BY THESE WOLVES I RULE #6: The Fishmen Episode
Players: Zero (Dejganas), Sammy (Ajmi), Osim (Ejnidon)
Sing, O Goddess, of the Sun's Quest Through the Underworld,
and the Fish-men Beneath the Moon...
To the River-Men, it is Fourthday 19th, Fourth Week of Flood 2, 4623.
To the Drake-Riders, it is the 19th of the River-Swelling Month, the Year is Un-named.
Over the past week, the gang has been chilling with the Red-Bird clan of Drake Riders.
- Ejnidon spent his time salting the head of Lord Dejnon to keep it from rotting and hunting the Clan.
- Ajmi spends her time with the healer Aia of the Bajroats Leaf: Small, dark red triangles that neutralize poison if chewed. The rest of her time is spent scrimshawing Droch-Teeth into Arrows and bickering with Ejnidon on the ethics of killing Lord Dejnon.
Dejganas week, however, is a bit more storied. Drunk of his gourd from a week of partying, he encounters some teenagers talking about a big hole they found and how they'd be willing to give a pair of gem-encrusted britches from gods-know. Jumping down the hole he wanders in pitch blackness before encountering a mythic sight: A Shining Gold Man, accompanied by 6 Bird-Headed Legionaries, of whom he recognizes as the god Joochanor and his Sun-Men. Locked in battle with hordes of formless Chaos-beasts, Dejganas takes up his spear and joins the good fight, helping turn the tides of the fight. As the journey to the Sun's lover, the earth, is complete, the Golden God blesses the mortal champion. As he exits from the same hole he entered, the sun dawns on the world. Climbing out, he realizes the hole is gone and, when returning to the village, he finds that his eyes glows bright gold.
The first day of the group's travel home is uneventful. In the second, they encounter a caravan of merchants. Trading for healing-grubs, they embark back to Cha-Se. Returning to the gates and presenting the severed, shriveled head of Lord Dejnon to the 2 guards and are promptly told to leave. They follow this order and decide instead to find food. Coming upon a group of 7 or so Oandu, they plan a hunt: Ajmi will take a parting shot whilst the other two secure the herd.
Loosing an Arrow, Ajmi strikes a male Oandu in the side, causing the herd to panic and huddle up. With 2 more missed shots, the fight begins in earnest. The band of 3, however, underestimate the ferocity of the animals as Ejnidon recieves a deep scar on his leg and unlucky Dejganas mangles his calf in the charge, a wound so horrible that it results in amputation. The scramble ends shortly, as the group takes 2 males as their quarry and flees. One is converted to food and the other is skinned for its hide. They plan to head back to Cha-Jornookir for trade and a to finish a promise: To find the little girl from like, several weeks now.
After 2 days of mountain-travel, another strange incident occurs. As the group treks onward, what else but a Rainbow Bird perches on Ajmi's head. Knowing this to be an omen of a sort, she does not interfere and decides to keep walking, but the bird "issue" only grows as the entourage of 4 doubles into an entourage of 8. As the moons rise, the birds take flight after losing interest with the group.
Another 2 days of travel and they finally arrive at their destination. As they arrive they strike up sparse, if friendly, conversation with the Guards. A loose lip from the armsmen tells of a common rumor: When both moons are full, the Fishmen rise from the river. Coincidentally, that is tomorrow's lunar alignment. Knowing "Fishmen" as creatures of Chanu Myth, Ejnidon and Dejganas fuck with Ajmi, attempting to convince the manic woman that he fishmen are VERY REAL AND OUT TO GET HER. She believes this to be the cause of the kidnapping and so plans to pursue their piscean prey the next night. But first, a shopping trip. Ejnidon attempts to sell his Oandu-hide to a tanner for a bag but his deal is refused. He manages to settle on exchange with a basket-weaver for, well, a basket. Ajmi trades in her compound with a bowyer for a larger, if slightly more primitive, bow.
As the next day is spent training, the group arrives at the riverbank to finally find the fish-men. An hour goes by: Nothing. Another hour: Nothing. As the third hour dawns and the group plans to leave, however, they hear a bubbling in the river. Turning around, they see 19 forms rise from moonslit waters: scaled men with bulbous eyes and pancaked heads crested with fins, holding tools of knapped river-stone and hammer copper. Among the group they see her: the girl, with bulbous eyes and matted hair.
Approaching fearfully, Ejnidon strikes the bargain. In Riverspeak he asks for the girl and, after seconds that seemed like hours, the fishmen nudge the girl toward the party. With that, they return to the black water they came from, walking down into the bank almost as soon as they came.
Inspecting the girl, she is noticeably mute. As Ajmi attempts to converse with her, she spots, in the corner of her eye, slits on the neck: Gills. Before any further investigation could occur, a Guard party arrives with Lanterns. Just as confused as the party, the 3 surrender the girl into the custody of the armsmen who worriedly promise to return her to her mother. Thus concludes a strange week.
The response I had to this session was a lot different to my players'. I personally felt underprepared, relying to much on Ad Hoc encounters even though I had worked on the surrounding hexes a couple nights before. I need to get snappier with said Ad-Hoc judgements instead of letting the gears visibly grind out.
As well, I was WAY too lenient with boast. It had been almost 2 in-game months since the boast was sworn, as the party was off fucking around in further horizons for a bit. I think I will set a 1-2 session window for boast shirking in the future.
The players loved this session though. It was probably the weirdest this Weird-Fantasy game got in a while, as this was like the groups second and third encounters with the alien Otherworlds of the Kamkoz Valley. Hopefully, more holes in the earth will appear for further psychic journeys.