Neverwinter World; a Dungeon World Playset

Standing atop the high embankment, looking down at this possible place of rest, PRITCHARD asks his companion, “Do you think this might be the spot? Water. An ample bank at which to rest their weary bones, unaware of the coming conflagration.”

But TWYLL does not respond, though she scans the area in an apparent attempt to take in the scene as it would have been in an earlier time. Instead, she considers the baying that draws close. And another people whom she has encountered camping upon the tributary’s banks during her travels.

It’s been many years, but the baying seems definitively lupine. Could this be the location of a temporary camp of the Uthgardt who hunt the nearby forest?

She holds up a hand for Pritchard to be still.




Twyll considers her past ventures trekking through this wilderness, and the people and creatures that call it home, to see if she can recognize the baying calls.
SPOUT LORE
When you consult your accumulated knowledge, roll +INT: on a 10+, the GM will tell you something interesting and useful about the topic at hand; on a 7-9, the GM will tell you something interesting—it’s on you to make it useful; either way the GM might ask, “How do you know this?”​
Twyll r6,4 +1 INT = 11.​


Per Manbearcat
The first few howls are not terribly remarkable to her; typical timber wolves. They run in an average pack size of 6 or so, led by a powerful alpha. It is the territory in question and the depth, volume, and evolution of pitch of that last ferocious howl that confirms her suspicions. This is a pack of timber wolves led by a Werewolf; a terrible and violent Gray Wolf Uthgardt Barbarian who claims this area as territory.

This particular moon phase in question will put the alpha at the peak of its powers…but also at the peak of its weakness to silver or wolfsbane (of which the flowering plant can be found rarely within the bosom of red-needle fir trees on these slopes).



Twyll concurrently takes in the physical landscape for the details Pritchard points out, searching for some clue that would betray the place of ancient tragedy.
AID OR INTERFERE
When you help or hinder someone, roll+bond with them. On a 10+, they take +1 or -2 to their roll, your choice; on a 7-9, they still get a modifier, but you also expose yourself to danger, retribution, or cost.​
Twyll r1,2 +2 Bond = 5. Twyll marks XP.​


Per Manbearcat
  • Twyll suffers a Wisdom Debility until she can (a) brew and imbibe a tea of wolfsbane and cardamom to soothe her nerves and then (b) ritualistically bloodlet (suffer 1d4 HP), thus relieving herself of the terrors of her experience as a youth.

Your findings of this situation haunt you as you look around the area. Worse than haunt, they invade you like a living thing; an attention-stealing parasite. Tell us what happened when you were young. What was that close scrape with lycanthropic curse that you narrowly escaped? And how did you learn the remedy above?



Pritchard compares the features of this site with what he knows of his ancestors’ tragic demise.
LOCATE THE CATACLYSM’S MASS GRAVE
When you search the mountainside north of Neverwinter for the location of your ancestor’s mass tragedy, roll +WIS.​
Pritchard r5,4 -1 WIS = 8.​

Per Manbearcat

All the telltale signs are correct. They rested here with intention to build structures to rest for the night, but something, not the eruption though, frightened them off. There are no bones here…no great and terrible ossuary. They watered their horses, foraged for supply and material, took momentary respite and then trekked fast and hard out of here, down the precarious path to the basin below.

As for you. Here, now, in this moment. Something stirs within the deep darkness of this copse of dead and living trees. Barren boughs quaver, soil shifts and earthen foliage heaves.

Birds fly off suddenly from the tops of the trees.

Another howl…a timber wolf…much closer.
 

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Per Manbearcat: Twyll suffers a Wisdom Debility until she can (a) brew and imbibe a tea of wolfsbane and cardamom to soothe her nerves and then (b) ritualistically bloodlet (suffer 1d4 HP), thus relieving herself of the terrors of her experience as a youth.

Your findings of this situation haunt you as you look around the area. Worse than haunt, they invade you like a living thing; an attention-stealing parasite. Tell us what happened when you were young. What was that close scrape with lycanthropic curse that you narrowly escaped? And how did you learn the remedy above?

[IN THE TIME BEFORE BETRAYAL] Heart pumping with nervous excitement, BRIDGET (TWYLL) follows her friends – adventurous Allys, bold Llewella, and their follower, timid little Dilys, as the young delinquents sneak away from their prescribed studying of the local flora. Both Allys and Llewella have been badgering her for days to adventure with them down one of the more forbidden tunnels, the ones that purportedly lead toward Delzhoun, toward lost Gauntlgrym. Finally, Llewella’s murmured taunts that she is too scared have broken Bridget’s resolve, and their adventure begins.

“Will we know which way to go or even how far we should go?” she asks their “leader,” delicious fear and anxiety evident in her voice. Llewella merely shakes her head and gestures with her fingers for Bridget to “hurry up!” while Allys’s finger urges her to “hush!”

After what seems ages and many, many confusing turns, following paths both upward and downward, they stop at a particularly confusing intersection: five different tunnels, including their own, one travelling upward, one sharply downward, one with a less steep downward slope, one seemingly level, and their own, which brought them up to this juncture. Llewella and Bridget both scan the offerings with wide eyes, seeing nothing to indicate the direction they should go. Allys now hangs back with Dilys, her previously adventurous spirit having dimmed significantly. They both now lurk behind Bridget, fingers grasping at her friend’s sleeve, eyes darting here and there at any sound.

And it has become very cold: their very bones are beginning to ache. Colder than it should be? Or is it their fear that is causing the freeze?

Bridget looks back the way they have just come, then forward into all passages, following the slightly older Llewella’s moves. When Llewella cocks her head, she mirrors that gesture and listens carefully to any sounds that might hint at their best advance. Whispering, she asks her friend if she has any clue … at all, but Llewella seems to not hear her, staring forward.

Hearing an unexpected footstep behind them, down the tunnel out of which they recently traveled, Bridget sees glowing red eyes and smells fetid breath. Quickly she understands that they have been followed by something, but by what she does not know.

Llewella, following her gaze, gasps out, “Werewolf! Blehddiait! Run!” and quickly follows her own advice, choosing the corridor leading upward. Bridget briefly watches her leave them behind before returning her attention to those who had been sheltering behind her and who have just become the most vulnerable and attainable prey to their stalker.

She thrusts the girls behind her again and takes out the very sharp silver dagr secretly gifted her by Rhodri on her last name day. In a wavering voice, she tells the beast to “get!” Astonishingly, seeing the sharp weapon in her hand, it does, thrusting past her and following the path lately taken by Llewella. With a cry of horror, Bridget follows, grabbing Allys’s hand and urging the girls to follow.

The trio quickly lose their way even further, time passing as they are guided along by false leads, ghost sounds, and pure wishful thinking. Eventually they do find evidence of their friend in a piece of distinctive clothing, but that is all. And eventually – somehow – they find their way home.

Several weeks later, during the “gather” of the next full moon, Llewella returns, as canny as ever, as clever as ever, and now stronger, vengeful. She finds her three friends studying – as once they all did together. After the young drow sputter out their joy at her longed-for return, the prodigal raises her hand to stop their flow of words.

In fact, it is not the gesture which stops her words, but the hand itself: it is unusually large, the nails unusually long, the digits unusually … hairy.

“You left me behind!” she accuses them, “but don’t worry: I will not do the same!” Their friend-now-blehddiait leaps forward, transforming as she does so, elongated jaws snapping, that grotesque hand grasping.

Allys is quick to leap back, as is little Dilys, but Bridget stumbles in her haste. Llewlla-werewolf grabs her loose pantaloons. As Twyll’s two friends grab arms to pull her back, the blehddiait tears the cloth she has captured. Bridget scrambles up, and they take off for safety, racing against each other for safety.

However, as they have almost reached that safety, they hear a call behind them. Turning, Allys and Bridget see a figure standing almost in the shadows, smiling evilly at them. The alpha blehddiait. Hanging from his outstretched hand is the limp figure of Dilys.

“We’ll be back for you,” he sneers before disappearing from sight, Llewella now tagging behind, sneering as she too disappears.

For an instant Allys and Twyll both shiver in reaction and stare hopelessly after them.

Then they both shriek as one hand grabs each of them and pulls them inside. The hands belong to Rhodri, and they sob out what just happened, revealing their truancy and the aftermath.

Later, as he listens grimly to their stories, Bridget’s brother kneels before the hearth of the kitchen, putting various herbs into a kettle of water. When his concoction has had a chance to brew, he gives the tea – which he explains is a combination of wolfsbane and cardamon – to the girls to drink. While nothing will ever take away the horror of losing two of their friends, it does have the desired effect of calming their chattering nerves and warming the chill in their bones, a chill they now realize that they have been experiencing ever since their forbidden sojourn.




[IN THE PRESENT TIME] Seeming more calm than her insides would actually prove, TWYLL tamps the ache of old memories and instead uses those memories as a filter through which to examine their present situation: what here will best aid them now?



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?
r3,5 +2 WIS -1 Debility = 9, one question: What here is useful or valuable to me? Gain +1 forward on your next move that acts on the answers



Though neither of them had time to examine the book of fairytales reclaimed from the Nameless One in any depth, PRITCHARD did, at least, thumb through it a bit. “Forewarned is forearmed,” after all! Any so-called fairytale holds all sorts of useful information, even if masked in the trappings of myth … as the reputed location of the resting place of Neverwinter’s Ninth demonstrates.

So at the sudden shifting and heaving of soil and foliage, the diabolist frantically searches his memory of any creatures from legend and fancy mentioned therein, or elsewhere in his studies, rumored to burrow beneath the earth in such desolate places.


SPOUT LORE

When you consult your accumulated knowledge, roll +INT: on a 10+, the GM will tell you something interesting and useful about the topic at hand; on a 7-9, the GM will tell you something interesting—it’s on you to make it useful; either way the GM might ask, “How do you know this?”


r5,3 +2 INT = 10. Something interesting and useful about that burrowing creature, please!

For what it’s worth, I’m hoping this turns into a three-front conflict and we can shape the fiction in such a way that Pritchard can use his new Move Firebrand to convince the Uthgardt barbarian Werewolf that it’s a very good idea to tackle this other threat before turning its attention to us.

Per Manbearcat
The fearsome bulette, ankheg, purple worm, and remorhaz do not call this region of the world home. That leaves only two possibilities:

The first is simply the animating powers of undeath brought about from a grave calamity. It is so that some networks of plantlife have memory and powerful lifeforce. A rare occurrence, when it is taken from them suddenly and violently, they might rebel…turning into a Deathborne Shambling Mound. While animals are fearful of these perversions of nature, both vicious fire and divine radiance are their foe.

The second is even more rare than the first. An ancient empire that thought itself masters over all things (the natural order of life, death, and time…over the magical forces which bind the material, the astral, the ethereal…even over the dictates of gods and archfiends alike). In their hubris, they built monstrous constructs called Thaalud by fusing elements and spirits into a hulking being enslaved to the eternal pursuit of magical artifacts for their powerful masters. There are whispered rumors that this terrible empire has returned to this world since the calamity that took Neverwinter. The latest entry in the book of fairytales recounts such a tale where travelers in these wilds encountered a monstrous thing…humanoid in shape...but faceless…a vicious maw in its torso…one arm a cruel hammer for crushing and excavating. Up from the earth this awful thing came. The treasures these travelers bore were not great, but great or small is of no consequence to “The Tomb Tappers.” The affair did not end well for the poor travellers.

Unlike the Deathborne Shambling Mound, animals of the world are not fearful of these perverse fusions of lifeforce and element. Possessing nothing of consequence for the Thaalud’s objective, the animals of the world seem drawn to it in common cause of undoing the terrible meddling with nature by the Netherese. Perhaps it is ancient dictates of Elder Spirits?


* Which of the two is it and how do you know?

PRITCHARD realizes with certainty this disturbance can only be one thing: a Deathborne Shambling Mound. The passage–not from the book of fairytales but rather from Trafficking with the Diabolical, A Treatise of Methodologies Ancient and Modern–recalls itself, “... the mixing of life and death and tragedy can, within the locus of waxing necromantic energies, create undeath, the unnatural borne from the natural, a Thing of desiccated plant detritus and bespoiled earth known as a Deathborne Shambling Mound. Like many of the unliving, such creatures cannot cross flowing water, for the waters of life are disruptive to such undead, unbinding the energies that animate their form.”

As Twyll’s eyes settle on the creature rising from the earth, she gasps, “What creature is this that looms in the shadows, recoiling from the flowing tributary?”

Pritchard tells her and notes her observation is correct: the water wards the creature off.


Per Manbearcat:

Nephis is "what here is useful/valuable to me" regarding your debility or regarding the ominous thing you will soon face?

If it is the latter, then I'm going to punt that question's answer to you, darkbard, as you have to answer the "which is it (and how do you know)" question from your Spout Lore move results.

If it is the former, I'll answer it.

Okay, Twyll’s inquiry is regarding what is useful in combating this thing rising from the earth, so I’m answering with my choice of what it is (the first) and adding in the answer to Twyll’s Discern Realities question: that the tributary itself is useful; its flowing water defeats such creatures. Twyll gets +1 forward acting upon this information. (Originally, I was going to go with the moonlight described in the scene (sacred to Selune), but I felt that, while consistent with the scene against the Wight, wherein light provides functional warding, this is already known to us via the success of Spout Lore (vicious fire and divine light).) This adds another dimension to the scene.

Supernatural dread and despair permeate the steep slope of the gully and environs as the creature begins to rise from the unholy earth. PRITCHARD almost retches at the combined malice and rot. But rather than withdraw from that baleful presence, he seizes an opportunity, for the brand upon his breast senses the despair and suffering animating the Deathborne Shambling Mound … and compels the diabolist to claim that for his own use!

Steeling himself against this supernatural horror, Pritchard moves closer to it, away from the cliff-like embankment of the gully.

When he is near enough, he feels the brand burning with hellfire and begin to pulse rhythmically.


DEFY DANGER

When danger looms, the stakes are high, and you do something chancy, check if another move applies. If not, roll...

... +CON to endure or hold steady

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).


r5,4 +1 CON = 10. Success!

Per Manbearcat
Cursed roots and vines sprout all around the archdevil-marked Pritchard as he wades into the blighted copse of trees and earthen matter. But press on he does despite the trembling world beneath his feet and the necrosis oozing plants!

BURNING BRAND

When you feed on the passion burning within a sapient creature (close), you fuel the fire and brimstone smoldering in your brand; mark 1 charge as the brand feeds off their burning passion, tempting their soul to dark acts (to a maximum of 3): OOO



TWYLL trails slowly after Pritchard, stopping in the shade of a tree. This moment of respite before what surely will be an all out clash is intended to give herself a chance to tamp down some of her horror and dread. More importantly, it allows her time to observe her surroundings while she herself is hidden in the shadows and see how she can use them to her … She glances at her travelling companion bravely, foolishly stepping closer to the thing and amends her mental narrative … their … best advantage.

She will not move too far from the safety of the water this creature dreads, but here–at one with the darkness–she can better plan her attack.



Twyll first uses the shadows to remain hidden until she chooses to reveal herself. Then she sees what she can use of her surroundings to their best advantage.

CATLIKE

When you carry a light load (Load -6) and move with care, you make no noise.

When you keep still in shadows or darkness, you remain unseen until you draw attention to yourself, move positions, or attack.

CHAMELEON

When you use your surroundings to avoid suspicion or trouble, roll +WIS: on a 10+, hold 2 Guile; on a 7-9, hold 1 Guile and the GM reveals an Unwelcome Truth that cannot be resolved by spending Guile. You may spend Guile, 1-for-1, to:

+ Move about or maneuver unchallenged

+ Withstand direct scrutiny or questioning

+ Direct suspicion or attention elsewhere

r3,1 + 2 WIS - 1 Debility = 5; mark XP
 
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TWYLL trails slowly after Pritchard, stopping in the shade of a tree. This moment of respite before what surely will be an all out clash is intended to give herself a chance to tamp down some of her horror and dread. More importantly, it allows her time to observe her surroundings while she herself is hidden in the shadows and see how she can use them to her … She glances at her travelling companion bravely, foolishly stepping closer to the thing and amends her mental narrative … their … best advantage.

She will not move too far from the safety of the water this creature dreads, but here–at one with the darkness–she can better plan her attack.



Twyll first uses the shadows to remain hidden until she chooses to reveal herself. Then she sees what she can use of her surroundings to their best advantage.

CATLIKE

When you carry a light load (Load -6) and move with care, you make no noise.

When you keep still in shadows or darkness, you remain unseen until you draw attention to yourself, move positions, or attack.

CHAMELEON

When you use your surroundings to avoid suspicion or trouble, roll +WIS: on a 10+, hold 2 Guile; on a 7-9, hold 1 Guile and the GM reveals an Unwelcome Truth that cannot be resolved by spending Guile. You may spend Guile, 1-for-1, to:

+ Move about or maneuver unchallenged

+ Withstand direct scrutiny or questioning

+ Direct suspicion or attention elsewhere

r3,1 + 2 WIS - 1 Debility = 5; mark XP

GM MOVE FOR ^:

Readying itself for a meal of meat and lifeforce, foul-smelling digestive juices fountain forth from the Deathborne Shambling Mound, covering TWYLL's area near the bank, some 6-7 paces from the haunted copse that is the Shambler's lair. What do you do @Nephis ?

* Accept the cost of the vile spray; covered in foul-smelling necrotic bile which will be hell to get out (gain Vulnerable to the creature's Consume (close) move which will add the Injury and Piercing 2 tags), but maintain CATLIKE status?

* Leap into the very cold, moonlit-waters of the tributary to escape the deluge of necrotic bile? How will you suffer the icy waters of this northern climate?

* Push forward from this small beach into the dense overgrowth that demarcates the Shambler's lair, attempting to evade the spray and putting you precariously near the proximity of its terrible tangled vines (not quite Reach range, but on the cusp)?

* Something else?

SOFT MOVE FOR GRAY WOLF UTHGARDT BARBARIAN WEREWOLF AND ITS PACK:

The wolves whine and whimper, pacing back and forth as they collect on the river gulley's cliff overlooking this area.

They are afraid of the unnatural scent and spasmodic movement of the huge mass of plant unlife in the copse below. Their master comes into view; a hulking thing, part-beast, part-man...all moonfury. The radiant celestial orb high above in the sky of the deepening night is called to in a tongue of snarls and howls. Radiance channels from the wolf-man's rending claws to the thickly-furred forms of the timber wolves, imbuing them with courage to enter the haunted thicket below...


SOFT MOVE FOR DEATHBORNE SHAMBLING MOUND:

As PRITCHARD draws into the heart of the dark, teeming mass, he can see the undead horror's maw; a pulsing, desk-sized orifice filled with black goop, small tendrils vomiting forth, blindly groping for prey to pull inward to doom. However, that is not the worst of it. The worst of it is the overwhelming stench of decaying biomass that would make even the steeliest of dwarven stomach's wretch. How do you deal with that senses-stealing awfulness?




EDIT - Attaching for player reference to orient:

BLACK MARKER - Sides of gully. The leftward one is not terribly steep. The right one, where the W's are overlooking, is extremely steep and tall (65 degrees and 7.5 meters). The werewolf and its pack are above you there, overlooking, with the wolf bulwarking its pack with moon protections to give them courage to go to the lair of unlife below.

BROWN MARKER - Beach area.

BLUE MARKER - Tributary.

GREEN - Haunted copse and DBSM lair.

1740577899259.png
 
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Her instincts honed by experience, TWYLL leaps into what will undoubtedly be bone-chilling water with barely any splash. After all, what is a little bit of cold to one raised in the depths of the frequently freezing Underdark?



DEFY DANGER

When danger looms, the stakes are high, and you do something chancy, check if another move applies. If not, roll …

+CON to endure or hold steady

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).

R2,5 + 0 CON = 7

Per Manbearcat
While you keep the shock of the cold mostly at bay, the silt of the small tributary and the mud of the riverbed is worse than you anticipated. Your breeches are soaked to making squish-sounds with every movement and your boots are covered in grime sufficient to make stealthy movement a difficult affair.

* You lose CATLIKE until you’re able to spend a few minutes (gain Reload, Slow tags for this) caring for your kit.



Teeth gritted, she stands waist-deep in the frigid water as she scans her surroundings. She was hoping to direct the undead creature’s attention to their other potential foe, but a good look at that cliff reveals the dubiousness of that plan.

A better plan might be to do the opposite. After all, is that not Pritchard’s own plan? Otherwise, why in the many hells did he go forward into that copse? Twyll looks for a way to direct the wolf pack at the shambler, rather than at themselves, hopefully before her feet are completely numb.




CHAMELEON

When you you use your surroundings to avoid suspicion or trouble, roll +WIS: on a 10+, hold 2 Guile; on a 7-9, hold 1 Guile and the GM reveals an Unwelcome Truth that cannot be resolved by spending Guile. You may spend Guile, 1-for-1, to:

  • Move about or maneuver unchallenged
  • Withstand direct scrutiny or questioning
  • Direct suspicion or attention elsewhere
r5,3 + 2 WIS - 1 Debility = 9, hold 1 Guile & GM reveals an Unwelcome Truth…

Per Manbearcat
While it is a near certainty that the werewolf and its pack claim this place as territory, it is unclear what their primary objective is here; slay you as trespassers to their territory and make a meal of you…or use your (foolish?...heroic?) derring-do as a means to destroy the unnatural creature that haunts this watering hole…and “deal” with you after?

Regardless, there is another concern. It appears this isn’t the first entanglement the wolves of this domain had with the Deathborne Shambling Mound. At the shoreline lies the bones of a wolf long since dead. The ribcage and pelvis show signs of being pulverized and liquified by tremendous acid. This wolf clearly was nearly consumed by the shambler, but made it out of the haunted thicket only to die by the riverbed. Nonetheless, the necrotic energies of the creature’s digestive acids apparently still have animating power…as a wolf-skeleton (Minion w/ 3 HP, Special Qualities: weapon attacks that aren’t blunt/crushing take disadvantage) pulls itself up to all fours, throws its head back in a silent howl and looks to stalk into the haunted thicket to flank Pritchard!



Per Manbearcat

The worst of it is the overwhelming stench of decaying biomass that would make even the steeliest of dwarven stomach's wretch. How do you deal with that senses-stealing awfulness?

Luckily for PRITCHARD, the anointed and lavender-scented cravat from Thundertree is immediately to hand, but tucked into a waistcoat pocket. He retrieves it and presses it to his nose and mouth with one hand to ward off the horrific stench of decay.

DEFY DANGER

When danger looms, the stakes are high, and you do something chancy, check if another move applies. If not, roll...

... +INT to apply expertise or enact a clever plan

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).

r6,2 +2 INT = 10. Success!

Seeing both the animated skeletal remains of the wolf pull itself from the riverbank to threaten his flank and the great animated mound of the Shambler before him, PRITCHARD recognizes his position between the proverbial rock and hard place. Panic begins to set in. But then panic gives way to dark desire. And a certainty that should he indulge that devilish impulse emanating from his breast, he can extract himself from an untenable situation.

Without further ado, Pritchard lowers his head forward, thrusting it outward, and growls at the approaching undead wolf, “Revenge! Give in to your desire for revenge against the Thing that slayed you!”


INFLAME

When you unleash your BRAND and incite an individual to violent action (near), you may erase 1 charge to roll +CHA: on a 10+, they must pick 1 from the list below:

+ Act as you suggest, without doubt or fear, dealing +1d4 damage while they do so.

+ Resist, but suffer painful burns (b[2d4] damage, ignores armor).

On a 7-9, the GM chooses: either (1) they lash out at you but suffer painful burns (b[2d4] damage, ignores armor, wrong-foot) or (2) You draw unwelcome attention or put yourself in a spot. The GM will tell you how.

When you Inflame someone and they are killed by your brand or kill one or more living beings as a result, mark 1:

O O O O

When you make the last mark, gain BURNING HATRED

Pritchard spends his single charge of Burning Brand to use Inflame against the skeletal wolf, r3,5 +2 CHA = 10. Success, and a choice for you!

Per Manbearcat
Seduced by the desire for revenge against its unnatural foe, the skeletal wolf bares its fangs and charges into the copse to tear into the Deathborne Shambling Mound!

  • Go ahead and have it charge the DBSM and deal it 1d6 (1 piercing) +1d4 - 3 Armor (Fetid Sheathe of Decay) damage to the DBSM (12 HP total; Elite).
rb(1,3) +r2 (1 piercing) = 5 damage -2 Armor (reduced from 1 piercing) = 3 HP damage to DBSM
 
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As Twyll’s eyes settle on the creature rising from the earth, she gasps, “What creature is this that looms in the shadows, recoiling from the flowing tributary?”

Pritchard tells her and notes her observation is correct: the water wards the creature off.

Per Manbearcat:

Nephis, is "what here is useful/valuable to me" regarding your debility or regarding the ominous thing you will soon face?

If it is the latter, then I'm going to punt that question's answer to you, darkbard, as you have to answer the "which is it (and how do you know)" question from your Spout Lore move results.

If it is the former, I'll answer it.

Per darkbard:

Okay, Twyll’s inquiry is regarding what is useful in combating this thing rising from the earth, so I’m answering with my choice of what it is (the first) and adding in the answer to Twyll’s Discern Realities question: that the tributary itself is useful; its flowing water defeats such creatures. Twyll gets +1 forward acting upon this information.

TWYLL’s outer senses heighten as her feet numb, and she quickly changes her game plan once again. Remembering those chilling sounds from the werewolf attacks long ago, the Bregan D’aerthe draws in a deep breath, holds it another moment, and, slowly, beginning in her lowest vocal range, lets out a long, harsh howl, ending in a high pitch.

As the echoes of the call fade, Twyll carefully observes any reactions the shambler has to it–if reactions there are–to consider her next move.


Twyll spends her 1 Guile to direct the DBSM’s attention elsewhere, to the wolf pack and their Uthgardt packleader. Then she closely observes the creature’s reactions.

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?
r6,2 +2 WIS - 1 Debility = 9; one question: What here is useful or valuable to me?

Per Manbearcat
The putrid mass of plant unlife is mostly masked in the oppressive darkness which the haunted copse provides, blotting much of the moon’s intrusive spotlight. However, now and again, motes of the shining orb above do catch the creature’s writhing and swirling. Nestled within its depths is the single, living bud of a green plant desperately wanting to bloom. Above all else, the Deathborne Shambling Mound covets this…hates this small green life…for what it is…for what it could be…for how it dares to survive and thrive, despite the horror that befell the collective mass of flora in the fateful cataclysm.

Though the undead plant cannot prevent the earth from giving abundant foundation to the tiny, would-be blossom, the monstrosity works ceaselessly to deprive the falling rain and the radiant sun from nurturing the living thing into the growing and beautiful flowered bounty the bud deserves to become.


Take +1 forward when acting upon this.

Meanwhile, the werewolf and its pack bound this way and that, working downward from the gulley’s eastern face, deftly across the slippery rocks dotting the narrow tributary.

Soon there will be a clash with the awaiting undead plant mass that has haunted the apex predator’s territory since it was first claimed. Perhaps the shambling mound wins. But perhaps the pack wins? If they do…what comes next? Though you make formidable allies against common foe, Pritchard and Twyll are also invaders of the pack’s territory!



Why has unlife infected so much of the landscape but left standing yet some few trees ready to be felled by the axes of the Uthgardt people? Pritchard wonders if the water flowing up through their deep root systems so close to the tributary prevents the Shambler’s necrosis from infecting these trees, just as the submersion in the water would be the end of its unnatural existence.

As the animated remains of the skeletal wolf lash at the unhallowed-ground-given-unlife, PRITCHARD seizes his opportunity to escape the immediate clutches of either. The diabolist uses the skeleton’s distracting strike to dash behind one of these still-living trees, hoping it can prove itself a warded barrier between the clutching, stinging tendrils of the Shambler and his delicate flesh!


I think Pritchard makes two moves here, first another Spout Lore to establish additional details about what the DBSM can or cannot easily interact with in this scene, details which might be leveraged to make the Uthgardt werewolf regret his people’s tree-felling acts here.

SPOUT LORE

When you consult your accumulated knowledge, roll +INT: on a 10+, the GM will tell you something interesting and useful about the topic at hand; on a 7-9, the GM will tell you something interesting—it’s on you to make it useful; either way the GM might ask, “How do you know this?”

r4,1 +2 INT = 7. Something interesting but not useful, I guess.

Regardless, Pritchard’s second move is to move with as much alacrity as he can muster despite his fear, away from the scrum (at least out of the Shambler’s immediate reach), towards the beach, and behind a living tree trunk.

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).

r5,2 +0 DEX = 7.
 

PRITCHARD SPOUT LORE INTERESTING RESULT

Why has unlife infected so much of the landscape but left standing yet some few trees ready to be felled by the axes of the Uthgardt people? Pritchard wonders if the water flowing up through their deep root systems so close to the tributary prevents the Shambler’s necrosis from infecting these trees, just as the submersion in the water would be the end of its unnatural existence.

The treeline that is within the haunted copse has been slowly consumed over time by the undead deep within. Once upon a time, the river's breadth was considerably more vast than it is now. The gulley is only covered in very small part by the winding path of Neverwinter River's offshoot. Whether it is diminished rainfall, or snowpack melt diverting elsewhere, or...intentional...supernatural desecration of this river's flow (which would be demarcated by the telltale signs of ritual interference somewhere very nearby) and abundance is hard to figure in the moment. But to be sure, the horror within is as a seed, growing in density over time without being checked by the natural flow of the river's increased boundary.




PRITCHARD DEFY DANGER HARD CHOICE

Using the frenzied melee as distraction, Pritchard retreats to the boundary of the haunted copse, just out of the Reach range of the undead shambler's awful tendrils. He weaves between the few unaffected living trees, giving himself some natural cover as he does. Nonetheless, one of those tendrils lashes out through the maze of trees and finds him obliquely.

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!




CLASH OF PACK vs DBSM

To resolve this, I'll disclaim decision-making here. I've asked @darkbard to roll 1d6 for me, result spread as follows:

1-3 = DBSM gets the better of the exchange, absolutely routing the pack, slaying a few wolves and leaving all others (including the Werewolf) leaving the scene for the PCs to deal with the DBSM themselves.

4-5 = a mixed result with the pack takes a few losses in wolves, slaying the DBSM, but immediately turning upon the PCs. They'll have to do work to de-escalate things from violence to parley (if that is the goal).

6 = the pack takes a few losses in wolves, slays the DBSM, and regards the PCs with ambivalence for a moment, giving them a brief opening to parley.

Darkbard result = 1. DBSM gets the better of the exchange, absolutely routing the pack, slaying a few wolves and leaving all others (including the Werewolf) leaving the scene for the PCs to deal with the DBSM themselves.




You have the briefest of openings to attempt to scramble out of this steep gulley before the DBSM chases you and assails you with vomitous acid or necrotic tendrils. Do you attempt to get out of the gulley and leave behind your gear (@darkbard ) and leave the small would-be-blossom to its oppressed fate deep within the bosom of the covetous undead shambling mound? Or do you confront the foul creature?
 

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!

AD_4nXfoZ3YrlDWXEaS78WnAkPffWNlW8jZVdWDeMgZ29edk3l-BmpHgVlyv5eZ1fmBRRdOxkOLMqZExavr4UDHQl82WI-j-nK82Hp7iRuAKmkR11yyartGZQV5WWkA9uDk93KbNWreEXg

* * *

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
 

...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.

As Twyll heads out of the profane (soon to be purified) copse and into the safety of the surging water, the terrible undead plant mass sees its undoing before it. Yet rather than retreating from the tidal waters to the section of the gulley that isn't fully immersed, its malicious and covetous nature leaves it content for a Pyrrhic Victory. With the considerable length of its tendrils (Reach, Deprive, Grabby), it gropes out its full extent for the small plant cradled in the drow's embrace. Instead of keeping it alive yet imprisoned, the Deathborne Shambling Mound's "final act" will be to rip it from Twyll's grasp and crush the life out of the small verdure.

* @Nephis , what do you do? Do you take the attack yourself, sheltering the plant from harm (take 1d8 +1 damage but take +1 armor for the primal protections of the surging water)? Or do you try to evade the attack or defend from it; be aware that if a move generates a 6- here, the DBSM will take the plant from Twyll and crush it lifeless right before the DBSM itself is slain by the tidal waters!

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.

...

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!

As Pritchard watches his handiwork consume the mass of befouled nature before him, he feels a tug within him. That tug quickly matures to a yank. There is something special about this plant...it contains a divine spark of some kind. After The Cataclysm merged worlds briefly and the eruption claimed Neverwinter, it was rumored by the faithful of Helm in nearby Helm's Hold that The Vigilant One's immediate absence thereafter was due to him laying down his divine existence to protect Neverwinter and its people from the worst of the destruction. Whether true or not, the former deity of protection and vigilance has been missing since.

The profane pull inside Pritchard (Asmodeus himself?) oddly demands that he snuff this small life...not that it "be snuffed"...but, rather, that he himself do the snuffing.

* If the Deathborne Shambling Mound destroys the small plant, take -1 ongoing until you atone with offering or break free from the yoke of your master.

* If you destroy it, gain a new Alignment XP trigger (Evil) that works simultaneously and independently from your current one.

* If you let it live, you must either (a) always keep the plant near you and nurture it to protect you from infernal retribution (and prepare for more related troubles) or (b) keep the plant near you and enslave it for profane purpose when demanded.


Which will it be @darkbard ?
 

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