Today’s exercise was about editing at the sentence level. Each student contributed an element of the scene and we wrote and edited sentences with the goal of making the Action of the scene really pop: with short, declarative sentences.
In a campaign with 14 players, just rolling initiative can be a laborious process if the players want to make it one. These guys had a rough start this year, but have really come to be champs, managing three to five turns depending on how engaged they are during the topical and workshop time, which has also been really nice. I always love workshop time, and working with elementary age writers is a both a joy an a great responsibility. At this point in the year a lot of kids who were there just to play in the first place have had enough of me pushing them to turn in art and writing, so this kind of exercise helps to exercise those creative muscles before we get going. It always pays off in the focus department.
Dr. Bear takes hold of the rift with her bare hands, grasping an the shredding threads of reality to hold the broken fragments together long enough for the students to force the Hydra beasts into it. As she begins to heave, the grasslands begin to shrink, twisted away from the rift by brute force.
The upper right hand corner holds the grassy plains outside Valencia, where minotaurs and hydresques rush to escape the collapsing landscape as Dr. Bear twists the world back into place from the Rift.
Our heroes broke into teams to face Goblin King, to negotiate with the alliance nobility, the frost giants, and the minotaurs, before Dr. Bear is overwhelmed the world collapses in around them. Two players managed to make their way past the scattered courtiers and guards left behind as their ‘noble’ hosts teleport away. At the back of the tent they found it was easy to climb into the cage with the statue-gate, but that the inside was another place entirely. An eternity of swirling orange light and Deamon Chord (from the Wednesday game) waiting for them. “You’ve come here earlier than your class was meant to.” I told them, layering metagame over the dialogue. “Impressive. Persistent. What would you have of me?”
You’ll have to wait for next week to find out how they respond.
In the abandoned tent of the nobles, the recently rescued civilians (in solid blue and gray) are shocked when their savior vanishes into the cage at the back of the tent. Goblin Prince smirked knowingly at the strangers, while offering them a seat and perhaps a nip of wine for their nerves…
While the Huge Hydresque fails on it’s back, a rogue and a bard fight the beast from inside it’s belly. It’s gut is lined with thousands of tiny versions of it’s own head, which spit acid at our heroes as they try to cut their way free.
Enemies of the goblin court pouring from all sides, while their mechanoman siege armors wrestle with minotaurs and the hydresque. The queen has so far, slept through the whole affair. Seriously. The players who made friends with her before have almost convinced her minions not to kill them.
In the shard of tundra where this whole mess began, Bjoldgud Cynfldoon is being ritually deposed. Two of our heroes work to distract the giants and help them see that maybe it’s kingship itself that’s the crux of breaking this terrible curse..
