sakura-rose

[sakura-rose]

The Queen

22/05/12

Our second session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tVFhjiLl9k&t=202s (Battle in DnD 5e can drag out quite long. This session begins with battle and can be a bit of a slog... so I wrote up a play by play on how the battle panned out. While not the best writing, reading it allows you to skip the first hour of the stream and not be lost.) Opening Battle: The session opens with the battle against the Unknown Bear creature. Sora is the first to react, moving from the back of the room, up to the front, giving Amrut a hand up onto his feet while teasing him “It’s not the time to sleep”. Phoenix quickly tosses a gadget that rolls into the creature’s chamber and releases a puddle of grease under its feet causing it to fall, limbs splayed out in all directions. Lewis runs up between Judith and Amrut, grabs the vase with the essence in it, closes the doors to the chamber, and urges everyone to retreat. The opposing team disappears into the darkness of the hall on the right, as the unknown creature lunges towards the now closed doors, managing to knock Amrut, who was on the other side, back down onto his butt. Judith, managing to stay on her feet, dives into the water on the right and makes it into the hall. As she climbs on to the stairs, she writes with her quill, healing Amrut who is right behind her. She then turns, looks at the door and waits for them to fling open, readying the spell photographia for her best shot yet. As Amrut makes his way out of the water and onto the stairs, he looks back at Barnabal, (the idiot from the other team that died last session) and in a low grumbly voice commands him to “Rise”. Phoenix sees the dead body of Barnable which laid on the ground next to her rise and walk to the door that temporarily holds the unknown mouther at bay. Phoenix utilizes another grease ball, leaving a puddle just outside the doors for when the creature breaks through before she and Jenkins jump into the water. The bear shaped creature breaks open the doors, smashing Barnable against the far wall. In that brief moment of Barnable’s flight, Judith’s photographia spell goes off, catching a snapshot which includes Amrut’s horn, Phoenix and Jenkins swimming towards her and a menacing bear behind crashing doors. The bear barrels through, unaware of the grease waiting for it, slides past the targets in the water, as its feet come out from under it, it takes a wild swing at Phoenix with its massive claws, barely missing her and falling prone once again. Sora, unable to leave Phoenix behind, back tracks to her friend and gives her a helping hand out of the water and onto the stairs, looking forward to the “Master Sweet” they were promised. Sora temporarily letting off glittering gold sparks, runs with the speed of the wind down into the darkened hall. Phoenix, Jenkins and Lewis rush after her. The crew soon finds themselves at the edge of a crumbling bridge. Cracked and shattered in places, it looks as if it’s about to collapse into the water beneath. Tasha, the leader of the opposing team, lets everyone know the water below is bitterly cold. She dashes across, as Gambit (the artificer of the other team) decides to jump into the water, afraid his weight would bring the bridge crashing down. He takes severe damage doing so, but manages to come up on the other side. Quill declaring how light he is, dashes across the bridge, taking a nice hard jump right in the middle, and causes twenty square feet of the bridge to crumble into the water below as he makes it to the other side.  A roar can be heard in the hall behind the group, the unknown creature’s charging footsteps are not far behind. Judith runs onto the bridge, but turns back, looking behind her, she sees the creature coming, a mere 20feet or so behind Phoenix, she pulls out her quill and writes “It chased them through the tunnel, but it got distracted by a boiling pit of honey.” (Casting phantasmic force & unsettling words.) Amrut begins to run across the bridge, making it half way, he is suddenly surrounded by water (a skill of his) disappearing and reappearing further down the hall. Sora, easily long jumps over the portion of collapsed bridge Quill had destroyed. She lands with a roll and thanks Quill for the chance to “practice her hops”. Quill responds with “We’re a team after all!” which elicits a “fuck you” from Amrut. Phoenix and Jenkins dash across the bridge, unfortunately as they pass Judith, the bridge crumbles behind them, and out from under Judith. She falls, taking damage from the rubble, she screams out and surrounded by a bright light, her light rune activated and relocates her to the edge of bridge, right beside Phoenix and Sora. Lewis, now the only one on the same side as the monster, holds the vase tight and attempts to jump across the 20ft span in the crumbled bridge. As he pushes off into the jump, more bridge crumbles behind him, he just lands on the other side, and looking around, checks to make sure everyone made it alright. The opposing team continues to run ahead, and around a corner. Judith looks back at the creature chasing them, it has been duped by her illusionary honey pit, it looks as if it’s crawling through honey, it is trying to swim through a substance that’s not there. It makes its way to the edge of the bridge, but the bridge collapses beneath it, landing into the water below. As he eyes the party, an enchantment of some sort is activated, a bright light engulfs the room and sends it back, it is not allowed on a floor that is not its own. (Chase scene comes to an end… time stamp: 58:40)

[sakura-rose]

The Trial Begins

22/05/09

Our first streamed session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZT14Ky1U_E&t=2173s

[sakura-rose]

Destiny is bullshit

22/04/27 **Some months later.** With the ball of her foot planted firmly in the stirrup, she pulled the string back with both hands until it was cocked into place. With one swift motion she slid a bolt into position, heisted the crossbow up, and took her aim. She exhaled and pulled the trigger. The bolt flew through the air thanck hitting the poor tankard that never stood a chance.

“You’ve been at this for hours, I don’t think the dishware can take much more.” came a steady male voice from behind her.

“I need to make it faster…” she eyed the mechanism, desperate for a breakthrough.

“What’s the hurry? I don’t think the mugs are going anywhere.” Pascal teased. She gave him *that* look. “Is this still about that day?” He sat on the ground.

“C’mon ‘Nix… the paper said you were a brave champion, you got one up on Vid. Why are you obsessed with this?”

She placed her weapon down, leaning it against a post. “You weren’t there Paz. That creature, it didn’t even have to look at me, and I was on the ground like… like a beggar. The pain in my gut, it was unreal.” She looked him in the eye, her voice low with agitation “And I missed eighty percent of the shots that I took. That’s not acceptable.”

“‘Nix,” he was aiming to console her, but she wouldn’t let him go there.

“Not for me it’s not.” she crossed her arms. “It’s not acceptable for me.”

He sighed, knowing his little cousin’s stubbornness was two sizes too big for her, he wouldn’t push it. “I dunno, maybe you can figure a way to automate part of it?”

With her hands on her hips, she began rattling off… “The loading just takes too long… drawing it back, the archers’ are quicker… I wonder…” 

“Eh… it was a dumb idea, don’t listen to me.

”Phoenix was still staring at her equipment, “Nonsense. You taught me how to shoot, and some of the best things are born out of dumb ideas.”

“Yeah… you’re right. You know what you should do? Maybe you should go to where there’s an abundance of ‘dumb ideas’.” He was scheming now. “You know, like an academy.”

“Pfft… whatever… that ship has sailed, they didn’t want me, I don’t want them.”

“But there is one that invited you.”

She spun around on her heels. “You mean the Fairlands Academy? Are you crazy?”

His hands went up as to slow her down. “Just hear me out ‘Nix… c’mon!”

“Don’t make me regret telling you about that.”, her finger pointing at him threateningly.

“Don’t make me regret teaching you how to shoot!” he fired back.

She picked up the unloaded weapon and aimed it at him.

“I’m just saying, you have a chance to get out of here!” his voice softened “We all know you’re destined for something great.”

“Destiny is bullshit.”

“What’s bullshit is that you’re sticking around here, using mom as an excuse to let opportunity pass you by.”

“She’ll worry herself sick.” She lowered the weapon.

“So what? She’s got the three of us to take care of her. Besides, this isn’t about her, it’s about you.”

“How so?”

“You’re scared.”

“I ain’t scared of shit.”

“Yes you are, you’re scared of being great. You’re scared of your own potential. You’re scared of the very thing you chase after. Perfection.”

“You’re full of crap.”

“Maybe I am. But I know you, I hear you up at all hours working on that automaton of yours. I’ve seen that map you keep under your mattress.” she looked at him, brows furrowed, “I don’t know what you’re tracking, but you’ve got locations all over Elda Aerth circled like some sort of detective.” There was a brief moment of silence. “This is your chance ‘Nix. Get out of here, go see the world, have an adventure. For me.”

She looked over his head at nothing in particular. “What if they come true Paz? What if my going to the academy makes them come true?”

“Then you’ll do what you always do. You’ll rise to the occasion and you’ll figure it out.”

[sakura-rose]

Payment

22-04-25

Tucking her reward money into a safe place, Phoenix turns left out of the treasury building of Ikarus. She makes her way through the crowded streets; a bundle of fancy clothes in one arm, and her other hand shoved into her pocket. What a wild day, her inner monologue kicks off, keeping her company as she weaves past her fellow denizens. O’zar was kinda cool… I mean, for the muscle-y type. She looks both ways and dashes across the street in between wagons. Her lips turn up in an amused smile while her head subtly moves from side to side That Sora chic… she shrugs, at least she’s happy in her naivety. Still, I kinda like, how did she say it… “Elenon?”. It’s elegant. She turns down a smaller side street, I’ll have to snag a copy of ‘Between the Flames’. Imagine Viddie’s face if I got my name in the paper!

Her thoughts then turn down an equally grimey thoroughfare as the alley she now moves through. The old man’s skills are slipping. She shakes her head as to dislodge the seeds of that weed, preventing them from taking root. Instead she thinks of the moment she doubled over in pain right as that… that mouther appeared. She had read about such things, but to experience it was an entirely different matter altogether.

Now, closing a gate behind her, she was greeted by a scraggly mutt whose nose was level with hers. She smiled at him and briefly scratched behind his ear before moving towards the house. “Hey loser!” she called out to the slouched figure filling a folding chair. The man flipped her off with his right hand as he took a swig of the bottle in his left. 

As she opened the door to the house, she was hit first by glorious smells, then secondly by her Auntie’s hectic voice. “There you are!” the plump lady called over her shoulder, unable to leave the roux she was stirring. “I’ve been worried sick about you!”

Phoenix smiled, “I can smell that.”

Cindra took a step to the left to continue her chopping. “You didn’t get caught in that awful rain did you? That stuff wasn’t right, took some paint off the side of the house it did.”

“Good,” Phoenix responded as she placed the bundle of clothes up on the table, “It needs to be stripped anyway if we’re gonna repaint it.”

Cindra’s shoulder’s fell, “Well, I’d like the stripping to wait until I can afford it.” The woman’s arms froze as her peculiar choice of words fell upon her own ears. Both women soon snickered in response, their little secret.

Phoenix removed a small pouch of gold she had buried deep down and placed it on the counter by the onion her aunt was about to grab. “What’s this? The older lady asked.”

“Let’s call it ‘stripping’ money.” While Phoenix found it funny, Cindra did not.

“What did you do….?” the woman’s question hung in the air as she looked at the smarty pants before her. 

Phoenix now at the kitchen table was climbing atop an elevated seat as she answered. “Don’t worry. Nothing too disreputable.” Cindra’s brows raised. “I won an eating contest okay? I figured since you’ve been training me for years for just such an occasion, I’d pass my winnings on… I mean,” she smiled sweetly at her aunt, almost teasingly, “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Cindra audibly exhaled, and her posture relaxed as she went back to her chopping. “That’s very sweet of you honey, but I can’t take your money.”

Phoenix sneakily placed her feet up on the table, still in their magnificent boots, “I had a feeling you’d say that, so what if we say it’s a payment?”

“Payment for what?” Cindra slid the vegetables into a hot pan.

“I have some fancy clothes I need altered… let’s just say, I think they’re going to be a pain to take apart.”

[sakura-rose]

Phoenix’s amazing artwork was done by @panyanabrd.

[sakura-rose]

Introductions

Hello there! Welcome to Memoir of a Phoenix. This is where I will document and share the experiences of my DnD Character, a gnome battle smith artificer named Phoenix. In a nutshell Phoenix is a rebellious punk, is super smart, loves pockets, and hates sleeves. She’s really into history & arcana, always has a book with her, and is slightly addicted to bubble gum. Our games will be streamed on most Sundays on twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/falconforgefantasy . They’ll then be archived on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBEFcZZvHsz29M0IYHfC42Q. I’ll post link to each of those episodes as they happen, so that her entire experience is chronicled here.