GURPS Rhûle – Part 1

System Resources: GURPS third edition, revised.

Oracle Resources: Mythic Games Master Emulator second edition.

Generative Resources: Gamemaster’s Apprentice cards.

The sole survivor of Bardan Zoll’s treachery, Drake fled the city of Tak-Genan and crossed the Saren Sea, travelling west into Arcadia and north across the Thuban Steppe. Coin and comfort were scarce, only enjoyed after undertaking hasty, no questions asked work usually requiring a sharp sword and a strong arm. The warrior spent months on the road, moving from place to place to evade his dogged pursuers, assassins both supernatural and mundane. But Zoll’s agents were never far behind, and Drake kept pushing on, desperate to outpace their reach.

As winter’s dying breath gave voice to approaching spring, Drake reached Sagros, the gateway to Golgithir. He entered the city as surreptitiously as possible [Disguise Roll] and immediately sought out a quiet place to stay available on his meagre budget [Streetwise Roll]. After paying for a room and stabling at the Glasterhaus Inn, he washed away the dirt of travel in the bathhouse and ate a hearty meal before retiring for the night to sleep away his exhaustion [Nightmares Roll].

[Worldbuilding Note: I am discovering this world as I play, rolling on random tables and dipping into five or six half-finished homebrew settings for material. One of those settings was a Drenai inspired world. I’ve always found the tantalising hints of a wider multiverse David Gemmell scattered across his novels absolutely fascinating, and my homebrew was set in one of those possible parallel universes. Golgithir was a vague analogue of Gothir, now adapted and changed even further to fit the world of Rhûle.]

In the morning the warrior began to explore Sagros in search of work, losing himself in the thronging crowds that flowed past the city’s green tiled, lime washed buildings. Wishing to lay low and having no contacts in this unfamiliar territory, he relied on announcement boards and market criers [Oracle and Context Roll] for information.

[Worldbuilding Note: Golgithir is no longer the power it once was. A loose confederation of city states held together by a patchwork of treaties and pre-republic traditions, Githiran settlements work together more out of fear of Vossite invasion and a united cultural identity than from any singular political will. There are many, however, who dream of the day Golgithir is once again united as a formidable empire.]

Finding almost no jobs available except for unskilled labour postings, Drake is informed by a passer-by [Reaction Roll] that he will find no mercenary work here. The Guild Council has run Sagros for nearly three years and has enacted laws requiring all artisan and skilled labour to be tendered to the relevant guild authority. If he’s looking for sword work, he should either join the Combatants’ Guild or petition them to work as an independent at a vastly reduced rate.

Nearly all out of coin and low on supplies, Drake was not sure he could make the journey to the nearest market town, and there was no guarantee it would be free from council law. Toying with the idea of trying his luck in some of the outlying villages and farmsteads, Drake eventually decided it would be best to see if there is any work here in the city, even for pittance. Obtaining directions from a market trader, the warrior headed to the Combatants’ Guild Hall.

A large set of unadorned buildings greeted him upon arrival. A timber framed, wattle and daub structure opened out onto the main thoroughfare, with numerous smaller buildings in a walled compound to the rear. Inside, Drake was greeted by a guild representative, a middle-aged woman introducing herself as Myrelle [Reaction/Reputation Roll + Fast Talk Roll].

[Oracle and Context Roll] Myrelle, initially curt but eventually softening after she recognised his name, offered him two jobs, sadly both with fees capped at 50% by law. The first was to join a team of warriors investigating attacks upon farmsteads near the border of the Galen Wood, whilst the second was a flat rate bounty on a caravan guard wanted for the murder of his paymaster.

Wishing to work alone, the warrior gathered as much information as he could from Myrelle about the caravan guard and left the Combatants’ Guild Hall to buy supplies with the last of his coin.