Session two finally happened after a couple weeks of limbo. What's really crazy is that I'm the one whose schedule is about to explode, but I've been available every week thus far. Here's to hoping we can sneak session three in next week instead of waiting until the week after Thanksgiving (which is the following Thursday). One full month between sessions is going to make this a touch difficult in the long run.

In any case, session two ended tonight with us leveling up! We are all now level two, and with the FantasyCraft system, that means some pretty neat things happen depending upon your class choice. These Skyrim modifications have been a ton of fun. It's been very interesting playing in Cyrodiil during the Skyrim timeline because my character (hailing from Skyrim himself) is the only one who KNOWS that the dragons are in fact back due to being just outside of Helgen when Alduin attacked, and has been (unknowingly) in the same place as the dragonborn on a handful of occasions. One of the other characters was also in Skyrim briefly before the events of the videogame occurred, but as such heard much of the dragon rumor but has no proof of their existence. The other two characters have heard things on the winds but don't believe a word of it. The other thing that's really nice about playing in Cyrodiil during these events is that we'll have a source of news from NPCs, but for the most part are free to pursue whatever storyline we end up carving as we move through this campaign. With Kvatch having been destroyed at the beginning of the Oblivion game, it was the perfect starting zone for us to utilize for our campaign - we were free to do anything and everything we pleased with it, as there was no map or layout to follow.

But after tonight, we have our first true destination: Skingrad.

The hardest part about these session notes is that I really want to write down all of the events, but I am committed to only sharing things from Faendal's point of view, and including things which were explicitly told to him otherwise. And Scott's nameless character remains nameless. We as players do not know if this is part of the character, or if he literally hasn't come up with a name and is just playing it off as part of his character. Either way, it fits his personality.

~

The party is in need of some more feed, as they gave the entire stock of horse feed to the adamantoise to appease it. They intend to move northeastern, toward Chorrol, but realize there is no longer enough food supply for that journey. They investigate the shack a little more, and Faendal takes a sheet of parchment from the large desk in the living area, copying down a map on the wall that has a collection of marked points. They camp the night in the remains of the damaged shack (the turtle had stepped on part of it), taking three shifts on watch. Faendal takes the first shift, then awakens Hawk three hours later for the second shift. Fangslayer sleeps at the door, and Faendal curls up on the floor near the desk.

Near the end of the third shift, Faendal is awakened by the sound of V'Zaren's wavering vocals. He sits up to find a strange robed man shifting back and forth while speaking with V'Zaren. Curious as to how the man managed to enter the building without alerting V'Zaren or waking Fangslayer and Haru alike, Faendal remains on guard as he clamors into the bedroom to join his companions. The nameless man remains asleep by the fireplace in the living room, but Hawk and his Lieutenant joined V'Zaren before Faendal had managed to stand up.

"So, you will give book, and Djazigo can be on his way, yes?"

The hooded human shifts fluidly back and forth, every motion with immense purpose. He seeks the alchemy book that V'Zaren had recovered earlier from the stack of the Argonian's belongings. V'Zaren continues his nervous conversation with the stranger, asking which book he needs, and why he needs it. Djazigo needs the book because it is his "job." Upon meeting trivial resistance, he disarms himself, tossing various daggers and swords onto the floor around him. He reaches for something in his robe and Hawk goes on the defensive. Djazigo glances at him, but clearly does not fear the captain's mild threat. Djazigo removes a stack of papers, shuffling through them until he finds the one he is looking for.

"You see, my good friends, Djazigo has a job. The job says get book. Book is here. Djazigo needs book."

V'Zaren holds fast, and Djazigo looks at Hawk. He hands the paper to Hawk, who proceeds to read over it. While doing so, V'Zaren prods Djazigo for more information.

"Djazigo does not have more information. Job says get book, so Djazigo get book. It does not say how Djazigo get book. If Djazigo cannot take book, Boss not pleased. Djazigo will leave here with book."

Hawk nods after reading the "job" from the parchment, handing it back to Djazigo. Displeased with the idea of simply handing over the alchemy book, V'Zaren seeks a compromise. Through very nervous discussion, the party agrees to hand over the book on the condition that they can meet the "boss" Djazigo had referenced, and see why he was in search of the book. Djazigo agrees that this can be arranged, but only if an appointment has been made. Djazigo then offers the party a Job of their own, with the reward being a meeting with Boss. After quiet debate, the party agrees. Djazigo asks what the party calls themselves, so he can inform Boss of their acquisition of the Job. Without an answer, Djazigo suggests that the party claim a moniker of their own, and then begins to walk off. He exits the building through the hole in the wall. Only Faendal notices as he walks until he thinks he is out of sight, and then breaks into a sprint faster than Fangslayer at full speed. Curious, he opts not to mention it.

The Job unfortunately sends the party back to Kvatch, where they had just escaped prison. Their task is to retrieve another book. What does this mysterious Boss want with these books? What's so important about an alter book in a church? The party turns back southward, and travels to Kvatch. The trip is uneventful, though the giants do ask for another tribute of food before they allow passage. Realizing they are traveling with a spare horse, they group offers their extra (stolen) mount in exchange for passage. While the giants do not offer to share the meal this time (the horse is not as large as the elk from days prior), they do offer to allow the party to camp on site with them for safety. The party accepts, and then continues onward.

Upon reaching Kvatch from the north, the only way in is the gaping maw in the wall on the northeastern side, where the adamantoise had originally charged out of town. Otherwise, they would have to approach the southern gate, which would undoubtedly be guarded as it seemed many of the town's denizens had already returned. Fortunately, the church was on the northern end of town, and the group decides to enter through the wall to avoid attention.

Fanedal rides in first, proudly atop Fangslayer, spacing himself from the rest of the group. She trots ahead at his command with the party not far behind. A couple of the guards glance over, and one of them points at him. They approach him hurriedly, perhaps remembering that he had been arrested just days prior. Faendal looks back over his shoulder, and tells Hawk that he will draw the guards off so that they can retrieve the book. He continues forward, entering the main road, and the guards draw closer. As Faendal ignores their commands to stop, he takes a sharp turn south and lines up with the southern gate. Fangslayer continues at a slow trot, and the guards begin to run after them as he continues to shrug off their commands. When the guards get within striking distance, Fangslayer breaks into a sprint. The two guards scream for help, drawing the attention of another dozen guards along the road who begin to converge. Fangslayer rushes through the streets before they guards can form a barricade, and they all give chase. As she exits the southern gate, two of the guards continue to pursue her. Two more of the guards post themselves promptly at the gate, and the other ten begin hurriedly searching the streets looking for other signs of suspicious activity.

Faendal turns Fangslayer westward as they break the initial threshold, turning in a clockwise run around the outer wall of the city. As to not lose the guards' attention entirely, the pair stays a comfortable 50-60 feet ahead of the two guards giving chase. Faendal directs Haru to fly up and keep watch on the others, and to return when the situation is either clear or dire.

Meanwhile, the nameless man remains standing outside the breach in the northeastern wall, keeping Mouse quiet and trying to stay inconspicuous. V'Zaren, Hawk, and the Lieutenant had all headed to the church, but that was the last Faendal had seen when he checked his shoulder on the way out the gate. He caught occasional glimpses in as he made laps around the town, but had no way of knowing what was happening inside.1

Upon his third revolution, he notices three guards chasing after Hawk, who is again on horseback, from the northeastern breach. He appears to be alone. Haru returns to him, screeching uncontrollably, obviously excited but unable to communicate through their established sign language. Glancing back to see how far his own pursuers were behind him, Faendal orders Fangslayer into a full sprint again, rounding out the path directly to Hawk. They quickly place distance between their own pursuers and surpass Hawk's with ease. Faendal catches up to Hawk right as they enter the treeline of the wooded area to the north. Fangslayer moves easily between the brush and trees, but Hawk's horse is not as nimble. She slows down to keep pace with them, all while Faendal keeps watch behind him, arrows nocked and ready for action.

After a ten minute game of cat and mouse through the woods, the guards give up, and return to town. Faendal and Hawk agree a safe place to wait for the remainder of their companions would be the hut along the original path they had taken out of Kvatch. Shortly afterward, the remainder of the group joins up with them. Nobody appears to be hurt.

Curious as to what might be so important in the silver-bound book they had confiscated from the church, V'Zaren takes it back from Hawk. He fiddles with it, managing to easily open the lock. Faendal expresses concern with opening a locked book, and orders Fangslayer back. As V'Zaren opens the book, there is a flash of light. V'Zaren, Hawk, and the Lieutenant all manage to stumble back and cover their eyes in time, but the nameless man is caught in a faintly orange force field. The others gawk at him with terrified glances. Faendal thinks back to his time with Hert and Hern, and recognizes the result of the spell. Without telling the party what it was (he genuinely doesn't know it fully) or why he recognizes the condition, he does inform them that the nameless man will be trapped in that force field, timeless and unharmed, for anywhere from 3-5 days.

The group takes Hawk's chain, wrapping the nameless man effectively, and then attaches him to Fangslayer's saddle to be dragged along. Only Hawk and his Lieutenant have their horses. V'Zaren explains that it was wiser for the group to leave their stolen horses in town, to avoid any suspicion. Certainly, something had happened in that church to cause the guard to give chase, but Faendal opted not to pry.

The party begins to head eastward, at the pace of those walking, in the direction of Skingrad. Djazigo expressed that he would "find" the group once they retrieved the book, so it mattered not which direction they went. That very night, as they set up camp halfway between Kvatch and the small village of Riverfall,2 Djazigo approached the group again on the third watch. V'Zaren, alarmed by Djazigo's sudden appearance behind him, woke the party. (It is later decided that V'Zaren no longer gets to take watch, as he has now been startled twice by the same mysterious figure.)

Djazigo immediately notices the nameless man's comatose state, and asks, "What... uh... what happen to him?"

Faendal "That's what we want to see your Boss for, Djazigo. We need to fix him."

"How... how you say... what come of him? How he end like this?"

"It was a bit of a... magical misunderstanding." At the sound of Faendal's words, V'Zaren backs up a step in mild shock. The room goes silent as everyone stares at Faendal. There is a mild pause, and a strong unease in the air.

"Is no matter. So, Djazigo understand you have new book. Djazigo needs book, take book to Boss."

Faendal speaks up again. "Wait, Djazigo... before we give you this book, we were promised an appointment with... 'Boss' in exchange for retrieval."

Hawk looks at Faendal with wide eyes. V'Zaren clutches the book tightly inside his bag. Djazigo notices, and again asks for the book.

"V'Zaren is unsure of why Djazigo needs the book. V'Zaren understood that the book was the Job and that the reward for the Job was to meet Boss."

The Khajiit stares down Djazigo, eyes narrowing slightly, but wavering with a hint of fear. Djazigo persists, demanding that he at least see the book before he can set up the appointment. V'Zaren looks to Faendal, who in turn looks to Hawk. Hawk nods. V'Zaren withdraws the heavy leatherbound book adorned with silver lace. Djazigo stammers a little, appalled at what he sees. He inquires about the missing lock, and Hawk points to the nameless man, still locked in his reactionary position on the floor.

"This... perhaps you should bring book to Boss yourself. I will make appointment. Where is good?"

V'Zaren pulls out his map, and the party finds the trip to Riverfall is still a rough two days' walk. Djazigo exclaims "Two days!" and thanks everyone for the time. He proceeds eastward immediately, walking away nonchalantly. As he begins to fade out of sight, the others begin to look at each other and converse amongst themselves. Fangslayer's ears perk up, and Faendal looks back toward Djazigo just in time to see him sprint off at that unnatural speed again. Faendal still chooses not to say anything to his colleagues, trying to figure this out for himself first.

The party decides that setting out immediately (despite still being an hour away from dawn) is for the best, and prepares a small meal before heading out. The first day's travel is uneventful, as is the evening's camp. While scavenging midday, Faendal hunts a small buck to increase the food supply, and strips it entirely for usable bonecarving materials during the first watch that evening. As nothing else happened, he passes the watch along to Hawk. The following morning, the party rises, prepares for the day, and moves forward. After a couple of hours, the group (traveling roughly 40 ft north of the road itself) comes across a small group of men huddled together near the road. Faendal commands Fangslayer ahead, taking a more commanding lead of the party as the others fall a few paces behind. As he approaches the men, they begin to fidget and grip their weapons more tightly. They appear confused, glancing back and forth between the large white wolf, its rider, and the motionless chained man being dragged behind. Faendal comes upon them unarmed, and without hesitation or slight of speed, continues forward. The nameless man's body bounces along the ground behind him, and the rest of the party follows. V'Zaren offers a simple "good morning" to the men, who are completely taken aback by what just happened. V'Zaren stops, and Mouse clutches him tightly. Hawk slows down to avoid moving ahead, in case of incident.

The men, admitting openly to being bandits, are perplexed by the image they just witnessed. Hawk explains to them that the guy being dragged had crossed the "little man on the big wolf," and the bandits released their grip on their weapons. V'Zaren asked how much further it would be in order to reach Riverfall, and one of the men told him it would be a four hour ride. As not everyone was on horseback, this implied a full day's travel still remained. V'Zaren thanks the bandits and offers them a pair of rations for their trouble. The men scratch their heads with bewildered looks, accepting the offer. The party moves forward at a full clip. The remainder of the day is uneventful, and the party arrives at the gates of Riverfall a few minutes before dusk.

Before entering the town, V'Zaren takes point, with Mouse close behind. Hawk and the Lieutenant help place the nameless man's rigid body up onto Fangslayer's back in an attempt to hide his current state. Hawk and the Lieutenant then ride ahead of Faendal, leaving Fangslayer in the back of the group, hopefully unnoticed. V'Zaren acknowledges the lone guard at the gate, and proceeds forward. The guard stalls him and hustles him for a bit of information. Just as he is about to let the party move forward, he notices Fangslayer creeping up at the back of the group.

"Whoa whoa whoa... what is that?! You're going to have to put that... thing... in the kennel. You know, better yet, I think I'm going to need a safety deposit."

"Safety deposit?" V'Zaren asks.

"Yeah... wouldn't want anyone getting hurt or anything like that. It's just a deposit. You'll get it back when you leave... if nothing goes wrong. It'll cost about... 10 silver per person. That'll be 50 silver."

Mouse speaks up candidly, noting that there are six people, because he's not half a person. "Fine. Make it 60 silver. And get that dog over to the kennels. They're [pointing down the road] over there."

V'Zaren looks around to the other party members, expecting a donation of coin, but receives nothing other than blank stares. Sighing, he offers up 60 silver pieces to the guard. The guard introduces himself as Sam, and points the rest of the party toward the inn and the stables, conveniently located side-by-side. He keeps a close eye on Faendal, ensuring the elf listened to the instruction.

Once at the kennel, the keeper clears the largest cage available, and requires a 1 silver maintenance fee. The other animals cower in fear as Fangslayer trots toward her cage. Faendal pays the silver piece, dismounts from Fangslayer, and begins to walk slowly back to the entrance. His braces creak a little, and he uses his bow as a walking stick. To his surprise, the Lieutenant is outside the door, and offers to assist him back to the inn. Once at the inn, aptly named "The Salty Fish," the two rejoin the others at the bar, and engage in conversation. Faendal asks where the nameless man is; Hawk rented three stables - two for his horses, and a third to store the nameless man in the hopes that he would remain safe and out of the way. The group socializes with the barkeep, and rent two rooms. After seeing how small the rooms are, Faendal opts to go back to the kennels instead of renting a third room. He withdraws his bow and hobbles slowly back to the kennel, finding a young boy inside the lobby when he arrives.

The boy is excitable, but seems very offput by Faendal's late appearance. It is inferred that he likely tends to the cages, and is probably the kid of the the keeper who was earlier on duty. Faendal opts to impress the kid with a small guessing game. He withdraws the silver ring from his coin pouch, and shows it to the kid. The kid properly guesses which hand the ring is in and attempts to snatch it, but Faendal pulls back too quickly. The kid gets very loud, demanding the ring because he guessed correctly. Faendal quickly points out that he never promised the kid would get anything for winning - especially not the ring - but offers him two silver pieces instead. The kid thinks about it, and decides that three silver would be more reasonable. Faendal promises to pay in the morning, because he doesn't have any more silver left to give. Weary, the kid accepts the offer and leaves the kennel. Faendal sleeps against the wall outside of Fangslayer's cage. Haru perches atop the cage, proceeding to groom himself.

At the crack of dawn, Faendal opens Fangslayer's cage, sets up her saddlebags, and hops aboard. Haru is awakened by the sound of the cage unlocking, and moves to the top of Faendal's quiver, nodding off again. Faendal leaves the kennel and moves to the outside of the general store, awaiting its opening. While looking around the empty streets, Faendal notices some movement inside the inn. With full intention of joining his companions after a visit to the store, he remains in place. A few minutes pass by, and yelling is heard from the direction of the kennel. The kid comes tearing around the corner in a panic. Upon seeing Faendal, he charges toward him. "YOU!"

"Whoa, hold on kid. I promised you three silver in the morning, right? Well, it's the morning. Here you go." Faendal holds out three silver pieces, and the kid takes them gleefully and runs off in the other direction.

Almost immediately afterward, the Lieutenant comes out of The Salty Fish looking for Faendal. Not wanting to deal with the agonizing walk to and from the kennel again, Faendal takes Fangslayer behind the inn and issues her to stay out of sight. When he enters the inn, he is shocked at the sight of the nameless man sitting in a chair in the corner. "Looks like the spell wore off," Faendal mutters. He sits at one of the tables, next to V'Zaren, and the barkeep approaches the party. After much meaningless banter, Hawk reaches the conclusion that the barkeep is Boss. He asks Boss why this book was so important, and V'Zaren hands it over. Understandably, Boss is displeased with the lock on the book having been removed. Faendal explains that the job never said the book couldn't be opened, and the party was curious to see what was inside. Boss shakes his head in disappointment and asks if the party found anything useful in the book. V'Zaren explains that the trap sealed the nameless man and they immediately closed the book. Boss asks if there was anything else the group learned from the book, and Hawk reiterates that it was never opened again after the initial incident. Boss complains a little about having to "put another one of those back on there" but otherwise seems pleased with the retrieval of the book.

Boss explains that he is in the business of acquisitions. When Jobs arise, he distributes them amongst his agents, and they acquire the goods for him. Sometimes Boss acquires things for himself, but typically Boss acquires things for other people. Faendal senses that there's more to it than that, as though Boss is hiding something bigger, but doesn't question him about it.

As Boss begins to speak on what comes next, the barkeep walks out from the kitchen. Confused, he looks at Boss, and yells out "what the hell?" The party realizes that there are two identical barkeeps in the room now, but all remain motionless. Out of nowhere, Djazigo appears from the kitchen, stabbing the barkeep and lowering him slowly to the ground. The two disappear from sight. As the party looks back at Boss, he mutters something under his breath about "pointlessness" and his entire appearance begins to shift. He now looks like a wizened old man, complete with long beard and frazzled demeanor. His voice and mannerisms change as well, but the importance of his tone does not.

Boss offers the party a new Job to make up for the botched first job. There are two tasks at hand. As the party is indecisive, Boss picks the easier of the tasks for them, suggesting that it would be best to stay small until ready for "more important" tasks. The new Job is the retrieval of another large, decorative book, this time from a temple in Skingrad. The book is of a similar description, and likely locked. V'Zaren has been instructed not to open it this time, so the party safely assumes that the new book is also rigged. Skingrad is only another two days east, so the group makes plans to pack up and set out immediately.

On the way out the front gate, V'Zaren remembers he needs to get his deposit back. He approaches the guard, but the man standing post is not Sam. As V'Zaren explains that he just wants his deposit back, the new guard looks at him unknowingly, genuinely uninformed of any deposit which may have been taken. V'Zaren asks why his deposit is not readily available for his departure, and the guard continues to explain that he has no idea what V'Zaren is talking about. Fangslayer steps up to the new guard aggressively, changing his entire tone.

"Oh shit! Um... I'll probably need a deposit from you guys, for the assurance of the safety of our citizens... from that thing..."

"No," Faendal barks, "you will not receive a deposit. We are trying to leave and do not want any trouble. No deposit is necessary because we are attempting to walk out that door. In fact, it would be exceptionally helpful if we could retrieve our deposit from yesterday. So, where is Sam?"

The guard sheepishly points toward Sam's house, conveniently just across the road. Fangslayer turns and the entire group follows. Hawk beats loudly on Sam's door. Sam eventually answers, half asleep in what appears to be a hungover state. He asks what the group wants, ignoring their responses. Faendal prods Fangslayer forward a couple of steps. Sam's eyes open wide, and tells the party he'll be right back, slamming the door behind him. He reappears a couple of minutes later, morning caffeine in hand.

"So... what's up?"

Faendal steps forward again, and Sam backed away as though he had already forgotten Fangslayer was at his feet. "You owe us our safety deposit, sir. We gave you 60 silver on the condition that we don't cause any trouble. Now we're trying to leave, and you're giving us trouble. Return the deposit, Sam."

"Oh... oh, the deposit... well... about that... 50 silver might be all I have available."

Hawk and V'Zaren both tense up. Faendal shoots them a quick glance and continues, "that will be fine. Give me the 50 silver and we'll be on our way."

Sam reluctantly hands over the coin pouch. Faendal counts it, drops in 10 silver from his own stash, and tosses the pouch back to V'Zaren. The group turns and leaves, no longer acknowledging Sam, and heads directly out the gate before anyone realizes the real barkeep is missing.

END OF SESSION 002.

SESSION REWARDS:
1s worth of bone carving materials.
A new Job with a hinted lucrative reward.
Advice to come up with an awesome name for ourselves.
Successful avoidance of all combat instances in the entire session.

LEVEL UP: Party reaches level two.

1. The most awesome thing in the world happened at this point, and it was a shame that Faendal himself did not get to experience it. V'Zaren and Eij Hawksley were inside the church with Aldous (the Lieutenant) posted up outside. V'Zaren wanted to get the priest's initial attention, and then have Hawk create a distraction to draw away the priest and anyone else so that he could slip the gigantic silver-trimmed book off of the altar unnoticed. Because the two did not solidify this plan prior to going into the building, they were stuck awkwardly motioning to one another - to be fair, there was very little time and Faendal's attempt to draw the guard only lasted about 30 seconds total. As V'Zaren walks the edge of the chapel with the priest, Aldous sticks his head in the door and informs Hawksley that they're short on time as the guard are moving suspiciously, checking the buildings. In a panic, Hawksley rushes the altar, grabs the book, and runs back toward the door. The priest, a little ahead of him, shouts repeatedly for him to stop, and they reach the front door at the same time. Right as Hawksley opens the door, the priest screams for help. The two guards closest to the church roll a higher initiative than Paul (Hawksley's player) and are at the door inspecting the trouble before Hawk can even make a move. This forces him into an awkward emergency bluff situation - one which ends with us rolling in tears. His character screams out that he needed the book because "that monster riding the direwolf has my wife, and I need this book in exchange for her life!" in the most convincing manner he possibly can. (Keep in mind, Fangslayer is not actually a direwolf, and Eij Hawksley is aware of this.) The priest's turn comes next, and he pleads that the sacred text not be taken. V'Zaren stays out of the conversation, pretending not to be relevant and avoiding the attention. Two more of the guards arrive, and they are fully barricading the door at this point. Paul repeats the plea with even more gusto, and the guards believe Hawk, though one is scratching his head trying to figure out why Hawk looks so familiar. (Aside from us all recently being in that very same jail there in Kvatch, Eij Hawksley is a wanted man in two countries for reasons I'll leave unknown to you... probably because I also shouldn't know.) Well, I had gotten up and walked away from the table at that point because I needed a stretch and a trip to the throne room, and while I was gone, one of the guards recognized Hawk and that's what forced him out of the building, onto his horse, and out of the hole in the town wall in a flash. It was at that point that Faendal saw him running with guards chasing him, and stopped taking laps around the city.

2. Riverfall does not exist in the Oblivion era; however, as this takes place during Skyrim era, it is reasonable to assume that a new village may have sprouted up within the last ~200 years.