Session Zero Report
General Summary
The party members arrived at Lannora Ivy, sometimes known as Swiftwind Manor, and reacquainted themselves with their old adventuring buddy, Arthur Swiftwind. Arthur recently became the head of his household following the death of his father, Victor, and inherited both the title of Lord of Oaksleigh and control of his family's beautiful estate and considerable fortune. Over the course of the first evening, the party learns that: Fiscus is a gnomish noble from Valeshire who was kidnapped by a band of ruffians who attempted to hold him for ransom. However, Fiscus' punchy attitude, frequent dangerous alchemical experiments, and general disobedience had irked his stuffy parents for years, and the couple decided quite promptly that they did not want their son back. Chagrined, the kidnappers sold Fiscus to the ruthless and abusive ringleader of a travelling circus. Fiscus was being used as part of a freakshow and being forced to produce alchemical solutions for use by the circus for almost a year before the circus was attended by Arthur Swiftwind, whose insight allowed him to determine that the gnome did not want to be there. Arthur bought Fiscus from the ringleader and then the two immediately went to the elephant pens and rode two of the beasts through the circus, destroying it. Garou did some sort of dodgy mercenary work for Arthur in the past, although both men have been very tight-lipped about exactly what that work was. Silus and Arthur are meeting for the first time, but Silus' sister, Mira, has known Arthur for years. The exact details of their relationship have not been discussed, but things between them have been somewhat awkward and Mira has done little to disguise her discomfort in the presence of Tomasina, Arthur's new fiancee. Arthur informed the party that there is another adventurer due to join them at Lannora Ivy, but his coach was delayed and he will arrive late. Arthur then lays out his plan to charter a mercenary company consisting of his most reliable former adventuring companions. The group, simply named the Swiftwind Mercenary Company, will follow the path of Arthur's lifetime of adventuring at their leisure, collecting a salary from Arthur and taking on jobs at will. As they travel, they will send back letters (as well as send telegraphs and make phone calls when they are able) describing their adventures and accomplishments, and Arthur will compile the information into a book of true adventure stories about the party. Arthur plans to name the book The Swiftwind Chronicles and hopes that it will not only serve as a wonderful volume of entertaining tales for future generations but also as a lasting personal mark on the world that will preserve the Swiftwind name. "You and your feats will be a more permanent legacy than all the tavern songs and tall tales of my own adventures ever could be," Arthur explained. "When I am gone, children will marvel at your stories and the ways you changed the world, and you will be remembered. Every time they open their volume of your accomplishments they will read my family's name, and we will be remembered too."
Rewards Granted
Garou the Hero Hunter is owed a reward by Arthur for ranking first among the guests in Friendly Competition. Chef Carlo Montegue rewarded the party with a month of his salary, which was given to Silus Salvatore. Silus split the money among the members of the party. The party has earned EXP, to be awarded upon leaving Lannora Ivy.
Missions/Quests Completed
A Small Dinner Friendly Competition Rats!
Character(s) interacted with
Lord of Oaksleigh Arthur Swiftwind (Eldest Swiftwind sibling and head of household- Relatively famous, recently retired adventurer and heir to a generations-old fortune and prestigious family name) Margaret Swiftwind (Younger than Arthur, older than Edward- shrewd businesswoman, responsible and disciplined) Edward Swiftwind (Younger than Margaret, older than Elspeth- angsty and bitter, Edward is frequently selfish and unsentimental) Elspeth Swiftwind (Youngest Swiftwind sibling- young, free-spirited, and beautiful, "Elsie" blames herself for her mother's death during her birth and has chosen to wear black every day since she was a child) Tomasina Morgenstern (Arthur's fiancee- Sweet, meek, and a delicate beauty, Tomasina is the only child of a powerful family and has fallen fast and hard for the charming and accomplished Arthur Swiftwind) Theodore Morgenstern (Tomasina's father and Arthur's soon-to-be father in-law- a powerful and wealthy steel and oil tycoon, Theodore has only one child, and has focused much of his considerable influence on making sure that his daughter is in good hands with Arthur) Templeton (Butler- incredibly quiet until he needs to be heard, Templeton is a lifelong professional butler and has served the Swiftwinds since shortly before Arthur came of age, and he is in charge of the rest of the staff at Lannora Ivy) Mildred Honeydew (Head Housekeeper- Mildred is a kind but strict older woman whose entire life has revolved around her service to the Swiftwind family. She has known Arthur and Margaret since they were children and was present for the births of Edward and Elspeth. She is one of the only members of the Swiftwind staff who has been with the family that long.) Carlo Montegue (Master Chef- Carlo is a thirty-something-year-old immigrant to Essenmark and has spent his life perfecting his skills in the culinary arts) Wendall Spivey (Groundskeeper- Wendall Spivey has been the caretaker of Lannora Ivy and her grounds since before Arthur was born, and he so enjoys the grounds that he sometimes sleeps in a small shack near the kennel rather than in his room within the manor) Samantha (Blonde maid- a pretty, somewhat reserved maid who seems to have a sensitive nature. She claims to have seen the ghost of Edna Swiftwind walking through the gardens late at night while she was reading in the atrium) Brooke (Brown-haired maid- somewhat abrasive and judgemental, Brooke is quick to react in most situations and is mostly self-serving. She does not believe most of the stories of the supernatural that have been circulating around Lannora Ivy lately) Phyllis (Black-haired maid- tight-lipped and difficult to get to know, Phyllis is a top-notch maid, and also claims to have seen the specter of the late Lady Swiftwind roaming the gardens from the veranda late one night) Lucille (Tomasina's personal maid- the only member of the staff who has been around as long as Mildred and Wendall have. Lucille used to work for Edna, but when the Lady of Lannora Ivy died Lucille was let go along with Edna's other maids, and has since been serving the Morgenstern family. Now that Tomasina lives with Arthur, Lucille once again resides in Lannora Ivy) Clark (Driver/Mechanic- a polite but somewhat bullish man, Clark was hired on to drive the Swiftwinds around in their brand new automobile, a recently invented contraption that only Arthur has so far been able to teach himself how to drive) Aubright (Stablemaster- A true master of horses and expert in his field, Aubright is an old Farusa man with a true love of his job and who has served the Swiftwind family loyally for many years) Rory (Stablehand- A boy in his late teens who was recently orphaned and given room, board, and pay by Arthur to assist Aubright in maintaining the stables) Otis (Kennel Master- Otis grew up hunting the frigid northern wilds with hand-raised backs of pedigree hounds, and was hired on at Swiftwind Manor as a young man. Now he is an accomplished middle-aged kennel master, and his hounds are bred, trained, and meticulously cared for in order to serve Arthur and his family)
Created Content
Unfinished quests that were started during Session Zero: Compiling The Swiftwind Chronicles (Main Quest- will be open the entire game) Brotherly Love (Smooth things over between Arthur and Edward) A Ghost in the Gardens (Investigate the sightings of Edna Swiftwind's ghost walking the gardens late at night) Tears Among the Tombs (Investigate Wendall's claims of a woman crying, wailing, and screaming somewhere in the Swiftwind Family Cemetary late at night) The Silver Stag (Join Arthur and others on a hunt for the silver stag Wendall and the participants of the horse race have all spotted in the woods on the grounds- the person who catches the beast will decide what to do with it) There are two available quests in Lannora Ivy during this time that the party did not begin during Session Zero; one of them will be triggered the day before you leave the manor, and the other must be triggered by specific circumstances that have not yet been met. When all quests are completed, an additional two, concerning preparing to leave the mansion and actually doing so, will become available.
Notes
Some beats from Session Zero: Garou robbed the hell out of the graves of both of Arthur's parents, and also took a journal from a nook outside Edna Swiftwind's tomb. Nothing like some light burial desecration to get the blood pumping! The journal contained a number of entries written in handwriting that Mira felt looked feminine, and the content was usually about or addressed to Edna, usually expressing feelings of guilt over the woman's death. Mira later spoke with Tomasina's maid, Lucille, who worked at Lannora Ivy when Edna died, and Lucille told her that Elspeth always wears black because she constantly mourns the mother she never knew. Edna died giving birth to Elspeth, and Edward has always resented his younger sister for taking his mother from him, which helped instill a sense of guilt in Elsie from early childhood. Based on this information, Mira concluded that the journal Garou found was probably written over a long period of time and hidden at Edna's tomb by Elspeth. Mira eavesdropped on a drunken Margaret and a somber Templeton in the atrium and deduced that Chef Carlo is having some sort of sexual affair with a member of Mildred's housekeeping staff, but neither Margaret nor Templeton stated which maid. Mira asked Samantha about her sightings of a ghost in the gardens. Samantha expressed her fears about the situation and swore that the ghost looked just like Arthur's mother, Edna- pale skin, long red hair, and a flowing white gown just like Edna used to wear. Samantha also confided in Mira that Tomasina is afraid of the ghost and believes that the spirit of Arthur's mother has started appearing now because Tomasina is about to become Lady Swiftwind and Edna, the former Lady Swiftwind, somehow disapproves of her. No one has been able to question Tomasina about the ghost, as she left to spend a few days at her father's manor before anyone had a chance. Fiscus was noticed observing Victor and Edna's wedding portrait in the Main Hall by Mildred, who took a moment to introduce herself to the gnome and to tell him the story of how Arthur's parents met. According to Mildred, Lord Victor was visiting the city of Bellaerie during the Summer Solstice Festival when he saw the wind catch the ribbon from a maiden's hair and blow it away. Victor rode his horse to catch the ribbon and delivered it back to its owner, and Edna was charmed by him then and married him less than a year later. Mildred also added, sadly and only after great hesitancy, that Victor's love for Edna did not last as long as their marriage did, and that while he did care for his wife, he became distant and cold toward her, not unlike the way he often treated his sons. A secret passage was revealed behind the grandfather clock in the Main Hall by setting its hands to 3:10. Two narrow, dark flights of stairs led up onto the second floor and ended in the back of a wardrobe in the Master Bedroom. Mira and Garou became invisible and hid in Tomasina's room next door as Arthur returned from the nearby bathroom, after which Lord Swiftwind discovered Fiscus sitting on his bed and sipping on a small bottle of laudanum pilfered from the bedside table. After some banter, a wave of spiders sent to search for Mira by an anxious Silus startled the entire group and nearly caused Fiscus to be bludgeoned over the side of a banister, but the gnome was caught and pulled back up by Arthur. After everyone was reunited, the party went to sleep. Arthur won the horse race, but Garou placed second and will be receiving a prize as the first place winner among the guests. Mira stole a ring out of a locked drawer in the library, made of gold and emeralds and bearing an inscription inside the band that reads "The Jewel of the Sea". Later when Arthur asked Silus what the group had been up to all afternoon, Silus became anxious and spilled the beans about the party's activities, including Mira's theft of the ring. Arthur raised an eyebrow about this and asked Mira directly about the ring, but she lied and claimed that Silus was just talking nonsense. Arthur let the issue slide temporarily, and Mira took the opportunity to return the ring to where she found it before Arthur had a chance to see whether or not it was actually taken. Garou stole Tomasina's engagement necklace but then returned it to Arthur after its absence was noticed by Tomasina's maid, Lucille. Garou claimed to have found the necklace and, aware of Arthur and Edward's recent argument over money, cast suspicion on Edward to divert attention from himself. This ploy seems to have worked, although Arthur has not addressed the theft of the necklace with Edward. Silus spent time during the horse race cultivating a cave on the grounds for the use of his spiders and the development of his poisons. He also decked out his bedroom in the mansion with webs and legions of his arachnid friends, to the extreme surprise and great dismay of the young maids who next attempted to clean his room. Garou walked the grounds in the rain and met Lannora Ivy's groundskeeper, Wendall Spivey. Originally from the isle of Valeshire, Wendall is an earthy and generally agreeable individual, although he is prone to superstition and, as he enters old age, is not taken very seriously by the rest of the household staff. Wendall does seem to know what's going on around the manor, though, and Garou made a good impression on the man. Garou also got a look at the kennels, the stables, and the Swiftwind Family Cemetery. At the Cemetary, Garou noticed that there were some recent signs of disarray outside the gates. When Garou explored the cemetery proper he found the crypts of both Victor and Edna Swiftwind, Arthur's parents, in the newest section of the cemetery. Before robbing both crypts, Garou observed that while Victor's tomb was heavily decorated outside, the inside of the crypt was dusty and lacking in flowers or offerings, the candles having burned all the way to the floor without being replaced. When examining Edna's tomb, Garou discovers that the opposite is true there; Edna's tomb is as bare outside its door as any other older tomb, but the inside of the crypt is decorated with new candles, fresh flowers, and various coins, pieces of modest jewelry, and small trinkets left in offering to the departed spirit of the former lady of the house. This implies that while Victor's funeral was a recent and rather elaborate affair, none of the living Swiftwinds have been visiting or maintaining his tomb, while (at the very least) Elspeth has been visiting and maintaining Edna's tomb with regularity. During the horse race, participants almost crashed their horses when the fabled Silver Stag leaped across the race track in front of them. While Margaret's horse wiped out and she subsequently placed last in the race, the rest of the competitors got a good look at the creature and can now confirm that it does indeed exist. Arthur responded to this news by declaring that there would be a hunt for the stag the following day and that whoever should corner or kill the creature will earn the right to decide what is done with it (or if it is killed, its corpse). Fiscus and Silus both explored Arthur's workshop and garage, which Arthur granted Fiscus full use of. Mira chose the Violet Room, Garou chose the White Room, Silus chose the Green Room, and Fiscus chose the Red Room. Fiscus noted that he can fit in the dumb waiter that connects the first-floor Access Hall with the Upstairs Hall. Silus, Mira, and Fiscus solved a rat problem in the cellars for Chef Carlo, but in the process discovered that the source of the rats had been somewhere within the concrete wall of the wine cellar and that there is a room beyond that wall that has no apparent entrance. While the party's solution of using Silus' spiders to carry poisoned cheese to the rats was successful, the exact source of the rodents was not discovered. Mira left the cellars determined to discover the entrance to the room beyond. Elspeth finds Silus quite charming and has expressed some interest in the young man. Margaret has been tutoring Elspeth in business and finance in an attempt to mold the young woman after herself, but it is an uphill struggle against Elspeth's somewhat flighty and adventurous nature. There is tension between Arthur and Mira, although Mira has not opened up to the party about this and she and Arthur have yet to talk it out. Arthur took Silus aside when he had a chance and questioned the young man about his sister's and parents' reactions to his disappearance in an attempt to feel out how to approach Mira about the subject, but Silus was disconnected enough from the situation when it happened that he didn't have any particularly useful information to offer. Garou and Arthur had a private and cryptic conversation about their prior dealings, each of them careful not to directly refer to said dealings. The conversation revealed that Garou is the last living member of a group of sellswords that did some sort of work for Arthur and that Garou is, therefore, the last person alive who knows Arthur's most sensitive secrets. Arthur gravely expressed concerns that, despite that their deaths meant that they could not reveal his secrets, the absence of Garou's former men means that "we'll just have to hope that they spread the stories far enough before they died. We've done all we can, I believe."
