#thistleleaf

[paradoxalsnow]

[asheswillriise-blog]

Should that blue eyed cat be patrolling too? It looks like they're just sleeping...

“I mean, I’m not sure about the sleeping part, but these are all the blue-eyed cats in my Clan..? Which one are you talking about specifically?”

[tyra-greydawn]

A First Time for Everything

The road to the Dreamgrove, Val’sharah One year and Eight Months since the Veil was fractured.

Tyra and Safere’s trip had been quiet. Uneventful, even. They had arrived in Azuna without any trouble, and even made the walk to the Dreamgrove without incident. Until now, that was. Now they were surrounded by Thistleleaf Sprites with delusions of grandeur.

“Give us the druid!” One of sprites yelled. The mask marked him as the chieftan. The other sprites mostly mumbled and hopped from foot to foot. Tyra glanced up at Safere. She wasn’t sure he she would react. It was the first time someone had threatened them specifically.

Safere folded her arms over her chest. She stared the chief down. Then she smirked. “Nah. Actually, I think you should run.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because if you don’t, Tyra here is going to set you on fire.” Safere said. Even Tyra could pick up that cue. She shifted into a cat and walked up to the sprite-in-chief.

“That’s a cat.” The chief said. He extended his spear to poke Tyra in the nose. Tyra did the logical thing and burst into flames. It took her less than a minute to chase the remaining sprites away. When it was all over she sauntered back up to Safere and resumed her worgen form. For once, Tyra was the one leaning down to kiss her girlfriend.

“See? Even the sprites think you��re hot.” Safere scratched behind Tyra’s ears. Tyra flicked them in response but smiled.

“That’s not the same.” Tyra mumbled. She gently headbutted Safere and looked back over her shoulder at the ancients that were approaching. “I think they’re grumpy. I’ll tell you before I try to Dream, okay?”

“If you have nightmares, kick them in the face.” Safere wrapped her arms around Tyra and hugged her.

Tyra started to argue, but caught herself. Instead she nodded and nuzzled against Safere. “I will. And, um, if that doesn’t work I’ll tell them you’ll shoot them in the eye.”

“Deal.” Safere kissed Tyra on the nose. “Go be awesome.”

The ancients let Tyra enter the Dreamgrove without incident. It was her first time back in almost a year. Some druids scowled at her as she passed, others waved, most were too busy with their own works to acknowledge her. That was fine with Tyra. She didn’t know anyone here and she wasn't ready to talk to any of them. A short flight took her to a nearby treetop, where she sat on a branch and waited for sunset.

Tyra wasn’t sure if what she was doing was right, but it needed to be done. And when the sun finally went down, she entered the barrow den of Tel’Andu and prepared to Dream.

[thefemdomenchantress]

Monthly reminder that the hero sleeps with men. A lot.

***

Hero: I can’t believe I agreed to this.

Thief: You owe me, sword boy. That enchantress would have kept you for months and you know very well you couldn’t have escaped that knotty and impenetrable demonic dungeon of hers without me.

Hero: I could have... if you gave me another hour... or three...

Thief: Sure.

The two make their way to the mansion. It is a vertical splendor of wealth among a mostly pastoral valley of hills.

Thief: This the holiday home of one of this kingdom’s princes, and he is inside this very moment. He’s quite confident of the secrecy of this abode, and his ability to fend off intruders, so he’s alone. I need you to distract the man as long as you can so I can rustle through his royal belongings!

Hero: Messing with royalty, thief? That’s both bold and impressive. Frightening a member of any royal family will lead to grave consequences.

Thief: Don’t you mind. I’ll be as careful as a surgeon. He won’t even notice a thing is missing! I’ll replace a quarter of his gold purse with counterfeits, then open the books he brought along to copy down with the skills I developed working as a scribe in a priory. I’ll steal his shoes and boots from his collection of rare footwear and replace them with forgeries I’ve prepared! Furniture from rooms he’s not likely to visit, some wine bottles, valuable coats that he won’t miss...

Hero: Sounds like you need me to distract him for a long time. You sure this won’t take the entire day?

Thief: I make seasoned rogues look like novices, hero. But alas, it all depends on how long you can distract him for, so I hope your guile is as finely developed as your trekking skills, hero.

Hero: Let’s just get this over with...

*** *** ***

The hero, dressed as a local free-man, walks to the door of the mansion. He carries a gift basket of bread and herbs. He knocks on the door.

The man who answers is the exact image that comes to mind when one pictures a prince in casual clothing. His hair is long and messy, his eyes a piercing green. His shirt loose enough to bare his clavicle and chest, and yet his pants form fitting. He leans against the door way.

Hero: Hello, my friend! I am the son of the vassal of this proud land and the nearby township. I heard that the mysterious owner of this household had arrived and wanted to give you my greetings.

Prince: Well met, stranger. Is that for me?

Hero: Yes. Baker’s finest, alongside our local okra, rosemary, thyme, baby thistleleaf, St Widestride’s Reeds...

Prince: All famous herbs of the village.

Hero: Oh! So you’re familiar, then.

Prince: You can say that. I am simply a well educated man on vacation to get away from the stress of my occupation.

Hero: Sir, I would like to offer to walk you through town! Allow you to see all there is to see of our splendid home to make your stay, as long as it will be, a more pleasant experience.

Prince: Hmm... I’ve never had a guide before on my trips. Very well! I accept your proposal, son of the vassal.

Hero: Very good, sir!

As the hero leads the prince toward the village the thief slips into the manor’s back yard.

*** *** ***

Thief: Man, this royal brat brought along an entire wardrobe! He surely won’t miss three or four evening gowns of rare silk... Lined with gold, too!

Thief: That hero sure is doing one hell of a job distracting him. I had time to copy down his entire book shelf. The sun’s been down for a while, in fact...

*** *** ***

The hero gasps and holds in his groans, his face and body pressed against the inn’s bed as the prince’s cock and pelvis bullies his ass from behind. The prince holds the hero’s arms by the elbows in a firm grasp as he fucks the hero with great passion.

Sweat drips down both of their fervent bodies as the royal heir dominates the hero.

Prince: MM, Yes.. .This will most definitely.. .RELIEVE... My stress...

Hero: P-prince... I can’t... can’t hold it in anymore...

Prince: Then don’t

The prince’s hand reaches around and his fingers close around the hero’s cock, trapping it in a firm grip. He feels the hero’s ejaculation, each pulse pleasantly feeding the prince’s royal ego. Dominating a man, one pump at a time.

He lets the hero’s body plop onto the bed, and continues using his ass.

Even after the prince cums there is only the briefest of breaks. The hero is the prince’s for the entirety of the night, after all.

[multilingual-warrior-cats]

English - Hollyleaf’s Story

Finnish - Paatsamalehden tarina

German - Distelblatts Geschichte (Thistleleaf's Story)

Russian - История Остролистой

[jellial]

@pathfuckery tbh she doesn’t have name yet but just because it’s a magical girl game I’ve been think of going for something mega-stereotypical like Sakura or Ichigo ... Barring that probably some kind of flower. I want her to have a super cutesy face name but then also a  super serious high fantasy name like Morgania Thistleleaf XVI

[we-rate-warrior-names]

Could you give me a name for my apprentice, and possibly a warrior name aswell? ... is a tom who died as an apprentice during a fox attack. The only survivor was ...'s brother Birchpaw(who later got named Birchfang and then Birchstar). After a while Birchstar snaps and lashes out at Woodclan and Caveclan because he thinks they caused this and starts killing their warriors as revenge. ... is forced to watch his brother from starclan and then has to finally kill Birchstar. (1/2)

(2/2) sorry this got so long! ... is a scrawny black/grey/white(mostly dark-gray/black) cat with two diffrent colored eyes, dull cyan and dull red. He has short sharp/spiky fur, especially on his neck, tail, back and ears. He has sharp/long ears with some rips in them. He has narrow eyes and brown/nose/ears and paws.

———————————————————————

@the-soft-cat (just tagging you because only the second half of this was off anon)

Hope one of these help!

Darkpaw

Darkthistle

Darkclaw

Darkspike

Darkstrike

Darkpounce

Thistlepaw

Thistleleaf

Thistleroot

Thistlewhisker

Thistlestrike

Thistlepounce

Thistlepelt

Nightpaw

Nightthistle

Nightclaw

Nightstrike

Nightheart

Nightpounce

Shadowpaw

Shadowmoon

Shadowstrike

Shadowthistle

Thornpaw

Thornpelt

Thornstrike

Ravenpaw

Ravenwing

Ravenflight

Raventhistle

Ravenswoop

Ravenstrike

[oliveheart-worldbuilding]

Family Fun 8

Hello again! Time to get cracking with another edition of Family Fun! Let’s have some fun, shall we?

So, the dams and sires:

-Goosestorm and Dunlinface have Kits, but Dunlinface rejects the Kits and refuses to be involved. Angry and bitter, Goosestorm also gives up the Kits.

-The Kits instead go to Cuckooflower and Cherryflower, who also have Kits of their own.

Challenge: -Create three Kits for Goosestorm and Dunlinface. -Create a total of seven Kits for Cuckooflower and Cherryflower, three from their first litter (now Warriors) and four from their second.

Extra Challenges: -Why did Dunlinface reject the Kits? -Cuckooflower has to be an invisible tortoiseshell. There’s no other way for her to have Kits in such unexpected colours. -Of the Kits, not one can have a personality suffix nor can they qualify for one. This means, you cannot have a -whisker with the personality of a -cloud, for instance. -Goosestorm and Dunlinface break up. Goosestorm later has Kits with Thymeleaf, and neither one gets in trouble for it, nor are the Kits punished for it. How do they grow close, how many Kits do they have, and what are their names?

I’m back and ready for another Family Fun! I did this incredibly fast as I felt bad about letting it sit in the inbox for any longer, I apologize for any errors this may have. I’ll skip the excuses and start already hehehe,

Let’s start with the dams:

-Goosestorm: XoXoaaBBddMcmcSs. Huge gray dam.

-Cuckooflower: XOXoAaBbddmcmcSs. Hidden tortie, blue classic tabby dam with white patches.

 Sires:

-Dunlinface: XoYAaBbDdMcMcSs. Brown tabby tom with a white belly.

-Thymeleaf: XoYaaBBddmcmcss. Small blue tom.

-Cherryflower: XoYAabbDdMcmcWw. Completely white tom.

Offspring:

-DunlinxGoose

·XoXoaaBbDdMcMcss. Cormorantface: huge completely black molly.

·XoYAaBBddMcMcSS. Mistletoeclaw: Blue tabby van tom.

·XoYaaBBDdMcMcSs. Swiftclaw: Black tom with white belly and paws.

-GoosexThyme

·XoYaaBBddMcmcss. Darktail: Dark blue tom.

·XoYaaBBddmcmcSs. Thistleleaf: Blue white patched tom.

·XoXoaaBBddMcmcss. Asterfang: Petite blue molly.

·XoYaaBBddMcmcSs. Dovestream: Gray molly with white front paws and chest.

-CuckooxCherry

(first litter)

·XOXoaaBbDdmcmcSs. Bramblingflower: Black tortie molly with low white markings.

·XOYAabbddMcmcSs. Honeyflower. Cream tom with white chest.

·XoXoAABbDdMcmcWw. Swanfoot. Completely white molly.

(second litter)

·XoYaaBBddmcmcss. Batpaw: Completely black tom.

·XOXoAaBbddmcmcSs. Maplepaw: Caliby molly, white chest, belly and front paws.

·XoXoAabbDdMcmcss. Jaypaw: Chocolate mackerel tabby with low white spotting.

·XOYaaBbDdmcmcSs. Foxpaw: Mostly red calico molly. White chest, belly and tail tip.

Personality+story:

The clan had never had so few members, the winters had been cold, famine and sickness had taken many away. Warriors were pressured to reproduce. Goosestrom had never wanted to have kits, neither had Dunlinface, but the clan needed them. ‘It’ll be fine as long as Dunlinface is by my side’ had thought a very pregnant Goosestrom. Things never went the way she wanted them to be.

Dunlinface never truly cared about her or the kits, by the time they were born he had lost all interest in his mate or offspring. He had done what his clan needed but, with so few members and such high dead rates, was it worth serving it anymore? Dunlinface left a rainy morning never to be found again. Goosestorm, irate and miserable decided that she too had done what her clan needed, she no longer wanted to take for Dunlinface’s offsping for they brought painful memories to her. Instead, Cuckooflower and Cherryflower kept them.

Cuckooflower and Cherryflower were a senior couple, they had kits of their own the same age of Goosestorm, they took her offspring under their wings and promised to take care of them.

Cuckooflower was known as a particular molly in the clan, many would bet how her kits would look like as she always seemed to have the more colorful offspring of all the dams. Cherryflower always found it funny how, despite being completely white himself, only one of their offspring had inherited his colors.

During those hard times Goosestorm searched for comfort in the medicine cat’s sweet herbs. Thymeleaf was caring and compassionate, the clan was still in need for kits and as time went on nobody opposed to the new life the gray molly carried in her belly.

Cormorantface, Mistletoeclaw and Swiftclaw were raised up alongside Cuckooflower and Cherryflower’s first litter.

Cormorantface was as narcissist as her father had once been, holding her chin up high she thought a Starclan spirit of herself. The black cat was quick to find mate, a kittypet who joined the clan to serve by her side.

Mistletoeclaw and Swiftclaw had been inseparable since birth, wasn’t it for their different fur color, one would think they were the same cat. They fought as one on the battlefield and acted as an only mind in all of their decisions.

Brambringflower, Honeyflower and Swanfoot had been their foster siblings;

Bramblingflower, as sweet as her mother, had found herself loving kits since very young. She always had found time to spent with the younger ones. It was no surprise for her clanmates when she turned out to be pregnant a couple moons after her warrior naming ceremony.

Honeyflower had followed his father’s footsteps, he had always wanted to become the best mentor the clan had ever seen. Always surrounded by apprentices and loving young warriors, it was no surprise when he was chosen deputy.

Swanfoot became the fastest cat the clan had, quick on her feet and mind, she always seemed to have everything planned ahead of herself.

As for Goosestorm, her second litter came at the same time Cuckooflower’s did.

Goosestorm gave birth to Darkkit, Thistlekit, Asterkit and Dovekit. Cuckooflower did to Batkit, Maplekit, Jaykit and Foxkit.

Darkkit became Darktail, an agile and fearless tom known for being the only cat capable of climbing the great oak.

Thistlekit became his father’s favorite, he joined the medicine cat rank and became Thitleleaf thanks to his father’s great mentoring.

Asterkit became Asterfang. Great friends with Mistleclaw and Swiftclaw, the trio always helped each other in their trainings or hunting patrols.

Dovekit became Dovestream, an oddity in his clan. Even though the clan hadn’t had a swimmer in generations, Dovestream taught himself how to fish and swim and helped greatly during harsh seasons.

Batkit became Oneeye after he lost one of his eyes protecting his older sister’s kits. Well known in his clan as a brave an honorable warrior they are now mentor of Redpaw, one of the kits he fought for.

Maplekit became Maplewhisker, the best hunter in the clan. Puny and mischievous, the molly always finds time for a prank or two.

Jaykit became Jaystripe. A responsible and strict molly, Jaystripe never exceed in anything in particular but everyone has something good to say about her.

And, lastly, Foxkit became Foxfur and, much like his father and mother, fell greatly in love with one of his clanmates and became an inseparable couple.

Goosestorm and Thymeleaf are still together nowadays, they retired together when the time was right. Nobody never said anything about their relationship, they had served the clan well when it needed them most and their love was true and pure.

Cuckooflower and Cherryflower had one more litter before they both joined the elder’s den together.

As for Dunlinface… nobody knows for sure what was of him.

[ailuronymy]

Guest Warriors-ify: Voltron.

warning: voltron spoilers, of course

other things:

LionClan = Altea

DesertClan = Galaxy Garrison

Troutnose/Mistfur = Matt/Sam Holt, who I didn’t want to warriorsify, but mentioned them anyway.

Lance/Thrushstorm - A gray-brown tabby tom with dark blue eyes. Born into DesertClan. Tried to go after Emberheart and Swifttail, got roped into joining LionClan. Oops. Thrushstorm is a very non-serious person; he goofs off a lot and is generally a funny guy. But, sometimes, he gets really. damn. serious. and realizes what he’s doing and how he should be doing it. Will always bring himself to fight if his friends need it. Hunk/Magpiecloud - A black tom with a white chest and copper eyes. Born into DesertClan. Dragged into this situation by Thrushstorm and Tawnynose. Magpiecloud is a down-to-earth cat, often the one who realizes what’s actually going on here. He cares deeply for all of his clanmates, and rarely gets angry at anyone. (But when he’s angry, he’s angry.) Not the best hunter, but knows a lot about prey and how to hunt. Pidge/Tawnynose - Pale brown tabby she-cat with a white neck and golden eyes. A former kittypet, joined DesertClan in search of her missing family. Got lost with Thrushstorm and Magpiecloud on a patrol, ended up joining Cherryheart in a new clan. Tawnynose is not the best fighter, but can hunt and track the best anyone’s ever known. She’s the go-to cat when you need to locate someone. She’s also snarky as hell, but does still love and appreciate everyone. Keith/Emberheart - Fluffy, mostly black tortoiseshell tom with gray-blue eyes. Orphaned and left in the DesertClan camp. Ended up getting kicked out after becoming a warrior due to a “discipline Issue”. Tried to rescue Swiftfang, ended up with Tawnynose, Thrushstorm, and Magpiecloud in Cherryheart’s clan. Emberheart is a pretty aggressive guy, and always on edge. He wasn’t ever good at socializing, and sometimes needs to have the jokes explained. Wants to do the right thing, and obliterate Shadowstar by fighting him one on one. (He can’t do that.) Has an odd stone that’s been with him since he was a kit; descended from a member of Shadowstar’s original clan. Shiro/Swiftfang - Nearly all black tom with a white streak on his forehead and a scar on his muzzle. Missing a leg. Gray-blue eyes. A former warrior of DesertClan. Sent on a patrol with Troutnose and Mistfur, but everyone was captured by a random patrol sent by Shadowstar. Later managed to flee from the empires territory and back near the DesertClan camp, where he was “rescued” by Emberheart. (Lost hig leg after getting hit by a car; was saved by the humans who hit him. Good people.) Swiftfang is a very intimidating cat, but is actually a friendly-yet-still-stern dad friend. He wants the best for LionClan, but also acknowledges that they don’t always make good choices. (Like trying to punch Shadowstar in the face.) Not good under… certain types of pressure. Has developed his own fighting style to work with his missing leg. Allura/Cherryheart - Fluffy all white she-cat with blue eyes. The original deputy of LionClan, who was forced to flee when Shadowstar led his empire to attack. Trying to rebuild LionClan with the five cats who came across her and Firefur. Cherryheart is a fairly strict cat, who comes off as mean sometimes. She means well, though. She just wants to train the new LionClan members to be actual good warriors. Many of her opinions are misguided and don’t sit well with every member; her vision of the world was skewed after LionClan was destroyed. Coran/Firefur - Ginger tabby tom with a little moustache marking on his muzzle. Blue eyes. The medicine cat of LionClan, who fled with Cherryheart after Shadowstar attacked. A true jack of all trades. Firefur is an eccentric tom, and isn’t always taken seriously; his plans are often strange and don’t always work. Despite all of this, the plans that work, work well. Older, but can still hold his own. Zarkon/Shadowstar - Big, really dark gray tom with yellow eyes. The leader of an empire spanning multiple territories. Has destroyed/captured a lot of Clans, just for his own amusement. Tried to attack LionClan, and succeeded; but now the remaning members are after him. Has a strong desire to get those remaining members on his side. Haggar/Thistleleaf - Scrawny, mostly gray tortie she-cat with yellow eyes. The deputy in Shadowstar’s empire. Fiercely devoted to him and his empire. Was originally an exceptional medicine cat, but when the deputy died, she ended up being promoted. She will stop at no means to attempt to capture the LionClan members, even risking her own life to try and destroy escape routes. Despite her loyalty to the empire, she was originally a member of LionClan.

[fidgetheart]

MeteorClan Allegiance

Leader: Milkspirit (tom)

Deputy: Crookedtail (she-cat)

Healer(s): Softpaw (she-cat; former Nofur pet)

Tigerstripe (she-cat)

Messenger(s): Doveflight (tom)

Warriors:

Nightshade (she-cat)

Smokeshade (tom)

Hawkfeather (she-cat; former loner)

Stonefoot (tom; apprentice, Batpath)

Cloudypool (tom)

Longwillow (she-cat; former loner)

Yelloweyes (tom; former rogue)

Frostwind (she-cat; former loner)

Pebblescar (she-cat; former Nofur pet)

Moletail (tom; former loner)

Thistleleaf (tom; former loner)

Stormbreeze (tom)

Littlebrook (tom)

Whitejaw (she-cat; former rogue)

Goldendawn (tom)

Needleclaw (tom)

Fallowpelt (she-cat)

Apprentices:

Batpath (she-cat)

Queens:

Honeysong (she-cat; resident queen)

Foxnose (she-cat; expecting Yelloweyes’s kits)

Pigeonfur (she-cat; former Nofur pet; mother to Moletail’s kits: Sleek-kit, Newtkit, and Shortkit)

Ratwhisker (she-cat; mother to Smokeshade’s kits: Mistkit and Bark-kit)

Kits:

Sleek-kit (tom-kit)

Newtkit (she-kit)

Shortkit (tom-kit)

Mistkit (she-kit)

Bark-kit (tom-kit)

Elders:

Finn (tom; former Nofur pet/loner)

Rowanberry (she-cat)

Sorrelfrost (tom; former loner)

Riverwing (tom)

Houndnose (tom)

Jaggedstripe (she-cat)

[imthescapman-blog]

Session 1: January 19, 2017

This first meeting was going to be a session 0 type game, where the focus was to create characters, talk about character backgrounds and hooks into the adventure, and discuss the setting. Once character creation was out of the way, we were all itching to play, so we got right into the campaign.

Setting Info

This campaign is going to be the Shackled City Adventure Path converted for play in 5th edition D&D. SCAP was the first adventure path written by Paizo, originally published back in March 2003 in Dungeon magazine, and it’s a lot of fun. Each Chapter features a good mix of roleplay and dungeon exploration. The campaign assumes Greyhawk as a setting, with that pantheon featured in the city of Cauldron, which is the main hub of the campaign. Cauldron is set in the bowl of an extinct volcano. A lot of information on Cauldron is in the hardcover edition that I’m using as my sourcebook for this campaign. A major benefit of running a pre-published adventure with such a firmament of history behind is that there are many community resources available to aid in the campaign. I drew heavily from theRPGenius Adventure Path Repository, which has resources broken down chapter by chapter. (Link). Specifically, I used the following resources:

·         The Cauldron Herald – This campaign is centered on the city of Cauldron. A newspaper gives a sense of life to that community and also creates an opportunity for character investment.

·         Tax Notices – I include several tax notices in the newspaper as the political situation in Cauldron becomes increasingly tense.

·         The Cauldron Campaign Guide – I cleaned this up a bit and shaved off all of the crunchy bits that don’t apply to this edition of the campaign. This was easily the most appreciated document, as it gave the characters background information that they used to build their characters. They came into the campaign familiar with Cauldron and some of its more popular personas.

Characters

Tiny Shalhoub

Tiny is a female human monk, a student of a hermit master who lives in the wild, an old man named Sheeba. Tiny has been haunted by strange dreams her entire life. These dreams tend to focus on themes of imprisonment and symbolism involving a smoking eye.

Discipline is a struggle for Tiny. She fidgets constantly and has a habit of picking things up and toying with them until they break. She is impulsive, and finds an outlet through violence. Despite this chaotic disposition, she has a pure heart and seeks to direct her energy toward positive goals.

Fogo Fumar

Fogo Fumar is a male fire genasi fighter who was adopted from the Lantern Street Orphanage as a baby. He was left in a flaming heap on the orphanage’s doorstep, and word spread quickly about the Orphanage’s new addition. Seymour Xavius Fumar, a scholar and staff member of Bluecrater Academy, was the first to declare his intent to adopt. Unfortunately, Seymour’s motivations were less than altruistic. Fogo was an interesting thing that Seymour wanted to possess, and the scholar had no interest in parenting.

Fogo is loud and boisterous. His favorite topic of conversation is himself and he never passes an opportunity to wax on about his exploits and wild romps. He studied swordplay mainly out of rebellion against his father’s wishes that he become a wizard. Secretly, he finds magic fascinating and useful, but he doesn’t want to acknowledge any common ground with his adoptive caretaker.

Amria

Amria is a mysterious woman, a female half-elf from parts unknown. She is possessed of psychic abilities, able to speak directly to the minds of her companions and able to see without the use of her damaged eyes. Long ago, Amria was lynched by a village mob, which fixed a burning iron mask to her face and tried to burn her at the stake. She managed to escape, but she still bears the scars of that day.

Amria is strong and independent, but slow to trust. She hides her true identity behind the disguise of Madame Zola, a blind card-reader who lives on the streets of Cauldron. She carries a book with her, a tome of dubious origin, though she can’t recall where exactly she obtained it, or why she even keeps it with her.

Ris Thistleleaf

Ris is the youngest gnome of a large family. He grew up in poverty, in a cold family permeated with an unexplained bitterness. The children grew up on fairy tales of Jzadirune, a gnomish enclave dedicated to magical innovation and the creation of arcane implements. Ris encountered Alek Tercival early in life, and developed a relationship with the famous paladin. He eventually joined the Church of St. Cuthbert and trained to be a paladin himself.

Ris is an idealistic gnome. He sees himself as a champion of the downtrodden, a gnome always ready to stand up for those not strong enough to stand up for themselves. He is very much the conscience of the group.

Hugo Vanderboren

Hugo is a rakish human, a son of the most recent additions to the Cauldron region’s nobility, the Vanderborens. The Vanderborens are very easy-going and still humble despite their gain in fortune, but they still find Hugo’s constant indulgences into vice to be unbearable, and they have all but washed their hands of their roguish son. Instead, they focus on investing their energies into their daughter, Selma, and their adopted son, Todd.

A performing wanderer by the name of Ekaym Smallcask took to Hugo during a stay in Cauldron, and he taught Hugo the finer arts of carousing and gambling. Hugo learned the art of story-telling and music from Ekaym as well, but before the two could get very close, Ekaym disappeared, presumably having lost interest in the small city and deciding to wander onward.

Roundtable backgrounds

An idea that I borrowed from Tribality.com is the concept of roundtable backgrounds. This is a method whereby a player talks about their background out loud, then we go around the table and the next player describes their background, but also must include a tie to the previous player’s background or situation in some way.

In this case, Tiny went first, describing her history. Fogo went next, and the players worked together to decide that Fogo knew Tiny from Tiny’s forays into Bluecrater Academy’s library. Old Sheeba, Tiny’s mentor, frequently sent his apprentice to the Academy to acquire new reading material, and she and Fogo became fast friends, since Fogo was often in the library, his services volunteered by his inattentive father. The next character was Amria. The players decided that Amria met Fogo also in the library, as she brought in this strange tome for translation. Fogo was unable to help with the book, but he liked “Madame Zola,” who became a mother figure that was missing from his life. Hugo went next, a frequent traveler of Cauldron’s streets and a participant in the city’s night life, so he was familiar with the charlatan who made her living out of a small stand, offering readings to passersby.

Ris went next. He is another one who frequented the streets of Cauldron, ‘patrolling’ and offering his presence to the city. He met Hugo, who was a presence of a different kind. Hugo was always free with his coin, and Ris, though not materialistic, enjoys a friend who is willing to treat him to the finer things in life. Finally, it went back to Tiny, who offered that Ris lived with Old Sheba for a time during his paladin training, for a deeper understanding of spiritualism and meditation techniques. He and Tiny didn’t get along very well, and she broke something dear to Ris, but he does his best to offer guidance against her chaotic impulses.

Chapter 1: Life’s Bazaar

With characters all made, we began. The adventure began on a breezy autumn night, the players all deciding on various activities that had them out and about tonight. Their peaceful nights were interrupted by a plaintive cry for help coming from a nearby alleyway. Everyone but Amria ran to investigate. Amria, in her guise as Madame Zola, decided that this was something she would do better to avoid, and began packing up her table and cards.

The others investigated the cry and found a man in a purple robe being accosted by a handful of thugs with half their faces painted black and the other half painted white. These were recognizable as members of the Last Laugh, Cauldron’s most notorious thieves’ guild. They saw the man, bloody and bruised, being held up against a wall by one rogue while the other snarled into his face, “Stay away from the Orphanage, you got it?” Then he sank a fist into the man’s gut. Before the party could think to intervene, another thug pointed a meaty finger at them and loudly ordered them to “Piss off!”

Hugo tried to intimidate the criminals, drawing his crossbow and telling them to stand down. Unfortunately, Hugo wasn’t very intimidating, and the criminals ignored him, telling him once again to mind his own business. Hugo’s companions drew their weapons and launched themselves into combat, ready to disarm the situation by force. Even Amria got involved at this point, using her psychic abilities to assail the minds of her opponents. Tiny interposed herself between the attackers and their victim, and was rewarded for her heroism with a long sword rammed into her gut all the way to its hilt. As she was ready to fall, she felt a hand behind her fill her with healing energy. The thugs’ victim was apparently a healer.

After this brief surge of violence, the thugs were soundly defeated. The man in purple identified himself as Ruphus Laro, an acolyte of St. Cuthbert. He was returning to the Church of St. Cuthbert after visiting the Lantern Street Orphanage and was jumped and dragged into the alley by these criminals before the party rescued him. Ruphus did what he could to save the lives of the thieves, noting that they weren’t going to kill him, and so they may deserve to be arrested, but don’t deserve death. Questioning the sole survivor of the assault, the party learned that the rogues were ordered to deliver a beating and a message to the priest, dissuading him from investigating kidnappings at the Lantern Street Orphanage. No more information was forthcoming beyond this, so they released the thieves, the party not wanting to deal with the nebulous legalities of having killed one of the thieves in an alleyway.

Ruphus offered to bring the party to his temple where he was sure they would be rewarded for their assistance. This proved to be true, as the party met with Jenya Urikas, the acting high priestess, who thanked the party with a complimentary healing potion for each of them. She then mentioned again the kidnappings at the orphanage, and asked if the party would be interested in investigating on behalf of the Church of St. Cuthbert. The group agreed readily and began to question Jenya for more information on the kidnappings. The information she offered was as follows:

·         Four children were kidnapped from the local orphanage three nights ago. Their names were Deakon, Evelyn, Lucinda, and Terrem. The children are the most recent victims in a series of strange disappearance and robberies.

·         The orphanage has two common bedchambers on the second floor - one for girls, the other for boys. Two children were taken from each room. None of the other children and none of the resident staff heard or saw anything.

·         The orphanage has barred windows and excellent locks protecting its doors. The children are locked into their rooms at night to prevent any midnight mischief.

·         In the wake of the kidnappings, the Church of St. Cuthbert has publicly vowed to locate the missing children and bring the kidnappers to justice.

·         Jenya borrowed an item from the church’s vault: the Star of Justice. It has the power to cast divination once per week. Only the church’s high priest is supposed to use it, but in his absence Jenya felt justified.

·         Jenya asked the mace “Where are the children who were abducted from the Lantern Street Orphanage?” The response: “The locks are key to finding them. Look beyond the curtain, below the cauldron. Beware the doors with teeth. Descend into the malachite ‘hold where precious life is bought with gold. Half a dwarf binds them, but not for long.”

Chewing on this mysterious clue, the group decided that they should visit the Lantern Street Orphanage immediately, in case the Last Laugh is interested in creating further discord there. Arriving in the middle of the night, the group was greeted by a one-eyed half-orc. Fogo identified himself as a former orphan housed by the facility, and explained the situation. Hugo called the doorman ‘the monster that lives under the bed.’ With a glower, the half-orc growled, “Wait here” and slammed the door in the group’s faces.

After a few tense seconds where the party debated whether or not they should just bust in, the door swung open again, this time opened by an elderly Halfling woman. Fogo introduced himself once again, and the old Halfling seemed delighted. “It’s alright Patch,” she told the half-orc. She then invited the group in and spoke to them frankly, giving them as much information as she can. This information is unfortunately redundant, and a repeat of what the party already knew up that point.

The group discussed possibilities and leads, and they resolved to visit the Bluecrater Academy library to investigate the ‘malachite hold’ in the morning. They also decided that they should perhaps visit the lockmaker, a gnome named Keygan Ghelve, who made the high-quality locks for the orphanage and who also provides locks for most of the city. The party is allowed to sleep in the children’s rooms, not the most accommodating conditions, but all parties felt safer with the heroes present and keeping vigil.

Between sessions, one of the party members is haunted by a surreal nightmare and another recalls an odd memory from his childhood.

[waterbridgemedia]

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[multilingual-warrior-cats]

English - Hollyleaf

Finnish - Paatsamalehti

French - Feuille de Houx

German - Distelblatt (Thistleleaf)

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