The Abandoned Shack (Petrichor 365)

Along one of the paths out of Port Imperial, not the main road or the coast road, but one of the more frequently used paths, off in a small patch of woods is an abandoned shack.

Not too remarkable you might think except that it seems far older than another of the other structures, certainly only than the six years or so that Petrichor has been open to exploration.  Nor has anyone dismantled it for the wood nor cut down the trees around it.  It has a malign aura and people, and animals, shy away from it.

Questions: Where did it come from?  What causes the aura?  Could you break it up and sell it for parts?  Would you be cursed if you did?

Notes: A short filler piece as I am tired, it has been a long day of posting things here.  But still, there is an adventure waiting in that shed for those brave, or foolish, enough to investigate.

Petrichor 365.  Previous entry:  Tolentok’s Roads and Paths   Next Entry:  Aleph’s Angelry

Image found on pxhere and is in the Public Domain.

April approaches as March leaves

April begins with its usual day of sleight of hand. clever tricks and (hopefully) artful misdirections, such tricks are not my specialty, do not expect anything clever from me.  But I hope to enjoy cheerful cleverness from others.

April is named after the Roman month Aprilis though it is unclear where the Roman name comes from . . .  It may refer to the opening (aperire) of buds and flowers as Spring arrives or in some unclear way to the goddess Venus, to whom it is a sacred month, or something else.  We just do not know, such is the way of history.

As is usual, I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for April, the theme will be “Port Imperial“, yes, I am just folding it into my Petrichor365 plans and why not?   But if there is anything you would like to see, let me know and I will try to fit it in.

March 2023, saw the following posts here:

Concluding this month’s RPG Blog Carnival: Taverns, Bars and places to meet

Here we wrap up the RPG Blog Carnival for the Month of March, 2023, on the theme of Taverns, Bars and other places to meet.

Thank you everyone who participated!

We saw:

Of Dice and Dragons dig through the archives for Add a little flavor to your tavern, with ideas to do just that!

Clark Timmons looking at the trope of You Meet in a Tavern, where it comes from and it has become so deeply enmeshed with fantasy gaming.

At the Seed of Worlds, they look back over a long-running campaign and the role of the Bars and Taverns of Thenya.

Plastic Polyhedra provided us with a Seedy Sci Fi / Cyberpunk bar generator, which really is the random generator we all need.

While I did some fantasy places in Port Imperial: The Crossroad Coffeehouse,  Hope’s Hearth, The Quill and Sword,  The Saucy Seadragon tavern, and The Silver Horse.

I also looked at some of the Bars and Clubs in my Shadowrun campaign.

Hope that you enjoyed the contributions and found them useful!  (And later entries are welcome!)

Notes: The RPG Blog Carnival for April is Creating Elements for a Setting hosted by Codex Anathema.

And a late entry from Vile Envoy!, the Green Gland in 13 Stages, looking at a pleasure district.

Image found on the Mirriam-Webster page and its licensing status is unknown.

April(ish) ’23 Shadowrun Campaign News and a new Seattle Scream Prop (#85)

Getting this up at the end of March for April as the monthly game at Tyche’s Games (usually every first Saturday, come and join us in you are in the area, new players welcome) on April 1st!  Not a lot of time to fit things in before the game if I actually wait for April to start.

Finally finished the first story arc for the Songs in the Key of X campaign forward!  Revealing the nasty technology that Dr. Shipson leveraged to get her early position and build the foundation for what would become ManaWave Technologies.

How about some news from Seattle and beyond in the Seattle Scream (#85)!  Nothing directly relating to player activity this time around.

I also did a little write-up about some of the bars and clubs from my campaign’s Seattle.  Come and have a drink with us.

Notes: Drawing by my lovely wife, of some Shadowrunners but it was done long enough ago, we are not sure who!

Tolentok’s Roads and Paths (Petrichor 365)

The roads and paths in Port Imperial were often more by happenstance than by design, outside of the Imperial section by the Imperial docks which was laid out in a gridded design.  Some of the new sections have been properly laid out as the bureaucracy is cracking down on squatters and making sure that everyone has the legal title to the land they are building on.  But the point is, much of the city is haphazardously laid out and built.

But times are changing and the city is evolving into a proper city from a boomtown, this means, among other things, proper roads.  The Imperial military is building roads for Imperial purposes, though some of those are helpful for others as well.

The rest of Port Imperial is left to its own devices for better roads.  Enter Tolentok Breakstone and his company.  They gather discarded stones and shells, break them and use them to pave roads.  When they can find wood, they build boardwalks but their specialty is gravel roads.  They can do cobblestone roads as well, when they can get the materials, and brick pathways, but again getting the materials is the tricky part as most people would rather build houses than streets with stone and brick but gravel and broken shells do not have many other uses.

Honeycutt’s Warehouse No. 2 (Petrichor 365)

Port Imperial is foremost a port and ports thrive on in import and export of goods, good need a place to be stored after they arrive and before they are transshipped to their final destination.

Petrichor has only recently started producing reliable exports but it, and especially Port Imperial, are primarily a consumer of imports.  From the food they eat, to the clothes they wear, most of it comes from outside of the island (though it is becoming more and more self-sufficient).

Because of that, staple foods are warehoused before being sold on to local merchants and consumers.  One of the largest is that owned by Augustius Honeycutt, a Visse merchant who may have been partly financed by some members of Imperial Bureaucracy (in fact, yes he was, supported by cousins and other relatives who saw the potential money to be made).

The Silver Horse (Petrichor 365)

On the road down the coast, on the opposite side of Port Imperial from Fort Ajzure is the Silver Horse, an inn and stables.  When the city wall is completed around Port Imperial, it will be outside the city and, honestly, the people of the Silver Horse are just as happy with that.

The inn is made of turf and wood and is a single room with a stone fireplace and chimney at one end.  The fireplace is used for cooking and there is usually something bubbling away over it for a hungry traveler.  There are long tables and benches, easily stack aside for those who wish to sleep inside the inn.  It is not fancy but it is warm and the food is hearty.

Tuesday Magic Item – Soldier’s Plate

Gollaon looked at the greyish stew and the small chunk of cheese and larger chuck of bread, soon joined by another.  They sighed.

Voddick nodded.  “At least it is free and warm.”

“That is about the only positive thing that can be said about it.”

“Well, eat up, tomorrow we are back on our own with trail rations and what we can find.”

“That is almost a welcoming thought.”

Soldier’s Plate

These plates are usually of basic metal, such as tin, though sometimes of wood with the symbol of the organization they were made for on the bottom of the plate.  They are built to be tough and survive being tossed around.

The Cove Cat, a ship (Petrichor 365)

Most ships travel to Port Imperial and then return to their port of call or another port well away from Petrichor.  The Cove Cat is an exception, she travels up and down the coast from Port Imperial dropping off expeditions of venturers and other explorers, parties of miners and prospectors, and even small groups of settlers (and occasionally retrieving them as well).

Thom’s Luggage Carting (Petrichor 365)

For those newly arrived on the docks of Port Imperial, the city can overwhelming and confusing.  Of course, there are people willing to help, for a coin or two.

One of those is Thom the Luggage Hauler and his handcart.  He will help you with your bags and guide you to whatever inn you are staying at, for a reasonable fee, and if you do not already have an inn booked, he can take you to one that fits your requirements (and that gives him a small kickback).