An arcanepunk fantasy setting and campaign somewhere between Discworld and Arcane, centered on social exploration, mysteries and deep, meaningful stories. With rulesets for 5e, Forged in the Dark and Savage Worlds.
This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for purpose of this product.
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Jo
2 days ago
It's a regular day in Kalusa and you are a cat, what will you do? (Pt. 4}
This is part of a choose-your-adventure story you can find on our BackerKit page
Well, as he is now sad and you are now full, he might as well pet you while you take a nap at his knees – that's what sad people like, right?
Your new friend pulls out the bone dice, rolling it in between his fingers and you settle in for a nap.
In your dream you are on a ship. You know it's a dream, because in real life, you would never set a single toe bean on one of those.
The captain is on the deck – you have seen her around the dock and you have heard people talking about her. The head of the Regalls, “Lady” Jolee Whitfield. You don’t know any other “ladies”, but apparently she was a royal back in her home and she is trying to impose her royal authority here. The only authority you respect is your own, so this doesn’t bother you.
“Now, don’t get into a flap over it, you lubber,” she says to the man next to her and takes a swig from her flask.
It all seems fairly normal but you know something is wrong – necromancy is not approved of amongst the Regals, and yet something here reeks of it.
You can feel it coming up from the below deck, and you know it's crawling up the ladder before you see it. Sickly purple light emanates from the moving corpse of a once beautiful woman with a symmetrical face, an innocent expression, and piercing eyes, her body slowly, painfully making its way up.
It is deathly quiet on the ship as it hoists itself up to the deck.
“Annabel…?” you hear Jolee whisper before the spell is broken and all hell breaks loose amongst the crew, screaming and shouting and running; somebody trips over you––
Somebody trips over you! You wake up and swat at their feet.
There is a skirmish. Three members of the Regals are picking and prodding at your friend.
“Take your disgusting, unnatural proclivities somewhere else! Here we don’t tolerate necromancy!” the tall one spits out.
"Wait, we can't say that out loud, you remember! We don't tolerate spells that could endanger the magical aura of the city!" says the fat one.
“Oh, yeah. That then! We don't tolerate that!”
“It’s just a dice! I got it - I didn't know - What do you mean necromancy??” your poor friend seems genuinely confused. You thought that the necromantic origin of the dice was pretty obvious, but people can be very very stupid.
“Are you trying to get beaten up? Because we will gladly smash you to pulp…” – the fat one again. The last one just squints threateningly.
You can tell he is telling the truth because they have your friend surrounded, and it doesnt actually look like they have any plans on letting him go. His eyes dart to yours.
Ah damn… is the man your friend? Will you help him?
It's a regular day in Kalusa and you are a cat, what will you do? (pt. 3)
This is part of a choose-your-adventure story you can find on our BackerKit page
The light catches on the bone dice beautifully and you simply can't help it. You bap it across the room, it bounces off the table leg and disappears under a chair. But it's not that hard to find, as it starts pulsating with a purple light and low, strange weeping sound. Instead of a number, it came up on a image of a fish skeleton.
The shop owner taps the sign and then points at the man's pocket, looking at him expectantly.
“Wha – I – it's not even broken! And I didn't even touch it! It was the cat!”
Another tap on the sign.
You can hear some more protests and finally a jingle of coins, you are not paying attention though – something smells fishy here. No, really! Where is the strange smell coming from? You start running.
For some reason the man runs after you.
There's a huge commotion when you arrive at the pier short while later. People are running, some away from the water, some towards it, everybody is screaming, everybody is pushing. In the distance you can see ships scrambling to get away from something – oh, that's a big fish! Too big for you. Plus it seems to be able to spit fire and is very much undead. Eh, you are not eating that. Rotting flesh is not your thing.
You turn your attention back to the dock just as another push comes and somebody stumbles out of the crowd towards the water – a beautiful, tall, well dressed orc lady, obviously from a very well-off family. She starts to fall – but at the last second a hand catches her and pulls her back to the edge.
It's the man! Well you have to confess that was a good catch, especially for a human, but now they are looking at each other funny. Will they fight? Oh, of course, humans – they will lick each other mouths now, right? The next second though, she gets whisked away by her entourage.
The crowd disperses. The orca has fallen apart before lighting anything up on fire and nobody has drowned so the citizens of Kalusa are left mildly disappointed.
The man looks dejected. He sits down, pulls out a sardine from his pack, turns to you and asks: “What now?”
First, a certain Kalusian public movement asked us to include following message to all who come to Kalusa:
MAGIC IS HARMFUL! It takes away people’s jobs and contributes to poverty and unrest. Laundresses are losing their livelihoods because of magical washing machines. Messengers because of flying mail. Scribes because of book copying. Porters because of golems. And in the meantime, you’re becoming addicted to magic! You can’t function without magic to beautify, speed up, or make your work easier. You’re turning into zombies. We must break this downward spiral! That’s why you should boycott magical products. Scrap your work automaton and hire a living servant. Support artists capable of singing without “enhancements.” Eat real food! BREAK FREE FROM MAGIC. RECLAIM THE SOUL THAT WAS STOLEN FROM YOU AND THE CITY! I.E., An Unbound
We are not sure how much success will Mr. I.E. encounter with this message in a city renowned for its magical prowess across the worlds and dimensions, but he seemed really fired up about the issue. He even started to train fighting in plate armor instead of using common magical wards. Maybe you can meet him once we reach the city and ask him what exactly is his problem?
Because Kalusa already has enough of troubles as it is – polluted waters of harbor keep washing up mutated monsters, the guards are nowhere to be seen, there seems to be an acute epidemic of small, but annoying spontaneously spawning demons, and the disgruntled crowds are getting more and more agitated! I hope your group can do something about this, because this city needs courageous adventurers!
But enough with doom and gloom, let’s talk about the other thing the Kalusa is famous for – the cats! We have some new designs for our magical cats to share. Kalusians love their little magical familiars, and all of these cats are companions to major Kalusian NPCs. You can guess what the correct pairings are, if you want – a small hint, one of them is described in the preview. 😊 You can get them as stickers as a reward for backing, so check out our pledge levels!
Next, we run into a small unexpected hurdle with our choose-your-own-adventure story, as polls on BackerKit don’t allow for formatted text, so we will need to incorporate it into our email updates, with polls listing only the options. I hope it’s not too confusing, because we had fun writing it up so we don’t want to scrap it! You will find the current chapter in the following email message.
Finally, we would like to congratulate our friend Kin on reaching his goal with BackerKit campaign for the “My Beloved Ship”, a PirateBorg supplement about enhancing your ship, for reaching his goal! Many of these upgrades could very well be Kalusian exports – enchanted shipbuilding under Lady Whitfield is a booming business in the city! So if you want to play out some buccaneering and swashbuckling before landing on Kalusian shores, the My Beloved Ship BackerKit is open for another 8 days! get it here: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/krakenhund-studio/my-beloved-ship-a-pirate-borg-supplement
Smooth sailing! –Jay (with the approval of the Primordial Cat) Team Kalusa ᨐฅ
Hi! Our crowdfunding is underway, but that’s just the publicly visible part of the project – behind the scenes, there’s a lot for work done already, and we would like to show some more of it!
Here’s a work-in-progress of another environment illustration – Kalusian Docks, the first thing you see on arrival and also a starting point of our sandbox campaign! Viktoria should finish it next week 😊
And here’s a preview of one of the first locations you can visit after landing, and a problem that is used as one of the quest hooks for involvement in Protectorate's politics.
The Black Cat Apothecary A well-known alchemy shop on the waterfront. It's a tall, narrow building with an illusion of a bubbling cauldron on its sign.
Owner: Alchemist Phan Linh, 50 years old. Phan is her family name, Linh the personal one. Always stained from her experiments, she’s friendly, a bit obsequious, and a little eccentric. She loves her job, but also earning good money. She is loyal to the Protectorate’s leadership and is annoyed by how the Regals are spreading their dominance in the harbor. Inside of the shop: The shop is full of colorful bottles, scented stones, and esoteric decorations. Magical anti-theft mirrors are hanging all over the store.
In a glass flask in the middle of the alchemical apparatus on display rests Milu: a black short-haired cat, so flexible that she can squeeze through the glass tubes and flask, which she loves to show off.
Prices here are 50% higher than in the rest of the Protectorate due to a tourist surcharge, but Linh is willing to offer better prices to regular customers and people who win her over.
A magical creature which Linh calls Long stands guard here: a 5 ft tall dragon made of smoky dark glass, who can see images from all the mirrors in the store at once. It can bite and claw; and when desperate, it can shoot sharp shards fo glass, but needs to be repaired afterward. It doesn’t attack cats. Linh says of it: “I received it as a gift, and unfortunately, I don’t know how to make one. But I can offer you a little bottle from which you can release a smoky silhouette of a dragon—just as fearsome as my pet. For only 19 ducats! I'll settle for 18 if you take three at once!”
A Problem with the Neighbors: The harbor residents are now accusing the shop of being responsible for the unstable magic in the harbor waters. Linh diligently treats her wastewater, and an expert invited by Protector Corlani has confirmed that her treatment plant is functioning properly – but the neighbors don’t believe it: “What kind of expert is that, especially one from the Corlanis? No way!”
It’s easier for people to point the finger at Linh than to say out loud that the Whitfields are to blame.
Kalusa is, of course, famous for its magical and alchemical shops and there are dozens of them, all competing for their customers with animated shop signs, illuminated displays and magic mouths shouting out adverts, as well as secret formulas, experimental research and a moderate amount of swindle. What would be your favorite health potion flavor? Let us know in a poll!
Oh and we have a little “choose you adventure” fun going on there, too, where you can explore Kalusa as a cat! Head to the polls in the community tab – every two days, we will write a new update.
May your gaming schedules align! –Jay (with the approval of the Primordial Cat) Team Kalusa ᨐฅ
Let's head for the Kalusian wharf! And if you join our voyage in the first 48 hours, you will get an early bird reward – a free bonus dungeon set in the infamously dangerous testing grounds of University of Kalusa!
So take a look at our pledge levels and addons and pick your haul for your next arcanepunk campaign! Kalusians, with all their life stories and problems they can't seem to solve by themselves, are waiting for your adventuring party! Not to mention the cats!
You will get two volumes chokefull of NPCs, factions, encounters, adventures and sidequests, as well as illustrations and advice on how to get it all into the play.
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