This week we delved into Venture by Riley Rethal once more, this time as a group of adventurers living on the Taiga against the great mountains in a small outpost town, Hadna, on the edges of a great empire. Our group includes the lanky and pale, silent and secretive rogue Dave; Reinhardt the Just, a paladin who believes in a higher power and is dedicated to protecting the weak; the ripped and rash fighter, Lydia, whose more likely to let loose with her wrapped knuckles in a bar than sell her sword arm; Quill the wizard in a witch’s hat too lazy to ever cast a spell; and Ivris the cleric who serves Unphin the Unmoving, god of the mountains.
Our story begins with Lydia and Quill returning to Hadna from a mountain trek arguing about why Lydia insists that Quill walk into town. In Hadna itself, Ivris interrogates Dave about the clock he’s lost to Elnor and his gang and whether he can get it back with the help of a little magic. Reinhardt approaches Lydia about her family and how our group has replaced the families we left behind or lost, as Lydia’s was in the great war, and each believes that the Watchmaker’s clock can change one’s fate. In a tavern, Quill keeps pressuring Ivris to come back to her bed, but the cleric rebuffs her advances. Finally, Dave asks Reinhardt to lead their effort to recover his lost clock, which is magical and an heirloom.
After Lydia acquires a cart and donkey to carry Quill, we make our way through the seedy back-alleys to the underground tavern where Elnor’s gang dwells. Elnor tells us about his obsession with clocks and time, calling his gang the Keepers of Time. He tells us about a prophecy he found on the back of Dave’s clock and explains his plan to capture time by controlling all the timekeepers in Hadna, even the King’s pocket watch. While Reinhardt and the rest of us keep Elnor and gang’s attention, Dave swipes the clock back and quietly walks away; before anyone notices, he’s gone.
We catch up with Dave ourselves later and immediately escape into the hills with him, the clock, and the donkey cart. When we examine the clock, we discover that Elnor misread the prophecy entirely: it wasn’t about five fools gathering, but being placed in the light of the full moon, which at the right moment, will reveal the Watchmaker’s will. Dave explains how he found the clock from a man frozen in an avalanche and how it saved him from servitude to cruel masters. Out in the mountains, Dave discovers that if he (but no one else) moves the hands of the clock, which had stopped working long ago, he can shift us through time, so we shift ourselves to the night of the full moon. Under its light, Dave speaks in the voice of the Watchmaker, asking what needs to be rectified. It seems we each get to change one moment in history, to correct one mistake.
Lydia returns to a moment before her family and home were destroyed in the war and rescues a peace envoy whose mission could avert the war entirely. Dave returns to improve his parent’s lives, so they will not be so destitute and uncaring as to sell him into servitude. Reinhardt changes a rescue of the king he performed, so the assassins don’t get as close and the king doesn’t become paranoid and fearful. Quill understands better how to approach Ivris about her experiments in exploring dreams in the hopes of finding a god’s true name and succeeds in getting the cleric’s cooperation back at the tavern. And Ivris decides to save her moment for another day.
Story Games Club 