The Griffin Hunt, or Birds of a Feather
GM: Erik Hanson
Players this session:
Beth Bartley: Liliana Scarpelli: 15 year old Genoese noble seeking to marry into the Sforza family of Florence.
Joshua Kronengold: Ipolitto Sforza, a 12 year old noble
Lisa Padol: Roggerio, a musician and ex-diabolist with an unwanted, but not entirely undeserved, reputation for intrigue, in Ipolitto's service
Matt Stevens: Rafael Marancini, Jewish Cabalist and advisor to Ipolitto.
Absent players: Lee Painton, playing Vincent di Giovanni, Venitian nobleman; David Siegel, playing Jebril, displaced Moorish architect; and Rachael Tang, playing Bella Ziani, midwife
Prominent NPCs:
Sebastiano Sforza: Ipolitto's uncle, head of the family, Duke of Florence. Previously, his heir was the oldest of his 3 nephews, Ipolitto's brother Horatio.
Ilya Ilyanovitch: Russian hero in the service of the Sforza
Lorenzo: Sebastiano's son. His existance was concealed even from his own family by the Church. Physically identical to Ipolitto.
Sebastiano Sforza had been informed that the son he thought had died at birth had actually been taken by the Church and was in a monastery in Spain, or, we figured, Aragon. Ipolitto, Liliana, Roggerio, Rafael, Jebril, and Ilya went to meet him.
Sebastiano's son, called Lorenzo, proved to be raised as befit his station. He also proved physically identical to Ipolitto. An excellent hunter, with what seemed to be a magical rapport with animals, he insisted on helping the Sforza party pluck feathers from living griffins.
If Lorenzo had a reason for helping, apart from the challenge, he did not volunteer it. The others needed the feathers as one of the ingredients to counteract an alchemical wine created by the Dorvinian family. Once one has taken a sip, she will die if she does not have more at least once every few days. The Sforzas had not been addicted, but most of the nobility and high church officials in Florence had been, to say nothing of nobles and clergy addicted to different vintages in other Italian cities.
The safest way to pluck the feathers -- for they must be pulled directly from live griffins, not gathered from the ground -- was to wait until a pair of griffins first mated, then slept. The group knew where and when to expect a griffin mating. They arrived and hid themselves, except for Ilya, who was neither small nor stealthy. He waited in a nearby grove with the horses.
The griffins arrived on schedule. There were 2 amusing complications. First, Erik rolled a botch for the male griffin. He decided that meant the male bumped his head in a bout of enthusiasm, but was still able to continue. Second, Erik announced that Roggerio discovered that he was allergic to griffin feathers. Roggerio quickly covered his face with part of his cloak.
Eventually, mating done, the griffins went to sleep. As planned, Liliana and Lorenzo each chose a griffin and began plucking feathers. All seemed well until the arrows started flying.
Liliana's griffin, the male, was hit and flew into the air. She held on, trying to fight her terror of heights. Lorenzo kicked his griffin to wake her, and used his rapport with animals to get her to rise. While a griffin is no mere horse or falcon, convincing her to get away from the arrows was not difficult.
Convincing her to attack the archers proved more of a challenge. There were 5 archers, 4 firing in pairs every other round, 1 good enough to fire each round. Lorenzo finally coaxed the griffin to swoop down and grab one, while Ipolitto ran towards the archers on foot.
Liliana's griffin was hit by more arrows, all tipped with poison. He began to lose altitude. Rafael prayed for God's aid, while Roggerio played his magical lute to give the griffin strength to land safely. He reached the ground alive, and Liliana was helped off, much shaken. Once it was clear that Liliana was uninjured, Rafael tried to heal the worst of the griffin's injuries.
By now, Ilya, hearing the commotion, arrived with the horses. Roggerio mounted one and rode with Ilya after Ipolitto.
The impulsive young noble had already reached the grove where the four remaining archers hid. He tried to overawe them, pointing his crossbow at them and commanding them to lower their weapons. Alas, his ignorance of Spanish undercut his noble pose. Two of the men drew swords, while their leader, a scarred man with an eyepatch, leveled his bow at Ipolitto.
Ipolitto dropped to the ground, firing his own bow, but was wounded. Then, Lorenzo had his griffin make another pass, dropping the man she'd grabbed onto one of the remaining archers, while Roggerio flung himself off his horse onto another. Ilya flung himself into the fray as well, and I believe Ipolitto attacked as well. The one-eyed leader made a hasty retreat.
Ipolitto (as the dust settles): I want them alive! (Ilya shrugs apologetically, having left only a corpse, as did Lorenzo before his griffin soared off. Roggerio's captive still breaths, so the young Sforza corrects himself) I want him alive!
The captive was bound and searched. On his person was a small bottle of Dorvinian wine, the addictive kind.
Rafael tended to the male griffin until it went to sleep, whereupon Roggerio, in a belated fit of enthusiasm, plucked a feather. Rafael scolded him for picking on the poor griffin further. Items of Lorenzo's clothing, which he'd loaned to Ipolitto, were used in a spell to locate the direction in which the griffin flew with him. By the time this was done and people checked on the prisoner, he was dead, almost certainly slain by the one-eyed man. I believe he took the flask of Dorvinian wine as well.
Folks went after Lorenzo, eventually finding him, speechless with awe and fatigue, but otherwise unharmed. He indicated that the female griffin was likewise well. Everyone returned to the monastery.
Griffin feathers were dispatched to the Sforza household in Florence via several couriers, and Erik agreed that sufficient precautions had been taken that at least some of the feathers would get through. The group kept some themselves, just in case. They bid farewell to Lorenzo and headed off to collect the next ingredient. This was moonlight, which needed to be harvested in a fairy mound in the Pyrenees. Interestingly, a one eyed bandit had been spotted heading towards the Pyrenees.
