- During her time on watch, Trys hears a horse approaching the camp. Hoping that it’s a sign of the Garretts, and being comfortable with horses from her work as a smith, she calls to the horse to bring it into the camp. Unfortunately, her calls are met with mocking imitations, and instead three Hillfolk women enter the camp, spears aimed at Trys.
- The women wear ominous headdresses, adorned with the hourglass symbol often seen on black widow spiders. They threaten Trys and say she can either join them, or she can feel their spears. They also gesture toward Cullen, who is just now waking, and hint at a much worse fate for him.
- Cullen reaches for his hammer, hoping to spring up before they can do anything, but he’s a good distance away, and Trys decides she’s heard enough, and draws her sword. The Hillfolk had the jump on her, and they wound her, but her armor spares her the worst. She then unleashes a brutal attack on them, and although she takes another small wound, she makes short work of all three.
- Cullen, amazed at her skill and her brutality, looks at the Hillfolk women and recognizes them as a tribe with a name that translates only to “Maneaters”. They’re a particularly aggressive tribe of Hillfolk women who take male prisoners who they mate with and then consume.
- The horse slowly calms and lets them lead it away so they can make a new camp. It is emaciated, but its saddlebags mark it as a domesticated animal, very likely belonging to the Garretts. Trys and Cullen worry that the Garretts have been taken by this tribe, and decide to seek answers in the light of day. For now, this is where we leave them.
Alright, let me resolve this and then I'll get to particulars of Dap and Gavin and their Triumphant Return after banishing The Dark Below, saving Fang from death, and adjuring the devils of Sigurd's worst nature.
* They
Make Camp in a dangerous wilderness and set watch. So we have 2 Supply turned into Provisions for each PC (so 4 Supply total - 1 for each day).
* We need to find out who is going to be the PC on watch when whatever happens (if something does) when I make my
Disclaim Decisions move to find out if anything approaches camp (a Danger or a Discovery). The means to do this is 1d6 w/ the orthodox spread of 1-2 = bad (Danger), 3-4 = mixed (TBD Danger/Discovery or both), 5-6 = pretty good (Discovery).
(a) The players choose Trys when they
Set Watch and (b) the 1d6 turns up a 1 (so Danger).
I describe the labored sounds of clippety-clopping of horse hooves in the shallow ravine beneath their camp (think Utah badlands with almost butte like hills and labyrinthine ravines that can flash flood and dry up immediately). They can't see the horse as there is an overhang on the ridge line they occupy which is obscuring the beast in the ravine...but they know its there.
(b) Trys attempts to call it with the typical horse call.
Defy Danger (Cha) = 6- and mark xp.
My move here is that this horse was a distraction while 3 (all female) hunters of a Hillfolk tribe stalk into their camp, spears leading. They make a similar call to Trys, mocking her, as she turns to see them with threatening spears in her face.
* Cullen awakes to hear the exchange between the 4 women. The 3 Hillfolk admire her obvious warrior disposition, advise her to either join them or leave without looking back, and they'll claim the "good stock male."
With this exchange, Cullen makes another
Know Things move with his
Well Read playbook move (sub Wis for Int). Unfortunately, he gets a 6- so he marks xp and its some terrible news. This tribe is one of the few Hill Folk tribes that are known for their brutality (the Hill Folk are distributed hunter/gatherer tribes of varying dispositions and beliefs in The Flats and the Steplands; the lands that flank Stonetop to the east). All females, they bear the markings and behavior of The Black Widow spider. They capture men of good stock to breed with then the coming pregnancy (or pregnancies) is/are consummated and "blessed" by eating the male entirely. They have no use for males not of good stock nor females who are incapable of helping them/won't acquiesce to their ways.
So this is very bad news and
1 Grim Portent toward the
Impending Doom (1/3) of this threat and the ultimate fate of the Garret family. So something bad has already happened due to this result/reveal, but things are still in the balance.
* Trys has heard enough. They have the jump on her and they're in range. She decides that she isn't going to bother trying to make a move to defend herself from their incoming attacks so I have to
follow through on my soft move with a hard move (deal damage). She's drawing her sword and laying them low. So procedurally this is:
1) Deal their damage which 1d6 base +2 for the 2 others. It doesn't amount to much (4 I believe) and her 2 Armor soaks the worst of it.
2)
Clash to resolve the melee exchange in Close (tag) range. She gets a 7-9 so she deals her damage (to each because they are in range) and she eats the same counterattack as above.
2a) She takes 3 damage this time (5-2 armor).
2b) She gets 4 or more damage on each of her damage rolls (they have 4 damage), cleaving the 3 warriors into warrior-pieces.
@hawkeyefan asked me what I would have done if Trys' Defy Danger (Cha) move with the horse call. I considered that and said the following:
7-9 = Horse responds but there are signs of a struggle but no rider. It bears either its own blood from a wound or the blood of a rider. I'm ticking a Grim Portent here still and the fiction is we have signs that the family is in trouble (bad), but nothing immediate. Further, they also have the horse here that could become an asset if they can recover it (its down in the ravine below them) and resolve its terrible condition (an opportunity).
10+ = The horse responds and there is a rider. One of the two young daughters is on the horse and she is unconscious in the saddle. The two of them are nearing death by way of exposure. No Grim Portent ticked here but we've got both an opportunity (recover the horse and resolve its health as an asset and recover the girl and resolve her flagging health and find out what happened to the family) and a potential liability in the horse and the young child.
