Dark Sun Session 1: Duel on Sand Street

Wow, did this game go great.

We ended up really heavily snowed in over the last week, so there wasn’t any parking in the neighborhood. I had to set up a little chauffeur service from the local grocery store to my house, picking up the guys and bringing them to the game. Before too long, we had everyone seated around the table, minis ready, character sheets out. Alex was even using his Kindle for his sheet, something that looked like it was going well.

Once everyone settled down, I began. I turned on the introductory music to Prince of Persia, and read:

The searing heat of Athas burns eternally across the violent sands. Athas is an endless wasteland, a vast wilderness, dotted by tyrannical city-states operated by capricious and often bizarre Sorcerer-Kings, ancient and evil beings from the dawn of the desert wastes. Sand, rock, sun, burning heat – these are the only properties that Athas possesses in abundance. Every living creature in the world works constantly to obtain food and safeguard water.

The common folk groan under unjust laws and harsh taxation. Slaves survive only as long as they can earn one more day’s worth of food and water with their backbreaking toil. For most people, life is a choice between struggling to survive in the wasted wilderness or trading freedom for the relative safety of the oppressive city-states. This is Athas, a world of cruelty and tyranny.

Yet for all of its horrors, it has a majestic and stark beauty. When first light casts its emerald hues over the Sea of Silt, or when sunset spreads its orange flame over the Mekillot Mountains, the world’s feral beauty stirs the untamed heart in each of us. It is a call to take up spear and dagger, to flee the cities, to go and see what lurks out in the barrenness…

As far as moth Athasians are concerned, Tyr has always existed. Certainly, it has endured through the whole of the Desert Age, its magnificent Ziggurat of Kalak and Golden City have stood quiet sentinel over the sandy wastes.

Kalak was always a brutal Sorcerer-King, but in his later years he became even worse as he was obsessed with building the giant ziggurat which has obsidion orbs and a throne inside which was supposed to speed his transformation into becoming the 2nd Dragon of Tyr. His plan was to cast the ultimate defiling ritual during grand gladiatorial games and kill everyone in Tyr to power his spell.

The Veiled Alliance, some nobles, and Tithian the high templar learned of this plot. Agis a noble, Sadira a veiled Alliance sorceress, and Rikus and Neeva the gladiators went to a halfling chief in the jungle and were given the “Heartwood Spear” an artifact of amazing primal power.

Taking this spear, they plunged it into Kalak’s heart in front of all to see in the arena. Kalak fled up the steps of the Ziggurat and vanished. Tithian has since taken up the role of defender of the city.

In his first act as king of Tyr, he freed the slaves, setting free both gladiator and laborer alike.

It is in this state you arrive in Tyr, the Free City.

Tchai, Thri-Kreen Druid had become friends with Volpad, a Dwarven Elemental Priest (actually a cleric) from the deep desert. They had joined up with a merchant caravan to come see the newly freed city. Finding themselves on Sand Street (yes, that’s a real place on the map), they ended up getting pushed around by a few thugs, unhappy with these foreigners in their city, accusing them of being spies.

Miri, a Human Rogue and Sorcerer-King Pact Warlock, watched the events unfold from a nearby rooftop, while Yuri, Dray Warlord was in the area, headed who-knows-where. Thormr, Dwarf Fighter, a Templar of Tyr and a member of the city watch, was on patrol in the neighborhood.

As Thormr moved in to assist the two foreigners, the thugs turned on him, accusing him of being a traitor, one of those who killed Kalak. That made him mad, but he stayed his hand…

Until, one of the thugs shoved Volpad, who shoved back. Weapons were drawn, and the fight broke out. I rolled the worst I’ve rolled in a long time, hitting… maybe once, twice? It was bad.

As the thugs got beaten down, the leader of them called out for more help, as three more stepped around a corner. The heroes ended up in a bit of a tangle, wrapped up in bad guys on all sides, with lots of flanking. Alex, who plays Yuri, the Warlord, really knows how to maximize his potential as a Warlord, and was giving people bonuses and free attacks all over the place. Miri, played by Bridget, sat up on the roof flinging Chatchkas down on the enemy below. As the rest of the baddies were mopped up, a large band of thugs entered the street. Behind the heroes, they heard a voice. It was a man in a cloak, who told them, “Follow me if you want to live.”

The heroes followed the man, suspicious of his motives, but not really having another option. They took one of the thugs along with them, having broken his ankles.

After being led through alleys for a while in order to avoid pursuit, they stopped to take a breath. While the Warlord and Fighter interrogated their prisoner, the Thri-Kreen and Cleric questioned their mysterious benefactor. Miri perched on the roof, listening to everyone speaking and gathering information.

The mysterious man explained his name was Nibay, and represented a group of citizens who were “concerned over the state of affairs in Tyr.” He explained that many of the slaves had been pressed into servitude for very good reasons, crimes of various sorts, etc. Now, these freed slaves have formed bands of gangs which have begun gaining power throughout the city. While the Thri-Kreen didn’t wish to become involved, his dwarven companion did, and so they chose to follow. Meanwhile, the Warlord and the Fighter gathered information on where the thug’s gang was located, knocked him out, and followed the group. Miri followed from the rooftops.

And that is where the game ended for the night. We’ll be meeting every two weeks, and I’m really looking forward to the next session. There’s a lot of RP in this group, and they really enjoy describing their attacks in details more than just the stated text on the page, so that’s been really fun.