The Orb of Storms is an evil artifact, created hundreds of years ago by a very angry druid. The Orb loathes civilization, and it expresses its anger by controlling the weather. It calls downpours when it is mildly irritated, scaling up to hailstorms and tornadoes when truly enraged.
The Dragon Empress, owner of the Orb, keeps it in a state of mild irritation and uses it for agriculture.
The elves of Cedar Valley have suffered a bad drought this year, and the Empress has dispatched the Orb to bring much-needed rainfall. Everyone was very happy, yesterday evening, when we saw a storm cloud coming up over the mountains and entering the valley. But we woke up this morning and the storm cloud is in the wrong place: it's hovering over the Federation town of Freehaven, across the canyon.
It looks a great deal like the Federation has stolen the Orb of Storms. Your mission is to cross the canyon into Federation territory, figure out what's happened to our artifact, and get it back before the Dragon Empress finds out it was stolen.
This is a job for a group of adventurers. But you're not just adventurers. You're magical girls.
You and your companions are adventurers: agents of the Summerblossom Empire. It's been good. The pay is adequate, the food is decent, and the hours are excellent. For the past few months you've been on rotation in Cedar Valley, a small mountain village whose only real claim to fame is its proximity to the Human Federation.
It's been a quiet few months. You've had the occasional trouble with wildlife coming down from the mountains -- there was a pair of out-of-season winter wolves last month, a flock of razorgeese three weeks ago, and just last week there was that business with the unicorn and the goblins. But the rest of the time has been lazy sunny day after lazy sunny day.
Last night was nice. The Empress has sent the town an artifact to bring rainfall -- apparently the forest really needed it. If you're being honest, you hadn't been looking forward to the end of your long streak of sunny days. There's a storm cloud that hovers above the artifact, and it was spotted yesterday coming through the mountain pass into the valley. Thalanil the innkeeper broke open a keg of the good ale, and everyone gathered in the town square for an impromptu It's Gonna Rain party.
That was yesterday.
------
You're sleeping, and there's a knock at the door. That's very bad.
It's -- what time is it? Six in the morning? It's basically dawn. But there's a knock at the door. Which means it's an emergency, and someone has a job for you. Which, almost inevitably given your skill set, means that something is going to try to murder you, and you're going to have to murder it first.
There's another knock at the door.
Normally you'd be muzzy-headed, but the thought of something trying to murder you clears your head marvelously. You slip quickly and silently out of bed. You slip on yesterday's clothes. You strap on your armor.
(There's a third knock at the door, somewhat louder.)
You ready your weapons and eye the door skeptically. It's probably someone from the village, but you get a brief vision of goblins going door-to-door in the night and killing everyone who answers.
Adventurers don't take chances like that.
As quietly as you can manage, you climb the ladder, up the trapdoor to the roof. If this is an attacking force, you'll face them from high ground, and possibly with the advantage of surprise.
It's Mayor Delsanra, and she's got the rest of your group standing behind her. One of them points directly at you. (Traitor!) The mayor looks up, smiles, and waves for you to come down.
"Sorry to wake you at this hour," the mayor says, "but we have an urgent problem. Remember how there's always a storm cloud directly over the Orb of Storms?..."
She points, dramatically, across the valley. The storm cloud is miles away. That's Federation territory. The storm cloud is hovering above the human village of Freehaven.
The humans have stolen your artifact.
------
For this quest, you can think of our game mechanics as "inspired by D&D-5e". Your four characters are fourth-level D&D-5e characters, approximately. We're not going to track anyone's individual stats or hit points; we'll just know that cleric characters tend to have healing magic, rogue characters tend to be good with traps, et cetera.
Choose one:
[YOU] you are a Barbarian, strong and tough.
[YOU] you are a Bard, agile and charismatic.
[YOU] you are a Cleric, a heavily-armored healer.
[YOU] you are a Druid, a shapeshifter and spellcaster.
[YOU] you are a Fighter, a master of weapons.
[YOU] you are a Monk, a mobile martial artist.
[YOU] you are a Paladin, a heavily-armored warrior.
[YOU] you are a Ranger, an archer who knows the wilderness.
[YOU] you are a Rogue, a trickster who's good with traps.
[YOU] you are a Sorceror, a charismatic spellcaster.
[YOU] you are a Warlock, a spellcaster with a tie to a dark patron.
[YOU] you are a Wizard, a wise and learned spellcaster.
Then, choose three...
[ALLIES] you have a Barbarian ally
[ALLIES] you have a Bard ally
[ALLIES] you have a Cleric ally
[ALLIES] you have a Druid ally
[ALLIES] you have a Fighter ally
[ALLIES] you have a Monk ally
[ALLIES] you have a Paladin ally
[ALLIES] you have a Ranger ally
[ALLIES] you have a Rogue ally
[ALLIES] you have a Sorceror ally
[ALLIES] you have a Warlock ally
[ALLIES] you have a Wizard ally
Of course there's a lot more to each character than just their character class, but I don't want to overwhelm the vote. As the story progresses, periodically we'll do votes to understand more about each character's specializations.
All character classes are unique, so (eg) if you are a fighter then the "you have a fighter ally" vote is disabled.
Finally, please vote on a theme for characters:
[CHARACTERS] traditional D&D fare -- the fighter is a human, the cleric is a dwarf, the ranger is an elf
[CHARACTERS] weird D&D fare -- the rogue is a kobold, the wizard is a kenku, the monk is a tabaxi
[CHARACTERS] everyone is elves -- they're the most common race in the Empire
[CHARACTERS] everyone is magical girls -- it's sort of traditional here
[CHARACTERS] write-in: write your own theme
I'll use your choice to fill in some details about your character and their allies.
[X] [YOU] you are a Monk, a mobile martial artist.
[X] [ALLIES] you have a Bard ally
[X] [ALLIES] you have a Ranger ally
[X] [ALLIES] you have a Rogue ally
[X] [CHARACTERS] weird D&D fare -- the rogue is a kobold, the wizard is a kenku, the monk is a tabaxi
[YOU] you are a Rogue, a trickster who's good with traps.
[ALLIES] you have a Druid ally
[ALLIES] you have a Fighter ally
[ALLIES] you have a Sorceror ally
[CHARACTERS] everyone is magical girls -- it's sort of traditional here
[YOU] you are a Monk, a mobile martial artist.
[ALLIES] you have a Bard ally
[ALLIES] you have a Fighter ally
[ALLIES] you have a Sorceror ally
[CHARACTERS] everyone is magical girls -- it's sort of traditional here
It's late to suggest that but perhaps it'd be better to format the votes traditionally with a [] box in front of them so the tally could pick them up.
[YOU] you are a Rogue, a trickster who's good with traps.
[ALLIES] you have a Cleric ally
[ALLIES] you have a Ranger ally
[ALLIES] you have a Warlock ally
[CHARACTERS] weird D&D fare -- the rogue is a kobold, the wizard is a kenku, the monk is a tabaxi
My plan was to close votes now, but it looks like we're tied on two important questions, so I'll leave it open another hour and see if that breaks the tie.
[X] [YOU] you are a Monk, a mobile martial artist.
[X] [ALLIES] you have a Bard ally
[X] [ALLIES] you have a Fighter ally
[X] [ALLIES] you have a Warlock ally
[X] [CHARACTERS] everyone is magical girls -- it's sort of traditional here
Tried tallying but it only tallying the ones that have a bracketed X before the vote
Okay, votes closed now. I tallied the votes manually and got:
3 [YOU] you are a Monk, a mobile martial artist.
3 [CHARACTERS] everyone is magical girls -- it's sort of traditional here
3 [ALLIES] you have a Fighter ally
3 [ALLIES] you have a Bard ally 2 [YOU] you are a Rogue, a trickster who's good with traps.
2 [CHARACTERS] weird D&D fare -- the rogue is a kobold, the wizard is a kenku, the monk is a tabaxi 2 [ALLIES] you have a Warlock ally 2 [ALLIES] you have a Sorceror ally
2 [ALLIES] you have a Ranger ally
1 [ALLIES] you have a Rogue ally
1 [ALLIES] you have a Druid ally
1 [ALLIES] you have a Cleric ally
We took the magical girls option! It'll be interesting to see how that meshes with the 5e setting.
Some of Chapter 0 is a little bit outdated now -- there's mention of your character "strapping on her armor", but now we know that she's a monk-type magical girl, so of course she doesn't actually wear armor. I'll leave it as-is; otherwise anyone trying to understand the vote would be very confused.
Cedar Village, the Summerblossom Empire
September 5, 6am
You check if your allies are awake. This could be a long day.
Aithlynn was up pretty late last night, singing songs at the party. You know there's a sort of band that will play music at your party if you pay them up front; there's also a sort of singer who will do it for free, so long as there's attention and applause. Aithlynn is the sort that wants the applause. She started the evening singing beautiful intricate songs in Ancient Elven -- Meditations On A Raindrop, that sort of thing -- but as the night wore on, the songs got less classy. You were woken up around midnight by ten drunk villagers singing along very loudly to some sort of song about a tiny spider in a storm drain.
(So she'd have been singing for four hours at that point, and still going strong? She must have transformed and gotten enhanced voice powers.)
Anyway, Aithlynn seems chipper enough this morning.
Yui seems fine, but then she probably wakes up at dawn anyway. Her armor is polished and she's got a completely unnecessary sword in a hip scabbard. You know the sword is unnecessary because her transformation sequence produces a better sword. You've asked about it in the past; Yui has always said she doesn't feel like a real adventurer unless she's wearing a sword. There's a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, like she's been training, which means she didn't even have to wake up early for this.
Yui's a good friend, and she's saved your life at least twice. But sometimes it's hard not to feel jealous.
Mimi, on the other hand, looks awful. Her white dress is crumpled like it's been slept in. One of her hair ribbons has come undone and is dangling behind her. She looks like she can barely keep her eyes open. The raven on her shoulder looks like it's actually asleep. You feel a brief flash of smug -- being awake at dawn is hard on you, but you're not the person who's taking it worst -- but it's quickly replaced by concern. Mimi is your team's arcane heavy hitter, and you're going to need her awake and focused today.
Mayor Delsanra is grinning at you. That's not unusual. You don't think you've ever seen her not smiling. She's probably one of those people who figured out early on that smiling at people makes them like you more, and she's never stopped since that moment.
It works pretty well, if you're being honest. You like Delsanra.
"You girls are new here. How much of our history do you know?"
Yui raises a hand. "Before traveling here, I researched the incident with Princess Alice and the Insult, and I made sure to familiarize myself with --"
"Good work, Yui," you interrupt. "But the rest of us could use a refresher. What do we need to know, Delsanra?"
Delsanra grins. "We had a bit of a tradition in this valley, just after the Insult fifty years ago. They'd send their girls across the canyon and burn our village down. Then, we'd send our girls across the canyon and burn their village down in retaliation. Then, just as we were rebuilding, they'd send their girls across and burn our village down again -- so of course we had to burn their village again as well. This went on for several months and we were all sleeping outdoors. It wasn't a great situation, really."
"So what we did was, we tore the bridge down. We replaced it with a rope bridge."
"We put guards on the bridge. If anyone crosses and they look like they might be magical girls, we politely ask them to stay on their side of the border. If they try to cross anyway, the guards chop the bridge down."
You're starting to see the problem. "...And the humans have guards too, don't they? On their side of the bridge."
"Exactly," says the Mayor. "So, it does pose a bit of a mystery how the humans managed to get across the bridge without our guards chopping it down. But your mission is the same. We need you to cross this bridge into Federation territory, go find our artifact, and get it back from whoever stole it. Hopefully the people who did this are thieves or monsters or something, and not the actual Student Council of Freehaven. But, either way, we need to get the Orb of Storms back before the Empress finds out it was stolen."
"...Oh, and there's one more thing." Delsanra opens her backpack and gingerly pulls out four wool-wrapped spheres. "These glass spheres are full of alchemist's fire. It's very hot and it's difficult to extinguish. I'm told that one of these could burn down at least a building. Now, I'm not saying you should use these, and I'm not saying you shouldn't. But it seems like the Federation might be bringing back the old traditions of raiding. And, in the event that you really need to set something on fire, I want to make sure you're prepared."
Oak and ash. Did the Mayor really just invite you to burn down the human village? Surely this is a joke. Maybe it's a last-resort sort of thing? Mayor Delsanra is still smiling, but it's kind of an angry smile.
"...and so, here's my question for you." adds Delsanra. "What else do you girls need from me, to make this happen?"
Aithlynn raises an eyebrow. "What's our budget for this?"
Delsanra was expecting this question. "I know you girls are salaried, and I know that it's still customary to offer hazard pay. Here's what I had in the treasury. This money was going to pay for the Harvest Festival -- and my salary -- but getting the Orb back is more important." She hands you four neatly sorted coin purses. "Stores are going to be closed this early," she adds, "but if you need equipment, I can go wake people up."
Yui holds up her hand for attention, like she's in some sort of classroom. She waits for Delsanra to call on her before speaking up. "What do we know about the town of Freehaven? What do we know about our opponents?"
"Freehaven is mostly a hunting town, with a little bit of logging -- only what the druids will allow. The Federation is run by human druids, and Freehaven is no exception. Freehaven's leaders call themselves the Student Council -- apparently they went to school together. There's a fairly active criminal underworld. We don't know who stole the Orb, or even if it was stolen at all. All we know is that it's in Freehaven right now."
Mimi's raven whispers something in her ear. She blinks her eyes and wakes up enough to ask one question. "Ah -- excuse me, Delsanra-san. Are we -- well, will lethal force be authorized for this mission?"
The Mayor's smile vanishes for a moment. "Please try to avoid that, Mimi. In all the raiding we've done for the past fifty years, everyone on both sides has tried to avoid killing people, either soldiers or girls. There are certain lines we try not to cross."
"But, Delsanra-san: it's not actually forbidden? If we had to?"
"Yes. If it's the mission, or some poor guard's life? Choose the mission, Mimi-chan. If we don't get the Orb of Storms back, the Dragon Empress will kill us all, anyway."
There's a brief pause as everyone contemplates that.
Everyone's looking at you.
"Sara? What else does your team need, before you set out?"
------
What do you need?
[] Supplies. (Write in what you need.)
[] More money. Is this really the best you can do, Delsanra?
[] Less money. You said this gold was for your salary, and the Harvest Festival? Keep it. We were looking forward to the Festival.
[] We have more questions. (Don't vote for this, just post your question and tag me.)
[] A plan for crossing that bridge. (Write in what you need.)
[] Paperwork. Write us a letter saying we're on official business.
[] Coffee. Now, please.
[] We need a nap. We'll start a few hours later, in exchange for more sleep time. It's for Mimi's sake. Yeah.
[] Something else. (Write in.)
[] We don't need anything else -- let's get moving now!
(The previous vote was a line vote, but this is a block vote. Post me a good plan.)
[X] A plan for crossing that bridge. (Write in what you need.)
-[X] A disguise
-[X] A distraction
-[X] A different way across(they got here without using the bridge, if you follow the trail you should be able to see how)
"No problem," says the Mayor. "What sort of disguise are you looking for? Guards? Humans? Merchants? Boys?"
Yui frowns. "Can it be something where I can keep my armor on?"
Aithlynn winces. "Can it be something where I don't have to cut my hair?"
Aithlynn grins. "I can do that one -- that's literally my power. You want something distracted, I'm your girl. I might need a rescue when it's over, though."
Mayor Delsanra shakes her head. "The canyon is wide and steep. A few years ago we conducted a survey, and there's literally nowhere that's close enough for a grappling hook."
Mimi pipes up, sleepily. "There's -- um -- there might be a way. I could open a portal to the Shadowfell. The canyon probably doesn't exist there. But we'd need time, and a ritual, with, um, sacrifices."
Yui frowns. "We're not doing sacrifices. Find a different way."
Aithlynn frowns harder. "We're not going through the Shadowfell. Are you out of your mind?"
Mimi is unfazed, or possibly just really sleepy. "I didn't say it was a good idea. But it's something we could do. I thought you should know."
In retrospect, it might have been foolish of me to ask you guys to vote on what equipment to get and plans to make.
D&D adventurers use equipment and make plans. Magical girls don't need that stuff.
Next stop: getting coffee.
This will take us to the next decision point, which is on the road to Freehaven.
Adhoc vote count started by Wirikidor on May 25, 2020 at 10:48 PM, finished with 4 posts and 3 votes.
[X] A plan for crossing that bridge. (Write in what you need.)
-[X] A disguise
-[X] A distraction
-[X] A different way across(they got here without using the bridge, if you follow the trail you should be able to see how)
"Equipment? Plans?" you laugh. "You're used to working with soldiers, Delsanra. Girls don't need that stuff."
"There's just one thing we need before we leave. It's a small thing, but it's very important. What we need is: COFFEE."
"And... breakfast?" adds Yui. "Toast? Eggs?"
The Mayor goes and wakes up Thalanil the innkeeper. She explains that it is critically important for the safety of the entire Cedar Valley that you and your team should get breakfast immediately. Especially coffee.
Fifteen minutes later you're seated at the inn, eating a very early breakfast. Fifteen minutes after that, the world is a better place. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the four of you are marching out of the inn and down the road. Even Mimi is slowly waking up, now that you've gotten some calories and caffeine into her.
(The Mayor drops by, just before you leave, and hands you a disguise kit. "Just in case," she says.)
----
On The Road, Cedar Valley, the Summerblossom Empire
September 5, 6:30am
The road is dry and dusty. You hum a tuneless melody, something you heard years ago. Aithlynn, walking behind you, picks up the melody and improves on it. Soon it turns into a game, with the four of you passing the song back and forth. Your bard-girl might not be the best at combat, but she's fun to be around.
Time passes.
The first surprise comes after half an hour of marching. It's wet here. The trees are looking greener, there's fresh grass growing, the dust has turned into a faint coating of mud.
That storm cloud you're chasing? It was over this area last night.
The second surprise comes about ten minutes later. Up ahead, on the side of the road, someone has made a camp. There's no fire, but you do see four sleeping bags. Three of the sleeping bags have people in them.
You think you can see blood. Those people might not be sleeping. They might be dead.
What do you do?
[] Transform and approach cautiously.
[] Send Yui to scout ahead -- she's the heaviest armored and can deal with any threats
[] You'll go personally to scout ahead -- you're the fastest and can run from any threats
[] Circle way around the camp. This isn't your problem.
[] Something else. Write in your own plan.
Roadside Camp, Cedar Valley, the Summerblossom Empire
September 5, 7am
"You girls wait here. I'll go check it out. If they turn out to be ghouls or something, I'll pull them back here and we'll hit them as a group. Ready?"
Yui draws her blade and takes a few quick strikes at the air. "Ready, Sara."
Mimi draws her sleeves back and cracks her knuckles. A cloud of iridescent sparkles trails from her fingertips. "Ready, Sara-san!"
Aithlynn moves to stand behind Yui. "I'll be fine. Go get 'em!"
Transformation takes energy, but you're not walking into a potential ambush unprepared. You leap high into the air and shout four words in an ancient tongue you've never truly understood. "Tatakai! Ni! Sonaeru! IKE!" Your vision goes blue for a nothingth of a second. Your shirt and trousers melt off, and condense back into something less encumbering. Your tattoos glow and activate. You land on the ground, nimble, barefoot, leaving no tracks.
The transformation phrase and the flash of blue light probably wasn't the most stealthy thing you could have done. But you'll make up for it now. Anyone who was planning an ambush in that camp will be looking up in the sky, trying to figure out where the fireworks are coming from. But you move like the wind now, and you're literally already there.
...And there's no attackers. No ambush. Just three dead elves in sleeping bags. You check behind some bushes, just to be sure. Nothing.
Okay. Fine. You're zero for two on foiling ambushes, so far today. But there's always an ambush coming. And you'll be ready when it happens.
You call your team over and start investigating the crime scene. It's time for Crime Scene Sara. Maybe it should actually be Crime Sara Investigation? You're not a criminal, though. ...Nevermind.
The first thing that stands out is the bodies, of course. All three are elves. All three are drenched -- not just "it was raining last night", but "I have been out in the rain for a solid week and I've given up on ever being dry again." Two of them were killed by bite marks to the neck. The third -- well, it's hard to tell. He's been dragged partly out of the sleeping bag, and bits of him have been eaten. Ew.
Focus on something else before you lose your breakfast. There are tracks in the mud. Wolf tracks. Lots of wolf tracks. Either there were fifty wolves running through here last night, or one very excited wolf running back and forth for an hour, or more likely something in between.
One of the wolf tracks is huge, like bigger than your hand. That seems ominous. Demon wolves? Dire wolves? Wolves with... size alteration magic?
The rest of the girls show up. They're transformed as well. Yui's armor is bigger and her sword is shinier; Mimi's petticoats are trailing sparkles. Aithlynn has her outfit and microphone.
"Sara-san. We should do something about the bodies. There's too much water mana here. They're not undead yet, but if you mix murder victims and water mana, you get drownies."
Yui completes her sweep of the perimeter. "Big wolf went north, down the trail, same direction we're headed. The last elf ran into the forest to the east. No sign of the Orb.
"The Orb was here in this camp, Yui-san. I can feel its mana trail. It went north. And we know where it is now -- it's in Freehaven."
Aithlynn just stands there, hands over her mouth. "Those poor soldiers. Attacked at night, killed in their sleep. Why didn't their sentry alert them?"
What now?
Choose one:
[] [BODIES] Choose someone (write in) to use their magic to bury the bodies. You don't think anyone on your team has digging magic.
[] [BODIES] Manual labor: everyone helps dig a hole, using whatever tools they can improvise. Time and effort will finish the job.
[] [BODIES] Hack the bodies to bits. Gross and awful, but it's faster and will probably prevent them from rising as drownies.
[] [BODIES] Just leave. You'll come back and deal with the drownies after you secure the Orb.
[] [BODIES] Something else. Write in.
and then:
[] [DIRECTION] Yui found tracks leading into the forest. Follow that last elf. There's more to learn here.
[] [DIRECTION] The Orb is our quarry, and the Orb went north toward the bridge to Freehaven. We go north. To the bridge to Freehaven.
As always, feel free to post questions about the scene if you have 'em. When there's a really good solution to a problem, I don't post it as a vote option -- I just leave a write-in to see if anyone thinks of it.
[x] [BODIES] Hack the bodies to bits. Gross and awful, but it's faster and will probably prevent them from rising as drownies.
[x] [DIRECTION] Yui found tracks leading into the forest. Follow that last elf. There's more to learn here.
[x] [BODIES] Tie the bodies to hang from a tree. Undead can't attack anything if they're dangling in the air and they can be dealt with properly later.
[x] [DIRECTION] Yui found tracks leading into the forest. Follow that last elf. There's more to learn here.
[x] [BODIES] Burn the bodies with magic fire. They can't do anything if their bodies are piles of ash.
[x] [DIRECTION] Yui found tracks leading into the forest. Follow that last elf. There's more to learn here.
