Home Front Preparations

I've really gotten stuck into my Home Front core rulebook.  Most of the research is done.  It's been great.  I've always wanted to know more about the British Home Front but I never had the excuse to get down and dirty with the research.  Now I have.  I'll keep researching, of course, as there's bound to be short falls in my knowledge but I know most of what I need to know.  I've read a number of non-fiction books as well as a few fiction books set in the era (mostly for flavor) and I've even bought a huge variety of different Home Front props from a wonderful store.  One day I'll use them for props.  I have a LARP in mind that I think they could be useful for.

Thus far I've used these replicas as background materials at my Home Front themed birthday party.  Such a shame I live in a rental or I totally would have blacked out the windows.  Since we can't so much as use blu tac on the walls I knew it'd be impossible unless I wanted to make correctly sized wooden frames with canvas covers and while that would be top points for accuracy it's a bit far to go.  Especially since I have glass sliding doors.

It's amazing the things you learn.  I think the main thing I've gained is an appreciation for the complexity of the time.  It wasn't all a bed of camraderie and roses.  There were black out gangs mugging people after dark, internment of German Jews in Britain and black marketeers selling medicine and governmental incompetence leading to dangerous air raid shelters falling down on people....  But there was also innovative governmental programs, an increase in recycling and a further breakdown of certain social conventions. 

Exhausted workers after long shifts climbed stairs to do their fire watching (though admittedly this duty was unpopular) and then trudged home to sleep before an air raid woke them up and sent them rushing to the shelters.  Sometimes they just rolled over and kept sleeping.

Housewives sent their children into the countryside, volunteered with various services, and had to mix waiting in long queues for an interesting vegetable with making packs for injured soldiers and dancing at night at the clubs to keep up soldiers' morale while their own husbands fought and died overseas.

There were children sent far from home, scavenging about countrysides after a lifetime in the cities, learning an entirely new way of life in homes that were sometimes kind, sometimes cruel, but who lived in homes that were sometimes straight out of the 1850s.

Then there were the soldiers returned from leave, perhaps lovesick for a woman seen all the more tenderly after conflict, rattled by their own losses and astounded by the devastation in bomb struck cities.  They tried to get the most out of the few minutes they had left with loved ones before they parted ... unsure if they would see each other again and uncertain as to who would survive as the Blitz could take civilians as easily as an enemy soldier could take a soldier's life.

It's a fascinating and terrible era made all the more compelling by its closeness to the modern era.  It really isn't that far ago.  The social mores are old-fashioned but recognisable.  The technologies are surprisingly close to our own if you ignore information technology.  The thought of being bombed in your home city is so alien and frightening to me and yet such a recent experience for a country so similar to my own.  I think that's what keeps me going back to the research.  That kind of curiosity.

Perhaps it's because I am such a horror fan, but I do love the setting and am thrilled to see Achtung Cthulhu and World War Cthulhu touch upon it although their focus is more global in scale then my enterprise.

The Arrival, Post-Apocalyptic oWoD meets nWoD game

The Arrival System: New World of Darkness with some Old World of Darkness mixed in.
Setting: Predominately Old World of Darkness but with nWoD Vampires, Werewolves and Changelings.
Location: New York, 2035, late September.
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Action Horror.
Storyteller: My Husband.
Player: Me!

My character: Nicovia Chetaine.  An alleged Infant Diabolique (basically, a Lucifuge without the training) with more experience points than sense.  I literally have just over 300 experience points settled into her nineteen-year-old frame but the reasons for this will become obvious as the game progresses.  She starts off with the ability to spend her magic points to gain werewolf-like regeneration or immunity to mind control for a scene.  She can also spend those magic points (most WoD system has some form of magic points by the way - blood or essence or plasm) on healing on a one-for-one basis.

These aren't powers the average Infant Diabolique possesses but she assumes it's normal.  She lives in a very large settlement as far as post-apocalyptic New York is concerned.  Population: About 270.  The inhabitants call it 'New York' because as far as they're concerned they're the only slice of life that matches the actual city.  Everyone else uses the derogatory term "Demonhold", partly because it's the only place that holds back the demons, partly because the bastards won't share their protections, and partly because of rumors about the ruling family and how they got those protections.

Nico Chetaine is the middle child of the rulers of "Demonhold".  Her family contains a long line of infant diaboliques traced back over twenty one generations.  Every seven generations her family is proud to claim an infernally soaked set of children whose powers aid them in binding and controlling demons to ensure appropriate pacts are made for the generations thereafter.

Since the apocalypse led to demons landing on this world and destroying much of everything, even her family aren't so pro-demons anymore although they are still proud of their lineage.  Her mother rules it all with an iron thumb, married to a cousin who does what she say.  The family are brought up to indulge in their vices though, admittedly, Nico was the black sheep by choosing to subsume her gluttony and desire for action into her role as a scavenger and patrolwoman, taking on training at the early age of 12.

So how was New York destroyed THIS time?  Since New York is always targeted by every apocalypse.

Well, after the demons rushed loose there was a giant demon who leapt into the air into the upper atmosphere and then crashed down into Manhatten like a meteorite, killing many demons, turning all of Manhatten's buildings to sand, wiping out loads of people, and damaging the buildings in the surrounding boroughs.

So New York is a concrete-sandy wasteland with far few people around.  300 people in a particular settlement is considered to be a BIG settlement.

Next week I'll post up what happened in the first session.  Feel free to post any questions as we go along.  This should be far more easy to follow than Dystopic as the setting is quite small and contained rather than covering multiple semi-apocalypses and genres on each country on earth.

New Plans

Well now that my Fianyarr fantasy mod for the World of Darkness is done and dusted, it's now time to look at some new weekly article topics for your enjoyment. Hmm, so what do I have for you to help get you through the months until Christmas?

Weeeeeeeell....

Mondays will be Horrors on the Home Front days where I take you through the development of my own World War II setting / rules for a horror game. I'll discuss some of my choices, point out some musings, highlight research options I've completed, and gripe about some of the painful bits and pieces that you never think about until after you decide to do something silly like try to self-publish a book of your own.

Tuesdays will be all about Masks of Nyarlathotep. I'm doing a pretty weird take on it by running it as a psychological horror game where I take a character from a completely different campaign (a monster hunting vampire from Vampire: the Requiem) and do an entire genre and world switch. This allows me to play with elements of reality and insanity through an otherwise rather pulpy campaign. I'll post up articles on how I'll do it and what I've been thinking as well as (later on) links to the audiologs from the game itself. That's right, I am taping the sessions! I've also tracked down a lot of props so there'll be plenty of links included as well.

Wednesdays will be Flashpoint session write ups as game will be moving from Monday to Tuesday so that I can go and be a great big nerd and run around hitting people with soft faux-swords as part of the new LASS group starting up around here. Where there's gaps in Flashpoint due to session cancellations, I will be chatting about my experiences in the Call of Cthulhu play-by-post arena.

Thursdays will alternate between my experiences with this new thing called LASS (including issues of armour and my obsession with props) and some more Game Translations. I've been playing more games and therefore have more things to say. I'll be translating Outlast, Grand Theft Auto 5, The Cat Lady, Left for Dead, Project Zero, Gears of War, Dracula: Origins, The Last of Us, Heavy Rain, Gone Home, Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Realms of the Haunting, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Dishonoured. If you want to know what Games Translations are all about, you can find them here. If you have any preference for my first Game Translation, mention it in the comments section.

Fridays will include my general Storyteller musings, starting with a series called "The Necessity of Emotional Distance" which looks at the various benefits and drawbacks of invoking emotion in roleplaying games, as well as how to handle it sensitively if you do want to do so. Each installment will focus on a different emotion. After that series I'll probably be doing a bundle of articles on horror, particularly in regards to what I've learned from Outlast (my new favourite horror game).

Saturdays and Sundays will include session write ups for a campaign where I'm the player! The campaign is called 'The Arrival' and its an nWoD / oWoD mash up set in an apocalyptic wasteland version of New York (of course) where demons roam the earth and I play a character with way too much exp for her little nineteen-year-old life.  I'm working a lot harder on how I write this one, in particular, so hopefully it's as enjoyable to read as it is to play.

So that's how my week will look for a fair while.

I know, I know. Where does she find the time to write so much?

Well, I have a typing speed of 100wpm and my musings move faster than that so it doesn't take nearly as much time as you'd think.

 Oh, by the way, if you ever have links that are relevant to the article at hand, don't hesitate to post them in the comments section. I don't mind if it's from your blog, your friend's blog, or a cool youtube video. I am happy to have it included in the comments section so long as it's at least tangentially related. As an example, you're youtubing your play through of Outlast? Feel free to put it in the comments section of the Game Translation about Outlast! You have your own Actual Plays or recordings of your Masks sessions? Happy to see those links in the Masks post's comments section. I don't mind a little cross-pollination of sites. Heck, I know I'm curious about who's reading this thing. Little things like that help me feel like I know you.

*cue creepy laugh here*

Class Specific Relics, Guardians & Rangers

Both guardians and rangers in Fianyarr make their way through the wild places of the world where the ten races haven't claimed control of the land.  Both also often fulfil a protective function for their society, act as guides through dangerous places, and champion the needs of nature (though this is more likely with a guardian than a ranger).  While there are many differences between the two paths with guardians attempting to deflect or delay a terrible future while rangers focus on present issues and circumstances, the two paths are still close enough to be twin paths and sometimes those of one path can benefit from relics dedicated to those of the other path.

Ranger 

(*) Perfect Quiver: Sometimes rangers have a need for a particular type of arrow but they don't have time to pick it out from the quiver.  So long as they have the arrow within their quiver, they don't need to take any additional time to draw it and won't accidentally pull a special arrow by mistake.  The quiver also won't spill nor get in the way of the rangers' movements even if they are crawling through a tight cave.  This costs only a single glamour a week.  Tell: The quiver seems to hold its arrows oddly upright and sometimes the arrows can be seen to shuffle around as the ranger reaches up to take a specific one.

(**) Wilderness Boots: These boots, when activated, allow the ranger to ignore terrain penalties (i.e. snow, slick roads, scree) and provide a -2 penalty against anyone attempting to track the ranger.  These boots require a point of glamour each week.  Tell: The soles and edges of these boots often seem encrusted with slow or water.

(***) Tanglebolas: This item appears to be an ordinary set of bolas until used.  Then the lines will struggle to hold the victim prone and will force the victim to make an opposed Grapple check against 6 dice in order to get loose.   Tell: The tanglebolas seem to twitch occasionally.

(****) Gloves of the Arrow Thief 
Rangers have learned the dangers of being shot by an arrow and so some have invested in purchasing a set of gloves which will help protect them from being on a receiving end.  When someone fires an arrow at a ranger they may activate these gloves and roll Dexterity + Athletics to catch the arrow mid-flight.  Only a single success is required.  This can be activated once per turn.  Tell: These gloves occasionally have a metallic sheen or blur.

(*****) Bow of Flaming Ammunition
This bow can be empowered to create a flaming arrow out of the very air. All the users need to is draw the bowstring and spend a point of Glamour.  These arrows deal +3L on top of the usual damage dealt by the bow and have a chance of setting the target alight with a contested Wyrd + Athletics versus Wyrd roll. Those set alight take one damage from fire until they successfully smother the flames.   Naturally these arrows also provide an intangible light as though cast by a Size 1 flame.  The arrow remains in place until the bowstring is released or until the Glamour is reabsorbed by the user which harmlessly removes the arrow from existence. Tell: This bow feels warm to the touch and has a slightly glowing flame sigil etched into the side.

(* to ***)Fellman's Axe: This axe can ignore one point of Durability on natural objects (stone, wood, etc.) per point purchased in this merit. Tell: The axe makes a rather sharp noise when swung through the air.

Guardian

(*) Ring of Mind Power Detection:  When another character attempts to mentally manipulate the guardian, that guardian may roll Wits + Wyrd to detect that someone has just tried to affect their mind although they won't necessarily know who.Tell: Wearing the ring provides a sense of comfort and confidence.

(**) Ring of Force Shield: Sometimes it's a good idea to have a shield without having to wield a shield and deal with all of the awkwardness that includes. With this ring, a guardian can activate a force shield once per day that floats in front of her and acts just like a shield - providing all of the same bonuses but without any of the nasty penalties. Tell: When tilted in the light in a certain way, a little translucent shield can be seen floating above the ring.

(***) Ring of Locate Creature or Locate Objects: The guardian gains a +5 bonus to track a creature or object so long as they either have a piece of that creature / object, something dear to the person or can hold an image of it in their mind. While they still must make survival checks to track the creature or object, they can follow a trail even when one wouldn't otherwise exist - such as if the person or object was teleported away the guardian could still find some form of 'trail' that leads it in its direction.Tell: The ring seems to vibrate slightly when held toward an object loved by the wielder.

(****) Eyeglass of the Past:  This pair of eyeglasses is keyed to the past and allows a person the ability to see strong resonances in the local area with a Wits + Wyrd roll. This might involve death stains or it could involve seeing lust resonance or romance or subjugation. Through seeing the resonance of a location, the guardian can get a better understanding of what regularly happens there.  Tell:There is an etching of an hourglass on the edge of the eyeglasses that sometimes appears to turn.

(*****) Sword of the Wilds: Guardians always seek to expand their knowledge but they rarely have time to sit down and read books on the situation.  These swords make it easier for them.  This relic whispers into the mind of the user and can provide advice on how to deal with tricky situations.  This sword possesses Danger Sense (dice pool of 2) and can warn the user but may also have three dots in a mental skill - normally Medicine, Occult, and Riddles.  These three dots are rolled as a separate dice pool.Tell: This sword whispers into the mind of the user though when first picked up the whispers are often vague and indistinct.

(* to ***) Ring of Mental Protection: For every point purchased in this object, the guardian may re-roll a single dice on a resistance check against mental effects. The player chooses which dice. If the guardian is reduced to a chance die, they may re-roll that chance die as many times as they have dots in this merit. Tell: The ring has an image of a dove engraved onto it and when it is used the dove's wings are open but when it is dormant the wings are down.

Fianyarr Werewolves

There are plenty of options for what to do with werewolves in Fianyarr. In fairytales, werewolves represent the repressed brutality and cruelty within us all that can be sparked by rage and insanity into a terrible moment of violence that leaves us devastated and confused. Within it lies the seed of every real life story of a mother who kills her baby because it wouldn't stop crying or spouse who kills the beloved they found in bed with another person. They also represent our fears toward those people within the community that hide terrible acts behind a calm facade, sneaking off at night to butcher their victims or abuse their family members. Thus the werewolf is a seemingly normal person who flies into a primal rage when the moon is full, transforming into a monster that stalks the lands, before reverting to their human forms.

In a darker story, the werewolf is a normal person outside of those moonlit nights and those who confront them are forced to kill an otherwise innocent person driven to madness by a curse. The somewhat better option is the werewolf curse that strikes an innocent and makes them evil so that they are sociopaths during the rest of their days which at least allows the PCs a chance to kill them without wrestling with their conscience. In less dark tales, the werewolf was an evil person cursed to reveal their evil on nights of the full moon.

In more modern tales, werewolves are more ambiguous creatures who are neither inherently good nor evil. Perhaps this is due to our fascination with anthromorphising animals (thinking of animals as people) or perhaps it's simply the result of so many childhood years wishing we could grow fur and fangs so that we could run with the animals. Sometimes the werewolves are more in touch with nature. Sometimes they still have that bestial rage but it is tempered by human reasoning and compassion. Sometimes the werewolves actually are more, y'know, wolfy and have a more animalistic nature that encompasses a wider range of wolf-like behaviours. After all, most modern werewolves behave more like Tasmanian devils with their aggression and viciousness rather than the more socially inclined wolves.

But all of that aside, how would you like your werewolves?

Firstly, think of the transmission. Are they born or bitten? Both work in a light fantasy or dark horror setting. Those who are born to be werewolves might grow up as humans before transforming into monsters on some heart-rending night that involves the loss of their sweethearts.

Secondly, think of whether you want them to be the ambiguous evil (lots of heavy hearts and emotion surrounding their deaths) where they are never common and each instance is a moment of tragedy. Or whether you want a chance for your PCs to cut down an entire pack of evil nonhumans without having to worry about feeling sorry for them the way a PC might feel sorry for cutting down an evil mercenary warband. Or whether you want them to be another race in their own right, complete with their own traditions, mannerisms, hopes and dreams. Or outsiders who hide away their strangeness for others. Or something in between.

You could even have two superficially similar werewolf strains but where one turns humans into shapeshifters, the other makes them rampaging monsters. That would certainly make sense for an alchemical poison transmitted through the saliva. Perhaps the failed variant turns folk into killers and got loose from the alchemical laboratory. Who knows?

Finally, how will you create them? Naturally they need to be able to turn into wolves but that could be as simple as creating a Nixie and giving them the ability to turn into a wolf by spending a glamour. Alternatively you could use the Werewolf: the Forsaken wolves and pick whichever gifts and auspices seem to work. You could even use the disciplines from Vampire: the Requiem but make it so that the werewolves have to eat human meat rather then drink blood to regain their 'vitae'. The physical discplines such as celerity, vigor and resilience, not to mention Nightmare and some of the bloodline disciplines are all quite fitting for a home brew werewolf.

With all that in mind, you should be able to develop your own werewolves pretty easily.

So what would I typically do with werewolves?

I like giving them a little complexity so I would be most prone to developing them into little communities of about 30 who oversee their territory. They clash with the agrarian settlements that are start to push forward and through their territories, especially as the settled races don't recognise the werewolves' sovereignty and so expect to buy and sell land through other people. If the werewolves build their own homes or start to sell their own materials, they would be liable for taxation by the nobility. The fact that werewolves are also far superior in combat abilities compared to the average person means that the nobility are also eager to have the werewolves swear themselves into vassaldom so that they could be fielded in battle against other liege lords.

This naturally is creating quite a bit of tension and the situation has reached a political stalemate. Unfortunately for the settlements the werewolves are supreme guerillas with greater power, regeneration, and raw desire to win then the average conscript. Unfortunately for the werewolves, the settlements have a huge numerical advantage and even if the settlements were entirely wiped out there would soon be more as people from neighbouring countries seek fame, fortune and freedom in their lands - quickly repopulating the lost settlements.

You can imagine that a campaign could easily form from this along as the PCs try to navigate the political complexities of the situation, choose sides, and try to find a way that is palatable to all.

Of course, in reality, you'd need a third party to foster unification before anything got done. Perhaps a sociopathic necromancer hell bent on world domination? Or a sentient plague trying to destroy everyone in those lands? I wouldn't introduce the third party until well into the second Act. Best let the players muddle about in their sandbox first.

Cultural Customs: Tieflings & Yuki

In this Fianyarr article we will learn more about the tieflings (born from the essence of a demonic and another race) and the yuki (snow-touched). Both have a very remarkable sense of honour, pride and belief in the sanctity of promises and both can be quite vindictive when scorned or betrayed. When these races set aside their differences they can achieve much of their mutual goals.

Tiefling

Tieflings rarely form their own societies but when they do there is a strong sense of pride in their appearance. After all, any village that consists primarily of tieflings is one that is protected by a demonic which they likely also worship. While there are mixed societies that enforce a degree of shame upon tieflings there are plenty more that accept them as just another race. Demonics aren't necessary evil. They're just far more ambiguous than the angelics and always have some cruel streak. So long as you stay on their good side, everything works out in the end. As tieflings are tied to their vices rather than to malice, per se, they can even be more laidback and at peace than those of other races.

• Tieflings provide those dearest to them with a favor, called a 'promise', which is a symbol of their oath to never let their darker nature get in the way of their friendship. This might be a lusty tieflings' vow to never cheat on a partner or a lazy ones' earnest promise to never shirk their duty to a liege lord. A tiefling who disregards or breaks such a 'promise' are punished by any tiefling who learns of their betrayal. After all, the sanctity of the 'promise' is one of the reasons why those of the other races can trust a tiefling more than most.

• Tieflings take great pride (or shame) in their family tree and will either know the demonic source of their lineage or be actively investigating it. If a tiefling refuses to tell you about their lineage, it means it is a shameful one and must never be brought up again. A tiefling who wishes to discuss their lineage with another tiefling will normally drop hints but will be subtle about it so that the other tiefling doesn't feel backed into a corner.

• Tieflings, as a rule, take great pride in their homes. It doesn't matter if the home is a cozy cottage or a brooding gothic castle. It will be well-tended with not a cobweb out of place. The tiefling will attempt to make it all look quite effortless, of course. The only tieflings who lack this nesting impulse are those who are too consumed with wanderlust to bother. Having said that, even those tieflings are likely to take pride in their backpack and the design of their sleeping bags. They are also most likely to spend a bit more on a quality inn room.

• Tieflings pick up slang and swear words in other languages quite readily and prefer to sprinkle them in to the rest of their dialogue. This isn't an instinctive thing, merely a social one. Some tieflings will even go so far as to create a pidgin language out of bits and bobs from other languages so that they can use it with other tieflings.



• Tieflings tend to be fastidious eaters and are easily put off fouled food and unhygienic locations due to their rather sensitive tongues. On the plus side, they also make exquisite wine tasters as they are generally quite capable of tasting every note in a wine bouquet (apologies if I use the terminology wrong as I am no wine connoisseur.

Yuki

A yuki community is bound by ties of pledges, oaths and promises that must never be broken. They are quite pragmatic about their settlements and while they have a higher threshold for cold climates they build their homes so that they can be easily warmed and protected from extreme weather events.

• Yukis will avoid making promises, even incidental sideways ones, if they can help it as they take all such things to be binding. This can be very disconcerting to members of the other races. It's not that a yuki doesn't intend on performing the action (such as attending the party) but if they make even a subtle promise to do it then they are honour bound to follow through. If they don't believe it strictly necessary for them to brave extreme weather to attend the party, or crawl their way there if they have a sprained ankle, they won't make the promise. Yes, they take promises that seriously.

• Yukis therefore tend to be noncommittal in their speech. "I would like to be there...." "That party sounds like a nice thing to attend...." "It would be nice to see your performance...." This noncommital manner also affects them in other respects with a more passive manner of speech and the invention of a variety of ways to avoid explicitly saying "No".

• Even the poorest Yuki will aim to maintain a sleeping space for guests in the event of an extreme weather event. It is considered immoral to refuse an honest guest refuge, even if the weather isn't particularly bad outside. This sleeping space could range from a bit of floor and a blanket to a full bedroom suite.

• Yukis are raised to carry a whistle or a horn about their person so that they can more readily signal others when they're injured. Such objects also have a handy side effect of scaring away most (though not all) lesser predators due to the sudden blast of loud noise.

• Yukis consider white to be the colour of death due to their ranks of camouflaged assassins and ambushers who keep their villages safe. Those in a white dress, for example, can hide among the snow using their innate protection against the cold before rising up against the enemy. Therefore white is a funereal and a war colour. The yukis also take great pains to prevent them from being stained while committing violence and have mastered the skill of getting out of the way of an arterial spray.

Flashpoint: Rest & Relaxation

Considering the rather epic earlier session I wanted to go with something a bit more roleplay-heavy as a bit of a breather between the two adventures since we're about to get into a heavily modified form of the third book in the Council of Thieves adventure path (how do I love that adventure path!). Not sure how successful it was as at least one player wanted a bit of a de-stress combat run. Having said that, the next bit with the devildrome involves a bit of conversation and investigation before the combat so it might have been more worth luring them out at night onto the Westcrown streets to slaughter some shadow beasts. I think I'll go with that as a start for the next session before they head back to Augustana briefly for some divine assistance from the temple of Shelyn and to report back to the Admiralty. A brief combat run would be good to test out their Mythic-ness as well and I like to ensure that there's at least some combat every other session. Ah now I recall why I didn't go with that this time! There's not much in the way of Shadow Creatures at Level 9, let alone at Level 9 + 1 Mythic Tier, so I'm going to have to heavily modify some of the existing creatures to keep it from being a yawn-fest. I didn't get the chance to do so last time so it was either a random devil encounter or nothing. Not quite as fitting. Note to Self: Create a dossier of appropriately leveled shadow beasties to keep them occupied. Once I've done that, I'll post them up for your enjoyment. So what happened in this session? The group debriefed with their First Mates and other important individuals. Cassilda's actress and the nymph were put into Archer's cabin to sleep off whatever horrible experience it was that they encountered. Proteus worried about having a sudden tearing of Charisma from himself when the succubus - abandoned at the mayor's house - was killed and her favor revoked. Lavender Lil, chaotic woman that she is, got it in her head that since Lhye seemed a bit less tiefling-y following on from the Mythic ritual she didn't have to worry about him being a spouse abuser anymore and so tried to convince him to marry Alyssa. Marrying for wealth? Tick. For land? Tick. Into a respectable home? Tick. Possible grandchildren? Tick. Makes Lhye awkward to talk about? Tick. Proteus tried to help Lhye fend off his mother while Archer simply encouraged her. While Proteus declared that there would be no more weddings on his ship, Archer offered his services as celebrant. Alyssa put an end to it by simply saying, "No", before going back to research all of the paperwork brought to her by Lunjun from the mayor's home and his Chelish Crux. When they went to check on Cassilda and the nymph, they found that Cassilda wanted to go home. Wellard set a 'Detect Good' and 'Detect Evil' spells and used it on her, detecting that she was neither. There was some suspicion on Lhye's behalf that she might have some kind of magical item on her obscuring her alignment but that was quickly mooted when Lunjun tried to detect magic on Cassilda. Still unsure that there wasn't something 'wrong' or 'unusual' about someone who had accepted the offer of the mirror, Lunjun then used a spell to detect life auras and found that there were two. One on Cassilda and one inside her. Cue conversation about how Cassilda could be pregnant if she were a virgin? Cassilda was naturally quite shocked by all of this! Lhye used Divination on the topic and was granted a bit of an obscure hint, "The light may be passed to any who is willing, though the child may be crumbled and destroyed, what would tommorrow bring?" After a bit more conversation and musing, they figured that perhaps someone else could accept the 'pregnancy' on Cassilda's behalf. Proteus considered it quite strongly, feeling quite responsible for Cassilda's condition considering he had gotten her drunk in order to get her off his arm and then dragged her through the whole situation. Lhye, however, ended up giving it a go and touched Cassilda's shoulder, willing the 'burden' into himself. Hey presto! Lhye becomes a woman. It suits him, er her, and while Lhye finds the situation a little odd she isn't too fussed ... even by the idea of a divine pregnancy! Alyssa walks in at this point with the papers, having found a few important clues, and becomes very interested to meet this new woman. Lhye's sister, perhaps? When informed about what's just happened, that he has accepted a 'divine pregnancy' and become a woman, she naturally assumes it must be Cayden Cailean's (an assumption that Lhye's mother later holds). Alyssa recommends against going to the Westcrown temple of Shelyn due to the number of Thrune agents that may lurk within. She happens to know some oracular figures in both Varisia and Ustalav but doesn't know of any others. They all discuss the idea of finding a paladin to hold the child so that they have a good vessel for it. Lunjun suggests finding one at Lastwall, which both Alyssa and Lhye veto as the paladins up there kill tieflings at birth, so what would they do to a fully grown one? Lhye states that she's happy enough to carry it, though it will be disappointing not being able to drink alcohol or take drugs. Lhye seems a bit more at ease than usual. The mixture of having the infernal tie torn from his soul and now a literally different physicality to embody has given him the chance to behave a little differently and try on a different persona. Although her mixture of calm appearance plus sardonic demeanor does make her a little bit creepy when compared to his formerly 'dopey-teenager' mentality. Proteus notes that the knuckle bone in his hand seems to be vibrating and feeling strange and muses aloud that considering the strange repercussions that follow touching things ... perhaps some clue would occur if he touched her belly? Of course, there was no telling what the ramifications would be so they'd be best going somewhere uninhabited. Lunjun summons a magical carriage for the trip and they cross to the beach to try it out. Proteus' hand trembles quite a bit from the bone in his hand (he passes it off as nerves) as he reaches out to touch her belly and while nothing major happens, he does see that when his hand is closer to her he can see that she has a second shadow. Perhaps it isn't a 'pregnancy', after all, at least not in the traditional sense. Perhaps some aspect of the god (hopefully Dou-bral) has latched onto her. A second conduit, maybe. No one quite knew why it made Lhye female then. Perhaps it needs a feminine aspect to counterbalance its own masculine aspect? Or perhaps it was simply because it's first conduit was female so those thereafter would need to be? Who could say for sure? On the plus side, if the theory was true then at least Lhye could drink to her heart's content. Proteus decided that when they returned (via teleport) to Augustana he would try to get the rest of the Kuthite Saint's knucklebones from the Shelyn temple. He certainly had a Mythic chance of successfully convincing them. And that's where we left it. For those who are wondering, Lhye was originally conceptualised as a female character though that didn't eventuate and the character ended up quite different (and male). The (male) player is quite interested to see how this will play out and is interested at trying his hand at a female PC. Thus far he's been pretty successful at it and I (as a woman) have no complaints about his portrayal.