Swords of the Bosphorus 1
I’ve just started a new campaign, run by Martin. It’s a fantastic take on Swords of the Serpentine, using Martin’s knowledge of the Byzantium Empire circa 1450.
I play Miguel Dias, a member of The Order of Christ, which holds the remnants of the Knight’s Templar. Of Portuguese descent, Miguel is an explorer, now down on his luck and looking for coin and secrets to uncover in the streets of Constantinople.
At Christos’ wine bar, he finds Exi and Atticus and invites himself to help them investigate the forgery and illegal production of books from the royal library.
They’d traced the deed to two perpetrators, a monk and a scribe, the monk is dead in mysterious circumstances. The scribe is missing but has a seat at the wrestling tonight.
Following a lead they break into a disused fire tower, barricading the door from a gang of thugs. Making their way up the tower, they encounter the scribe, who admits to everything, he has done it all for Christina, a mysterious and beautiful patron.
Just then Christina enters from the room above, requesting the forged documents, which Miguel refuses to give her, after that, she transforms into an evil bat-like creature and combat begins.
The combat is fierce and Miguel is barely holding on to consciousness when a flurry of blows from his comrades causes “Christina” to transform again into a swarm of bats that fly out of the window.
A quick visit to the Librarian who tasked us with this investigation gives us a promise of a reward and we celebrate, seeing Lollipop’s victory at the wrestling ring. The future looks promising, but for Miguel the nagging regret that he didn’t end the profane life of Christina.
Swords of the Serpentine rules underpin the fun, but are tweaked by Martin to align more with the historical period, there is magic, but more divine intervention, which I called upon in the form of prayers to St Anthony that sent a wind of retribution against Christina.
All in all, an excellent first session, a lovely group and the GM has created a rich and varied setting full of wonderful characters and an incredible “3D” map with all the locations to adventure laid out in front of us, can’t wait for more!