Recap
Day 1: Family Reunion
Our story begins in the 'sleepy little town' of Prok. Adea and Arcas sit down at the local tavern, with a nice beer.
Adea is acting very proper. Long strawberry blond wavy/curly hair, green eyes. Dressed in gentrified clothing (EL: Anna, i'm gonna declare that to be an equestrian ladies' outfit). Carrying a large golden chain draped around her hips. 5'9, High attractiveness. Moves deliberately.
Arcas is a male with long blonde hair in a ponytail. 6'1, "Captain America build". Blue eyes. Carries a sword and a shield. Boisterous. At home in the bar. Probably an alcoholic. Very charismatic.
An elf enters, 6'0, butt-long raven-black hair. Pale grey eyes, frail form, milky skin. 190 years old (Emma). She moves towards Arcas, who immediately offers her a seat. Getting straight to the point (and ignoring Arcas' flirting for the moment), Emma states that word around town is that the pair are Demigods, children of Reluna (EL: The Goddess of Passion) Emma states that she too is a child of Reluna. She heard tales of demigods in the area, overhearing the conversations of spirits (EL: TIL spirits have nothing better to do than gossip in the afterlife).
Neal specifies that this game is set in the Age of Heroes. Meanwhile, a child is directed over to the group by the tales of an elderly man about the Golden Egg of Nerual. (Nerual is the Goddess of Family / Society / Home, and thus the PC's aunt). He recites a tale of bandits who stole the egg, cursing them. They were so possessed that they dug down into the hills, and became the dwarves as they are known today (EL: Never dig straight down). The egg was discarded into a river.
There is some debate over whether or not they should try and retrieve the egg, Adea and Emma decide to leave to head back to Arcas' father's (Who is apparently the blacksmith in Prok) home, discussing the situation. Arcas picks up a lady friend for the evening, and heads off to the nearest bed or bathroom.
- "So happy I have a penis in this campaign" -Stephanie
The old man finishes his tale however; the egg was last seen in the river, near a town called Evenfar, to Thordin's Lake, before continuing south to the Devouring Marsh. Rumour says it was somewhere between Brooksong and Southstone. He warns that the egg may yet bring misfortune if it is not returned to the city.
Adea reveals a slight fear of water from a 'past life'. Emma wants to study on reincarnation, but there is no Library present in Prok. Arcas emerges from the back room. Adea introduces herself to the child (who is named Timmy); Emma likewise does so, causing marvel in Timmy who has not seen an elf before. The old man is introduced in passing as Ralph. The group departs for the evening; but Arcas doesn't want to share his bed (without.. SHARING the bed). So Adea and Emma decide to stay at the inn instead.
Day 2: Equestrian Pursuits
The next morning comes. Adea greets the day way-too-chipper, singing songs and such. Emma is much less of a morning person, but plays along.
Adea's hair seems to have changed color somewhat while she was singing; when questioned about it by Emma, she shrugs it off as a trick of the light. They head over to Arcas' house, where he is still in bed, snoring loudly.
Bursting into Arcas' room, Adea pulls the curtains and starts singing to wake Arcas up. Emma surreptitiously checks out Arcas' naked body. Adea tries to tip Arcas out of bed, which she eventually manages to do.
Finally waking up, Arcas stumbles outside to dump a bucket of water over his head. Adea spends the time cleaning the room, and Emma appears to be awkward in situation.
Adea insists on getting Arcas a horse so he can ride; he's broke though. He insists he doesn't need to work because he's a demigod. Being the son of a blacksmith however, he's skilled enough to craft things. (EL: Advanced discussion of crafting dissuades this idea as slow.)
Arcas seems reluctant to go on the 'expedition', but eventually gets dragged along by the enthusiastic Adea, who deigns herself to allow Arcas to ride her horse with her until he can afford his own.
Day 13: Information = Beer
Upon arrival in Brooksong, Arcas flags down the first citizen he sees to find out where the local tavern is. "The Red Mailbox". Arcas bursts in, orders a beer, then realizes he's broke, and the people of Brooksong do not know him, meaning no free drinks.
Adea brokers with Arcas; 1 beer for 2 pieces of information about the golden egg. He immediately gives up when the beer doesn't come first. Adea orders a beer and taunts Arcas with it. He instead resorts to trying to chat up the local women; sitting down with a woman named Jezebel (EL: A name i feel was lost on Stephanie.)
Arcas tries to get information out of Jezebel, but she seems to be oblivious to anything related to the golden egg. She suggests the village elder as someone to talk to about it. He's apparently 120 years old and lives down near the centre of town. Adea considers these pieces of information satisfactory enough to grant Arcas the beer she's been taunting with. He downs it immediately.
The group moves out towards the centre of town, knocking on the Elder's door. He gets suspicious immediately when the golden egg is mentioned. He eventually relates that a Mr. Thornton Fisher (Jimmy's Dad) spied something down in the river. He sent his son after it, but couldnt manage to secure it. The Elder sort of... starts to ramble a bit, completely forgetting the group's presence.
Geography Note: The Thordin River flows north past Brooksong; terminating in Thordin's Lake.
Returning to the tavern after their most enlightening conversation, they find it rather packed for the evening. Adea strikes up a rousing little speach seeking information. She gets a warm response, but no one immediately responding. Eventually, Jimmy tugs on Adea's arm. Her interpretation of Jimmy's fate appears to be incorrect, as Jimmy is entirely not dead. He points out his dad, who is leching on a woman in a booth nearby.
Adea strikes another deal with Arcas for beer = information. Emma agrees to be wingwoman/distraction. When they approach Mr. Thornton though, the woman rejects Arcas' efforts to distract and extract her from Mr. Thornton, stating that he is a paying client. Plan B being the direct approach, Arcas questions Mr. Thornton about the egg; he responds by brokering for drinks as well. Emma buys two beers, which Thornton claims both of. He gives Emma a fairly specific location of where he saw the egg, and warns her against trolls at night. Emma gets a slap on the ass as she leaves, which she feigns offence at, while being proud.
Adea, who has been entertaining Jimmy while the interrogation has been going on, is informed of the ass slapping, provoking an angry reaction from her and her hair flares red once more. Calming herself, she agrees with Jimmy to meet them at the inn in the morning, so that he can show them -eggsactly- where he was diving before. (EL: The egg puns are rife)
As Jimmy heads off for the evening, Adea asks the obvious question: Who can swim? Turns out... no one. (Much to Neal's enjoyment.) Arcas concocts a plan involving using his shield as a diving weight tied to a rope, designated the Zelda Boots Plan.
Day 14: Firebuilding 101
Another morning comes, and the party meets Jimmy at the bar. (EL: Because kid in bar.) Arcas proves his demigodhood by tossing Jimmy in the air a couple of times, until he gets queasy.
A quick shopping trip later, the group is stocked up for their journey.
Jimmy leads the party to where he'd seen the egg. and inquires about how they're going to get the egg. He seems kind of sceptical of the Zelda Boots plan given that Arcas cant swim.
After testing the river for depth and current, the sisters cast spells upon Arcas to aid him in recovering the egg; light on a stick to guide him. He leaps into the air, aided by the spell, and splashes into the river. Quickly sinking due to his armor and shield. He looks around, but doesn't spy the golden egg.
Halfway through his breath cycle, Arcas abandons looking for the egg, climbing out of the water and retrieving his gear. Recalling that the egg was told to be travelling upriver, Adea suggests looking upstream a couple dozen paces. Arcas suggests throwing Jimmy in the air to get a better look at the river floor.
A few throws later, the group spies an 8' tall, hunched over figure on the other side of the river; a troll is skulking towards them.
COMBAT: Stumpy The Troll. Arcas immediately slices one of the troll's arms off, leaving it weakened and slower. Adea reveals Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, which.. whiffs it's first casting. #NewWizard. Arcas, in an attempt to pursue the troll into the river, dives in, armor and weapons and all. Underwater combat isnt very forgiving to her though.
Arcas claims to have killed the troll once he's back on the riverbank. Emma reveals that she is a healer, closing Arcas' leg wound. Adea, using her knowledge of animals, identifies that a troll can only truely be killed by fire or acid, so Arcas couldn't possibly have killed it.
After some discussion the party continues upriver looking for the egg, using Jimmy as aerial recon again. He immediately says that he can see the troll in the river. Arcas and Adea begin to build a fire. The troll emerges from the river, arm regrown.
COMBAT: Stumpy the Troll 2, Flaming Boogaloo. Thanks in part to Stumpy being about as stable on land as Adea on the sea, Arcas puts the troll down the second time with relative ease. He and Jimmy continue beating it to make sure it doesn't regenerate.
After a significant while, Emma manages to get a fire going, and the group plops the troll on top of it to put it down for good.
- Recap from EtoileLion on reddit. Editorial notes are theirs.