and rumors abound that the freehold is a place where the various races of Kithain sperad across the globe interact. As such, it may provide some answers for the Sea Bishops purpose, and who would wish to harm them. They agree to travel, and so the Counsellor begins an elaborate cantrip, and soon all they know is a blinding Light.....
05.15.99
Heartfires I, or What has Gone Before. Our motley found themselves emerging out of the white light onto a silver, mrecurial path in the midst of a oroiling fog, with an ever shifting background seemingly obscured by the roiling mists. After traveling for some ways, they notice a figure beginning to walk towards them out of the fog. As they all pause to consider the situation, the creature walks out of the fog and onto the pathway. It is quite tall, black and thickly furred, with large spikes for hair and a feral gleam in its eyes. An extensive combat develops, as Charlie began to Dance the Swords. Eddie rammed the creature head on, using a combo of personal power and some fancy spellwork. Randy threw in a few punches, but largely remained on the sidelines. As the creature lay bleeding after some fancy bladework by Charlie, the blood boiling on the shimmering Track, he whispers the word "Liam" and then dies. While Eddie hears this, he does not understad the significance. Charlie does, however, far too well...
Our heroes make their way to a fork in the path, and choose to go Left. Eventually they discover the end of the Track, and with some groupthink, they are able to open the Portal and re-emerge. But where they emerge into is not at all where they thought. For the left hand path has placed them in a bar that seems equally portioned of kithain and mortal, and none are speaking with the accent of Savannah. Charlie recognizes, vaguely, a Sidhe woman sitting at a booth, with a few mortals. Eddie notices that the Satyr woman who gave him the note [see above] is likewise here, but she is sitting alone. Charlie also notices a woman who appears to have a red glowing aura. Randy makes his way to the pool table, where the satyrt woman is now playing pool. He signs himsdelf up to play the winner, only to blanche when the mysterious goat-lady loses, placing him facing a gruff Redcap. Thanks to some fortunate chance, randy manages to totally botch his attempts to play pool, slicing the felt cover of the table. the redcap looks at him in disgust, but does nothing since his victory is assured.
Meanwhile, Charlie has been busy. Talking to the bartender (another troll), he discovers the name of the bar is the Scarlet Letter. While the bartender isn't all that forthcoming, he also appears to be gruffly friendly. Eddie has also been busy. He tries to talk to the glowing woman, and even his farcical attempts to break her facde with umor by falling flat on his face seem to do nothing. Charlie heads over, eager to avert disaster, and curious as well. A riddle game ensues, where both the mystery woman and Charlie barter for information on the other. It is gradually revealed that the woman has some form of magick, and that she knows Charlie does too. In the midst of their conversation,s he passes out, and only by Charlie's vigourous shaking can she be revived. When she is, she recognizes him as a Troll. The conversation continues...
Randy approaches the satyr wman, who denies ever passing the note. She also quickly leaves. randy glances about and sees eddie passed otu on the floor and Charlie in deep talkign to a woman and decides to follow on his own. As he follows her, he notices that this is the NorthWest side of Newford--they have never even left the City!!! Soon he finds himself in the financial district, where the banality is so thick it makes even moving feel like a walk through molasses. He finds her several blocks up, seemingly unaffected by the banality, and watches helplessly as she enters a black limousine and vanishes. As he attempts to return to the bar, he gets lost, and finds himself in a dead end alley. He suddenly hears the sounds of wheels coming to a halt...
"Glowy Woman," as Charlie has taken to calling her, informs Charlie the second Randy leaves that randy is in terrible danger, and that if he ever wants to see his friend again, they have to ask quickly. After paying the bill to someone called Jilly, a mortal waitress, she tells her also to get ahold of Sophie and ask bher to prepare her place in case "they" need a place to crash. Jilly, smiling and taking this in stride tells GW it is no problem. As they walk, moving closer to the financial district, they share a bit more about themselves, but nothing of any depth. A wave passes over GW, and she tells Charlie they have to walk faster, for Randy is running out of time...
Randy attempts to leave the alley, but then a white stretch limo blocks his way, pulling up onto the curb. The door opens, and an obscenely tall, thin gentleman gets out and proceeds to stare at Randy intently, perhaps TOO intently. Randy, feeling a bit creeped out by the situation decides a quick gettaway is in his best interest. However, as he prepares a spell-enhanced Leap to the second story window above him, he feels an intensifying of the molasses feeling, and he finds himself frozen, clutching the very bottom of the window sill, trapped upon the wall. A thin smile graces the Tall Man's face, and he begins to advance forward, slightly...
Charlie and GW find the limo, and Lorio gets a furious look on her face. She put out her hand, and turns it quickly, in a snapping motion. Charlie watches, impressed, as all of the tires on the limo deflate. They advance to the limo. Charlie advances to the man, his fingers itching on the hilt of his sword. The man seems to ignore Charlie and his attempts to communicate with him, feigning ignorance as to why his friend is hanging froma a broken windowsill on a brick wall. When Charlie gets a little mroe threatening, attempts to look in the backseat, and finds no one there. A thin smile appears on the man's face again, and a cacophony of chittering and clicking sounds start to come closer from a distance. As he glances down, he finds 5 metallic spiders, each the size of a small melon, swarming about his feet. As they attempt to climb up his leg, he looks for GW for help, and she is gone...
He manages to free himself and jumps in the backseat, only to be followed by the Spiders. Re-emerging, he finds them climbing his legs, damaging him. He manages to free himself again, but his legs are fairly well torn. All the while the Tall Man claims no knowledge of the Spiders, and has his eyes set almost totally on randy, still frozen in midair. Suddenly Randy feels the air around him thin, and he can move again,a nd he quickly jumps back down to the street, now cut from the glass of the window. Eddie, having been fairly silent throughout this endeavor makes a moltov cocktail from the surroundign materials and proceeds to blow up the limo. The chilling sounds of the Spiders are gone, and Randy passes the Tall Man with a chill. A car comes and gets the Tall Man, then--a car that looks suspiciously like the black limo Randy saw earlier...
Before the car is demolished, GW emerges from the front seat, covered in blood. While she won't go into details as yet, it's clear there was a driver and he was dead long before the car detonated. They all follow GW back to Sophie's, trusting her for there is no one else to trust. When they knock on Sophie's door, the most beautiful Sidhe woman they've ever seen opens the door and ushers them inside. Jilly, the mortal waitress from the bar, grimaces quickly at seeing their woudn and then quickly smiles and sets about bringing them drinks and sandwiches. Sophie begins to tend their wounds. Charlie and GW sit down at a table, where we learn GW's Name is Lorio. Just as they are about to get into details surrounding the afternoon's events, and their allegiances , Lorio passes out again. When she remerges from her faint, her eyes glow red, and she repeats the following phrase over and over, like a mantra: "From Life to Death, I Serve the Blood, From Life to Death, I Serve the Blood.." Chills go down each of the characters' spines. Sophie ushers them all to bed, makign an emphatic point to Charlie that things will be better dealt with tomorrow, on a clear head. Taking the hint, he acquiesces. And so this bed of strange bedfellows each go to sleep, perchance to dream....
