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The Inksand Sea - Introduction

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Introduction This setting has been cooking in my head for a while and I gotta get it out onto paper lest it overcooks. The Inksand Sea is a high-weirdness nautical setting heavily inspired by Sunless Sea and a plethora of Soulslike games. The players are sailors sailing a sea of darkness, formed from the collective unconscious of those that dream the world into being, where everything forgotten eventually ends. They sail between points of light, form communities, explore strange islands and investigate ruins that emerge from the dark. The key conceit of the setting is that Thoughts form both Light and Reality. The darkness comes in the form of the mutable inksand, which shifts and changes forms from shifty smoke to solid sand when exposed to light and thought. As your light dims and you lose focus of yourself, the literal floor beneath you becomes more shifty and will eventually swallow you into the shadow. Settlements form around both bright sources of light and around those with suff...
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Ars Magica Session 3 Notes

  Spark surrenders and is frankly relieved that she isn't going to be killed. As she Cure Wounds herself, Endy Jackson takes a Mage Slayer attack and knocks her out. This is the first time Mage Slayer has been used in the Mage Slaying game. Some minor fireball and dragon-breath shennanigans make Veld and Murdoc yoyo up and down from unconsciousness, even though Murdoc spends all of his movement hiding underneath the bar counter several times.  Kes (Veld) is distrought that Sid chose to heal Murdoc first one time. Fawanna Gish-Captain sees that things aren't going good and Planeshifts away. Hartford, an employee of our rival department, rushes in and kill steals the baby dwagon. This pisses off everyone but Endy, and they resolve to kill him again when Endy isn't looking. Endy : "Good work Hartford." Hartford : "Yeah you too." Murdoc : "What about me?" Murdoc : "To your credit, Muroc you were surprisingly at home here in the sewers." M...
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Ars Magica Session 2 Notes

 The Episode begins a week after the Zootopia Squad have deposited the Lord and Lady Ashbee in the Statue Garden where they have been petrified for their crimes. A dog-sized, six-fingered crawling claw arrives holding an immediate summons to the offices of Grand Arcanist Cipe Pineles. We arrive at her Foyer and are obviously expected as we don't immediately get blown up by arcane defenses and die. The Coward Murdoc Kelp has died this way before. We get ushered into her office where we see two Cipe Pineles having an exasperated conversation between each other. One is obviously Aubrey Dijitra, Master of the Secret Police, impersonating Cipe Pineles. We can tell it's Aubrey, because she has a big flying eye behind her. They are discussing a revolutionary with connections to foreign powers known locally as Spark, real name Vienna Ledl. She is a Fire Genasi actor with a penchant for giving speeches to incite insurrections. She is accompanied by a Green Dragonborn, known as Striker, ...
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Ars Magica Session 1 Notes

Session 1 Recap. PCs: Grand Apparitor Veld Dreadbringer (Kes), Leonin Conquest Paladin, he/him. Tyrant-to-be. Ambitious, career driven, currently hiding the fact he's a paladin and a spellcaster. Wants to rule eventually and will do anything to get there. Lots of fear effects passed off as the Leonin roar. Finnegan Sidney (Meredith), Tiefling Gloomstalker/Twilight Cleric, she/her. Murderous hypocrite. She worships a dead goddess floating in the Sea of Time, and carries a piece of the goddess' husk around that grants her magical powers. (I think it's a jar of hair?) Loves order and hates magic-users. But it's fine for her to use magic to hunt down wizards because she has her goddess' blessing and she's doing it for "good." The Coward Murdoc Kelp (Josephine), Simic Hybrid Aberrant Mind Sorceror, he/him. Moist coward. Is a spell caster in a city where that's a death sentence. Blackmailed into mage-hunting. Good thing it's not hard to blackmail him...
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Lorya Megadungeon Pt 2. - Theming

Introduction Follow up from Pt. 1:  https://averagecrab.blogspot.com/2020/07/lorya-megadungeon-pt-1-naming-of-things.html Before fleshing out individual dungeons I thought it would be important to give each district unifying themes that would inform the direction of future design. I've written out a short description of each area boss and paragraph of what the area they control looks like and how it affects the city. Some areas could have more interesting hooks but I'll leave that to when I actually flesh them out. The megadungeon of Lorya is divided into six districts, each with a different theme. Each is ruled by a Sovereign, 6 powerful members of the King's court. They were the ones who sealed King Weyland in his Throneroom after 7 forgotten heroes prevented his apotheosis, splitting the Keys to the Castle between them so no singular member would be able to seize the latent power that resides in the Throne. All have grown mad in the aftermath, the City of Lorya stagnates...
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Lorya Megadungeon Pt 1. - The Naming of Things

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The city of Lorya is my pet megadungeon project that's been sitting in my brain for a while now. May as well start getting it onto paper. Well, digital paper. Once the shining capital of the Ostravia kingdom, the city of Lorya was consumed overnight in a mysterious gray fog. It's former residents now known as the Forlorn, pale reflections of their former selves that wander the streets.  In the centre of the city, a giant angel-like figure standing guard on the spires of Castle of Ostravia shoots down all that it sees. Beneath it, a giant golem pummels those who dare approach the castle gates into a submissive paste. The city dungeon was inspired by the this design of a prison, known as the Panopticon, where a central guard tower would have an uninhibited view of all the separate cells. The strange design of the city is due to the fact that it did not originate organically. The Good King Weyland simply decided to build a capital city somewhere that would befit his rule, as well ...
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Blight King Weyland

The Kingdom of Ostravia mourns the passing of Weyland, yet he is responsible for the spreading of the fog that wastes their lands. In youth, Weyland was a noble and valorant king, upholding law within his lands. Yet, in his old age, his fear of death grew stronger and he feared his accomplishments would turn to dust after his demise. With his vizier whispering in his ear, he would attempt the unthinkable to extend his own life. Under the guise of a celebration for the 50th Year of Weyland’s Rule, he would offer up the souls of the powerful to a nameless demon of old, known only as the Old One, to grant him the powers in undeath to conquer the continent. His generals, allies and friends gathered within the city, unwitting sacrifices to a forgotten God. As the process of the soul-draining began, a group of seven heroes felt the source of their imminent death and stormed the Castle of Ostravia. Cutting through the palace guards, they were able to breach the Throne Room and their last minu...
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