Sighs and Portents

Sometimes, players do it to themselves.

I had set up a scenario where one of the PCs was being volunteered by several people in the village to be the new chief, based mostly on him being the brother of the old chief. However, he’s an Initiate of Chalana Arroy. He was never going to be a good chief – he could not order raids, he could not even lead a defense. His best ‘friend’ and supporter, another PC, was all for it, but Jarang was determined not to take part in the Crown Test¹Not actually a Crown Test, but a Chief Test, as it was not at the tribal level, but I used that term anyhow. The best friend actually did take part, so they set off to meet in the Wilderness after having gone West, to bring good luck.

And on the way, Jarang saw the hippogriffs around Pegasus Plateau, took them as a sign from Yelm, and went back and entered the Crown Test. He climbed the plateau, debated with Yelm, argued with Wind Children who were trying to blow him off his climb, and took them throwing butterflies at him as an omen from Chalana Arroy, and not a rather peculiar insult. He bonded with a hippogriff and returned, and when his friend’s victory was dedicated to Jarang, guess who the new Chief was…

Jarang has a Moon Rune of 50, and his player decided that this level of mysticism was enough to see omens in everything, including random plot items that the GM was throwing out for other occasions, and Wind Children trolling him.

Cherish the players who walk into random happenstance and find omens. Leave plenty of omens around for characters to trip over.