Dragon Princes

 Act Two of Street Rat comes to a close with the thematic prompt, "Ghost Ship"! You can play it here: https://skybeargames.itch.io/street-rat-viii

Pressing deeper into the overgrown city, the group soon discovered an ancient mercantile district by the foot of a hill. There was a cave in the side of the hill, with a dim light coming from within. Outside, a statue of a noble woman stood. It was covered with moss and vines, giving her a living green dress and a crown of ivy leaves. The group entered the tunnel. It stretched deep inside, further than the size of the hill would suggest possible. Flowers grew from all the walls and the floor of the tunnel, and Sorrel plucked some and made a floral crown for herself. At the end of the tunnel, a young woman wearing a floral crown like Sorrel's and an ancient tunic sat in front of a fire, singing to herself. The fire cast shadows over her face and over the wall. She greeted the explorers without seeming to recognise them: it was Pia, who had been taken by the city what seemed like an age before. Pia gave them all an ancient wooden goblet of dark red wine to drink from before they coul

This month's challenge word was 'Frog', so Ratto spends this adventure in the form of a very cute pixellated frog! Play it here:  https://skybeargames.itch.io/street-rat-vii

Dragon Princes now has quite a complicated storyline! With every game influenced by those that came before it, and influencing those that are yet to come, there's a lot going on. You don't need to know the story across the multiple games to appreciate what's going on in your game, but if you're interested, this is a quick summary of the entire thing so far. As more games get played, I'll update this post! Nine Months Ago The mercenaries of the Company of the Wolf stopped the bronze dragon Generale Corragio from conquering the Salassi Valley in north-western Tirenia. They discovered the ancient system of monoliths designed by the last gold dragon emperor to channel magic and destroyed it before it could fall into the hands of the red dragon Rubina. Rubina and the company are killed in the explosion. The fall of the monolith network sends a surge of magic throughout Tirenia. Rubina's skull was claimed by the preacher Fra Salvatore, who started touring it

The walls of Auromia was crumbling and covered in moss, but still impressive. They stretched fifty feet tall, and the wide cobbled road stretched through open gates into the heart of the city. Inside, the buzz of insects and the chatter of birds reverberated from inside the eldritch forest that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was into the forest that Accluso, Dova, Forza, Ilaria, Noke, and Sorrel were bound now, to find the Temple of Morta inside. Once they had passed the city walls, they found the way difficult: trees had pushed through the road, thick roots made the path uneven, and in some cases the trees had even grown through buildings, shattering them. With the thick forest canopy overhead, only the occasional rays of light dappled the path ahead of them. As they picked their way through the undergrowth, they became aware of a woman gesturing to them from an upstairs window. Noke sent his sparrow companion Tiu to investigate; it appeared to just be a commoner wearing

Tirenians have a number of traditions and superstitions about death and the dead. They believe that receiving the last rites before dying is important, to give the best chance of reaching Paradiso, or minimising the time that must be spent in Purgatorio. Tirenians believe in the importance of burial. In early times, people believed the soul and the body remained connected even after death, while cremation would annihilate the body and the soul. This belief may be derived from the actual effects of dragonfire. This is why burning is saved as the greatest punishment for the very worst criminals. La Salvatrice herself died after being burnt at the stake, although in her case it clearly did not affect the state of her soul.  Even in these modern days, folk belief about the importance of burial continues. Tirenians believe in burying the body. The funeral is to encourage the soul of the departed to move on; for this reason, Tirenians believe in dressing in dark colours, acting somberly,