Drakenwelt Replay II - Session 1 - A ring and a gamble...

I am back with more RPG replays, I've been reading some more. Testing? I don't do that. But what I did do is change a lot of the system... many things are different now. I'd say, we are less Sword World and more GURPS. But not much like GURPS either. If this doesn't work then I'll be throwing the towel and hacking some already existing system instead.

With changes to the system come changes to the story. I plan for this replay to be in the same unnamed world as the previous one. There is something that has changed though: mostly in relation to grassrunners... well — they are no longer. That's not entirely true, in SW they are supposed to be more like travelers and nomads — my version were reclusives that lived in the woods... But I already have that, they are called elves.

So I am going to change grassrunners. First, they will no longer be called grassrunners, instead they are called imps — their behavior is more social, and they exist in all places. The son or daughter of an imp, even with other races, will always be an imp. In terms of appearances, I decided that they no longer look so young — they remain dark skinned, with long pointy ears, youthful, and somewhat short (around a meter fifty), but they do not look like kids. They also got monkey-like tails, because why not.

Demdem whose backstory was never explained other than knowing that he lived in the forest, must therefore come from people who live in the forest. Due to this I decided that north of Molinos there is an elven village — he was probably born there and left at some point.

That should be all that was changed. As a result of the change I noticed that a lot of the characters became more generic... my changing of spells also made them become less damage focused. Let's see how it goes.

A ring and a gamble...

Through the busy streets of Molinos, two adventurers walked, a young man and a young lady. The man was covered completely with cloth; dark clothes, a big wizard hat and robes. His black hair was long, his face pale, and his eyes had the stare of a dead fish. He showed no emotion on his face.

The lady, on the other hand, was very cheerful. She was wearing chain mail armor, carried a bow, and a sword in her belt. If one were to look at her from far away, one would think she's a soldier of some kind. But her braided hair, makeup, and jewelry made her whole appearance clash with this assumption.

Demfand: "It is very unlikely... we will probably not be accepted."
Samirin: "Boo~ Don't be like that! They are short on people, we are definitely going to make it."
Demfand: "Even if we are accepted, don't get your hopes up... it might not be the ring."
Samirin: "Would that stop us from taking it?"

Demfand showed his first and last smile of the day. After walking past the alley the duo entered a two-store building from the back entrance. Once the door was opened the people already there quickly took a glance at the newest arrival.

Old man: "Good, it's good to see more faces..."

There was an old man sitting on a chair next to a table. The place itself looked like a kitchen. At the other side of the table sat two similar looking girls. Their hair was black at night, one of them had it tied in a low ponytail, while the other one had short hair, revealing her forehead. Both had staves so it was obvious they were magic users, but that wasn't all they carried; one had with her a lute and the other a bow. These two were also adventurers.

Felnini: "There is no need for anyone else, my sister and I can take care of it no problem!"
Lialia: "Don't be harsh... I am sure they will be of great help."
Demfand: "The notice said that they needed at least four people... so it's fine, right?"

Demfand replied, whispering. He was an incredibly dodgy person and would constantly avoid eye contact. The younger sister Felnini, the one carrying the bow, approached Demfand and gave him a good look up and down. Standing next to each other, she was only tall enough for her head to reach his chin. After noticing that the girl kept looking at him, he looked at her in response... and tried to return the imitation of a smile, which ended up not looking quite right, and could not be considered one proper.

Felnini: "This guy is totally a perv!"
Demfand: "W-What? I am not a perv..."
Felnini: "Oh, that's what a perv would say..."
Samirin: "Hoho! He's totally a perv, I can confirm!"
Felnini: "I knew it!"

Samirin seemed to be enjoying the situation. After hearing her words Felnini took a step back covering her chest, even though there wasn't much there... at least not compared to her older sister.

Demfand: "It'd be more efficient if you were to cover your forehead instead..."
Felnini: "What did you say?!"
Demfand: "Nothing..."
Old man: "All right, shut up you two... you are giving me a headache."

Felnini walked up back to the table, turning her back to Demfand. Before sitting, she wiggled her monkey-like tail and looked back sticking her tongue out.

Felnini: "Bleh~"
Demfand: (This brat is so annoying...)
Old man: "The reality is that this mission was not meant for the public affairs of the guild, but rather... taken by the guild as a compromise."
Samirin: "Oh... so that means it was a request by one of the noble houses?"
Old man: "I can't go into detail, but it was a request, yes. Unfortunately all the close members are already out; a matter of larger importance."
Lialia: "So this mission is not very important?"
Old man: "It is like a gamble, if it ends well then that's good, but it can also end poorly — I don't blame you if you don't want to do it."

The man explained: the mission was to travel to the ruins near the town of Descanso. They would be provided a map, supplies, and a place to rest in the city. Their objective was to recover a rumored ring; a dangerous artifact said to have belonged to a lich 150 years ago. They had a week to provide a report: if the ring was returned the price for everything would be considered paid, and they'd be able to keep any other treasure from the exploration of the ruins, otherwise, they would have to pay for the map, information, and supplies, plus an additional tax.

Felnini: "I can't see why you'd call it a gamble, if we get this rumored ring you win, and if we don't get it... you also win. That's a nice gamble for the guild."
Old man: "The gamble has more to do with the conditions of the place... first, the ruins are filled with undead creatures, nothing there remains dead. Secondly, the elves who live near the ruins are not on good terms with the town of Descanso."
Demfand: "Elves are not on good terms with anyone who enters the forest..."
Old man: "I am not saying that they are aggressive, our relationships are not that bad... but they definitely wouldn't let you wander around the forest, so you must take care to not be noticed by them."
Lialia: "We are going to a dangerous place... in search of something that may not be there... and we will be in trouble if we are unable to get it."
Old man: "The conditions are certainly not fair... as I said, if you want to decline and leave this gamble to someone else, I wouldn't blame you—"
Samirin: "We'll take it."

Samirin said with confidence. Demfand nodded. Their resolve astounded the old man.

Lialia: "Oh, that's... we can't let them go alone."
Felnini: "If you two are taking the risk, then we don't have a reason to back down."
Old man: "Haha, that settles it, let's write a contract... can you four place your fingerprints here?"

What Lialia and Felnini didn't know is that Demfand and Samirin had no reputation to uphold, after all, they were not adventurers... but thieves — a duo of thieves playing the role of adventurers, with no intentions to ever set another foot on Molinos once they get what they want.

Replay

Hope you liked my introduction to the new party, this story takes place around a week after the events of the last replay. We will see the Crimson Strike Band again at some point, don't worry about that. For now these are the guys, again, this is a sort of session 0, only talking about changes and character creations.

On the topic of character creation, I generated all of these guys in a similar way as I did the original party. It's fun that no matter what, there's always something interesting going on. Perhaps it has nothing to do with the system, and I just find certain randomness appealing. Now — Demfand and Samirin, a duo of thieves... again?! Another duo of thieves, but these guys are good thieves.

Will they be able to run away with the treasure? Fun stuff is going to go down this replay. Hope I don't clash with the system in the process. Okay, thank you for reading. That was a short introduction. See you next session!