Skycrawl Dungeon World - Session 1

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Dramatis Personae

Player Characters

• "Hire" – a gruff, serious ranger-for-hire who wonders if he might be the only one actually paid to be here
• Van Krinkel – a near-sighted deep gnome thief who inexplicably found himself aboard The Ikaruss after a night of drinking, and has no memory of coming aboard
• Taiyo – a forest nymph bard, who was implored by the voice of the forest to seek a replacement sun and save the world, and thus joined this mission

Non-Player Characters

• Princess Claire – the wise and noble ruler
• Vandroth, the Good Warlock – whose magic created the miraculous flying ship "The Ikaruss," imprisoned the demon Tetrax, and who cast Thamberlon’s spell to open a portal
• Captain Jeremiah Hawthorne – minor gentry way in over his head
• Tetrax the Wind Demon – imprisoned by Vandroth, and forced to propel the ship with his wind magic
• The Archmage Thamberlon – a legendary wizard of yore who discovered the Azure Aetern, and whose spellbook enabled Vandroth to open the portal it

Summary

The greatest heroes of the kingdom have failed to stop Apophis, the Shadow Worm, who is now slowly but surely devouring the sun. On the order of Princess Claire, our heroes have been dispatched aboard a miraculous flying ship, “The Ikaruss,” to travel to another plane known as “The Azure Aetern,” on a mission to find a replacement sun.

Vandroth, the Good Warlock, cast a spell from the “Thamberlon Fragments,” or the fragmentary writings of the long-vanished archmage Thamberlon, to open a portal to the Azure Aetern. The first problem became apparent in that there is no gravity there. The crew hastily worked to tie themselves down as the players and Vandroth sought a solution.

Vandroth took the players below deck to where Tetrax, the Wind Demon, was imprisoned, his demonic magic allowing the ship to fly. Taiyo managed to convince the demon to help them in exchange for some of their blood, which Hire quickly obliged. Momentarily sated, the demon cast a spell that pulled all the crews’ feet to the deck with magical vortices.

The heroes set a course for what seemed like the nearest “sun” they could see through the clouds. The first night passed uneventfully, but the following day they saw a troubling sight: another flying ship, burned and blasted apart. They pulled alongside this ship to investigate further, and found the corpses of several alien humanoids. These creatures all had blue skin, strange bony ridges along their jawlines, and a variable number of limbs. Some had four, and some had as many as ten.

The mystery of their demise was quickly solved, when a thunderous explosion interrupted their investigation. A pirate ship had opened fire upon the Ikaruss, its cannonballs splintering its timbers.

Sighting through the spyglass, the heroes saw that these pirates looked somewhat like humans, but too tall and thin, much too pale, and with hands in place of feet. The pirates flew under a black flag, which bore a device consisting of a squiggly black line against a white circle. 

The heroes took potshots at the approaching ship as the sailors prepared for battle. Hire shot one in the head, but only succeeded in knocking him out and dislodging him from the rigging. Hire’s animal companion, the giant, monstrous hawk named “Fowl,” attacked another and tore his throat out, but was injured himself. Taiyo managed to point out who appeared to be the pirate captain, and Hire managed to score a glancing shot against him as well. Meanwhile, Van Krinkel hid himself amid The Ikaruss’s rigging.

The pirates pulled up beside the Ikaruss and fired all their cannons at once, severely damaging them, and then proceeded to board them. As the pirates streamed out, Van Krinkel launched himself from the rigging and attacked the pirate captain, successfully slitting his throat.

Hire fought alongside the other sailors to fight off the pirates, and Taiyo used her healing song to keep the sailors alive. Van Krinkel took a bit of a beating from the slain captain’s vengeful crewmates, but not before killing another with the pirate captain’s own gun.

Realizing they bit off more than they could chew, the pirates retreated. Thanks to Taiyo’s ministrations, none of the crew of The Ikaruss died.

In addition to the pirate captain’s hat and gun, Van Krinkel found 20 coins on his person made from a strange, silvery metal. These coins stuck to each other, and seemed to exert a mild gravitational pull on nearby matter.

No sooner had the pirates fled than another ship arrived. This one looked like a rocket ship, with a gleaming metal nosecone, several port windows, a blister turret, and jet-engine nacelles for propulsion. The ship bore an insignia of a 9-pointed, black-and-yellow star. A booming voice announced, “Attention! You have entered the airspace of the Phon Dominion! Prepare to be boarded!”

TL;DR

The heroes entered the Azure Aetern and realized there’s no gravity there. They parleyed with the demon Tetrax who propels the ship, and he cast a spell that caused magical vortices to pull the crews’ feet to the deck in exchange for some of Hire’s blood.

They set a course for the nearest “sun” they could see, and the following day they spotted a destroyed ship. Soon after, they were attacked by pirates themselves. The pirates were clearly expecting an easier fight, and after suffering the death of their captain and several of their crew, retreated.

No sooner had they retreated than another ship approached: this one some kind of rocket ship. A booming voice announced that they had entered the airspace of “The Phon Dominion,” and they should prepare to be boarded.

Concluding Thoughts

And thus ended our first session. I had a great time running it and my players had a great time playing it. 

This is probably too long. I figured that more detail would be better for the first post, anyway. That, and I'm too lazy to shorten it, now. And my enthusiasm for writing these waned somewhat over time. In any case, subsequent posts will have much less detail.