Ep. 60: The Stolen Century - Chapter One

"Before the day the hunger arrived, before this... crisis, before Wonderland, before the time-sick town, and the crystal lab, before races and trains and moon bases and gauntlets, before the beach, and the sizzling, and the roost... Before everything I've told you, there was a journey beyond imagination. Seven explorers lost their home to the same force that threatens us now. Their impossible trajectory carried them between wild, desolate, beautiful, deadly worlds, where they experienced terrible hardships, and experienced immeasurable joy.They lived and died and loved and, in the end, forgot. It's time to remember. It's time to go back to where our story truly starts, because only then can we truly prepare for how it ends. It's the Adventure Zone!"

Synopsis
''We're nearly at our journey's end -- but before we can understand what lies ahead, we must first return to this story's true beginning. What brought our heroes together to the crisis they face today? What happened to the memories of their dear, forgotten friends? And just how long have they been running away? Taako learns a new language. Merle eats some beans. Magnus trains under an unlikely teacher.''

The episode starts with a promotional video explaining The Light of Creation, saying that it holds immense power, and was likely used in the creation of the universe. Somehow, this light ended up in the very world it helped shape and the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration found the Light a year ago. It has since used the Light to achieve immeasurable advancements in the fields of science and arcana, all culminating in tomorrow's unprecedented voyage. The video then asks everyone to give a warm welcome to their brave explorers.

The video ends and lights come up on a stage where the explorers are greeted with applause by the massive audience gathered in front of them. It is currently over a hundred years before The Hunger assaults the Bureau's moonbase and tomorrow the seven of them, Magnus, Merle, Taako, Lup, Barry, Davenport and Lucretia, will set out on the mission that brings them to that world.

Griffin's Stolen Century
This part of the story will not be based in D&D but a system of Griffin's own making, aptly named The Stolen Century. It is partially modeled on the Powered by the Apocalypse system and the rules are far simpler than D&D's. The players have only three stats to keep track of, Body, used for fighting and any form of physical activity, Mind, used for intellectual pursuits like studying and spellcasting, and finally Heart, used for anything interpersonal like persuasion. All rolls are made with two d6, a six or below results in failure, a seven to nine results in partial success and a ten or above is a total success.

Throughout The Stolen Century the players will also collect resources in the form of assets, bonds and experience that will effect the finale of the campaign. Bonds are a measure of the interpersonal relationships established with the rest of the team and the people they meet during their journey and experience measures their personal growth throughout the Stolen Century.

Assets represent valuable objects accumulated during the game and can be used to upgrade anyone's roll one step, i.e. a failure to a mixed success and a mixed success to a complete success. Once aquired, assets are abstract in nature. For example, a player might gain an asset from finding valuable jewels but when they go to spend that asset it does not have to be in the form of jewels, they could say they're giving someone a magical item as a bribe or something else that would logically assist their roll.

Timelines and Backstories
Before starting the adventure proper, Griffin clarifies the timeline of the Stolen Century. It takes place before the rest of the podcast and while the characters are all adults at this point, many events from their backstories have yet to take place. Merle is unmarried and has no children, Magnus has yet met Julia and Sizzle It Up With Taako has not happened.

They all grew up on this purple skied, two-sunned planet and eventually ended up joining the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration. Merle grew up in a druidic enclave by the beach but eventually left it as he felt they were too insular and weren't contributing enough to the good of mankind. Magnus was a rebellious kid and a Johnny Storm kind of character when joining the Institute. Taako had a rough childhood alongside his twin sister Lup, they were passed between different relatives and worked in caravans together. We also learn that Lup was assigned male at birth but identified as female and transitioned at a fairly young age. They were all selected for this exploration mission from a pool of hundreds of candidates because of their unique skill sets.

The Press Conference
We return to the IPRE's press conference and Captain Davenport, Cap'n'port, is addressing the crowd. He explains that the mission is going to last two months and they will be exploring the outer reaches of the planar system. They will be doing this in an extraordinary ship that Griffin asks the others to name. Several names are suggested, including Boaty McBoatface, Spinnaker, Lightbringer, Skyweaver and Stardancer but they eventually settle on The Starblaster.

WIP

The Money Zone
Pending

Featured NPCs

 * Lucretia
 * Davenport
 * Barry Bluejeans
 * Lup
 * The Hunger

Featured Music

 * The Royal Beasts

Featured Locations

 * The Animal Kingdom

Quotes
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