From August 2004 to May 2005, I led six players on a merry chase through Ussura. Here's the chronicle of their exploits, and here is a write-up of what I was thinking at the time. Enjoy!
The cast. In brief: Sara is reprising Era, a Ussuran noble, Jota is reprising Charles, an Avalonian sailor, and katre is reprising Pyotr, a Ussuran backwoods hunter. Joining the group is Duchess playing Raelynn, a young Montaignian ingenue, and Sargent and inky playing Alixandre/Alexeij and Sebastien, Montaignian diplomats from Ussura and Castille, respectively.
To get a feel for the rules, katre ran Raelynn through a prolog, which established Raelynn as being on the run from a high-ranking Montaignian noble named Gerard, whose flunkies mistook her for his wayward daughter.
In our first episode, we met Charles in Vendel, where a twitchy man named Louis sent him off on the path of a man complicit in the death of Charles' father. Then we met Raelynn and Era in Eisen, where Raelynn found she had still not escaped the clutches of Gerard...or perhaps simply other people who are after Lady Fleur.
In our second episode, we met Alixandre and Sebastien arriving at their post in Sredbirskyoye to an empty embassy. After some soup and a good night's sleep, they met Dauntania Rissanova, the ruler of this area of the country, who presented them with a treaty so sign. Hmmmm. Meanwhile, in a different area of the country, Pyotr got ambushed... actually, a dozen peasants *tried* to ambush him, but were woefully unsuccessful. Posters advertising a reward for his capture had been posted in town, so after shaking down the locals for information, he headed out once again, on the open road, his only true friend and companion. Er, or something.
In the third episode all the PC's finally met each other, starting with a round of mistaken-identity fisticuffs between Charles and Sebastien. The mystery of where Edmund Devoe went was investigated, beginning with the fire beneath the floorboards, which led to a secret cellar, secret tunnel, and secret turnips. Pyotr managed to track a guy to a tree, who, fed up with being cold and dirty, agreed to tell all in exchange for a bath. The plot: Edmund wants to spring Dreng Rissanova from a Sud'ya monastery and help him attempt another coup. Bum-dum-baaaaaa! Oh, and then Raelynn runs in from something.
In the fourth episode, we picked up where we left off with Raelynn entering and asking for help. She, Marceau, and Sebastien all headed downstairs to escape, while Pyotr went outside and beat up the guards that were following her. Raelynn and Marceau went off, Era wolfed to protect the group against further intrusions from guards, and Pyotr and the rest went to the market, where they met--the real Raelynn. Oops. The group skedaddled out of town, and trekked to the monastery where Dreng and Devoe were supposed to have been.
In the fifth episode, our intrepid adventurers finagled their way into the hearts and minds of the Sud'ya monks by cleverly talking to them at dinner. Also, some wolves attacked or something.
In the sixth episode, most of the group convalesced, but Era and Raelynn went with one of the remaining wolves back to its den where they found 'the voice'--a bowl with odd markings on it. The rest of the group talked to Palech again, and tried to figure out what was going on.
In the seventh episode, the group had a midnight visit from a Raelynn-lookalike (hmm) who stole their climbing equipment and then used Porte to escape. In the morning, Palech told them that a mob/army was a few days away from Breslau. The only way to get there in time seems to be to travel through the Thrice-Tenth Kingdom, also known as Matushka's Realm.
In the eighth episode, the group ventured into the Thrice-Tenth kingdom, where they encountered a huge snowdrift, a hawk trying to get a rabbit, a chasm, and a huge painted egg.
In the ninth episode, the egg took them first to Somojez, where they thwarted a bandit raid on two sleeping fops--Sebastien and Alixandre. It then took them to Charouse, where a scene from Louis' past played out before them. Eventually they realized they were in Louis' memory, and got him to remember more clearly what he had heard that day--which turned out to be L'Empereur killing the Heirophant eight years ago.
In the tenth episode, we went with Alixandre, who met the wolf who had donating him his spirit skin when he was one. His pack had been scattered and decimated by a nearby mining camp. Alixandre met some of the other wolves, then went to talk to the miners in grand foppish fashion.
In the eleventh episode, the group rescued a hacker making ports in a firewall. OK, so the hacker was a woman from Cathay, and the port in the firewall was a gap in the big Wall of Fire between Cathay and Ussura. But still. (Pun courtesy of Jota.)
In the twelvth episode, Era remembered that she spoke Fhideli, and managed to converse a bit with the woman from Cathay. Then Charles went back alone to the egg and was sent away, and when everyone else discovered it, had the egg send them, too. At the request of Montegue (!), Charles led a group to defend a valley against (as it turned out) giant bugs with strange pistols. Then everyone was sent back once again. The GM promises to stop the railroad real soon now. Honest!
In the thirteenth episode, the egg picked up Alix, then dropped everyone off near Breslau, where some skulking revealed a shocking twist: Alix was in love with Olan! Or, wait, no, that Devoe seemed to have compelled Fleur to do something for him. Afterwards, some guards from the city had come to investigate, and the group went in to reveal all.
In the fourteenth episode, the group did a lot of Figuring Things Out. And now, they have A Plan.
In the fifteenth episode, the group put the Plan into action, and went to find in ingredients for a sleeping draught--and found Yin, now an old woman, running a small apothecary in the city. She sent them off with a vial she made up herself, then everyone headed out to the bandit camp. Raelynn (as Fleur) made it into the main tent, where she found a map detailing an attack on the city, and a large pile of cloth. Pyotr created a disturbance outside (as he is wont to do), and the group escaped in the general chaos.
In the sixteenth episode, the group went after Devoe up the cliffs of Breslau, and got bonked on the head for their troubles.
In the seventeenth and final episode, the group pursued their quarry into the castle, up a secret staircase, and into Tamara v'Rissanova's room, where Devoe held an unconcious Tamara at knife-point. After a bit of witty repartee, a hearty melee ensued, where Pyotr threw his axe out the window, Charles pinned Devoe's hand to a chair, a member of Devoe's party was revealed as Era's brother, Tamara was rescued, Era turned into a cat, Raelynn blinded everyone with a transmogrified lamp, and finally, Fleur and Devoe lept out the window, with cat-Era and kite-Alixandre in hot pursuit. Fleur opened a portal and disappeared, nearly taking Era with her, and Alix and Devoe plunged in after her. And so Dreng and Devoe's evil plot was thwarted. Go heroes!
