The Trials & Tribulations of Dame Arcadia Justinian

[Bertjammin]

Two and a half to three hours...depending on how quickly I can get the players sat down and not talking about Guardians of the Galaxy/Korra season three/SDCC/Minecraft etc etc etc

[Angelman]

Wow! Do you get all that done in 2-3 hours? That's very impressive! My group would strugge with getting this much done in 2-3 6-hour sessions!

[Bertjammin]

Yup - that session was actually two and half and one of the players was working late so only arrived after the first hour. I think the key has been to have a like minded group and keep them focussed. Not easy by any means!

I also figure on rotating round the table where possible to ensure everyone is regularly involved - swapping scenes between the group (if they split up) regularly "TV show style" to keep everyone engaged in what is going on. Another silly thing I do is keep a mental note of if a player has rolled the dice to far - if they've had to roll then they *must* have been involved in a dramatic action of some sort so I know at a simple level I've made sure that they've been a part of that session's story.

Another key might be that I generally run "on the fly" - I have a plan of what the motivations of the key NPCs are and possibly some key events that will happen (i.e. the arrival of the Reeve at some point) but I've learnt never to plan too exactly with this group (they'll always come up with something) and just adapt to what they are doing. I think that helps to keep the story & flow of play moving.

[Bertjammin]

[Aurin]

Another great session. How many sessions of plot do you have planned out? Do you have an idea for the next shard or two?

[Bertjammin]

[Bertjammin]

I've now set up a blog for the campaign (http://trialsofarcadia.blogspot.co.uk/) which will allow me to post images and other gubbins. Please feel free to take a look and comment.

[Aurin]

Looks nice - you should consider an Obsidian Portal account. It's made for just this purpose.

[Bertjammin]

Session #5

Picking up where we'd left off, Arcadia decides to have further plans; before they leave she wants to kill the woman she believes is orchestrating events. If possible she wants to make it appear as suicide and leave a note saying that she was the Baron's murderer. The party gather together with her and try to talk her down a bit. The discussion goes on for some time and they manage to learn from her that the woman she has seen and believes responsible is known as "Façade"; she is a Scraver, a psychic and very dangerous. They had an association three years ago before Arcadia left Ravenna and their parting was acrimonious. Façade swore revenge but Arcadia believed her dead or imprisoned.
The party agree to remain at the tourney and convince Arcadia to stay under guard while they try to find Façade using the limited description the lady is able to provide.

Lawrence also introduces the group to the mysterious man who cut down the Inquisitor; a Muster guilder by the name of Beorn. He appears to be obligated to Lawrence and was called in by the Scraver the previous day when things started to go sour.

After breakfast the following day (day four of the festival) the party start to try to track down Façade:

Beorn uses his cybernetic eye to record images of possible suspects then shows Arcadia. None of them are Façade

Lawrence gets in touch with his network of contacts via Squwarker to try to find out about Façade. What he learns corroborates what Arcadia has told them and he is left in no uncertain terms that this is a very dangerous, and possibly psychopathic, individual. He also tries to find out a bit about the Reeve and learns that he's very procedural and "by the book" adhering strongly to the literal letter of the law.

Hemlock sneaks and snoops around for clues but doesn't manage to spot anyone suspicious but does try to rule a number of people out. It certainly doesn't seem that Façade is amongst the Baron's staff.
De Havilland and Hasimir go to speak with Baronet Christopher Hawkwood. They find he is packing to leave "Guards be damned!" and is bored with all these antics when he had come for a proper tourney. They talk about his disagreements with the previous Baron and the situation with the Austram islands and are left feeling content that he is not responsible for the murder.

At dinner that evening De Havilland is invited to dine with the Baron and brings Hasimir too. With them are the Decados and the Reeve, Pufflenaff.

Lawrence ends up sat with the Hazat and spends the time crowd watching. He notices for the first time that Sir Selwyn, Arcadia's bother, has a lady companion who seems to fit Facade's description.
Meanwhile Beorn and Hemlock are taking advantage of the nobles being at table to go through their tents looking for suspects. Hemlock tries to intimidate his way in but if that fails it works as a distraction for Beorn to sneak in the back. The plan works well but they turn up no new leads.

The conversation at the Baron's table turns to Pufflenaff's progress and he mentions that he has conducted most of his interviews and interrogations. He feels confident that he will have reached his verdict (so that the Baron can then pass sentence) by sunset tomorrow, thereby securing the bonus payment he's been promised for a timely resolution. He also alludes to knowing that Hasimir "got at" Timmy. De Havilland challenges Hasimir about this privately and he confesses that his methods may be considered somewhat enthusiastic or drastic by some but that they get results. In his own words; "His bowels loosened and he said he wouldn't tell anyone.."

When Beorn and Hemlock eventually turn up for dinner the party has moved to "drinks and nibbles". Lawrence shares his observations and tells Beorn to take a picture of the girl with Sir Selwyn and show it to Arcadia straight away. He rushes off to do so.

De Havilland and Hasimir go to speak to Sir Selwyn and he introduces them to Marjorie (their Façade suspect...) and explains that she was one of his household servants but he took a shine to her and that they are currently lovers. Hasimir takes her hand and tries to read her thoughts, she attempts to block instinctively, confirming her psychic abilities, but fails. He reads that she knows he is one of "the witch Arcadia's pet psychics" and is still relishing the fact that she arranged for the other one (Josay) to be taken out of the picture.

Beorn returns to tell Lawrence that Arcadia says the picture he showed her wasn't Façade...

[Bertjammin]

Just to note to avoid this thread getting huge - from last night (session #6) onwards I won't be posting session write ups here - just on the blog.

See you there...