Obsidian & Blood Playtest 1 - 5/27/2023

Obsidian & Blood Playtest 1 - 5/27/2023

It is the trecena of Ocelotl on the day of Cipactli on the sacred calendar. On the 365 calendar, it is the 3rd day of the 13th month. On the European calendar, it is November 18th 1376 AD. The warring season is about to begin. Emperor Acamapichtli is in the second year of his reign from his throne in Tenochtitlan. The players in this session were Sevanwint and my brother Rytor (from the Guilded server).

Sevanwint is playing a jaguar warrior named Matlapaltic and Rytor is playing an eagle warrior named Tlalli. The characters found themselves meeting their patron and mentor, Tepalcoatl. He is old and well respected. As a mentor he wants to see these young warriors do well. Emperor Acamapichtli, is seeking relics of the Toltecs or any other ancient civilization as tools of propaganda for his imperial ambitions in the valley of Mexico. Tepalcoatl informs the players that Eagle Warriors scouting near Tolucan saw what they thought could be an old temple complex in the jungle off in the distance. The players, encouraged by their mentor and patron, decided to seek out this complex and search it for artifacts with which the emperor could use.

The party set out with the help of a Nahualli named Tziccoatl. The journey would take them west towads the jungles and forests of Tenochtitlan.

Halfway to the location, in an outcrop of rocks, the party was attacked by small diminutive ape men. Cursed men of the second sun of old. Two of these creatures attacked and melee ensued. The Jaguar warrior Matlapaltic was wounded along with the Nahualli sorcerer Tziccoatl. Tlalli really came through, slaying both creatures. After recovering some (the nahualli spent 4 hours praying to the gods for a healing spell), the party continued on a few more days.

They entered the forest and began to search out these supposed ruins. A pit was found. The rim of which was littered with bones. The smell from the pit emanated pure death. Matlapaltic felt he needed to prove himself. He had the other two lower him down into the pit with a rope. Once in the pit, he searched the bones and found an old statue that could fit in ones hand, carved of stone. Once disturbed, he immediatly saw a dozen or so humanoid shapes arise from the dark edges of the pit. He quickly had the others pull him up with the statue in hand. Looking down, they could barely make out the shapes of humanoid creatures shuffling around the edge of the pit.

The party decided to travel a bit more then camp. In the morning, they discovered fresh footprints near by heading north east of their location. The Tlalli was able to track these prints towards the temple they had been searching for.

They lit a torch and entered. The temple was overgrown and the jungle was clearly trying to recapture this place.

Within the first room, a large 10 foot statue of Toltec design could be found. They continued on into another room. Within they saw a stone door and a wooden gate like structure in another exit. They went through the wooden gate and were immediatly ambushed. Surprise was rolled and the player characters were ready. A battle ensuded between the player characters and two warriors from nearby Tolucan.

Tlalli's macuahuitl chipped (yes weapons can become damaged in Obsidian & Blood). But so did the weapon of his opponent. Matlapaltic and Tlalli killed their opposition. Had they tried for less lethal strikes, they could have captured the warriors and received triple status points (the games xp) for capturing slaves or sacrifice victims.

They continued to explore and pried open an area of the temple where a crown of hammered gold was found. Here was the artifact they were looking for. They backtracked to exit the temple without encountering anything else and made it back to Tenochtitlan without any random encounters.

Tepalcoatl praised them for the job well done. He told them the statue and especially the crown of hammered gold would be great artifacts for the emperor and we ended the session there. All in all this took 7 days of game time. We are trying 1:1 time but the next game is not until 2 weeks from now. All in all the game played well I think. Looking forward to testing more.

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