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I found the bolded bits very tempting as a player, but having talked the option over at length with @Nephis , we realized that only Chanvati has a vested interest in risking everything to preserve the status quo in Bantouk (to some degree, at least); the others range from deeply commited to...

CHANVATI has long contemplated this brother to his consort, her twin, in fact. Powerful? There can be no doubt. Ruthless? Indeed, as his actions at Ruffly Gelded amply demonstrated. Conniving? Clearly. But the true question remains a mystery: unstable madman or performative opportunist? And he...

At Bita-Bahlin's allusion to Vezzuvu, IBHEA'S heart grows cold. But not with fear of the threat of the Primordial force of destruction. No, the whisky priest's heart dims with the frozen emotion of crystallized loathing. "What have you to do with the Mountain That Burns, cur? Regardless, you...

The tension is palpable. All recognize the menace of the aptly-named Legion of Ruth, the Bladeling Horde. What can it mean that Bita-Bahlin has forged some alliance with this existential threat to Empire? Double or treble the numbers? Bladelings all? Or someone, something else? Where do his...

Our intentions in response to Bita-Bahlin's challenge are as follows: What we want to do is (i) rely upon Arunny's oracular vision (likely a Perception check) to foresee the imminent arrival of Chanvati and Co, with the potential rhetorical leverage of Iron Gorgon Tribe "cured" to set up (ii) a...

IBHEA unshoulders his traveling pack, withdraws the copy of the sacred text, and unveils it from its protective wrappings. He raises the gorgeous, illuminated tome in both hands above his head, then lowers it, riffles through its pages, clears his voice, and begins to read. "And lo, then did...

As all eyes turn to him, IBHEA is grateful for the warmth of the arak, soothing his nerves, calming his racing heart. He must overcome his natural diffidence if the glory of the Sorcerer-King is to be brought into the world! The whisky priest clears his throat. “Good folk of Dolg Hana, as you...

@Nephis and I have consulted on our moves here, and I will present fiction and mechanics here in a single post. Recognizing that the only hope remaining for The Blessed is an immediate exorcism, ARUNNY also knows this time she cannot be the one to perform it. This liturgy must come from Ibhea...

IBHEA knows that Xin Mae is made of firmer stuff than this; only Caiphon's malevolent influence can be at play here to account for the scrivener's nearly-incoherent blather. The whisky priest has never considered himself an intimidating man. Sure, back on the mean streets of Bantouk's lower city...

IBHEA steps past the purple putrescence bubbling on the clay tile steps of the temple and assesses the key bestowed by the town elder and the now-deformed lock, one eye closed, the other squinting. He grimaces. Once again the whisky priest withdraws the Magickal Necklace of Keys from beneath his...

As Omthala's Pilgrims watch from the edge of the circle of light cast by the funeral pyre, Xin Mae sputters, "This isn't how it is written in the holy text! There is to be a birth of a new religion, not the death of little girls. I didn't sign up for that last at all, no, not at all! Isn't there...

To build on what @pemerton says here, many people come to RPGing through what is referred to as a "trad" approach to gaming, usually through D&D and its offshoots (like PF). It assumes a particular approach to play (a playstyle) with GM-authored secret backstory, map-and-key exploration, and...

I really don't mean this as a criticism of your gaming or your group (as people), but it seems like you want something out of your game (complex, intercharacter tension; player agency but still GM-generated story; and so on) that PF2 isn't (and maybe can't) provide. System really does matter...

Alas, this is what comes of thinking agency means the freedom to investigate your story. Rather, agency consists of player decisions actually driving play, replacing GM-authored backstory. Instead of what you decribe above, which consists at best of Participationism (ie, a tacit agreement to...

Atop the low bluff that surmounts the entrance to The Pit, Arunny perceives the cold, silver beams of moonlight breaking through the clouded night sky like some great tripod supporting the weighty silver orb. "That light shines upon Dolg Hana," she says. "I spent some time there with my father...

As the earth rumbles slightly in response to his thrust, IBHEA withdraws his dagger from the altar stone. Satisfied that no immediate threat menaces the pilgrims, he closes his eyes once more. The glowing stairs of moonlight rising from those carved into stone appear once more before his mind's...

IBHEA opens his eyes. The apparition of lava and flame is gone, but the voice echoes in his head. A trial by temptation. But this Entity has him all wrong. He does not seek power for himself; his great desire is self-abnegation, to act as conduit for the Holy and Arcane powers of Delban, not...

I take and agree with your overall point about how/who is established/establishes the fictional position. But I'm going to quibble a bit with this casting of Story Now play. For me, one of the germinal and fundamental aspects of SN play is "playing to find out what happens," to be surprised ...

IBHEA knows Arunny is directed by her desire to find her missing family. This is, after all, their presumed reason for leaving Bantouk and braving these deadly wilds. He should be helping her in this endeavor, he knows. He should. And yet the prophesies of The Shadowed Sun hold too much sway...

"Is this the place, child?" Arunny asks Qamra. "Is The Pit below where you saw ... your deliverer?" Qamra casts her eyes about and up. "So open, the sky. Yes, Arunny. Your brother came to us here." Arunny is taken aback, but, of course, the child is no mere child at all, Omthala's Radiant...