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The Nature of Predators - Krev DND (1/3)
🕑 Added 2024-12-01 12:00:16 +0000 UTCCrawlers and Firefossils Cast List: Species and Class
Notes prior to the Session log to any humans new to the game: All classes generally fall within or between the five specialization schools, Magician, Orator, Outlaw, Naturalist, or Warrior. Some classes are only playable by certain races, with their unique stats, abilities, buffs, and debuffs. Notable examples are the Jaslip Torporwalker (a form of Spirit Magician), the Krev Cira (considered a busted class that blends Magician and Naturalism), the Smigli Earthshaker (an Outlaw class that harnesses underground power and stealth attacks), the Resket Charger (a Warrior class that has unparalleled movement on top of Reskets’ default movement buff), the Trombil Metalborn (a Warrior class that can absorb armor and refined metals into their person to upgrade base stats), and the new Human Swindler (an Orator concept that often walks the line of Outlaw. Humans have a default buff to persuasion checks against any Krev Characters).
Please note that humans are a new playable race that have not yet undergone proper balancing. Gress, as the Chronicler, exercised discretion on rolls to avoid disruptions to his planned campaign. All other characters are NPC characters created and controlled by the Chronicler.
Starring Taylor Trench…as Blessa, Krev Nutripetrologist — Naturalist
Starring Gress…as Juvrelor, Human Mythmaker — Orator
Starring Cherise Benson…as Toddel, Smigli Earthshaker — Outlaw
Starring Quana…as Lenelda, Jaslip Torporwalker — Magician
Mavai, the Resket warrior, had done what he could to free citizens from the firefossil attack on Kamta Village; it was the oath he had sworn as part of the Imperial Guard. The continent of Evrel had not seen a skeleton risen by the sun’s rays, breathing out its flames, in decades. The Slayers’ Guild had roamed the lands fighting the monsters, and dug out fields far and wide to discover which bones lay dormant. Firefossils were remnants of powerful magic from the dawn of creation, a kind of power not tapped by even the greatest mortal mages.
It took great heroism to face such an ancient foe and plunge a sword into their hearts. It was through determination that the Slayers Guild’ had whittled away the vast energy sustaining the firefossils, cutting through bones with sunsteel. The Emperor declared victory over the monsters, after years without witnessing a creature alive. Civilization flourished once more, as the innocuous younger generation began to question whether firefossils had ever existed! A foolish question, when their scorch marks still lined many ruins.
However, something had shifted when the sun darkened a fortnight ago. The bones that adorned the royal family’s gates were sucked away, as if by magic—flying off to somewhere unknown! The Emperor noticed the trophies vanishing, and could only learn the general direction they’d been magnetized to from witnesses. The ciras in the Void Woods spoke of a dark magic, according to cirahunter scouts who overheard their whispers; they said that there was no killing a firefossil, that the sun’s energy drained into the earth on a cyclical basis.
This was a serious matter that had the attention of powerful people. The Emperor didn’t know whether an ancient magic could raise the dead monsters or not, but the Slayers’ Guild had long since disbanded, with nothing left to fight. Mavai had been sent to Kamta, on the coast, to investigate any signs of a firefossil presence. The attack had been like nothing he’d ever seen, with the beasts flying far overheard. Projectiles passed between the bones, and fire buffeted down from the heavens.
The Oath of Life compelled him to save as many people as possible. This firefossil was continuing its rampage along the coastline, and by the time he reported back to the Emperor, half of the continent would be gone! It was a matter of weeks before the entire land was destroyed. Mavai had only managed to rescue these four individuals from Kamta, who he thought would be of little help taking down a firefossil. This was all he had to try with, so he had to hope they’d at least recover the equipment. They needed to find the nearest sunsteel vault first.
“Aw! Juvrelor! You’re so cute!” Blessa gushed, as the party traveled along the dirt road.
The human blushed, flattered and loving the Krev’s petting at camp. “Thank you. I’m glad that my squishiness is appreciated here. Are you…sure that this is the time for this? We’re almost to the sunsteel vault—”
“Of course it is! It’s always time to treat you like a little baby. Your lips are so pink and have skin on them; the wrinkles look so pettable! Maybe I can hold you hand while you walk, and tap on those hard little fingernails that are so tiny. What danger could there possibly be in a Slayers’ Guild abandoned vault?”
“Why would you say that aloud?” Mavai sighed with irritation, unable to fathom how these fools would be able to face down a firefossil. He’d have to do it alone, since he’d only strung them along by downplaying the danger. Perhaps he should cut them loose. “Have you no idea how sunsteel is made?”
“I can hear the spirits whisper. They’re strong in this place,” Lenelda said, able to harness her arcane perception. “There are magical tests and trials: their energy is strong, permeating through the very ground and air. The Slayers demanded that those who wielded their swords were worthy.”
“Clearly, more went into their initiations than you hear in Juvrelor’s stories of valor,” Toddel prodded.
The Resket sighed. “Yes. If we’re rebuilding the Slayer order starting with you four, it’ll have to be seen that you’re up to the task. From the stories I’ve heard, there are metal guardians built by Trombil crafters and Challenger Spirits by the forge. I, of course, am the only one here who could be worthy.”
Juvrelor attempted to persuade Mavai that he was worthy of joining the new order of Slayers, though that was an impossible task. “I am worthy to stare down the toughest foes. I can take a firefossil with my super cute fingers.”
“You could not take a blade of grass. It’s unfortunate that you’re all I have, though you were barely tough enough to make it out of Kamta. You’re not Slayer material, so stay behind me.”
Seeing Juvrelor’s failure, Blessa tried to persuade Mavai of the same thing. “Surely you see that I’d be a fantastic Slayer! I can eat rocks that make me…fireproof. Yeah, fireproof, man. I’ll eat anything.”
“That won’t work…ugh, why did you roll a…,” the Resket offered a discontented head shake, then forced himself to reset. “You know, I see something in you. The way you said it; you’re an excellent Nutripetrologist. I will help you become a Slayer, give you any sunsteel bullshit you need. The check was nineteen…ugh, I hate this.”
“It sounds like you don’t like the way I roll. Blessa is blessed! You have to believe in me.”
“Neat. Can I see if Mavai will find me worthy?” Lenelda asked.
The walkways to the vault complex began to erode away behind the posse, imploring them to move along. Any idle conversation could result in the posse’s fall into the abyss below, where hundreds of hungry creatures looked eager for scraps. Blessa flicked her claws, very eager to get moving since she’d gotten the approval she wanted. It was almost like she could hear a ticking timer, as if it was an hourglass that had been placed on a table and turned. The universe was sending them a sign.
“Let’s progress onward and remain vigilant for traps! We’ll have to rely on our perception,” Mavai encouraged, herding the group into the lobby of the Slayers’ base.
It was a rather unimpressive venue, crumbling and decrepit with a drafty airflow. The alabaster walls and statues were complemented by a few cracked sun mirrors, which likely once lit up the room. Ornate tiles with a firefossil crest on them had faded to be indiscernible, caked in dust and imperceptible without the natural lighting. There had always been natural tremors, but there seemed to be a great deal more ever since the darkening of the sun. It’d hastened this facility’s decline, and was perhaps a sign of the firefossils stirring. There might not be any sunsteel smelters left by next week.
“I’ll look around.” Lenelda shifted herself into torpor state, a way of breathing and putting herself in a mind trance that took remarkable discipline. She could step out herself a bit. “Toddel, maybe you should look underground. You can avoid stepping on anything and search for any hidden mechanisms.”
The Smigli was able to locate a passage of soft earth. “I’m on it. I’ll be the eyes and ears of the world down below.”
Blessa’s super-long tongue flitted out, ensuring she dripped saliva onto the nearby human’s shoulder to show affection. Awwww! “Why doesn’t Toddel just burrow underground the entire way to the sunsteel forge, grab us some swords, and bring them back? No guardians, no nothing.”
“Blessa, you’re a genius. You are the chosen one, my favorite, very female Krev!”
The entrance to the Slayers’ vault temple collapsed behind the posse, with rocks continuing to fall in a way that could easily strike a hapless person on the head. The entire room might come down, so it would be wise to go as deep into the facility as possible; adventurers would have to outrun the building’s implosion. With the Slayers’ organization long gone, there hadn’t been much upkeep around this place.
“It seems to me like we have no choice but to all push deeper inside, and to make it to the smelting chamber in our own ways,” Juvrelor noted helpfully.
Mavai squawked in agreement with the human’s statement. “Certainly. It would be dishonorable to allow Toddel to go alone. Since I know Blessa is worthy, surely she can handle the tests. Besides, it’ll be good to have multiple people for the forging of sunsteel. That’ll be as strenuous as any of the trials.”
“What do you know that you’re not telling us?” an unimpressed Lenelda asked, failing to be very persuasive.
“You will see if we get that far. There’s a reason no organization besides the Slayers has forged sunsteel. Even the Emperor feels it is…not worth the price, unless there are firefossils threatening our very existence! Civilization must continue.”
On that ominous note, the Resket warrior raised his torch and descended the dark stairway toward the first magical protections. He was well-versed in how to outfox magic, but it might not be so simple for the other party members to circumvent the dangers that rested inside. Wit and ingenuity would be necessary for the Kamta survivors to acquire the weapons that might give Evrel a fighting chance against the return of the firefossils.
A/N - A peek at the Crawlers and Firefossils campaign! I’ve never written fantasy so let me know if you think it’s my genre, how you like what Krev came up with and the characters that our KC quartet created. Is Gress a good DM? What do you think of their mythical fantasy creatures, and what story might be planned out for the sunsteel temple and beyond?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting!
Comments
Assailant
Quana and Cherise signed up for a fun little bit of stress relief, and instead got roped into watching Gress and Taylor flirt. Poor girls.
Space Paladin
I’m glad you enjoyed this! I just try to do things that are different, mix it up often…variety is the spice of life 😅
straw salmon
Im hooked already!!! How do you know your audience so well?!?! I just started getting into DND and now it just POPS up here too 😭 can you read minds?!?! (Peak story btw)
Roscuro
...Juvrelor...I've been very forgiving of Gress' weirdness. But I swear he's just as bad as furries. And Taylor is somehow getting revenge by being just as bad in the opposite direction while also egging him on. How I'd love to hear Cherise and Quana's commentary on their nonsense.
Harlej
That's something that I didn't knew I wanted until now
Gumcel
The intro notes were written for "any humans new to the game" and if they were written by Gress, then it implies that Quana is familiar with the game. Buncha goddamn nerds man.
EliasArt2Life
“Now all you need is an entire chapter of the characters arguing about the rules. (jk don't do that) XD” I’d happily read that and then throw my own hat into the ring.
EliasArt2Life
Well, this is interesting! @Space Paladin I think you’re doing a fine job with writing fantasy here. You also made a wise decision in patenting the game off of the older role playing games, rather than the newer ones; newer ones are more focused on giving players the ability to play their way, and removes many of the restrictions on classes and races. It’s good for an RPG, but bad for a narrative fantasy story. In a way, fantasy and sci-fi are almost the same thing, just in a different setting; an investigation into what humanity is, made by placing humanity (or human stand ins) into a world full of different and unknown species. Your biggest challenge here is that this setting should, theoretically, be about asking what the Krev are, but since it’s a also a sci-fi story (albeit indirectly), it also has to simultaneously answer “what is humanity”. Theoretically. But this ALSO has to be an actual RPG campaign, which doesn’t always follow literary rules. A hefty challenge, and VERY interesting. Can’t wait to see what else you have in store! Based on the descriptions, it seems like this game is more recent for the Krev. It seems strange that the setting has all of the KC races, but didn’t mention playable races taken from Krev fantasy. The only thing mentioned was the Fossil Fires. I suspect that this game is based off of a game made by the Smigli, and that’s why it has so many alien races, but fewer fantasy ones. I’d like to get more of a look into Krev fantasy races, but this lets us know a bit more about how the Krev see the other species in the Consortium, so that’s nice too. Gress getting frustrated that Taylor asked to roll for something he wasn’t supposed to roll for AND succeeded on that roll? Check. Gress caves in the tunnel conveniently after Taylor suggested a plan that would have skipped all of the dungeon? Check. It looks like I was right about the Krev not being prepared for human shenanigans. Here’s hoping that Taylor doesn’t skip a boss in a single turn. Or cut out the whole second phase (like I once did). Though, Cherise may be the one Gress REALLY has to look out for; Taylor’s the type to try to mess with the GM constantly, Cherise may be the kind to play along, until she find the one thing she can do to end a whole plot line at the start (i.e. giving the hag a cupcake. If you know, you know.)
DDDragoni
Gress named his DMPC *Juvrelor,* that is awful and I love it. I don't think I've seen this particular method of writing a dnd-style campaign before- firmly from an in-universe perspective, yet clearly able to see the players making rolls and teasing each other through their characters. I like it, very fun!
REDemon14
The moment I saw who was playing what, I knew these goofs were gonna be all antics XD A Resket NPC acting as a guide by the DM sounds like a good amount of the DnD's I've played. A good balance to the lunacy of the players. Gress and Taylor reversing species just opens the possibility of *so many* shenanigans! Very interesting for Quana to pick a magical Jaslip. Given the way she talked about ghosts in the sivkit bunker, she seems to be the type of player that wants to play as an ideal version of herself. Cherise just went "What sounds interesting" and chose to be a giant illegal worm. Story premise (in the CnF world and NoP) sounds quite interesting. A bunch of mythical beats long thought dead suddenly come back to life and start ribbing amuck and the only people who could slay them have been disbanded so you must rebuild...and all you have are these gaggle of idiots XD. I wonder what the CnF lore for humans suddenly appearing is. Iirc, pathfinder does actually have aliens from other realms, so maybe that? The little comments outside of the game (Not sure if it would truly be considered "fourth wall breaking" since *we* aren't being addressed) are so *real*. Many of those who played DnD know these moments. Now all you need is an entire chapter of the characters arguing about the rules. (jk don't do that) XD Looking forward to the antics of these dufuses! You're fantasy is looking pretty good so far!
un_pogaz
The interactions between Blessa and Juvrelor are Taylor's holy revenge on Gress. But I'm willing to bet that Gress finds attitude all gouffy. *5min later, Gress lost all his ontenance in his role* Urgh, me and my mouth. I think it's hard to judge your fantasy writing in general because it's a retranscription of a DnD party, which is very specific and different (all the additional players actions).
DreamEnvoy
"Mavai had been sent Kamta, on the coast," I think that's a typo. Should be "sent to Kamta"? That aside, for your first fantasy story this is a fun read. I like the little 4th wall-breaking roll reaction and that bit of railroading at the end.
John Benjamin Cate
Love the shenanigans. The players finding an easy bypass that the dm has to scramble to justify a reason it isn’t used is brilliant
Alicja
lol Taylor making fun fun of gress’s cute instincts
Lanker
Interesting that Gress is both controlling a PC and GMing, though I presume that Juvrelor is not going to live for long considering his choice of dialogue.
Swan
I love the slight 4th wall breaking, and how Gress's style of DMing seems to be "Fuck around and find out" (Have Mavai abandon Blessa due to the previous BS check) Looking forward to more of this (hope we get some certified DND moment's of someone rolling like 10 nat 20's or 1's in a row at some point)
Soldier Lsnake
Looks really like a dnd campaign
Mutedmirth
As someone who plays in several ttrps I love the dip to meta gaming comments and trying to stay in character with the GM hints such as rocks fall you all need to continue *together.*
mitsos_pr
Also, a lot of love from me as well SP:) Take care ❤️
pogman
Hello, Peak just dropped
mitsos_pr
First
