Tonight in our game the Sigil 6 see a comet that was their sign to meet up in Sigil, jump on a ship on the Astral Sea and head to the Radiant Citadel…
Kuru
Origin Halfling Ninja Village
Past Career Rogue Arcane Trickster
Relationship: Sigil 6, Council of 3, Cult of Songrim
Words: Deception, Fire and Theft
Shepherd
Origin Corpseflea – Bodychanger
Past Career Failed Soldier
Relationship Attuned to the Raven Queen
Words: Death, Health and Knowledge
Trundle
Origin Dwarven AWOL
Past Career Dwarven Ranger
Relationship Traveller
Words: Journeying, Artifice and looking like Health
Jusko
Origin Exiled from a Noble House
Past Career A knight, a thief, a prisoner
Relationship Welded to the Sigil Six
Words: Sword, Sky and Command
Helewynne
?
(Sorry, Aaron)
Bugwump
?
Normally, I jump in with both feet but for whatever reason, I wanted to re-read the Radiant Citadel info just one more time before the Sigil 6 arrive. In the past month I have started a new job and I’m still figuring out my week-night energy levels. I’m confident I can still run this game and want to continue but tonight I cut things short rather than press on. This new normal is causing me to be cautious.
Everyone was scattered. Each player told me where they were as we began.
Kuru was in front of three hobbit ninja grandmothers who run the village where he was born.
Shepherd was on the shore of the Astral Sea, watching a Corpseflea coming out of the sea for the first time.
Jusko was furiously packing in his beach apartment in Chult with new Chultan tattoos.
Trundle was figuring out the boundaries of his new Well of Worlds, wanting to learn what began the war between the dwarven citadel where he was born and the demons who have been laying siege to it for as long as anyone can remember.
Such amazing starting places.
Kuru was chided by the hobbit-ninja-grandma’s to take a spouse, build a home and settle down. When he refused, they gave him a letter of introduction to the Court of Whispers.
Shepherd, true to his name, guided the newborn Corpseflea to Sigil where this strange species has a small neighborhood. We got a cool guide to how they inhabit bodies and how Shepherd taught this newborn how to control it and find their place in their corpse. The newborn had a vague memory of emerging from some kind of cocoon.
Jusko wished Dacaad well and the Chultan leader gave him an ancient Omuan scroll about the Radiant Citadel. The ancient elders had hoped to move Chult to the citadel somehow.
Trundle’s quest took the most time. He found an ancient glyph carved in stone of dwarves building a prison and then the prison being turned into a temple and there was a Balrog, a Baatezu, a Pit Fiend – it was levitating a few feet from the ground, sword and whip on hooks nearby. It tried to convince Trundle to be a diplomat, talking about how it had taken control of the citadel as akind of demi-god and its Devil comrades did not approve. The Pit Fiend believed the Demons were spillover from the Blood War, sent to punish him for not returning to its duties in Hell. Trundle left, saying he would return to discuss this matter further – wanting the war to end.
We wrote up our new bingo board and just got some role-playing in as the group enjoyed being together again.
Tonight in our game…1 player had technical issues, 2 were pulled into late nights at work and so the 3 remaining worked on moving their characters over to Godbound. We are deliberating over how we are going to deal with hit points – starting hit points like a first level Godbound character or use their level as hit dice from the D&D game? We’ll talk it over next week when we have more of us at the table.
The last leg of your journey to the Radiant Citadel is uneventful on board the Hammerhead ship, The Long Rest. Captain Qairste, is an old salty Githyanki Marine, long-since gone AWOL from the Lich-Queen’s Imperial Navy. She loves talking to each of you about your adventures in Sigil, the city she plans to retire to some day.
What do you remember most about that long trip through the stars into the Astral Sea?
What part of your life/adventures do your dreams return you to?
Posted on the Thursday Night Delver’s FB group
I think Godbound will solve the 5e Hit Point bloat issues we’ve been having while giving the group lots of fun powers to play with. I’m excited to stat out some Demon Lords, Arch-Liches and Dukes of Hell to see how they shake out in combat. We’ve got some things to sussing out to do but I’m looking forward to both the process and getting to some play next week.
Dear Sigil 6,
I hope this letter finds you well. It is my hope that these words will help you have your feet under you when you arrive.
The Radiant Citadel is a city built around a massive Auroral Diamond, orbiting around this central city are Concord Jewels that lead to other worlds – and all of this is floating in the murky Astral Sea. It is a bright and shining place, with conflict and politics as one might expect. Most often, I am left with the feeling that these are good people, doing their very best with complicated situations.
Some of the Concordant Worlds
Yongjing – capital of the Great Xing, an impressive nation with a dynasty that has brought peace and prosperity after centuries of plague and uncertainty. Rumors abound that the White Jade Emperor’s reign will soon end, plunging Xing into chaos. This might be your first mission, depending on the timing of your arrival.
San Citlan – this world revolves around a city built at the confluence of ley lines with severe economic disparity and people with a strong bond with their honored dead. Shepherd should love it.
Zinda – a shining city full of guildhalls and universities in the midst of a dense jungle on the shore of a deep and dark ocean. There is a revolution brewing, rebels who call themselves the Bloodletters trying to seize power and opportunity from the Kings of Coin and their enforcers, the Silent Verse.
The Sensa Empire – a trio of city-states that runs on gold mines, held together by Empress Inaya. The arid landscape makes farming difficult but luckily, the empire’s gold allows them to import food. The balance between each city-state’s monarchies and the way they bow before the Empress is a complicated set of traditions and marriages.
Tletepec is a group of cities built among the forests that are surrounded by volcanoes, said to be the area’s heroes. The area’s history is a cycle of death and rebirth brought on by volcanic eruptions.
Atagua is a series of grasslands and wetlands with narrow tropical forests along the Holroro River. The people here are from a diverse range of cultures and work hard to communicate and keep the region from plunging into war.
I am missing some. Yallna is a world at war, with the Raven Queen and Orcus opening warring amidst a series of valleys where the long-departed Wizard-Kings left their towers and citadels.
And there is a young place, only a few years old, ruled by the ambitious Hajek family, whose name is said to be written on the foundation of the world.
I am missing some and haven’t even introduced you to the Court of Whispers, nor the Shieldbearers and the Speakers. We’ll talk when you arrive.
I hope your journey is restorative.
Quarace
In-game letter, also posted to the Thursday Night Delver’s FB group
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I’ve got this ridiculous Hex Flower on a Jamboard that is probably too complicated by a longshot. Maybe it should have half the crap on it. Maybe less. But here it is in all its glory.
Let’s toss some factions into the soup.
Looking at the Oddpedia, Bastion’s Greatest Businesses, page 125, and the Red Ghost Roads and Carriages catches my eye.
Robber barons who pay pennies to laborers, doing back-breaking road building and paving while living in tent towns that move with them. If they perish at work they are buried under the road. Carriage drivers and those who ride shotgun are seen as more skilled labor but are also paid crap, though there are unattainable incentives. Corporate strongarms called the Scarlet Wraiths. I dig it.
I want one of the factions to be an alien incursion of some kind. When I look at the Weird Creation Inspiration on pages 126 and 127 the words Snail and Eerily Beautiful grab me. I roll for the twist. I get 24, a lucky number in my family, Teleports Self. I dig it.
This alien incursion manifests as shells show up in the homes of the rich and the powerful. The creatures within are so beautiful those they are beguiling can barely speak of it. They just wait for their orders, wanting to catch a glimpse. They can’t describe it with words.
Next up should be an Astral Cult. I look at the chart, thinking about rolling until the my eyes blur a bit and I see Sons of the Forgotten Ship. Adventurers who found a ship in the Underground but they need buildings cleared to get a clear take-off. Or that is what they think.
One could trace the Sons of the Forgotten Ship back to former adventurers who now own businesses having to do with demolition and salvage with some members of their family studying stars, navigation and other worlds.
Maybe some revolutionaries from the Deep Country?
Revolutionaries who critique Bastion with violence.
I’ll toss the Bastion Free Library in there because I want someone to root for and I think they are cool.
Driven to gather and catalog rare Arcana and Manuscripts from all over Bastion, the Underground and the Deep Country and provide access to Bastion’s citizenry. Their motto, “Cataloging the stars above / Accessing the mysteries below.”
Alright, let’s toss these tokens on the board and then roll some dice and see what comes of them.
I’ve got this thing set up. The Red Ghost Roads and Carriages is vying for Borough Control with the Sons of the Forgotten Ship and the Snailien Incursion. They could all land on that at once and we could decide that they are allied or controlling different boroughs. Put the Deep County Revolutionaries near Deep Country and the Bastion Free Library near nothing. Library funding is always the first to get cut (support your local library!).
Let’s roll some dice and see what happens.
Round 1
Red Ghost Roads and Carriage takes control of a Borough. The Sons of the Forgotten Ship and the Snailiens are on the same spot, vying for control of the borough; I think this means that they are rivals and know about each other, maybe sizing each other up. Meanwhile, Red Ghost passes stern laws against wandering the streets unattended. These Ghost Road Laws are put into place to encourage people to either hire a carriage or stay the fuck home. Those wandering the streets (walking) after certain hours can be declared vagrants and thrown in jail. The Bastion Free Library moves off the board and on to the other side, getting its hands on a Major Arcanum while the Deep Country Revolutionaries are just meandering.
What does this mean for a game?
Maybe rich patrons urged on by their Snailien overlords hire the players to look into the Sons of the Forgotten Ship. Maybe the Sons of the Forgotten Ship hire the players to look into what is giving certain rich folk in elite, shiny skyscrapers such insight into the Underground’s going’s on.
Do the players put together that the explosions that the press is writing off as gas explosions from bad pipes are actually revolutionaries trying to make a splash? Even though only corrupt foreman and violent constables seem to be catching the brunt of the explosions? Or it could be the players do something to gain a reputation for being against the status quo and the revolutionaries reach out to them, hoping to get some help.
Maybe the Bastion Free Library needs help moving the Arcanum they’ve uncovered without gaining attention. Red Ghost Agents are all over the roads. How can we move this thing across the city without tipping off the company assassins, the Scarlet Wraiths?
Maybe his stuff is just background noise, newspaper headlines and rumors around town.
Rolling could happen when the balance of power is somehow shifted or every game or every couple of games or when I just run out of ideas. I could see times when factions move around because of the players’ actions or events in-game.
This Hex Flower thing is a fun tool. Looking forward to talking about it more with you and hearing about your uses for it.
This is an Into the Oddish game (chargen houserules here). Jeb the footpad, Taki and Tabouli and Gus are now the adventuring party – Psychic Tiger Fodder.
Quotes of the night:
This hand has seen some shit.
It is a monastery. Of course I brought a goat.
Then they shouldn’t have been evil.
What more or less happened:
Jeb got the hang of his cybernetic eye and hand, fell gifts of the Wizard-God.
Gus and Taki worked out a deal with a book-eating devil.
Richter burned the first monk guards with Mage Fire, then used Quietlands Legion to raise their dead bodies and set them after the monks remaining.
I got better at not going to the dice when someone wanted to know something but asking follow-up questions, “What kind of thing are you looking for here? How are you looking? etc.” and then telling them some strange shit that would make the adventure more meaningful because these odd places are better the more strange tidbits these adventuring thieves know about them.
Here’s what I want to remember about tonight if I remember nothing else:
After a long day of work, situated in a long week, in the midst of a very hectic and chaotic month, a friend of mine was having a rough time and when we asked what we, his friends, could do he said he just wanted to game and so we gamed. Everything else is details.
Githyanki Diaspora 
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