The Cradle.

[Noita]

So we've all run it or at least played as a pc, on one side or another, in the epic adventure of the Cradle as it makes it's way down the Zola Fel to the sea.

Has it ever been stopped in your game, if so what happened? What would have happened if the Lunars had captured it and it's giant occupant?

 

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Edited October 22, 2015 by Iskallor

[Joerg]

The normal course of the adventure is that the Lunars succeed to stop it, but that the rebels re-capture it.

One point about the scenario is the return of Pinchining to the Cradle. Without the Gold Wheel Dancer, the entire trip onto the ocean is pretty pointless.

If the Lunars manage to hold on to the Cradle, the next question is whether they'd kill the baby or whether a blue moon connection is emphasized by the Lunars.

 

[Noita]

Has anyone fought on the side of the Lunars during a game? 

This happened in the Mad Prax scenario with the pcs being Sundomers.

[Joerg]

There are a number of stories around the Cradle incident that would benefit from some exploration.

How was the cradle built, was there a baby shower by the Elder Giants of the Rockwoods? With the mother busy giving birth, I suppose it is up to the Elder Giant father to construct the Cradle and to equip it with its magical implements and crew.

I suspect that it is traditionally built from Redwood Trees from east of Dagori Inkarth, possibly Nemolayope's entire dryad's grove gets transformed into the ship and its animated crew.

I think it is safe to assume that the person Gonn Orta was searching for all those years was Urrrgh the Ugly, whose prayers awakened Pinchining the Gold Wheel Dancer. I don't know how he died (all I know is that Londra of Londros was heir to his hoard of gold wheels), but he is present on the Cradle as Blorn the Statue.

 

It would be a strange but possibly entertaining scenario to assist Gonn Orta in assembling the Cradle or its treasures.

 

The Lunar side of the Cradle scenario is strangely one-dimensional. The best piece of motivation we get for a Lunar participant is the description of the priest covered by hoplite and peltast guards exploring the Cradle after they managed to capture it north of the Rubble.

In fact, the Lunar command of the Cradle actions would be a worthy freeform the size of Tarsh War.

Tatius the Bright oversees the siege of Whitewall, and any direct order by him will reach the Lunar forces only towards the end of the journey downriver, even if carried by magic or wyvern. I think it is safe to assume that the use of the Watchdog of Corflu has his personal approval - he might even be present for this part of the scenario. Tatius will have a direct representant of the Lunar College of Magic in Pavis, though, who will act in his interests. And one known interest of the Dara Happans is to retrieve those treasures they sent to the EWF overlords all those centuries back which disappeared before or during the Dragonkill War. Pavis with its EWF connections is a legitimate source of plunder for these folks, and I suppose that's what the majority of the Lunar commanders behind the imperial side of the Cradle incident is motivated by. With different opinions about the distribution of any plunder, of course.

Sor-eel is a member of the Eel-ariash clan, as ambitious a bunch of heroquesters as you can find inside the Empire. I would be astonished if he didn't have secret orders by his clan to deal with opportunities on giant artifacts that don't necessarily comply with what Tatius or the army wants. He might even be behind a Lunar pro-Cradle black ops team.

Gim-gim might have yet another agenda. He too might have hidden agents among the defenders of the Cradle, or infiltrate some when it lies beached.

I am not that familiar with the Lunar elite of New Pavis, though - I'll leave it up to you old Pavis hands to come up with other Lunar characters to mis-manage the Cradle incident.

 

Then there is the off-screen hunt/quest for Pinchining, in the script performed by Garrath/Argrath and his personal retinue between the liberation of the Cradle and its arrival in Corflu. There is no reason not to play this quest. Any ideas what stations there would be?

 

 

 

[Noita]

Will have to give that some thought.

I ran a game once where the concept was for the players to accumulate the magical carpentry tools of the giants and to then heroquest and assist the building of the cradle, and then another Heroquest where a Healer quested to bring fertility back to the giants. My current game is heading towards the baby being the child of one of the Sons of Genert.

[MOB]

The Lunar side of the Cradle scenario is strangely one-dimensional. The best piece of motivation we get for a Lunar participant is the description of the priest covered by hoplite and peltast guards exploring the Cradle after they managed to capture it north of the Rubble...

...I am not that familiar with the Lunar elite of New Pavis, though - I'll leave it up to you old Pavis hands to come up with other Lunar characters to mis-manage the Cradle incident.

Well, we can add that the Lunar Coders ("Strangers in Prax") were present during the Cradle episode. They were working in concert with (but somewhat independent of) Sor Eel's command.

The Coders were one of the Lunar parties that boarded the Cradle after it was temporarily beached at Pavis. They eagerly wanted to understand the Cradle's secrets for the good of the empire, but also sought to protect the life of the giant baby (after the Cradle was secured, Princess Anderida intended for the infant to be taken into the care of a Teelo Norri orphanage, and raised to serve the Red Goddess). However, they were horrified to discover another Lunar party, sent on board by Sor Eel's intelligence chief Gim-gim the Grim, intended to kill it.

After the Cradle was heroically refloated by its defenders, Count Julan and Princess Anderida were seen making their escape from the deck on wyverns, while Maculus was plucked away by a strange pedal-powered hang-glider. Nose Ring and Eslas the Tracker were nowhere to be seen, but all the members of Gim-Gim's party washed up dead on the riverbanks the next morning.

In the final battle at Corflu, Maculus led the efforts to animate the Watchdog statue, while Count Julan led the wyvern riders on their aerial assault on the Cradle. When he and Anderida dropped to the decks, Nose Ring and Eslas came up to join them in the fight. Hidden below, they had learned much about the Cradle and its secrets on their journey downriver...

[And I will leave the rest of the story for telling later!]

Edited October 24, 2015 by MOB

[Pentallion]

There are a number of stories around the Cradle incident that would benefit from some exploration.

 

 

Then there is the off-screen hunt/quest for Pinchining, in the script performed by Garrath/Argrath and his personal retinue between the liberation of the Cradle and its arrival in Corflu. There is no reason not to play this quest. Any ideas what stations there would be?

 

 

 

We did this in our campaign.  They first had to carry out the Dancer, the Darkman and the Night Hag heroquest where they went to Hell to find Subere and learn a secret from her - the whereabouts of Pinchining - by besting her at a game of sticks and bones.  Invented all the rules to the game, involving runes, etc.  It was so fun that sometimes we'd sit aroung playing sticks and bones just for the fun of it.  Was rather proud of that game within the game.  Then they had to quest to get Pinchining back from the Green Age.  No weapons allowed, lots of restrictions on their available actions or they'd get booted from the quest.

[Runeblogger]

Pentallion: would you mind sharing the rules of that game within the game? I'm intrigued.

[Pentallion]

Roleplay:  Subere draws a circle in the sand and you both cast your bones.

Mechanics:  You roll 7 d6.  All ties are said to be bones touching.  All 1's are bones that fell outside the circle.

Roleplay:  Subere draws a rune in the sand with her stick.

Mechanics:  Player names a rune, picks bones that are "touching".  Must all be the same number.  Cannot pick 1's.

Roleplay:  Bones are affected per the rune.

Mechanics:  Lots of runes, I don't have time to list what each one did.  Motion would bring back bones that had fallen outside the circle.  Death would destroy bones. Fire burn them, etc. 

Then the other player draws a rune and so on.  You could only draw a rune once unless you were master of that rune, which is only Subere, the Mistress of the Darkness Rune, so she can play it multiple times and it cannot be played upon her.