This is a beginning adventure describing how our adventuring party meets.
Characters:
Flower Possum: a Rai-Neko Raider that is followed around by a young Shaggy Bumpo called Brokkoli (Beast Handler).
They are patient and don’t often take No for an answer.
They have come from a farm in the Blazing Garden’s Pride Coast where most of the Rai-Neko live.
They have a bow that they are quite good with. Their quiver is full of arrows.
They have a pair of shears with which they regularly keep Brokkoli’s tail tidy.
They are wearing patched leather pants and a cloth shirt.
They have a small pack with a woollen blanket, a tin cup and water bottle, a spoon, knife and tin plate, and a woollen vest.
Brokkoli has a harness. And carries Flower’s pack.
Chanaky: a Tenebrate Battle Princess that grew up in the Murk, heard about the sunlight and decided to see it for herself. Having journeyed to the Twilight Meridian she was surprised that the light there was not all there is and decided to journey toward the Blazing Garden. They’ve paid for their passages by being a hired sword on board a ship.
They have a Soul Companion that looks like a Fuzzcoil.
They are a little clumsy but very earnest and honest.
They can summon a Lash that is made of Ash Bronze and glows red and is slightly warm.
They have a small pack containing a tin water bottle, a small metal bowl and a spork.
They are dressed in leather leggings and a simple tunic. They also have a long dark hooded cloak that is made of wool.
Cheery Littlebottom: a Chibi Archive Researcher with a giant backpack (Factotum). Their job as a Researcher pays very little but they get a bonus anytime they turn in an item.
As a young-un they found a bit of ancient tech near their home in Stahlfeld and managed to not only bring it to an Archive Researcher but they had also managed to make its lamps light up. This led to them being trained and recruited for Archive Field Work. They roam Outer World looking for objects to send back to the Archive and keep taking notes in a small journal. They send a regular report to the Archive. They are great at finding stuff that is in small nooks and wedged in tight places.
They are armed with a Chib Staff Shot and a pouch of water nuts hangs from their belt. They are wearing a wrap tunic and baggy pants. They also wear sturdy boots and a leather helmet. They have a pair of protective goggles and a rebreather. In their huge backpack that is almost as big as them they also carry a woollen blanket, a tin cup and water bottle, a pair of chopsticks and a wooden bowl. They also have a simple woollen capelet that they wear against the cold. A small lantern dangles from their pack. Because they are small all their personal items are small.
Act I
Flower goes to tend his family’s fields and orchards when he notices that one of their fields has been trampled by a large animal. He searches the nearby forest of tall trees to find the culprit. Sure enough he finds a trail of trampled undergrowth and follows it. A slime berry shrub has been chewed on. Flower is puzzled because slime berries are very sticky and raw slime berries make your tongue go numb and nobody likes that. Flower wonders what animal this was. Suddenly there is a loud sniff next to his right shoulder. Startled, Flower jumps and shouts! A young bumpo is surprised by Flower’s reaction. It makes a sound of fear and lies flat on the ground. Flower apologizes to the young bumpo. The bumpo nuzzles his hand and they spend a good half hour sitting there while Flower skritches the bumpo’s head. Flower examines the bumpo and realizes that it is still pretty young and – judging from the absence of a mark on either of its horns – a wild bumpo! This is surprising because the wild herds live several days walk away. Flower decides to name the bumpo Brokkoli.
Act II
Cheery has arrived on the Pride Coast’s shores and has decided to go exploring because they suspect that some ancient technologies might also be found here, given its relative proximity to Stahlfeld. They intend to also visit the Sol Alliance’s libraries and maybe copy out some relevant information. So that is the general direction that they are heading. On foot.
She has just wandered up to a farm house and bartered some sheets of paper for some magno chutney and some crackers. She’s trying to see whether she can rest at the farm rather than having to sleep in unfamiliar wilderness, when Flower returns and announces to his parents that he has been followed home by an adolescent bumpo. Cheery and the Rai-Neko family have a pleasant dinner and talk about bumpos, the Archive, the possibility of technology, and the weather changing: there’s a rain-storm coming.
Act III
Cheery gets a bed in the barn. Brokkoli has been made comfortable in a corner of the barn. Flower helps prepare the bed and cleans and feeds Brokkoli. Flower and Cheery keep talking because Flower is fascinated by the idea of travelling around Outer World and Cheery thinks she would like the company and a bumpo that carries stuff around would really be helpful. The rain-storm arrives. The hayloft is nice and cozy. Flower and Cheery snooze.
There is a loud thunderclap and the barn doors burst open. Chanaky stumbles into the stable and apologizes to the dozing bumpo while trying to close the doors against the howling wind. Brokkoli lumbers over and helps her. Flower and Cheery peer over the edge of the hayloft to see what all the noise is about. They see the Tenebrate and wonder what she is doing wandering around in this weather. Quickly they climb down from the hayloft.They say hello and Chanaky, surprised there are people in the barn, apologizes for bursting in, how wet she is, for waking everyone up. Flower dashes over to the main house to grab some dry clothes and some food.
The three spend the rest of the rain-storm talking to each other about where they are from, what they do, what their plans are. In the end all three are decided: they will set forth together. Cheery could use the help and the other two are up for an adventure.
The next day Flower packs some things, makes a harness from tangle vines, says good-bye to his parents and our travellers set forth with a packet of crackers each and Chanaky and Flower each get to choose one clay pot filled with their choice of
– slime berry jam
– magno chutney
– pickled lamb’s tooth root
(Cheery already has a pot of magno chutney. They have also written down the Possum family’s recipe for crackers and the recipe for the magno chutney.)
* Slime berries grow on a small shrub. They are green and gooey. They are very sour. They make your tongue feel numb when eaten raw. They make a delightful jam, though.
* Magnos are the size of your head and grow on small trees. They are a deep red and have a fist-sized stone-like seed in the middle. The flesh is firm, sweet, and juicy. Magno juice stains. Magno chutney is a great way to preserve the fruit.
* Lamb’s tooth is a hardy weedlike herb with small white pearl-like flowers that are clustered at the end of a long stem . It has a long tap root. The leaves are round, the size of a hand, and lie flat on the ground. All parts of the plant are edible. The leaves are spicy, the blooms fragrant and the root is fibrous and nourishing. Pickled lamb’s tooth root is a popular condiment in the Pride Coast region.
* Water nuts are the seed of an unremarkable prickly bush of the same name that grows along flowing water in the Twilight Meridian regions. The wood is hard and can be made into staffs, handles, and eating utensils. The thorns can be used as a needle. The fruit is sweet but consists mostly of the very round and very hard seeds that are only thinly coated with soft fruit flesh. Because they are perfectly round, water nuts are used as projectiles and in a game popular with children. The rules to this game vary from settlement to settlement and sometimes from generation to generation.
