Fall of Magic: Ravenhall

This week we dipped our toes into Fall of Magic by Ross Cowman for an abbreviated session, getting through only a single location (in a game designed to require a dozen or so locations to complete).

We start with Fawn, a Ranger of the Mist Woods, relaxing on the footbridge over the river into Ravenhall, home of the fabled Magus. She notices oddities in the walk patterns of the various pilgrims and travelers. When someone ends up in the river, she decides to help the victim out of the water, and walks over, offering the end of her staff to pull the man out. From this soggy fellow, Fawn learns that people avoid Ravenhall now, driven off by the pall of dread that hangs over it.

Next we find Justice, the Crab Singer of Istallia, in the Rose Gardens. She wears a purple velvet dress and carries what looks like a lobster trap with her. She walks into a secret portion of the gardens, which are overgrown and wild from lack of attention. Once secluded, she sets down the cage and pulls out a few crabs, then begins to sing. The crabs scurry away and begin hunting the garden spiders, eating as they go.

Finally, we meet Azure, a Raven from Ravenhall, who stretches her wings and struts through what was once a fantastic menagerie, but now seems filled with sad mundane animals collected from the nearby fields and forests. Talking with the animal handlers, she learns that the wondrous magical creatures who once lived here are all gone now. Some of those creatures had been her friends—she recalls a hippogriff she was particularly close to. Is she—bird folk who walk upright but maintain the wings and feathers of their forebears—the last of the impossible creatures?

We three meet each other in the Great Hall awaiting an audience with the Magus, whose servants have laid out a great feast upon the table and invited them to eat. “The Magus will join you shortly,” they say, so we gather around the table and introduce ourselves, learning what calamity has brought each of us here: Justice summoned from Istallia to cull the spiders, Fawn sent by the Captain of the Grey Rangers, and Azure concerned over the disappearance of magical creatures. Just as we begin to suspect our concerns are related, the double doors across the room swing open and the Magus stands before us. We don’t know it yet, but we’re being recruited for a crucial mission to escort the Magus across the world, for magic is dying and so is the Magus.