TWYLL stares wide-eyed at the tiny plant, struggling in the putrescence yet glowing with life. The spy feels a strange kinship to it: in this plant she sees her younger self, another being whose joyous and living energy something foul attempted to smother. For her, it was the poisonous culture she grew up within; for this tiny seedling it is the shambler and its necrotic copse. Her own spark is all but snuffed, but she will not allow this plant to become a mere shell of its possibilities. But how can she help?
Nearby a large fish leaps in and out of the water of the tributary, sending small waves against her legs. As she sways slightly, an idea grows in her mind and a slight smile emerges on her lips. Twyll scrambles back out of the water, reaching for her waterskin as she retraces her steps.
Steeling her nerves to reenter the copse, she begins to quickly and carefully make her way to the tiny green plant.
Twyll is making a Defy Danger (Dex) move to get through the copse to the living plant to give it life-sustaining water (expending 1 Use of Adventuring Gear). My hope is (was?) that she can thus enrage the DBSM enough to follow her back to the dangerous water using Persuade, but…
DEFY DANGER
When
danger looms, the stakes are high, and you do something chancy, check if another move applies. If not, roll...
... +DEX to employ speed, agility, or finesse
On a 10+, you pull it off as well as one could hope;
on a 7-9, you can do it, but the GM will present a lesser success, a cost, or a consequence (and maybe a choice between them, or a chance to back down).
r1,2 + 2 DEX + 1 Forward from DR = 6; 6- = Mark 1 XP. Also, if you feel using the waterskin doesn’t warrant Marking AG, let me know.
Per Manbearcat
Definitely need to spend 1 AG for that sacred river water-filled skin. If you can water the plant, we’ll make a move for the tiny plant or if you can attack (probably Volley) DBSM with the water, you can apply Vulnerable and remove its Armor.
Consequence for DD 6-: The DBSM enrages at your bringing the sacred water into its profane grove and your wretched attempt to water the plant. It wrenches the waterskin from your grasp with a mighty tendril and flings (DEPRIVE, FLING tags) it into the brush south of the haunted copse (see blue star below). Further, its mighty necrotic tendrils entangle you in their crushing grasp (GRABBY tag) and pull you toward its central orifice, which is dripping with necrotic acid to consume you! How do you deal with this? If you don’t get out of this, you’re going into that terrible maw, your HP will be reduced to 0 and you’ll have to make the Death’s Door move to see how the Raven Queen determines your fate!
* * *
Per Manbearcat:
Choose:
* Take 1d8 +1 but take +1 armor for the trees.
* It wraps around your backpack, tearing it from shoulders and spilling much of the contents. However, you lose your pack + 1 use of Rations + 1 use of Bag of Books as the beast withdraws the tentacle back into the contents of its undead mass. You'll have to slay the beast to get them back!
The tendril lashes obliquely against the diabolist, grasping around his pack of precious gear and holding him fast for a moment. In a spurt of panicked strength, PRITCHARD yanks his satchel free and is propelled headlong into the relative safety of the trees—headfirst!
I choose the former, taking r6 +1 -1 armor = 6 HP damage! The trees giveth and the trees taketh away. I’m now down to 7 HP total. But at least I have a wee bit of protection for the moment?
PRITCHARD, realizing that there may very well be some “greater” evil at work here, scans the area upstream of the desecrated copse, searching for some arcane sigil imprinted on a stone or the like, something working as a binding spell or some such, preventing the river’s natural flow through this gully. Something that can be unbound.
DISCERN REALITIES
When you
study a situation or person, looking to the GM for insight, roll +WIS: on a 10+, ask the GM 3 questions from the list below; on a 7-9, ask 1; either way, gain +1 forward on your next move that acts on the answers.
- What happened here?
- What is about to happen?
- What should I be on the lookout for?
- What here is useful or valuable to me?
- Who or what is really in control here?
- What here is not what it appears to be?
r6,4 -1 WIS = 9. What here is useful or valuable to me?
Per Manbearcat
The waterline at the beach has a fine, black line of powdered coal or soot! Clearly defiling necromantic magic to keep the water at bay, preventing the natural high tide that would occur as bodies of water swell subtly toward the moon on a night just like this!
Examining the subtle line of black powder off the current line of the shore, PRITCHARD breaks out into a cold sweat. He is no wizard or sorcerer to unbind magicks!!! Nevertheless, his own secret education through musty tomes never meant for the eyes of children and the initiation rites into groups like the Order of the Ruby Chalice included sufficient arcane training to cover the basics. Rummaging through his satchel, the diabolist pulls out a vial of quicksilver, that universal confounder of arcane energies.
Liberally sprinkling the liquid metal across the area like some cleric with an aspergillum, Pritchard gives a look up to the heavens, just barely visible through the branches swaying overhead. Never the praying sort—even his invocations to Asmodeus during ritualized chants were little more than lip service—he watches the moon emerge from behind clouds and whispers, “Sweet Selûne, if ever you took interest in the affairs of living mortals, now would be the time to intervene—against this creature of the void!”
Pritchard marks 1 Adventuring Gear for the quicksilver and then uses it to disrupt the ritual ward, unleashing the water’s natural flow to swell towards the moon above, its natural course re-established.
INFERNAL INSIGHT
When you
wield your environment against your foe(s), choose 1 from the list below and roll +INT: on a 7-9, pick 1, but you pay the infernal price. On a 10+, pick 1.
+ Impede or interrupt their actions
+ Create an advantage that grants you or an ally +1 forward on the next roll to exploit it
+ Deal damage appropriate to the source (b[2d4] for bruises/scrapes, b[2d6] for bloodshed, b[2d8] if it’d break bones, b[2d10] if it’d kill a common person)
r4,1 +2 INT +1 forward from DR = 8. I choose to deal damage, b2d10 [1,
5 no armor applies] to the Deathborne Shambling Mound as the river swells in a torrent into the copse.
Of course, I also pay the infernal price!
* * *
In her usual manner of dissociation, TWYLL ignores the tendrils slowly depriving her of oxygen as she wriggles her body into a position that allows her weight to pull her downward and out of its grasp.
* * *
Twyll is using Defy Danger (Dex) to wriggle her way out of the grasp of the DBSM:
DEFY DANGER
When
danger looms, the stakes are high, and you do something chancy, check if another move applies. If not, roll...
... +DEX to employ speed, agility, or finesse
On a 10+, you pull it off as well as one could hope;
on a 7-9, you can do it, but the GM will present a lesser success, a cost, or a consequence (and maybe a choice between them, or a chance to back down).
r5,3 +2 DEX = 10
* * *
Then, landing too close for the creature to easily attack, the Bregan D’aerthe deftly slips her trusty dagr into her hand and stabs upwards with savage grace.
Twyll gives a brief thought to her brother and his martial anatomy lessons of where best to stab an opponent in order to release their hold on you: what would Rhodri have suggested here? “Get out of here, idiot!” comes immediately to mind, and with that thought, the drow quickly and gently scoops up that plucky plant – roots and all – removing it from its tormentor – and heads to the safety of the water.
* * *
Twyll uses her dagger to attack the DBSM and deprive it of its floral victim using
Clash with her
Skill At Arms:
SKILL AT ARMS
When you
wield a weapon with speed and grace, roll +DEX to Clash (instead of +STR).
On a 7+ on Clash, you can roll 1d8 instead of b[2d8] to add
Wrong-foot or
Deprive.
CLASH
When
you're on even footing with adversaries and fight in melee or close quarters, roll
+STR (+DEX):
on a 10+, your maneuver works as expected (deal your damage) and pick 1.
- Avoid, prevent, or counter your enemy’s attack
- Strike hard and fast, for 1d6 extra damage, but suffer your enemy’s attack
On a 7-9, your maneuver works, mostly (deal your damage) but you suffer your enemy’s attack.
On a 10+, if your armament/implement used for Clash possesses the Area tag, you can step down the results to 7-9 and apply your damage to all foes in range.
r1,6+ 2 DEX +1 Hand Range = 10: Skill At Arms: 1d8 to add
Deprive to steal the tiny plant safely awayl; Clash: choose Avoid, prevent, or counter your enemy’s attack to get away.
Damage: r5 - 3 Armor = 2 Damage to DBSM
