Well the second game was totally unexpected as we were supposed to be playing Simon's Campaign. Unfortunately he forgot our character sheets at home and we would have to wait over an hour for him to retrieve them. So what did I do? Suggest we play my Campaign! Mind you this was a week later and I had nothing prepared, just a rough idea in my head to finish up the second session of Jacob's Well.
Forge's player Bib wasn't present at the game, which was a pity because the dwarven Weaponsmith proved quite useful in battle.
After the last game where I introduced the Ork Scorchers hunting for the NPC orcs, I remembered hearing one of my players comment on what an Ork Chieftain and his bodyguards would be doing in the middle of no where during a blizzard. From that came the idea of them being Assassins on the run.
Mantious seemed to neglect the Ork Assassin's tale of treacheryy against their tribe by the Ork Scorchers and his reaction to their story was rather harsh. There was tension in the air between the Ork Assassin and the T'Skrang Swordmaster which almost snapped toward the end of the game (see Mantious' journal).
As the group prepared to be attacked, the Horror claimed its 6th victim, and Wulf, now played by David, was forced to battle his best friend, Guntra. The players made the mistake of leaving the unconscious Sky Raider alone and the Horror made its familiar exit from the body.
My players reference to the movie "The Thing" in session one became reality when at one point the players believed the NPC windling was behind all the deaths! (Not that I am saying he wasn't ). The Horror is still out there as of the end of session two, who will be it's next victim remains to be seen.
The remaining playing time was taken up by the battle with the Orc Scorchers (gee these Earthdawn battles take up a lot of time!).
I could not help putting a hole through Mantious' over inflated ego by robbing him of the victory over the Ork Swordmaster. It was a satisfying moment at the end of the game, for me anyway. When a player tells you that your NPC's are scum bags you know you've done a good job at creating a reoccurring foil for your players.
The next session will see them hopefully going to Kratas. Overall, for an unplanned session it didn't go to badly.
The Gamemaster - 25/05/00
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