per darkbard:
Once the Uthgardt remains are reduced to ash, PRITCHARD follows Twyll back to the threshold of the ruined church. The drow pulls from her pack a glowstick, that Underdark phosphorescent-equivalent to a sunrod, and ignites it.
“Our last source of light,” she notes grimly. “But you must see within the ruins if we are to retrieve your ancestors’ bones.” Then she informs him of Valindra Shadowmantle’s wards of the sanctuary.
Though it no longer swells with vernal promise, the Watchflower palpably vibrates.
“This plant is sacred to Helm, taking its common name thus. Though it is said Helm is fallen, presumedly gone from our realm or any other, this plant somehow seems to contain and funnel his divine spark. If Helm protected my people once, perhaps The Watcher can do so again….” Pritchard makes as if to retrieve the plant from his satchel and bring it to bear against Valindra’s necromantic wards.
“Wait!” Twyll warns him. “If the Thayan lich has warded this place, perhaps she surveils it, too. Maybe I can use the technique I mastered when I carried her scrying device to observe her when we trigger her scrying.”
Pritchard nods. The drow closes her eyes, focusing on her faculty of scent. The diabolist removes the plant from his satchel, holds it up gingerly, and brings it to bear against the invisible barrier.
He swears the bud turns to meet the plane and the leaves bristle slightly. There is a flash of golden light, like sunlight reflected off a polished metal surface, in a semi-spherical arc around the ruins.
Twyll breathes in deeply through her nose.
The plant seems to wither and droop, its inner power expended for now.
Twyll spends the last of our
Adventuring Gear for a light source for Pritchard to be able to see within the dark ruins.
Pritchard expends a second use of
PLANT OF DIVINE SPARK. While Pritchard or Twyll are within Near range of the tiny plant, they can halve the damage or remove a keyword effect from a profane source, Devil, or Undead creature. (x x Reload Pritchard Level-up; marks 2nd use).
Meanwhile,
TWYLL focuses her attention on the dissipation of Valindra’s wards, hoping to discern a further clue to the lich’s whereabouts as she becomes aware of her protective barrier failing.
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?
This is a fairly novel implementation of Discern Realities. Our rationale for using it here is your revelation that Valindra has the place warded, and since she’s already made use of scrying remote locations it’s both logical and fun to turn her preparations against her once again. (Probably pissing her off even further!) Twyll is not looking for further details about the ruined church (she’s already used DR to that effect) but to glean another clue to use against Valindra.
r5,3 +2 WIS = 10. That’s three questions, bolded above. Hope it makes sense how those particular questions tie in to the paragraph immediately preceding.
Since the answers to these questions have no bearing on the outcome of further actions here, I’m going to go ahead and continue our interaction with the scene below.
The lich’s curse lifted from this place, the two companions enter the dark space, TWYLL’s glowstick lighting PRITCHARD’s way.
“Be careful of these petrified branches,” the drow points out. “Sharp as a spear. Follow my lead closely.”
With the practiced care Pritchard demonstrated at Thundertree, he mimics Twyll’s movements flawlessly.
Making use of her significant grace and agility, Twyll maneuvers around the petrified tree. Pritchard studies her movements carefully, noting each detail of muscle flex and torque, to enact the same path through danger.
DEFY DANGER
When
danger looms, the stakes are high, and you do something chancy, check if another move applies. If not, roll...
... +STR to power through or test your might
...
+DEX to employ speed, agility, or finesse (Twyll)
... +CON to endure or hold steady
...
+INT to apply expertise or enact a clever plan (Pritchard)
... +WIS to exert willpower or rely on your senses
... +CHA to charm, bluff, impress, or fit in
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).
Twyll r3,2 +2 DEX = 7.
Pritchard r2,4 +2 INT = 8.
That’s two mixed successes!
Per Manbearcat
RE DISCERN REALITIES
Take 1 Clue. The countersurveil yields the following scents and brief imagery shifting on the dark canvas of the night as if through a veil:
- The sweat and stink of a night laborer, burning oil, then its image of a lantern held aloft in the gloom of night, leading a shadowy group through a labyrinthine collection of askew tombstones.
[*]A red robed figure, spindly undead fingers holding a chain leash with ghoulish hound sniffing the ground of graves.
RE DEFY DANGER
The threat here is either injury or the church framing becoming compromised, thereby putting a precarious clock on this effort. One of the PCs takes 1d4 damage (no armor applies) due to the effort/exertion to not impale themself (your choice which PC) and the other complication is going to be
that the old, dead tree is basically buttressing that exterior, load-bearing wall. Even the slightness of your collective traversal has very slightly shifted things. The compromised, wooden framing of the church ceiling groans, a rafter splinters and shards of debris and dust fall to the floor, a gaping hole to the sky opens up, Selune’s moonlight filtering through. Stones on the exterior walls shift or audibly crumble. When everything settles, it becomes abundantly clear that the whole structure won't last much longer…
Nonetheless, you pair are in the church, sunrod flaring with moon looking on from the new hole in the ceiling.
RE REST OF SCENE ELEMENTS
Exposed arms, hands, legs, and feet are long since skeletal. Those bodies buried under the layers of ash and pumice are surely mummified.
On the eastern wall, the half-broken statue of Helm at the humble church’s altar still stands vigil, as if locked in permanent stewardship of his wards.
The cache of belongings of the people who fled still lies in the state it was left. A heavy, hardwood table in the northwest corner of the church contains various iconography and totemic pieces for worship, ritual, and communion. Even as benign artwork, they would fetch a fine price (2 weight, 80 coin) on the open market. Helm’s Hold to the south of Neverwinter would be very happy to see them brought into the bosom of the cathedral of the dead god there. Further, rations long spoiled are interspersed between 2 x uses of Adventuring Gear, 2 x uses of Bandages, and 1 x uses of Bag of Books.
Getting to the altar or the ritual table will be precarious as the heavy wood floor is unsteady itself due to the combination of heat from pyroclasm, hard freezes, and mountain runoff having all taken their toll to swell and contract the substrate over the years. This has advanced the state of wear of the structure as a whole. Even walking upon the floor generates a dreaded noise and subtle yaw.
—
Twyll is too concerned with her companion’s capacity for following her graceful lead. So much so that she turns into a protruding petrified branch, jagged and sharp.
“Cythraul!” she curses under her breath.
TWYLL takes r2 damage as the first consequence for the mixed Defy Danger roll.
- - -
The diabolist steps back and assesses the situation: the creaking floor boards, the crumbling mortar from the ceiling, the bodies half-buried in broken columns and petrified tree and various shards of structural components. “We need to retrieve and sanctify my ancestors’ bones and then bury them outdoors, under Selune’s protection,” PRITCHARD muses aloud.
Twyll looks at her companion’s ruined hands. Then considers her rucksack, empty of any useful digging tools.
“Let me see if I can find a spade or shovel amid their equipment.”
The drow re-enters the precarious structure and carefully makes her way towards the collection of useful items in the northwest corner.
Twyll defies the danger of collapse through grace and agility, with the goal of filling her rucksack with the items enumerated above (iconography, adventuring gear, bandages, bag of books).
DEFY DANGER
When
danger looms, the stakes are high, and you do something chancy, check if another move applies. If not, roll...
... +STR to power through or test your might
...
+DEX to employ speed, agility, or finesse
... +CON to endure or hold steady
... +INT to apply expertise or enact a clever plan
... +WIS to exert willpower or rely on your senses
... +CHA to charm, bluff, impress, or fit in
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).
r3,6 +2 DEX = 11. Success.
This extrication of his ancestors’ remains will take some care and time, it seems. And muscle. She may not be built like an ox, but TWYLL is tireless. And, according to Pritchard it seems, capable of taking direction. Between his “brains” and her labor, they should be up to the task. Not to mention the advantage of the shovel she found among the gear!
Pritchard assesses the structural integrity of the ruins and their subtle disturbance thereof to give Twyll guidance as she uses the newly acquired shovel to remove the remains from the rubble. As Twyll follows her companion’s direction, she realizes that this drudgery surely releases her from any debt she owes him.
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.
Pritchard r6,3 +1 bond = 10. Twyll takes +1 to ensuing roll.
DEFY DANGER
When
danger looms, the stakes are high, and you do something chancy, check if another move applies. If not, roll...
... +STR to power through or test your might
... +DEX to employ speed, agility, or finesse
...
+CON to endure or hold steady
... +INT to apply expertise or enact a clever plan
... +WIS to exert willpower or rely on your senses
... +CHA to charm, bluff, impress, or fit in
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).
Twyll r5,4 +0 CON +1 Aid +1 Adv Gear = 11. Success!
Per darkbard:
After burying the final body of her companion’s ancestors, Twyll plants the spade into the soil beside the new graves. Then she turns to observe PRITCHARD who seems at a loss.
Taking a breath, he begins to speak: “Selune, you aided us … in the defiled copse … We beseech your aid once again …”
The diabolist turns his face up to the heavens and winces at the moonlight, as if the glare is too much for him.
The drow lets him struggle for a moment before bending down to her rucksack and removing one of their newly acquired “treasures.” Handing him the dusty tome embossed with a pair of eyes surrounded by seven stars, she murmurs, “perhaps this might help you.”
Pritchard riffles through the text, his eyes widened. “Here,” he says, “Liturgy for the Departed.
“Scion of the Blackmantle name, let the Moonbeam blanket your grave; slumber in peace,” he proceeds to intone over each grave.
We will utilize the single use of the Bag of Books Twyll found to finish the necessary interment.
- - -
END OF SESSION MOVE
1) Did you resolve any bonds? If so, mark XP and update your bonds.
* Yes, Twyll has resolved “Blackmantle saved my life; that debt must be repaid as soon as possible.” New bond: “I have gone out of my way for Blackmantle: now he owes me!”
2) If you fulfilled your alignment at least once this session, mark XP.
* Pritchard Alignment (Neutral); to seek answers that maybe you oughtn’t. Yes. So many times! Let’s use the “whole well incident!” Or perhaps his interaction with the Deathborn Shambling Mound!
* Twyll Alignment (Neutral); to deceive, misdirect, outthink. Yes. Most recently by outthinking Valindra (again!) by re-engineering the wards in the ruined church to spy on her. Also, redirecting the attention of Deathborn Shambling Mound to the Uthgardt.
3) Then answer these three questions as a group:
3a) Did we learn something new and important about the world?
* Yes. Necromantic powers are defiling natural systems. There are ethical and moral varieties in different types of shapeshifters. Helm has some lingering presence in the world. Mordai Vell has corrupted Lord Neverember, who has ordered Captain Sabine to purge the Sons of Alogandar.
3b) Did we overcome a notable monster or enemy?
* Yes. The Deathborn Shambling Mound was killed. We forged an alliance with Hakon of the Uthgardt clan.
3c) Did we make notable progress toward or forestall a Grim Portent?
* No.
3d) Did we prevent an Impending Doom?
* No.
In addition, Nephis earned 4 XP via 6- rolls and darkbard earned 2 XP via 6- rolls. Thus, Twyll earns 8 XP (levels up to 3 and has 3 extra XP) and Pritchard earns 5 XP (L2 with 8 extra XP). Twyll raises her WIS from 16 to 17 and chooses as her Advanced Move
PERCEPTIVE
When you
Discern Realities, you may ask 1 additional question. Even on a 6-, you can ask 1 question (though you might not like how you learn the answer).
- - -
We are heading directly back to Neverwinter to pursue our various goals there, beginning with meeting the Wraith.
