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.