Home Sweet Home

We played another game yesterday and this time, Baldur, Kyrila and Hygelak had to find their way back home from the plateau of Cantopia. They still had three gliders constructed by the Puppeteer and decided not to climb down the bluff at the edge of the plateau but instead looked for a suitable landing place in the forest below and took off to the air once again – only fail completely at the obstacle 3 Speed tests in order to land safely on a clearing about a mile from the edge of the high plateau and not damage the glider in the process.

While Baldur turned his own glider into a pile of wooden splinters and torn canvas, Kyrila and Hygelak managed to avoid the most substantial damage to their vessels and being blessed with good luck, none of the three crash-happy pilots took any serious injuries (only a superficial for Kyrila and a light for Hygelak, from both of which they recovered instantly). Anyway, Baldur was quite depressed, looking at the destroyed marvellous gliders and decided to take at least one of them back to the rebel camp so he could repair it and understand its ingenious construction.

Down on the ground, Kyrila climbed a nearby tree in order to win back her lost orientation as she had no clear idea of the cardinal directions after her unexpectedly fast and turbulent descent. Climbing the tree did not prove all that difficult, yet Kyrila still failed her Orienteering test and so the party would get lost on their way back home to the rebel camp.

Kyrila led her two companions through the wilderness and soon the came to witness a couple of  disgusting bugs with the size of well-fed domestic cats that were feeding upon the cadavre of a huge boar. In the evening of the first day of travel, Kyrila found out that there wasn’t much game in the forest to hunt and so she didn’t manage to provide anything but a weasel as a meal for the three of them. So they finally were forced to go to sleep with empty stomaches and a unpleasant anxiety as beyond the illumination of the campfire that Baldur had ignited, the were disturbing shadows crawling through the undergrowth and the entire forest seemed to be bustling with many-legged life.

On the second day, Kyrila led the group further through the woods, and close to noon, they encountered a river of myriads of red ants that was rolling through the bed of one the many mountain creeks that descend from the Stormpillar Mountains to Lake Tangir, carrying dead forest animals and boughs with it.

The heroes decided unanimously that it was a bad idea to cross the path of the ants and instead decided to venture back to the last creek they had crossed about half an hour ago and follow it down to the lakeshore.  The party had to rest once again, and as Kyrila still couldn’t provide enough food, Hygelak decided to play on his Aura of Martyrdom and abstain from his part of the scarce rations (he effectively accepted a +3 Ob penalty due to hunger while that of Baldur and Kyrila would remain at +1 Ob).

When they finally emerged from the forest, a warm rain had started to pour down from the heavy clouds that were hanging above the smoke-colored surface of the lake. They instantly realized that they had ventured way too far west and had now ended up with the hostile city of Nimrod between them and the rebel camp.

Anyway, they immediately spotted a group of three warriors that occurred to be guardians of Nimrod who were struggling with a pair of enormous giant stag beetles that were about as big as ponys. One of the warriors had been badly injured by the monstrous insects and so the heroes decided to intervene and help the warriors with the intention to persuade them to join the Woodland Rebellion afterwards.

Thus, Kyrila used her bow to assist her father’s warriors, but although she finally did bring one of the beetles down and the tribal guardians took care of the other, the abominations still transformed the already wounded man into a gorey mess that was far beyond any hopes of healing. After the battle, Kyrila tried to convince the surviving warriors to join her cause in exchange for her already granted help, but the warriors remained very reluctant. Although they agreed that Marduk was indeed treating them badly, they insisted on their opinion that Kyrila’s rebellion was but a thorn in Marduk’s heel and that they would finally all be slaughtered by the chieftain’s Angelic allies.

Anyway, the warriors agreed to supply the heroes with food and helped them sneak around Nimrod without being harassed by the patrols. They also told the party about the attacks by vicious insect monstrosities that had begun a few days ago and had already caused some casualties to Marduk’s troops.

With the promise not to take action against the rebels as long as they could avoid it, the two warriors hailed the heroes good bye and returned to Nimrod while Hygelak, Kyrila and Baldur finally returned to the rebel camp. There, they were greeted by Berun, the warrior that had dared to question Kyrila’s authority before and now he confronted her again, telling her about attacks by giant vermin and two rebel warriors who had been injured badly trying to defend the camp against those creatures. Berun asked Kyrila to legitimate her trip to Cantopia and openly suggested that maybe she was not a good leader for the Rebellion at all.

This led to a quick duel of wits in which Kyrila managed to humiliate Berun deeply by telling him to remember his place in the hierarchy and presenting the blueprints of the Bronze Juggernaut that would enable the rebels to finally seek open conflict with Marduk’s forces and his powerful allies. Berun reacted by cursing at Princess Kyrila which ruined his good standing among the other rebel warriors and so it happened that Berun was stripped of his rank and sentenced to a public whipping for his transgressions.

After the duel of wits, the session was mostly over, leaving only Baldur to decipher the blueprints of the Bronze Moloch and Kyrila trying a circles test to find an NPC that would be able to create a regional map of the woodlands between Lake Tangir and the Plateau of Cantopia from the PCs descriptions. The latter was successful, leaving the heroes with the name of a certain Thara, the cousin of one of the rebels who was supposed to live in Arcadia were she was employed at the local academy. Anyway, Baldur failed his test for deciphering the blueprints and so his calculations about how much bronze, how many workers and how a big a workshop will be required to construct the Bronze Juggernaut will finally turn out to be somewhat off.

—

That’s it, so far. Baldur’s quest for the fabled Mystificator is finally over, leaving him with an even bigger one as constructing the Juggernaut will be a huge challenge. Anyway, Kyrila will most certainly help him as this weapon will hopefully enable her to defeat her father in the upcoming battle of Nimrod. Hygelak has found a first hint on his origins and will be doing some research in Arcadia – as that’s the place were the party will go next. So another journey through Ethrea imminent and finally there will be some good social interaction in the Free City of Arcadia where it’s all about whom you know and who knows you.

Raising the Stakes

Stefan (Hygelak’s player) just asked me about a new mechanism to set obstacles for tests. As tests are negotiated in Burning Wheel, he proposed that one might allow to lower the obstacle as a tradeoff for more dire consequences of failure. For example, consider the following situation:

Hygelak wants to use his Oratory (task) in order to instigate a riot in the streets of Arcadia that will cause enough of a distraction for the group to break into a nearby building without being noticed by the guards (intent). The GM decides that failure in this test results in a riot that will be dispersed very quickly on the guards’ first movement so that the heroes will be caught in the act when they leave the house some minutes later. The obstacle to cause an uprising in the peaceful citizens of Arcadia is set to 5.

Now Hygelak offers to raise the stakes: For a -1 Ob, he is willing to accept that upon failure out of all the houses surrounding the market place, the rioting mob decides to set fire to the very house into which the group has broken.

I’m not sure whether or not this is a good idea. On the one hand this basically means complications for which there already is a mechanism in Burning Wheel, although there is an important difference: Modifying the obstacle does not only affect the chances to realize the stated intent, it might also affect advancement because a challenging test might become difficult and a difficult test might become routine. That way, the player gains momentum to drive the advancement of his character’s skills in the way he wants by offering new complications and story twists – possibly.

And that’s why I am uncertain about this rule: Complications as defined by Burning Wheel allow the character to achieve the stated intent even though he has failed his test. This is a boon that allows the player to ensure the plot goes in the direction intended by him – even if only indirectly because of the upcoming complications. This mechanic has also to be fueled by artha.

The “Raising the Stakes” mechanic as presented by Stefan is another beast: The obstacle is lowered before it is clear whether or not the complications take effect, and then you gain the additional benefit of possibly shifting difficulty categories in your own favor. At the very least, this should be another artha burner.

I also feel that granting bonus dice would be more in line with the existing mechanics as obstacles are forever only raised by the circumstances, never lowered. Anything that goes in the actor’s favor essentially manifests as bonus dice.

Unfortunately, artha dice don’t count towards advancement, so if you pay a fate point to raise the stakes and gain a bonus die by accepting graver consequences of failure, you don’t get the momentum concerning controlled advancement as described above. You just improve your odds to succeed at what you’re doing which can also be done by the regular complications mechanism that would actually be more powerful (which is why I wrote “fate point” above).

So I guess, I will try this option in our next session although I remain sceptical.

Escape from Cantopia

After Baldur had recovered from his wounds, the party returned to the ruin of the pentagonal tower and finished their work, cleaning the debris from the staircase. After that they descended into a  pentagonal chamber about twice as large as the ground floor of the tower. The only feature of the room was sliding door of bronze mesh flanked by two statues of bald-headed men holding bronze tools in their hand. Interestingly, the statues did not resemble natural humans as the artist had carefully avoided any round surfaces and instead composed them of various triangular or polygonal faces, giving them a sharp and somewhat calculated appearance.

Beyond the sliding door there was a lift shaft and it was Hygelak’s successful Sculpture test helped by Baldur’s ancient knowledge that revealed that the heads of the statues could be turned by 90 degrees so that they faced each other and with metallic noises, an elevator platform rose from the darkness below.

Foresighted enough, the heroes realized that they didn’t have any light sources and so they returned to the surface were Baldur tested his Beginner’s Luck for Scavenging in order to find inflammable lamp oil in one of the surrounding buildings – and failed. The consequence was that Baldur actually did find a cask of lamp oil, yet the scent of the burning liquid would attract the attention of the vicious spider hybrids.

At the bottom of the elevator, the heroes discovered a huge subterraneam complex that appeared to be some kind of temple hallowed to mathematics and science. Unfortunately for them, the temple was also connected to the lair of the spider hybrids, and while Hygelak successfully tested his speed to copy a complex mathematical equation that was carved into the surface of the central altar using sheets of parchment from Baldur’s backpack and the grime-stained thigh bone they had fashioned into a torch in an Indy-Jonesish fashion, about one hundred of the eight-legged monstrosities crawled out of the loges that dotted the walls of the room on four stories.

The heroes appeared to be doomed as the monsters approached them but then, they realized that one of the abominations was indeed quite bit larger then its specimen and also appeared to ancient with its wrinkled, spotted face and its long silvery-white hair and beard. This elder spider began to speak, introducing itself as Zhagratax, Lord of Cantopia. Although Zhagratax didn’t have the PCs killed on sight, he was rather hostile and asked for a good reason why he should not feed the intruders to his underlings right now. Only when Baldur mentioned his quest for the Mystificator did Zhagratax raise his brows suspiciously and engage in a DoW with Hygelak (“You have illegally trespassed the borders of my realm. My underlings should eat you alive!” – “Listen to what we can offer, maybe we can strike a bargain that is more useful to you than dividing three human corpses among one hundred hungry spiders.”).

Hygelak used his Oratory as the main dueling skill while Zhagratax relied on his (not so good) interrogation and the bodies of argument started at 9 for Hygelak and 7 for his arachnid adversary. The duel took two exchanges and at the end, Hygelak could convince Zhagratax, that the heroes could be useful to his agenda, indeed. Zhagratax then stated that the heroes would not be eaten, at least not now, and had them instead imprisoned in the crypt below.

Down in the catacombs, the heroes found the final resting place of about thirty priests that had been buried in niches in the wall in three concentric circles around a central chamber with two stone sarcophagi with ornately sculpted lids that displayed a man and a woman lying on their backs. The statues had the same precisely calculated look as those at the upper exit of the lift shaft and when Hygelak inspected them closely, he realized that the amulet of the female lid figure actually showed the crest of his own family.

In order to lift the sarcophagi’s lids, Baldur tested his Beginner’s Luck for Scavenging again, successfully retrieving a steel elbow from one of the burial niches in circular corridors surrounding the central chamber. With a successful power test, Baldur removed the lids from the sarcophagi without breaking them or making noise, revealing two skeletons that had been buried with rich pieces of grave furniture, most notably jewelry worth five dice of cash on hand.

A few hours later, Zhagratax summoned the PCs for an audience and told them that the fabled Mystificator was guarded by a individual called the Puppeteer who resides in a great manor on another hilltop (Cantopia is built on three hills). Zhagratax asked the characters to kill the Puppeteer who was his nemesis and deliver his head to the subterranean church of science. He even gave them a spell-powered lighting thrower, a mighty weapon that would allow them to kill the mighty Puppeteer. Zhagratax also promised the characters that they may take the Mystificator for themselves.

Thus, the heroes left the subterranean cathedral and head to the Puppeteer’s manor on the opposing hilltop. There, they discovered a huge square structure with a perfectly round dome on top. The building only had a single entrance that was not locked, yet a mighty curse prevented the Puppeteer and his minions to leave just as well as it hindered Zhagratax’s spider hybrids to enter.

Inside there was a vase chamber with a circular collonade that supported the dome above. In the middle of the room, a bald-headed man was sitting on the floor, obviously meditating, who turned his headed in mechanical manner when the PCs entered. He then spoke to them with a metallic voice and it was obvious that this was no living creature but a masterfully crafted mechanical guardian. When the explorers told him that they wished to talk to the Puppeteer, the guardian stepped back a number of arcs descended into the perfectly smooth marbe floor to form a spiral staircase leading down.

The heroes descended the stairs and emerged in a chamber that was connected to a long corridor by an archway. The corridor was flanked on both sides by about one hundred alcoves in each of which another mechanical guardian was standing and staring at the newcomers motionlessly.

The heroes walked down the corridor and finally came to another big circular chamber in the center of which a gaunt old man with a bald head, clad in a brown loincloth was sitting on the floor. This man turned out to be the Puppeteer, one of the two legendary engineers of ancient Cantopia and lifetime rival of Zhagratax. He explained to the heroes that in the days of the Cataclysm, he had refused to enter the pact with the Devil Norimaar and had thus escaped the cruel fate that had befallen Zhagratax and his fellows.

He had, however, also refused to join the ranks of the invading archangel Thereniel and has thus been imprisoned by the Angelic warlord and cursed to spend an eternity in his manor in Cantopia. When asked about the Mystificator, the Puppeteer deliberately told the heroes that not this device was his greates achievement but what was hidden within it – for the Mystificator was a cryptologic device in the form of a copper column that composed of pivoted discs with numbers and letters and obscure symbols on them. Only if those discs were brought into the correct constellation and a lever was pulled would the Mystificator reveal the secret contained within. Pulling the lever with the discs in the wrong constellation would however, destroy the treasure that was stored in the column.

Fortunately for the PCs, the Puppeteer offered them right away to give them what was inside for it was of no use to him anymore. This treasure turned out to be the blue prints for the most advanced technical device the Puppeteer – and any mortal engineer – had ever developed: The Bronze Juggernaut, a gargantuan mechanical rhino powered by magical energy that would trample the ranks of enemy, raze fortifications with its massive head and burn its creator’s foes in a cone of flames from its mouth.

The Puppeteer had developed this ultimate weapon in long years but then he has never been able to actually construct it for Thereniel’s curse held him captive his own manor and the construction of the Bronze Juggernaut would require large amounts of bronze as well as a huge construction hall and a massive forge – so he gave the blueprints to Baldur in whom he saw a promising aspirant who might realize his grand plans and use the Juggernauts for noble ends, as they both shared an urgent need for independence from both Angels and Devils.

Yet the Puppeteer knew just as well as the heroes that Zhagratax would not simply let them walk out of Cantopia with the blueprints of the Bronze Juggernaut in their bags. So it was Kyrila who proposed that the Puppeteer should construct a flying vehicle with which they could take off from the manor’s domed roof and fly to safety. I really loved that idea and so I decided that this should not be a big challenge for the Puppeteer with his G7 Engineering skill – and it happened that two days later, the PCs managed to escape from Cantopia, flying over the ruined city’s roofs with gliders fashioned from wood and cloth like the flying devices envisioned by Leonardo DaVinci.

Zhagratax and his vile specimen could do nothing but hiss in fury and hatred at the humans that had tricked them and betrayed their alliance – yet for Hygelak, Baldur and Kyrila, the adventure has just begun.

I messed up my character – no you didn’t

Welcome to this first installment in a new category called “Meta” that will not deal with the events in our campaign only, but look at Burning Wheel in general as well as on any random topics that might come up during play. I have a list of issues about which I’m going to write articles so be patient if the stuff I address here does not occur to you as the problem that should be addressed first – it might still be covered in one of the future articles.

This time, I want to talk about a problem that actually is none or, at least, appears to be bigger at first glance, than it really is. On the way back from Flo’s place after the last gaming afternoon, I talked to Stefan about his character and how he has messed up the latter’s skill selection, BITs and general setup. We both agreed that Hygelak’s skills are not all that helpful in the current game situation (exploring a ruined city in a remote mountain area that is infested with vicious spellcasting spider-hybrids).

First of all, Hygelak obviously isn’t an optimized character and is clearly the result of a first shot at character burning: He only has four skills, two of which are rather exotic and not very helpful in most conflicts (the skills in question are Philosophy and Sculpture). Furthermore, Hygelak has quite, well, weird BITs that I as a GM find very hard to challenge (“Don’t trust bearded men unless they’re redheads”).

At the gaming table, the result of this setup is that Hygelak constantly has to test skills that he has no points in, so he tests his Beginner’s Luck over and over and fails from one desaster to the next. Stefan asked me, if we could sit together in the group and rework the characters mechanically as then, after about 6 to 8 gaming sessions, we will have a better feel for the system and can take better informed decisions. Back then, I agreed to that idea but thinking about it, I tend to say that this isn’t necessary at all. So why’s that, you might be asking.

The simple answer to this question is that in Burning Wheel, there isn’t such a thing as messing up your character as long as you don’t get him/her killed. If you’ve taken the “wrong” skills, you will face unfavorable odds at the beginning and fail a lot of tests. I know that this has been annoying to my players as they had imagined their characters a little more “heroic”, so to say. Anyway, failing is not a bad thing because a failed test doesn’t mean that the PCs won’t achieve their goals (i.e. Beliefs) – it only means that the intent of the task at hand is not realized.

As a GM, I really try hard to come up with cool complications as a result of failed tests that actually do add a twist to the story and possibly lead your characters to new paths they wouldn’t have trodden if they didn’t fail to achieve their initial goals. Just remember Kyrila’s failed Orienteering test on the way from the rebel camp to Cantopia that resulted in the exploration of the cavern with the Child of Norimaar and earned Hygelak the Hellbound trait that has already led to cool situations and will allow him to unlock the secrets of Sorcery in the future if he wants to pursue this path (he could also state a belief to seek redemption in order to get rid of the Hellbound trait which would be at least equally awesome).

So, first thing to remember: Failing is not a bad thing because it creates unforseen story twists. I will hit you guys hard if you fail, but I won’t kill you (deliberately, that is). You will bleed but you won’t bleed to death. And after your wounds have healed, you will emerge from struggle stronger than ever.

Which leads us to the second reason why we don’t need to rework the characters: During the last session, the advancement mechanics finally fired because the characters had earned sufficient tests or this ability or that skill. There are also many Skills Being Learned on the character sheets that will soon open as new skills, so formerly difficult tasks in which the heroes have failed in the past will become more and more achievable – allowing them to fail at greater things.

That being said, I agree that the system did game us to a certain degree as nobody of us is sufficiently comfortable with the rules in order to play them to our own advantage. So what I actually mean is that the players certainly will get a better grip on writing good beliefs and insticts that will guide the development of their characters in the direction intended by them: Want to advance your character’s wilderness survival type skills? Great – just write a belief that involves traveling through the wilds to search for the mighty X of Y (just happened because of Baldur’s Mystificator-belief). Feel like your character needs to develop more expertise on the social battlefield? Let me know that by writing a Belief that says that you want to go to the Free City of Arcadia to find allies for your cause (whom you could then circle up).

For my part as a GM, I promise to try harder to incorporate those BITs in the game and make them the central pivot point of each and every gaming session. That way, the Artha Wheel will start turning. Characters will gain points that allow them to try harder tests and push the advancement of their abilities. I also promise that once we have finished the current story arc that involves finding the Mystificator and overthrowing chieftain Marduk, there will be a ingame downtime of about one year that the characters can use to find instructors for skills they want to learn or advance, practice on their own or pursue personal goals (= Beliefs) which we can play out in 1on1 sessions or via Skype.

Finally, there still is the pentagonal tower that appeared in Cantopia only because a test was failed – and although I still have no clue on what it contains, I do have decided that there will be something helpful inside. Just don’t make the mistake to believe that I will give it away for free, whatever it may be.

Corkscrews Of Heavenly Wrath

The heroes have continued their exploration of the ruined city of Cantopia. After having defeated one of the scary spider-hybrids, Baldur and his friends examined the ruin of a small temple on a plaza several hundred paces from the city gates. The crumbled dome was endorned with bas-reliefs that showed human figures with various tools and technical devices who were working on machines of all kinds.

One relief was particularly interesting as it showed a tower with a pentagonal layout and a huge gear on the top. As there weren’t any other hints, the party decided to start their search for the Mystificator at this tower – as soon as they could manage to find the building.

To this end, Kyrila took the lead and made her companions follow her to the top of the highest of the three hills on which Cantopia had been built. From there, the party could actually spot a pentagonal structure, although it was a mere ruin and not a miraculously high tower with a gear on the top. Still, it appeared to be the building that they have been looking for and so the party ventured there and although Kyrila did her best to lead her friends through small alleys and avoid any unwanted attention, the tinkerer and the philosopher obviously were unable to keep their mouths shut and so – not yet known to the explorers – two spider hybrids that were lairing in a nearby building stealthily followed the group over piles of debris and through alleys and dark backyards.

When the heroes passed through what must have been a residential house, Baldur picked up an ancient device from table that looked as if the inhabitants had been interrupted in their last meal as there were still dishes on the table, covered in a thick layer of dust. The device Baldur picked up was an old corkscrew – a not so complex but still very rare mechanical tool. This little household helper should prove to become very helpful, later.

Some minutes later, the adventurers arrived at the ruined pentagonal tower which had a massive bronze front door and appeared to be shaped from a single gargantuan block of snow-white marble with greenish veining. The door that was completely covered with verdigris seemed to be stuck and could be opened by a rather complex machinery that consisted of various gears, poles and other parts. In order to open the door, a key was needed.

Although the tower didn’t have a roof anymore, climbing the smooth marble surface might have been difficult and Kyrila wasn’t too kind on trying, remembering her fall back on the mountain ridge. So Baldur decided that he would try to pick the lock. With his brand-new corkscrew. Ok, I thought and handed out an Ob 4 Lockpick test for a complex lock, knowing that Baldur did not have the lockpick skill, so it would effectively be an Ob 8 test, modified by another +1 Ob penalty for less-than-optimal tools (a frickin’ corkscrew, remember?).

Baldurs player asked if his Geometry Training would apply which I did allow, as well as FoRKing in Mending and a helping die from Hygelak’s Blacksmith skill (which was perhaps not quite correct, but corkscrew it). Investing a persona point, Baldur’s player rolled a total of nine open-ended dice (Perception test!) and, well, he instantly produced 8 successes with several 6s that exploded to come up with the final required success to meet the nigh-impossible obstacle. Very cool, Baldur will from now on be known as MacGyver of Nimrod.

Inside the tower, the party discovered a spiral stair that led downwards to the basement, but unfortunately it was impassable because of the debris of the collapsed upper stories. The heroes immediately began the tedious task of clearing the stairway and only Baldur noticed the two spider hybrids that came suddenly crawling over the outer tower walls.

Kyrila succeeded at her Steel test vs. Surprise (which had a +1D advantage because the party had succeeded at an Observation test before the intent of which had been: “We are very cautious and always look out for approaching enemies). Hygelak, however, failed to overcome his hesitation by 3 and ran away from the tower and down the street, screaming like a little girl.

This also sprang the Raw Talent rules and so Hygelak gained the Notorious Liar trait for the duration of the scene. Well – it didn’t make that much of a difference – and neither did the Batshit trait which he received later in the following fight as result of another failed Steel test that was caused by one of the Cantopians casting The Fear.

The aformentiond fight that did follow now was A) lengthy and B) very suspenseful. Kyrila drew her sword while Baldur picked up some rocks from the ground to throw, yet one of the hybrids cast The Fear and so, by the end of volley one, the entire party was fleeing cowardly from the tower. The spiders raced after their prey, slashing with their razor-sharp forelegs and hissing insiduously. When the spiders (that had a serious advantage in positioning due to their higher Speed multiplier and their B5 Speed) reached Kyrila and Baldur some fifty paces from the tower, both critters pushed their opponent off their feet and struck them with their forelegs.

Both Kyrila and Baldur were wounded (some lights, some sufis), but then, they shuffled to their feet, held up sword and corkscrew and struck the spiders themselves. The fight lasted for several exchanges and although our wordy philosopher Hygelak turned out to be a swordmaster in disguise, the true turning point was, when one of the hybrids tried to cast The Fear again and failed. The result on the wheel of magic was something along the lines of White Enhance Presence and so forth. I therefore decided that the PCs weapons began to burn with heavenly fire and would from there on grant a +1D advantage when used to strike Devils or anybody with the Hellbound trait and would also grant a +1 bonus to Power against those enemies.

So, bleeding from several wounds, the heroes finally managed to drive of the spiders. Although Kyrila and Hygelak did recover quite well from their wounds, Baldur still had a total of 3 light wounds for -3D. So the party decided to search for a relatively safe hideout so that Baldur could rest (it would take him 60 hours to recover completely). This however, did not work out, and the party was continuously forced to move to another hideout because spiders were crawling through the shadows outside (very tense atmosphere at this point).

Finally, the heroes did manage to find a safe resting place, but  all in all, they will have to rest for 72 hours until Baldur’s wound penalties will go away.

All in all, the game was a blast. The fight took almost 2 hours but that is mostly because some of us aren’t all that comfortable with rules yet which are a bit hard to learn in the first place (especially for a complete RPG newcomer like Kyrila’s player). I also deliberately did not tell the players about the possibility to forfeit an action in order to keep confusion low – of course the enemies didn’t use the rule, neither. We will introduce it in the next Fight! that will surely arise sooner or later.

There have also been some advancements like Baldur’s Perception which has gone up to B5, as well as Kyrila’s Stealthy and/or Orienteering (not completely sure here). We will hopefully play again around Jan 10, and then the party will finally descend into the basement of the pentagonal tower – which is, by the way, not the place where the Mystificator can be found: The PCs have failed the test when they tried to interpret the bas-reliefs on the temple dome.

Anyway, they will find something cool in the tower basement. I know I’ve hit them hard and it’s about time they get some reward for the blood they’ve shed… What might this reward turn out to be? Well, I really have no idea so far, but I’m sure, that I can make something up till next time.

Welcome to Cantopia

Kyrila, Hygelak and Baldur had recently explored a cavern into which they had fled from an unnatural weather phenomenon (acidic rain). In the cave they had freed an infernal creature called a “Child of Norimaar”. The cavern floor had then collapsed beneath the adventurers’ feet and they fell into a fast-flowing subterranean stream, lost consciousness and regained it only as they had been washed ashore on a sandy beach from which they could leave the cave and step out onto a moonlit rocky outcropping above a forest valley that was rising towards a mountain ridge behind which the heroes suspected the ancient city of Cantopia.

In the last session, the three explorers travelled through the forest valley, Baldur successfully tested his Beginner’s Luck Firebuildung and finally they reached the rocky slope leading up to the ridge. Kyrila took the lead and climbed up there but failed her Beginner’s Luck climbing test, tripped, fell and took a superficial wound from which she recovered instantly. After tying her rope to a solid rock on the ridge, Hygelak and Baldur could follow without risking to fall down.

Up there, the party discovered a mountain plateau dotted with huge boulders and dwarf-pines. On the horizon to the east they spotted the outlines of a walled city. The heroes decided to wait until nightfall so they could cross the plateau without being noticed. They failed their Stealthy tests, anyway, so one of the inhabitants of Cantopia who have been turned into spider-hybrid monstrosities by infernal magic, decades ago, spotted them as they approached the city in the silvery light that the full moon cast over the rocky plateau.

The three of them entered the ruined city through a massive city gate and began to walk down a formerly wide and heavily used street that was covered with piles of debris from the ruined buildings that rose against the night sky at both sides.

After some paces, all three PCs succeeded at their Beginner’s Luck Observation tests vs. the Beginner’s Luck Stealthy of one of the Cantopian spider-hybrids, so they spotted the monster as it crawled down from a pile of debris into a shadowy alley. The adventurers decided to bypass said alley on the other side of the street and try not to disturb the human-headed beast.

Anyway, after another 30 meters or so, they heard a pebble roll down from one of the piles behind them, turned and now spotted the spider-beast in all its glory sitting atop the pile and observing them warily. It turned out that the spider could actually talk (surprise!), yet there wasn’t much conversation as both sides were full of mistrust, and when Baldur decided to light a torch to keep the approaching vermin away, the spider interpreted that as an aggressive act and cast The Horror – successfully. Kyrila and Baldur both totally failed their Steel tests and ran screaming deeper into the city while Hygelak decided to Stand and Drool.

He had earned the Hellbound trait in the last session, however, and we are using a variant of the Raw Talent rules from the Magic Burner. So we rolled the dice and Hygelak got the Horned trait for the duration of the scene: Suddenly a pair of large curved horns emerged from his forehead. This caused the man-spider to halt and hiss: “Interesting, so you’re alleged to the Dark Master as well!”

I don’t remember completely, how the situation finally escalated but it began with Hygelak saying something about Norimaar. The spider had an instinct that said “Never speak the Dark Master’s name aloud”, so it begged Hygelak not to do so neither – which he ignored and finally the situation grew so threatening that Hygelak reached for his sword that he had dropped to the ground before and a Fight! emerged.

Hygelak acted very defensively and the superior spider attacked him with vicious blows from its Bladed Tarsi but didn’t manage to lock the sculptor which would have sealed his fate most probably (lucky dice for Hygelak in this one!).

Finally, Kyrila entered the conflict and targeted the spider with her bow. The first arrow didn’t hit the spider but the second one produced a superb hit, B10 damage, spider gone.

That’s when the session ended so next time, the players will have to figure out why Hygelak could suddenly grow horns and they will have to explore the ruins of Cantopia and find the Mystificator – whatever that might be.

What Lurks Below

We played with the Nimrod group yesterday and had quite an eventful session. The player characters had left behind Nimrod and travelled to the rebel camp in the forest. After having lunch the party went to rest. The next day, Horatio/Hygelak started out inquiring about a cooperative NPC who had formerly been a close contact of chieftain Marduk and was willing to share information about the tribal leader (independently from princess Kyrila, that is). Unfortunately, the circles test failed and we invoked the enmity clause:

Berun, a proven rebel warrior, respected by his fellows for his bravery in battle and loyalty to his friends, approached Kyrila to tell her that he and some other rebels were concerned about the stranger snuffing around in the camp. Berun made the point that this weird guy could very well be Marduk’s spy and cause great distress to the Woodland Rebellion. Kyrila on the other hand made clear that she trusted Horatio because he had risked his life for the rebels’ cause – and then she insisted on trusting her instinct which had never betrayed so far.

Berun still disagreed and wanted Kyrila to arrest Horatio so he could not gather information that he might then share with Marduk. Now it was Kyrila’s “Never allow anyone to question my authority” instinct that had her engage Berun in a DoW on the matter. Kyrila used her Oratory while Berun relied on Interrogation. Rebels were gathering around the pair and all eyes were on them while they argued the case of Horatio/Hygelak. The bodies of argument were 4 for Kyrila and 6 for Berun respectively – no successes on the roll for the princess, so she was starting out on less than great conditions.

Kyrila’s script was point, rebuttal, dismiss while I had scripted point, feint, dismiss for Berun. In the first volley, both sides reduced their opponent’s BOA by 2 points. In the second volley, Berun asked flatly, which bits of concrete information Kyrila could present about Horatio. The princess who had prepared herself to rebut Berun’s argumentation was suddenly caught flat-footed and didn’t know what to say – bad, bad luck. But then, I rolled only 1 success on 4 dice, so Kyrila was still in the game for the last volley in which both sides had scripted a dismiss. Berun argued that the Woodland Rebellion should not rely on strangers as they could not be trusted for which the Evangelists’ machinations were a perfect proof. Kyrila, on the other hand, told Berun to remember his rank and that she was in charge and would not allow him to question his authority. After rolling the dice, both sides’ BOA was reduced to zero and so the duel ended in a tie.

The intents that were stated before the DoW were “Horatio will be arrested while in camp if Berun wins” and “Berun will be charged with patrol duty for the next two weeks if Kyrila wins.” As a compromise, Kyrila agreed to do not allow Horatio to stroll about without her in camp while she completely clear to Berun that he should better watch out as she would not acquiesce should he ever dare to question her authority again.

After this dispute had been settled, Esra, a rebel warrior who had died in the feigned attack on Nimrod to allow Kyrila and the others to flee from the city, was buried and then, Kyrila, Baldur and Horatio gathered supplies and set out to the wild in order to search the ancient city of Cantopia in the Stormpillar Mountains. Baldur had discovered hints on the so-called “Mystificator”, an ancient artifact of great yet unknown power. Which he had been planning to retrieve for months and had asked Kyrila for help in exchange for his support in the prisoner liberation back in Nimrod. Baldur had left his workshop behind and so Kyrila felt obliged to accompany Baldur – even if only she was curious about this legendary device that might prove to be a powerful weapon in her war against her father Marduk.

Baldur also had an old map of the region but unfortunately, the landscape had been changed during the cataclysm, so the ancient map was not very accurate any more. Kyrila, being on her home turf, tried a Orienteering test (Ob 2) to find the way to Cantopia. She failed and so the party got lost and was eventually caught in a supernatural rainstorm with acidic drops pouring down on them. In order not to get burnt by the acid rain, the three adventurers sought refuge in a nearby cave.

A natural corridor sloped down into the flank of a rocky outcropping and finally ended at a whole in the floor, revealing a subterranean lake in the chamber below that was illuminated by iridescent algae. As the corridor was sloped and the rainstorm seemed to intensify outside, the heroes decided that they would have to jump down into the lake in order to escape the corrosive water that would soon flow down the rocky floor.

Down there, they swam to the shore of the small lake and discovered to corridors leading from the chamber, one in a northern, the other in a southern direction. As the northern corridor reeked of sulphur, the heroes decided that it would be better to follow the other one. Their confidence dwindled, anyway, when from the darkness ahead, a legion of giant woodlouses approached them – crawling backwards and in a perfect rank and file formation. Obviously, something strange was going on.

The PCs still decided to follow the corridor and finally reached another small chamber. In which they encountered a bloated amorphous creature covered in chitinous plates that peered upon them from multiple facetted eyes and welcomed them with a raspy voice that emerged from a jaw that was armed with razorsharp mandibles. “Ah, finally some visitors!” the creature hissed. As the PCs were frightened by the monstrous appearance of the creature, they were standing there in shock and awe while the monster explained that it was A) very hungry and would B) eat them if they C) didn’t free it by breaking the celestial seal in the chamber at the end of the northern corridor. Obviously this creature was some kind of Devil and had been imprisoned by Angelic forces during the Great Judgement.

Surprisingly, the adventurers agreed and went to the other chamber that was the only artificially created room in the complex and contained a shrine of the Arch Angel Thereniel including an altar with an arcane seal upon it. The entire room was filled with the bodies of giant woodlouses that had obviously tried to reach the altar but were killed by some unseen force before they could reach the seal. After hesitating shortly, Horatio approached the altar and destroyed the seal with his sword. Some moments later, an invisble booming voice called out: “Fools! You have just freed a Son of Norimaar, a vile Devil from the Sulphurous Pits of Hell! An entire army of Angels was necessary to bind the creature in its prison, and now it will bring death and despair to the mortal men. For this, you shall burn in Hell!”

Then the voice fell silent and the earth began to shake below the characters’ feet as the cave complex began to collapse. The heroes fell through utter darkness for an unfathomable amount of time and finally they plunged into another body of water, black as ink and cold as ice. Moments later, they lost their consciousness.

When they awoke, they were lying on a narrow patch of a subterranean sand beach from were they could see an opening in the towering walls of the caverns through which silvery light fell into the cave. The heroes stood up and stumbled out of the dark into the moonlit wilderness, finding themselves on a ridge above a pass overgrown with trees that led up into the mountains – just as depicted on Baldur’s ancient map.

—

So that was it, a fun game with some great new complications: Berun as a NPC that might question Kyrila’s authority and step up as a rival inside the Woodland Rebellion and, of course a mighty Devil that has been unleashed on the countryside. Horatio has also earned the Hellbound trait and will from now on be subject to the Raw Talent rules.

Them giant snakes ‘ave stolen me purse, I swear!

Last Saturday, the Burning Ethrea campaign continued when Daphne arrived in the village of Harran where she wanted to contact Mariam, Diodorus’ lover. Unfortunately, Daphne arrived late in the village so she sought out the local tavern to have supper and rest so she could begin her search for Mariam in the next morning.

Now, in that tavern (“The Honest Heron”), there were some more travellers, namely Maximus, a mercenary, his companion Iapocet (?), a strider from the wilds and a young drunkard called Hector who happened to be an itinerant performer and was standing on one of the tavern tables, trying to perform a tragic monologue (and failing utterly, due to his inability to voice comprehensible words).

Suddenly, two men in black leather armour entered the room, spotting Hector and heading over to his table. One of the thugs greeted the young actor and alluded to a man called Brutus who wanted his money back. Hector immediately started a new performance, talking about giant snakes in the forest who had taken his purse… pure awesome.

Nonetheless, the thugs were not amused. One of them grabbed Hector’s leg and pulled him down the table. When the drunkard rumbled to the ground, the surrounding conversations fell silent. Daphne was aroused by her “help people and animals in danger” instinct and approached Iacopet and Maximus who look like able men. She asked them to help the performer as he clearly couldnt do so himself. Iacopet agreed, tried to intervene and told the thug that did the pulling that there surely were less violent means to settle his dispute with the boy. He tried to persuade the thug (thug’s Will 4, double obstacle = 8) and failed (not surprisingly). The failure clause for this test was that the thugs would turn hostile towards Iacopet and forget about Hector for the moment.

So they immediately turned their attention to the strider and told him to mind his own business – which the strider did not. When he continued to ask the thugs to leave the performer alone, one them suddenly threw a fist at him. Fight!

In the first exchange, Iacopet scripted Block, Avoid, Push while the thug scripted Strike, Push, Physical Act (to overturn a table for cover). Maximus also engaged in the conflict and scripted Draw Weapon, Push (to push Iacopet out of the way) and Block, so it worked out like this:

Iacopet reacted quickly to the thug’s attack blocking the first blow with his bare hand. Then the thug tried to push Iacopet to the ground but the strider took an elegant sidestep and avoided the thug’s grip. Then, Maximus tried to push Iacopet aside, but the latter sidestepped this attempt as well with a knee-jerk reaction. He then hit the thug on the shoulder with a precise strike from the edge of his hand which was reflected by the thugs leather armour.

In the second exchange, only the first volley was played out, in which the thug unsheathed his sword and Iacopet Tried to push the thug himself but failed. Then suddenly Maximus exclaimed a yell of fury and delivered a devastating blow from his quarterstaff against the thugs larynx who gurgled and fell to his knees (superb hit, B10 damage, amour test results in 1).

This immediately ended the conflict. Silence filled the tavern room and suddenly someone yelled: “He’s killed ‘im!” Immediately, Maximus realized that he might very vell have slain that thug witnessed by about a dozen tavern patrons. “We must leave this place!” Daphne decided as she felt responsible for the situation (and also was the most experienced when it came to running away from a mob of angry pursuers).

LIKED
– Hector’s giant snake performance. The game only lasted an hour but he’s on a really good way to being voted MVP next time.
– The fight worked out quite well, it was fast and dramatic and resulted in a gorgeous situation (Maximus actually mortally wounded a thug of Brutus, the master of the Arcadian Thieves Guild and has now earned a 1D infamous reputation with the Arcadian Underworld).

DISLIKED
– Having to finish character burning has eaten up our time to play
– In the meantime, Hector’s player drank too much wine – well at least his performance was convincing (purse-stealing giant snakes, for God’s sake!)
– Distributing spotlight evenly on four player characters is quite difficult. I actually consider splitting the group in two (Hector/Daphne and Iacopet/Maximus).

Through the Oldoak Forest

Daphne has not yet reached Askalon. When she woke from her sleep, she felt her hunger raging vigorously. I allowed her to take another Foraging test with the failure clause of getting lost (7 dice vs. Ob 2, doubled to 4, +1 Ob disadvantage due to hunger – failure). Daphne was wandering through forest valley and over hilltops and collected whatever she could find – berries, mushrooms, roots. At noon, she was sitting below an old oak, having eaten and realizing that she had no idea on how to get back to her horse. I called for an Orienteering test (Base Ob 2, doubled to 4 – another failure). Daphne went astray in the forest and when she finally found her way back, her horse had wrested itself free and was nowhere to be found.

Fortunately for Daphne, her horse had left obvious tracks on the soft ground so she succeeded at an Ob 1 (2) Beginner’s Luck test for Tracking and finally found her horse on a small forest lake at nightfall. Daphne tied the beast to a tree and then climbed the latter and made rest in a comfortable crutch.

When the next morning came, Daphne continued her journey in an eastern direction. Just before noon, she found a road that was winding through the woods which Daphne took in order to advance a bit more quickly. After an hour or so, I had Daphne take a Perception test which she failed, so she didn’t notice the ambush she was riding into: Suddenly three men jumped out of the thickets before her, two in her back.

Startled as she was, Daphne took a Steel test and hesitated for 4 heartbeats. This activated her Raw Talent of course and as the infernal might built up in her mind, an Aura of Fear manifested around her, so the thugs – that were none other than her pursuers – hesitated as well, one heartbeat longer than Daphne did.

The girl took the chance and put spurs on her horse, the beast whinnied and reared up, trying to throw Daphne out of the saddle, but the girl held fast and finally the horse jumped over the thugs and down the road. Moments later the thugs ran for their own horses, cursing angrily – a chase!

Daphne’s horse failed all three linked Speed test and so a complication arose: A fawn had fallen into a hollow next to the road, whimperin miserably and obviously unable to escape the pod that was filled with water from the recent downpour. Out of compassion, Daphne went with her belief, jumped off her horse which continued to gallop down the road after receiving a clap on the back and having bit and bridle removed. She then climbed down to the pod, grabbed the fawn and bolted for a wayless scarp some paces farther away from the road. With 5 successes on 5 dice for her Beginner’s Luck climbing test (Ob 1, doubled to 2, +1 Ob disadvantage for carrying the fawn), Daphne managed to hustle up the slope with the dexterity of a monkey, leaving her pursuers behind.

When she had reached the top, Daphne realized, that the thugs were audibly arguing. One of them stated that they had continue their pursuit of the “witch”, the other disagreed, telling him that she was way beyond any area that was of interest to Arcadia and so they didn’t care about her any more. The other man grudgingly agreed, so eventually, the thugs left and Daphne was free to go wherever she liked (except for Arcadia, of course).

Daphne next tried another Beginner’s Luck Animal Husbandry test to assess the condition of the fawn, linked to a Beginner’s Luck Field Dressing test to splint the fawn’s right front leg which was broken – success, Fate point earned.

So Daphne’s could finally continue her journey, yet she was without a horse, again. After she had waited for a while to make sure her pursuers were really gone, Daphne climbed down the scarp again (Let it Ride) and tried to track down the beast – failure. The failure clause we had negotiated said that Daphne would be able to track her horse but the beast would have gotten into distress:

At sunset, Daphne arrived at a clearing in the middle of which there was the ruin of an ancient tower, desolate and crumbling overgrown with vines and obviously occupied as there was a reddish flickering light shining from the window holes, the merry tune of a fiddle, laughter and song could be heard. Daphne sneaked up to the building (Beginner’s Luck Stealthy vs. tower-dwellers’ Perception – success) and glanced into the building through one of the windows. Inside there were four men, sporting enormous beards, drinking wine out of bottles, dancing around a campfire and singing obscene songs – forest brigands as it occured to Daphne.

The tower also had a wooden outbuilding, obviously built more recently and with less skill than the tower itself. When Daphne approached that structure, she could hear a horse stamping its hooves and snorting inside. Daphne plucked up her couraged and knocked against the crudely crafted wooden door that was barely fitting into the door frame of the tower ruin.

Immediately, the fiddle ceased to play and song as well as laughter fell silent: “Who’s there?” a craggy voice asked from behind the door. Daphne didn’t reply but simply opened the door and entered which confronted her with four startled brigands pointing their weapons toward her. “Are ye mad, lass?” one of them, obviously the leader, asked with a confused expression on his face.

Daphne then explained to him that she had been a captive of a caravan of slave traders passing through the forest but she had managed to escape with one of the slavers’ horses but then she had been thrown out of the saddle and the beast had ran away. She had tracked it to the tower and now she was here.

When she mentioned the caravan, the brigands pricked up their ears and examined her doubtfully as they hadn’t seen any slaver caravans in this forest yet. Daphne insisted on her story and so I told her to take a Beginner’s Luck Falsehood test that would act as a linked test for her Oratory which she would then test in order to establish her Body of Argument for the following duel of wits. Daphne’s BoA was 7, the brigand got 0 successes from his test, so he only had his will – BoA 3. Daphne’s intent was to convince the brigands to go and look after the caravan in order to raid it. The brigand’s intent was to settle the fact that the girl’s story was nonsense and that there weren’t any slaver caravans passing through this forest.

In the first exchange, Daphne scripted point, point, point, the brigand leader scripted incite, avoid, rebuttal. Daphne added details to her story, trying to adapt her manner of speaking to the rude ways of the brigands and added some Soothing Platitudes as well as a little Seduction (dangerous game, you are playing, girl!). Anyway, she only to reduce the brigand’s Body of Argument to 1 during the first exchange, so another one was scripted. In that one Daphne started out with a Dismiss – successfully (but barely: 2 successes on 8 dice versus the Brigands 1 success on four dice).

The brigand leader looked to his companions unsurely: “Well, maybe, we should at least look after it?” The others agreed and so Daphne remained at the tower with the fiddle player while the other three brigands headed out into the twilight.

Once she was alone with the fiddle player, Daphne tried to convince him to leave the tower with her (I didn’t understand exactly *why* she was doing that, but anyway). Beginner’s Luck Persuasion, base Ob 3 (brigand’s will), doubled to 6, +1 Ob disadvantage for Daphne really having nothing to offer and the brigand having no reason to trust her and leave behind his companions; 4 dice from will, FoRK from Oratory, Seduction and Soothing platitudes, so 7 dice vs. Ob 7 – 2 successes – uh oh.

The fiddle player ceased playing, yelled at Daphne to shut her mouth because he couldn’t bear her gibberish any more, and then he grabbed her, bound her with a piece of rope and bumped her into the outbuilding next to her horse after kicking her with his boot for a light wound.

At dawn, the other brigands returned and, oh sweet surprise, they were in high spirits. They actually had found a “caravan”, a group of cowards on horses, armed with artisan tools who surrendered as soon as the first of them had taken a cut from the brigand leader’s sword. The bandits captured the horses as well as some coin and the tools of the cowards. Those cowards were Daphne’s former pursuers, of course. The brigand leader ordered the fiddle player to immediately release the girl from the outbuilding. He told her that she was a nice little rascal, laughed and finally introduced himself as Diodorus, King of the Oldoak Forest.

He then asked Daphne for another favour: He had once been a simple peasant in a village east of the forest, called Harran. When he was caught committing adultery with his brother’s wife Mariam, he was exiled from the small community and forced into a brigand’s life. Yet Mariam had been beaten terribly by her husband and back then, Diodorus had promised her that the two of them would leave Harran and travel to the free city of Arcadia were nobody knew them so they could start a new life. Diodorus finally asked Daphne to travel to Harran, contact Mariam and convey a message to her for him.

This is a minor complication I introduced because Daphne had failed every single test that happened after the Duel of Wits. She was at the fiddle player’s mercy and didn’t succeed at anything that would have granted her freedom. So I played on her belief to “Always concede a favour” to throw another obstacle in her way that she will have to overcome until she finally reaches Askalon.

—

So that’s it for now. Actually I had a rather hard time as a GM because Daphne failed almost every test (except the easy ones in which she got 5 successes on 5 dice). Interpreting failure is cool but if there’s only failure, the story meanders a little aimlessly. Maybe, in our next game, we will start out with 4 LP characters.

Advancement is also pretty slow at the moment because most of Daphne’s skills are not that useful in the wilderness (Read, Write, Oratory, Seduction, Soothing Platitudes and Book-wise) and it takes an eternity to open a skill via Beginner’s Luck (Daphne still needs at least 3 more tests for her skills being learned). Anyway, she is only 1 challenging test from advancing her Speed to B5.

Conclusion: Prefer a variety of low exponent skills to a set of very limited but good skills during character burning.

Escape from Arcadia

Yesterday I played out another vignette with my girlfriend who plays Daphne, a young noble woman from the Free City of Arcadia. Her family has been engaged in devil worship and was hence slaughtered by an angry mob of citizens with Daphne being the sole survivor, as in the light of certain death, something stirred within the darkest corners of the girl’s soul and suddenly, the rioters fled from her in panic.

Daphne managed to run to the stables, jump on the back of a horse and bolt through the city gates, leaving behind the city of Arcadia. When Daphne hit the road, our session began.

Riding along the cobblestone street, Daphne realized that behind her, that behind her in the dark, there were fiery dots in the darkness, marking the torches of a group of citizens who had taken horses themselves to pursue her.

It had started to rain, so Daphne decided it would be best to search for a hiding place in a nearby village. Unfortunately, Daphne had been a rather studious girl in the past few years, so she had spent a lot of time in the library of the Academy of Arcadia, yet neither had she explored the countryside nor had she learned riding so only with luck she found a village in which she hid her horse in an already partially occupied stable and the sneaked into a tiny hovel were she waited until her pursuers had passed by (so far we had some Beginner’s Luck tests for Countryside-Wise, Riding and Stealthy as well as a Routine test for Perception which didn’t count for advancement because of Daphne’s B5 Perception).

Shortly after the mob had passed by, the door of the farm opened and the farmer’s silhouette appeared in the door frame. Only now did Daphne realize that she was soaked to the skin, tired, hungry and freezing and so she stepped out of the hovel to address the farmer, not even minding to put the rope back in its place which she had grabbed before.

As she approached the farmer, the man started to shout at her: “Who in Heaven’s name are you? Come no closer, I warn you.”. While he was talking he fidgeted with a wooden club in Daphne’s direction. In turn, the girl tried to use her Seduction in skill in order to play on her weakness, helplessness and miserable condition. I granted her an advantage dice for being soaked to the skin and also allowed her to fork Soothing Platitudes (an honorable man like you wouldn’t leave a miserable girl out in the rain, would you?). The dice were cast – failure. “Shut your mouth, lass! Your kind ain’t welcome here!” and then he added: “Wait a moment – is that MY rope you are carrying?” angrily he raised his club and stepped up on Daphne, trying to hit her with the club.

Daphne tried to toss the rope at the angry farmer, gloriously failing with three dice on an Ob 1 (2) Beginner’s Luck test for throwing as the dice all came up as 1s. So Daphne tossed the rope to the ground and then the farmer hit her hard with the club, inflicting a light wound before Daphne managed to crawl away into the night.

Although having been beaten and being bruised, Daphne recovered quickly from the wound thanks to her B5 Health. She then returned to her horse and rode on into the night, ignoring fatigue and hunger until she finally managed to find a resting place via a Beginner’s Luck check for Survival.

In the early morning, the rain ceased to fall, and so Daphne was awakend by the morning sun on her face. Immediately her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten in a day and was also very thirsty. While she managed to find some water (Beginner’s Luck survival Ob 1 (2) with an advantage die for the downpour of the preceding night). Anyway, Daphne couldn’t forage enough edible roots and berries to satsify her hunger which we interpreted as a superficial wound (+1 Ob) that wouldn’t go away if she didn’t find anything to eat soon.

Daphne continued her flight on the road that led to the northeast in which direction she knew was the village of Askalon where her family owned an old manor although it had been deserted for decades now. After a few hours, Daphne arrived at another farming village, where she hoped she would be able to find some food. Anyway, as Daphne had failed the Countryside-wise test to locate a village in which she could rest and eat, She noticed about ten horses in front of one of the building. As horses are expensive in Ethrea, Daphne figured that the villagers of a tiny hamlet like this wouldn’t be able to afford for so many animals. This, of course, meant that her pursuers were inside the building.

Carefully, Daphne tried to pass through the village without attracting too much interest (Beginner’s Luck Inconspicuous Test Ob 2 (4) – Failure). However, a downtrodden noble girl on a horse passing through was not a familiar sight in the village so I ruled that the villagers would notice Daphne and tell her pursuers as soon as they rose from their beds (they had been riding for almost the entire night). So the sword of Damocles was still dangling above Daphne’s head.

In the evening, she arrived in the forest were she found a suitable resting place via Let it Ride from the last evening. Daphne hid herself and her mount in a hollow and held out watchfully until the angry mob arrived and began to scour the forest for her. Fortunately, Daphne was very successful on her Beginner’s Luck Stealthy test, so they couldn’t find her and passed by, deeper into the forest, while Daphne bedded herself on a soft patch of dosh and quickly fell asleep under a blanket of leaves.

So far for our first session. We will probably continue this on Thursday or Friday so that Daphne arrives at the manor in Askalon just in time as she will meet the other characters from the Askalon group right there. The next challenges will be to find something to eat, of course, and then get rid of the nasty pursuers.