Take A Risk, Play A Game
Albion Intellect Seasonal
Bard
03-12-2022, 04:29 AM
The pale pup quickly appears and Athena offers him a big smile, pointing to the fluffy pelt that sits at the bottom of Auster. As he moves, she says, “Good to see you Albion! I thought we could play a game that I learned from my pack.” Once he is settled, the earthen woman moves to sit on the pelt opposite of him, taking a moment to get comfortable. Looking to Albion, Athena explains, “These are real packs that roam the land up in Boreas and down her in Auster. See, my family were Nomads and met all kinds of wolves in our travel. The outline you see of both lands, the thicker black lines, were taken from a book we found years ago. Some navigators decided to explore the land as the pictures depicted and found that they matched. So, for generations, this map has been passed down in my home. Someone came up with a game to help teach prospective leaders the art of negotiation and war. We call it, ‘Survival’. I thought it help a young prince like you.”
Offering Alboin a wide smile, Athena turns her amber eyes to the map, lifting one dark paw to trace the outline of Boreas. As her paw moves, the earthen woman says, “This is Boreas. Or a rough outline of it. Boreas is the land up north of here. Now, there are several packs that inhabit the land but, for this game, I have chosen three.” Her paw moves to the gray outline with gray painted rocks inside as she continues, “This is the ‘Armada’. The colored gray lines are the borders of its pack land. These rocks are their members.” Paw moves to the white pack and she says, “This is ‘Ashen’ with their lands and wolves.” Finally, she points out the purple one and says, “And this is ‘Elysium’ with their lands and wolves.”
Standing up, Athena reaches her paw to touch the black outline of Auster, informing Albion, “This is Auster, the land that our pack is a part of.” As she says that, the earthen wolf moves her paw to green lines, saying, “This is Fenmyre, our pack. And this…” she points to the orange lines, “Is ‘The Hallows’.” Settling back down, Athena looks to the pale prince and gives him a moment to look at the map. When he is ready, Athena begins to explain the rules, “So this game is about making alliances with other packs and conquering the ones that pose a threat. I will take the pack ‘Elysium’ and you can take ‘Fenmyre’. For this game only, we are enemies and you need defeat my pack to win. Now for the blank spaces.” Dark paw points out the outlined blank areas as she continues, “These are called, ‘No Man’s Land’. Basically, nothing fun happens there, you can only move wolves from your pack to another in these spaces.”
Stopping for a moment to let the pup absorb all the information, Athena answers any questions he has about the first part of the rules. Once he is ready to move on, the smaller wolf says, “Now movement. These,” she points to the painted pairs of knuckle bones, “will determine when and how you move.” Placing the bones on the cloth map, Athena points out the painted lines. On one side of each knuckle bone is a straight line and she says, “This line means you can move half way to the nearest pack. This one,” she points to squiggly line, “means to go one space to the nearest pack. This one,” a single black dot, “means you draw one of the flat stones. And this one,” a black ‘X’, “means you add one more wolf to your pack. This is your knuckle bone.” She passes him one and takes the other. Pausing to answer any new questions, she waits until he signals that he ready for more.
Athena dips her head and says, “Okay, almost done. Last thing are these large painted rocks. They have symbols on their undersides. When you get to draw one it either has a symbol to make an allegiance, attack another pack, or recruit five pack wolves. To win in a battle with another pack, you have to the flat rock to attack and more pack wolves than the other.” Sitting back a moment, Athena answers questions before saying, “It will make more sense once we start playing. Now, you go first. Roll your knuckle bone!” The earthen woman talks Alboin through how to ‘roll’ the bone, directing him to move to move halfway to the nearest pack when he lands on the straight line. With that done, she picks up her own knuckle bone and begins her turn. The pair play long into the day and Athena watches Alboin grow more and more interested as the time went on.
WC: 813
Total WC: 1721
"Athena Nocturna"
Offering Alboin a wide smile, Athena turns her amber eyes to the map, lifting one dark paw to trace the outline of Boreas. As her paw moves, the earthen woman says, “This is Boreas. Or a rough outline of it. Boreas is the land up north of here. Now, there are several packs that inhabit the land but, for this game, I have chosen three.” Her paw moves to the gray outline with gray painted rocks inside as she continues, “This is the ‘Armada’. The colored gray lines are the borders of its pack land. These rocks are their members.” Paw moves to the white pack and she says, “This is ‘Ashen’ with their lands and wolves.” Finally, she points out the purple one and says, “And this is ‘Elysium’ with their lands and wolves.”
Standing up, Athena reaches her paw to touch the black outline of Auster, informing Albion, “This is Auster, the land that our pack is a part of.” As she says that, the earthen wolf moves her paw to green lines, saying, “This is Fenmyre, our pack. And this…” she points to the orange lines, “Is ‘The Hallows’.” Settling back down, Athena looks to the pale prince and gives him a moment to look at the map. When he is ready, Athena begins to explain the rules, “So this game is about making alliances with other packs and conquering the ones that pose a threat. I will take the pack ‘Elysium’ and you can take ‘Fenmyre’. For this game only, we are enemies and you need defeat my pack to win. Now for the blank spaces.” Dark paw points out the outlined blank areas as she continues, “These are called, ‘No Man’s Land’. Basically, nothing fun happens there, you can only move wolves from your pack to another in these spaces.”
Stopping for a moment to let the pup absorb all the information, Athena answers any questions he has about the first part of the rules. Once he is ready to move on, the smaller wolf says, “Now movement. These,” she points to the painted pairs of knuckle bones, “will determine when and how you move.” Placing the bones on the cloth map, Athena points out the painted lines. On one side of each knuckle bone is a straight line and she says, “This line means you can move half way to the nearest pack. This one,” she points to squiggly line, “means to go one space to the nearest pack. This one,” a single black dot, “means you draw one of the flat stones. And this one,” a black ‘X’, “means you add one more wolf to your pack. This is your knuckle bone.” She passes him one and takes the other. Pausing to answer any new questions, she waits until he signals that he ready for more.
Athena dips her head and says, “Okay, almost done. Last thing are these large painted rocks. They have symbols on their undersides. When you get to draw one it either has a symbol to make an allegiance, attack another pack, or recruit five pack wolves. To win in a battle with another pack, you have to the flat rock to attack and more pack wolves than the other.” Sitting back a moment, Athena answers questions before saying, “It will make more sense once we start playing. Now, you go first. Roll your knuckle bone!” The earthen woman talks Alboin through how to ‘roll’ the bone, directing him to move to move halfway to the nearest pack when he lands on the straight line. With that done, she picks up her own knuckle bone and begins her turn. The pair play long into the day and Athena watches Alboin grow more and more interested as the time went on.
WC: 813
Total WC: 1721
