Lost Lakes: Griffon Hunt
The Funeral
At the funeral of Ser Wess, Knight of the Half Moon, the castle town of Caragon came together to mourn their hero, laid low by the talons of a griffon.
Saskia Ring-taker came to mourn not only her acquaintance, but her inroad to establish a new trade connection between her home of Fendell and the city of Caragon. With the knight dead, her hopes to fulfill her mission seemed dashed.
Henrik Iron-tongue came to mourn his lord, who saw fit to spare him from the noose when poverty or pride led him to thievery. And anyway, the funeral of a noble would be filled with easy marks: indeed, Henrik's hands slipped into many pockets unfelt.
Tybalt the Roadworn came not to mourn at all. He was too late to claim Ser Wess's life himself (for by a slight long ago, Ser Wess had ensured Tybalt's fall from the crown's academy), and found only a chance to bring a dark omen on the procession, calling on the winds to screech and howl, and tumble the corpse from the funeral pyre.
As Saskia spoke with Ser Maios, Wess's companion and fellow knight, she heard of the foul griffon whose talons put Wess in the ground.
Saskia boasted there and then, "I will slay this griffon, and bring you back its head!"
Henrik, his iron-tongue loosened with ale, laughed in Saskia's face. "What a fool's errand!" Ser Maios could not bear this insult, and tossed Henrik at Saskia's feet.
"Here, Ring-taker, have an errand boy to help you in your quest." So the two were bound together. (Though Henrik's hands plucked a key from Maios's belt as he lifted the farmer into the air.)
"Good knight," Tybalt asked, "would you liven this game with coin? A prize for those who claim the griffon's head? Surely such a risky hunt is worth a few discs of gold."
Ser Maios agreed, and threw down a purse of gold.
"And you who mourn Ser Wess, would you also sweeten this game?" Tybalt asked. And many did, tossing coins or gems or other small wonders into the pot.
Thus the great hunt began.
Planning
The party approached the griffon's tower, and saw it fall like lightning on fools who sought to poison it with the rotting corpse of a swine.
The griffon paid no heed to the corpse, but took a man and shredded him. Small griffon voices called out in pleasure from the top of the tower as their mother fed them human flesh.
The party returned to town, and gathered wisdom (as well as poisons).
The griffon hunts at dawn. Its bones are hollow. It falls on unsuspecting prey from on high, but is vulnerable if faced on the ground.
The Hunt
The three hunters marched through the night. They passed a ruined cart-the horse torn apart by great talons-near to the griffon's tower, and though tired, they kept a careful watch.
Tybalt boasted, "I will take one of its young to train."
The beast took flight with the first rays of dawn, and the three climbed up the tower, Saskia and Tybalt within, poisoned spears ready, and Henrik outside with a weighted net, clinging to the south side of the outer tower, praying the beast would not see him.
But the griffon knew something was wrong when it returned with its prey.
Henrik's net flew wild, but the spears from below found their mark, and they and the poison made short work of the noble beast.
The Return
The griffon's corpse went into the cart, along with its squawking young, and the victorious hunters began to drag their kill home.
But a trio of useless men sprang from the brush, and demanded "the griffon's head or your lives!"
Fury rose in Tybalt. "Not only will I end you, but I will take your teeth and place a curse upon anyone you have ever loved. Leave us be!"
But the fools persisted.
So Tybalt made good, and rushed spear-first at a frightened archer. The archer's valor shook from the blood-covered hunter's words, and the two found themselves in a melee.
"I AM A FUCKING WIZARD!" Henrick shouted as the other bandits were distracted by Tybalt.
And with a crash, a spirit stone (taken from a noble's pocket at the funeral before) broke upon the ground. The spirit enveloped Henrik and hid his form from mortal eyes. Unseen, Henrik set upon a thief and drove him away.
The chief's arrow took Saskia in the side, but, fearless, bold Saskia threw her spear, and the gods saw fit to lead its edge through the heart of the bandit chief.
The last standing ruffian looked at the ruin of his chief, and the cowardice of his fellow, and set out a run, but Tybalt plucked a bow from the ground and set an arrow flying after the wastrel. It struck true, and one less useless man stole breath from the gods.
Glory
So the trio returned with griffon, and young, and the body of a wanted man, and in the light of a setting sun, poor wanderers became gold-studded heroes.
Thoughts
This game was the first session of a fresh monday night open-table hexcrawl I'm running.
The system is inspired by things like the Black Hack, Mork Borg, and good old GLoG, but takes an important note from Wolves Upon the Coast: boasting.
It was that mechanic that pushed me to try this style of game out.
We're playing on a large hex-crawl with a lot going on, but rather than questing solely for gold, the players get to decide what challenges to pursue for advancement.
I also didn't know how the party would get together, but rolled on a big list and got "You meet at a funeral, how do you know the deceased?" I chose an important figure from the local town (Poor Ser Wess) and killed him. Suddenly a funeral was happening, and folk were gathered, and boasts were made, and the adventure began.
This was the most free-form game I've ever run, and we had a blast.
The players might accuse me of "stealing every plan they made" for the griffon hunt and letting NPCs try it, and they would be right. "Poison a carcass and try to get the griffon to eat it?" Sure, some farmers would probably try that. "Just wait til someone else kills the griffon and steal it from them?" Oh yeah, that's definitely happening.
But I did rely on the random encounter dice to tell me if those events occurred. Guess that dice just likes rolling ones!
I am very much looking forward to further adventures around the Lost Lakes.
As an aside, I have 3-4 seats open for this game, so if it sounds like something you're interested in, ping me on Discord! I mostly hang out around Phlox's GLoG server and the NSR cauldron, but I'm around a few other channels as well.
We play Monday nights at 5:30 PM PST.