Everway: Dark Thorny Gate

This was Kat's other Everway game, fantasy, rather than sf. She's been pushing the borders of what the game does. This time, each PC was the champion of his / her / its people, sent because of a prophecy of an upcoming event. Each of us chose the prophecy for our PC. It could be different in all cases, the event being seen as either good or bad. All of us were from the same sphere, though we could be from different realms in that sphere, and, as far as I know, none of us knew about gates between spheres.

The sphere all the PCs came from was created collaboratively by the players. We didn't actually go in for anything that exotic -- forests, some mountains, cities somewhere. Well, there were the rings around the planet -- or perhaps around the sun. The characters were:

City Rat (Justin) -- mage who could shapechange to a cat

Warmth (Josh) -- dragon who could shapechange to a woman, created by a mage

Greenie (Kacy) -- pixie who could shapechange to a large woman

Maufrey (me) -- ogre with a low self esteem

Forest Hidden (Clint) -- hermit in the forest

Our prophecies were a bit of a mixed bunch. While I gather Kat's other group made a Big Adventure out of getting to the spot of the event, our group didn't.

Now, exactly what happens will be different each time, based on the various prophecies. I suspect it will have to do with a gate opening each time. This one opened in a rather odd way -- two beings came out of it, back to back. They didn't see each other. Half of the group saw one of them, while the other half saw the other.

Maufrey and Greenie saw Scales, a fierce looking fellow looking for a Harvester. Greenie was there because she was told that she could find a sword to protect her people against such creatures. Scales was carrying the sword.

City Rat, Warmth, and Forest Hidden saw the Harvester, a creature with multiple limbs attached to it from various types of beings. It tried to add to its collection with parts from Warmth, who was in human form at the time.

Warmth: Can you fly?

Harvester: Not yet.

Warmth: Good. (changes to dragon shape)

Harvester (delighted, but concerned): Careful of the trees! Don't bruise your wings!

Warmth evaded the Harvester while Forest Hidden and City Rat attacked it. Hearing the noise, Scales joined the fray. The Harvester was killed. Greenie tried to claim Scales' sword.

Meanwhile, two more people had come through the gate, also back to back. One was a scholar who was very suspicious of Warmth, as all the dragons he knew of were evil. The other was a woman who withered the land where she walked, to Forest Hidden's horror.

Scales found that his sword was unwilling to go back into its sheath. He cut himself badly trying to force the issue. The woman who withered the grass healed him, but as she did so, a nearby sapling died. Greenie took the sword, which clearly wanted to be with her. Scales went back through the gate.

Forest Hidden wanted the woman to go back where she came from. She wanted to explore first, for a week or so. She seemed friendly, so Maufrey tried to find a compromise. Could she wear shoes? Only if they were living shoes. She was quite aware of the effect she was having on the land, but so what? The green stuff was replaceable. It would regrow, eventually.

Maufrey picked her up and carried her to the gate, despite growing weaker as he went. Forest Hidden, fearing this would kill Maufrey, tried to stop him, but the ogre hardly noticed. The woman protested that she couldn't go through another gate that day. This brought Maufrey up short, but when he understood that this was more a case of custom and just not wanting to than of it actually being a dangerous thing to do, he tossed the woman through, apologizing, and then passing out.

Meanwhile, a woman and two more Harvesters came out through the gate. Armed with the sword, Greenie made short work of them. Warmth, having convinced the scholar she might not be evil, learned that the woman who had just arrived was under a curse.

Warmth: What is the nature of this curse?

Woman: It's a personal matter.

Eventually, Warmth and the scholar figured out that the woman was originally a man. He had somehow been cursed to be a woman.

Woman: I said it's a personal matter!

Warmth, the scholar, and the woman agreed to go to the cities to find a mage to lift the curse and to find Warmth's creator so the scholar could talk with him.

And so the game drew to a close. Greenie had saved her people from the Harvesters with the one blade that could cut off their limbs without allowing those limbs to take on a life of their own. Warmth had new companions, although the scholar was disappointed that the strange gate vanished the next day, for he had hoped to study it.

This was a very odd gate, and it only opened once every 9 years. So, it was a very good thing that the woman who withered growing things had been thrown back through the gate.

The adventure did not cohere as strongly as last year's City of a Thousand Moons, but it was fun. I'm curious about Kat's constants in the scenario.

The voting was done the same way as for Infinity Powder and Weekend at Bernius'. 2 votes each, no voting for oneself. To my surprise, I tied with Clint. I'd voted for him and Kacy. I guessed that he and everyone else had voted for me. I asked Josh after we left how he'd voted, as we usually don't vote for each other. Nor, in fact, had he this time; like me, he'd voted for Clint and Kacy. So, I got, at most, 3 votes. This means someone other than Clint did not vote for Clint, which surprised me.

Neither Clint nor I voted in the tie breaker round, but, with 3 people, a tie was unlikely. To my delight, Clint won. It was his first time playing. He got not only the trophy, but also all of our extra art cards, and much encouragement to start up Everway games in his area. Kat thanked us all for reminding her why she loved the game.