The second session of The Ferments campaign, an East March style took place again at West Thundermoon Trading Post.
Again, the session started with rolling on the random encounter chart. Only one of the encounters happened, as there was a lot of great roleplay between the characters.
That encounter was with “Chickens with arms and fists” also referred to as “punch chickens.” These larger-than-a-turkey chickens have humanoid arms coming out of their wing joints and are semi intelligent.
The Ferments reading;
Session two started with a brief recap of the last session and a reminder of the nature of the East March campaign — problems come to you.
Then Keesrah spoke to her brother, Caile, about the situation with the open door up to the game trails. That conversation leads to the discovery that the brother is dating one of the goliaths in the rival clan up in the hills. Keesrah leans on the young love bird to keep the doors and gates closed as the brother mocks Keesrah for the fight with the fire snakes.
Ellis, a guest (another PC) enters the compound seeking materials for their homestead. He’s taken over an abandoned plateau homestead nearby. Those religious zealots left the region nearly 30 years ago during the time of the born generation. With decades of wear on the home, mill and other equipment Ellis will have to work hard to reopen the spring-fed mill and granary.
Needing smithed goods, Ellis chats with Keesrah’s father, Cay, and the goblin Malk. During those conversations Keesarh and Ellis learn that Malk is not merely a refugee, but has strong goals to learn how to take the magma and steam power from The Ferments to the Queen.
This learning is specifically called out in the quick recap as a note for all players. As was the brother's love interest.
One piece of advice I try to follow is to remind players of the clues their characters learn. Our memories of a game are more fallible than our characters' memories of their lives.Learned clues
- Malk (goblin leader) is a taker. They want to take whatever they can from The Ferments that helps the Queen.
- Keesrah’s brother has a lover up with the Goliath Clan Drudzhar.
- Ellis homestead was previously abandoned by religious zealots during the Born Generation when magic returned.
- Someone is creating animal hybrids.
Those first three clues are from the conversations between the characters and the named NPCs.
The fourth clue was an interjection because I could tell the table needed some action, plus there were two random encounters rolled and we hadn’t gotten to either.
Using the open door to the game trail from session one, and the obvious wealth of the trading post as inspiration the punch chickens were the easier of the two random rolls to integrate.
Punch chickens
Three punch chickens are discovered by Ellis’ lynx, Lenny. The lynx flushes them out of one of the merchant booths. Those armed chickens are carrying some goods away, sprinting towards the open door.
What are punch chickens?
Statistically they are axe beaks (Black Flag page 371) that punch rather than poke. Their special ability of Evasion turns out to be too significant for 2.5 combatants.
Deadly encounter
This is a deadly encounter with two characters and one combatant animal companion. The action economy combined with consistent dodging means both characters are dropped unconscious. The final roll comes down to Ellis’ lynx versus a wounded punch chicken. The lynx lands the fatal blow.
Keesrah did bar the door preventing a simple escape, so even if they had completely failed there was a narrative success available via the peasants and non-heroic NPCs.
Keesrah’s mother, Velthuria, helps the group heal.
During the recovery the group used some social checks to learn that the punch chickens likely originate from a group that myths call the Children of Chorl (an evil transmuter who tried to create various hybrid creatures).
Full Moon Storytelling 