We played again today - our fifth session in this particular campaign - with only two players: Korvin must have got caught up telling more far-fetched tales at the tavern!
We started with a bit of town phase. Buying stuff was enhanced by the stimulated economy of the Wizard's Tower. Golin, being a 2nd level Outcast and hence a shrewd haggler, took his free test to haggle. He failed, but his failed haggling roll was what he was hoping for - a 1 (so unable to sell valuables - he had none to sell!). Golin made his first successful attempts to buy things - some food, and a second satchel. Fea-bella likewise - she bought food, and a tinderbox, and wine.
Fea-bella ate some of her food to relieve her hunger and thirst. She then made a poultice using her Healing skill, to help her recover from exhaustion. She then took her one free recovery test for staying with her mum in her stable-equivalent hovel, and succeeded.
Golin also wanted to buy a pry bar, to help him break into Megloss's house, but this is not an item ordinarily available for purchase in a wizard's tower settlement. So he attempted a Circles check - his first- to find a "black market" pry bar, in this case a tradesman or labourer willing to sell one to an adventurer. The test failed, and so by the time he learned of a willing vendor he was angry! He visited the tavern to cure his hunger and thirst ("hair of the dog", I guess), and also got a rumour - an old hand got chatting to him, and told the story of how, years ago when Vaccin was young and not the old man he is now, he had had two Dwarven friends visit him in town, with their young Dwarven bairn. They'd never been seen in the town again, but now Vaccin has another Dwarven friend! (In play, had rolled the Dismal News tavern rumour, about a bad fate befalling the PC's parents. Golin is an orphan, though, and so I asked Golin's player how he had been orphaned. The player didn't know. So I made something up. Golin's player suggested he might be losing his friend; I suggested that maybe this is why Vaccin is his friend.) Golin also took his free recovery for staying in Vaccin's home, and succeeded at recovering from his anger.
There was some debate between the players about the merits of making a Resources test to buy a "black market" pry bar, but Golin's player won the debate. The test was Ob 3 Resources test, and the dice pool was Golin's own 2 dice (for Resources 2), +1D for the stimulated economy, and +2D for help from Fea-bella and his new friend Gerda. He also through in a persona point, for 6D total. And failed. I decided to go for a twist rather than a condition: the local with the pry bar in the end wasn't happy with what Golin was offering (ie no sale), and when Fea-bella got home she found that her Elfstone had been stolen!
Despite this slight loss (which Golin's player didn't mind too much - he needs a failed Resources test to progress to Resources 3), the players were feeling pretty good about their town phase: no conditions, and provisions, and both having advanced their Resources via their successful purchases. Golin's player asked how the journey works when the adventure site is in town - I said there isn't one, and they can just go there - and he was feeling better. They then made their lifestyle tests for "leaving town" and both succeeded - in Fea-bella's case this took her to Resources 2. Having succeeded at lifestyle (for the first time ever) and having no conditions, both were Fresh!
They walked to the edge of town, where Megloss's house sits one an outcropping, looking out over the plains. I described the house: poorly kept, the equivalent of a stablem, built predominantly of timber, with smoke pouring from its chimney. Now Golin's Belief is that Explosive solutions are good solutions!, and Fea-bella has Alchemist 2, so they decided they would climb to the roof of the house and mess with the chimney and soot to force the occupants out. Unfortunately, the Dungeoneering check to get to the top failed - and I went for a twist: while they were standing about trying to work out the best way up - I explained that every time they thought they'd found a suitable way, they were worried the poor state of the timber wouldn't support them - the front door opened and Krystal the housekeeper came out to remonstrate with them, telling them to move along.
They opted, without much deliberation, for trickery, trying to persuade Krystal that they were building inspectors, worried about the state of the house and needing to come inside to further inspect it. Her response was along the lines of having never heard of such a thing, and they should get lost. (Or words to that effect.) Initial rolls for disposition gave them 5 points each. Krystal and Golin were both using Beginner's Luck, though Krystal was at one point able to use her Demanding Nature to insist that they leave.
So-so scripting and mediocre rolling meant that Krystal won, with only a minor compromise (for one hit point lost). Fea-bella also managed to rack up 4 checks, by breaking ties in Krystal's favour twice (but each time to no real benefit to Krystal, as they were Defence actions when she was still at full hit points). So the PCs had to leave, though they took as their compromise that they would have a very quick look inside before leaving. I described the front room (which they could see through the front door) and the kitchen (which they could see through the door off the side of the front room): both players noticed the rug on the floor in front of the fire.
Golin's player asked for a test, based on his instinct to Always look for weak points, to see if there was a trapdoor or similar opening in the floor hidden under the rug. The test failed. And so, as the PCs were about to leave, who should come in the front door but Megloss, demanding to know what they were doing there! Fea-bella sputtered some nonsense about building inspection, and Krystal said that she'd never heard of such a thing and that they were about to leave, and Megloss scoffed at Fea-bella - "Surely you can do better than that!"
So then Fea-bella came out with the allegation that Megloss has kidnapped Glothfindel, and demanded his release. So we went into a Convince conflict. Megloss and Krystal had a disposition of 10 (including the +3 for Megloss being Fea-bella's enemy); the PCs had 6. I had to script first. A Convince conflict takes Persuader for Attack and Defend - and Megloss is untrained in Persuader - but Manipulator for Manoeuvre and Feint - and Megloss is Manipulator 3. So I decided to open with a Feint - which would force a versus test if the players scripted Feint, would cut through a Defence if the players opted to have Golin act first and Defend with Beginner's Luck, and likewise do damage directly against a Manoeuvre. But I was outwitted by Fea-bella's player, who conjectured that opening with a Feint was exactly the dastardly sort of thing Megloss would do, and hence opened with an Attack! The pool was 2D for Persuader 2, +1D of help from Golin's Oratory (he declaimed a little homily about how the outsider living on the edge of town would be even more of an outsider once it came to light he was a kidnapper), +1D from Fresh and maybe another bonus from somewhere else (a trait perhaps). Fea-bella's player was rolling with odds as successes, and 5s as eligible for open-ending via Fate, and rolled three successes including two 5s, and spent the Fate, and got two more 5s, and then a success and another 5, and then another success on that one. Together with the evidence that she had equipped as a weapon - namely, the conversation with Turner, the bandit leader, in the previous session, which she now recounted to Megloss - that was 9 successes. So Megloss was just standing there, shocked and tongue-tied.
The next two actions were largely uneventful - Defences and Manoeuvres - but then in the next round they were able to knock out Krystal before she could restore any hit points via a successful defence: she had equipped promises as her weapon, offering them as much bread as they could carry if only they'd leave, but the PCs were not swayed by her blandishments!
Having suffered a total defeat, with no compromise on the PCs' part required, what could Megloss do? He pulled back the rug, unlocked the trapdoor, and handed over the trussed-up Glothfindel - who was hungry and thirsty, and exhausted (a prior GM determination) and now also became angry at Megloss as Fea-bella succeeded at a Criminal test to untie him and the 4th turn ticked over.
The PCs still had to leave, on account of their prior loss to Krystal, and so they did. But Fea-bella was happy to have rescued her friend, and Golin was happy to add a length of rope to his inventory.
The players debated whether or not to go into another town phase, or to camp. TAs they debated, each of the PCs and Glothfindel drained a waterskin dry. They decided to camp, so as to get better use from their 4 checks. A successful Survivalist test found them a concealed "camp" in town; a roll of 9 on the Camp Events roll, +1 for concealment, indicated that their concealment was next to the village garbage pit (no alleviating hungry and thirst, the stench making it impossible to keep food down).
Fea-bella gave her wine to Glothfindel to help him with his recovery from angry, and he succeeded. Golin succeeded at a Cook test to preserve two of his fresh rations. Fea-bella made a poultice to help Glothfindel recover from exhaustion, and also used her new Instinct - Always map the path - to make her first Cartography test, and draw a map from memory of the parts of Megloss's house that she had seen. This left her hungry and thirsty. Glothfindel then used the last check for a successful test to recover from exhaustion.
The players then debated whether to go into town phase, or have another crack at Megloss's house. Golin liked the idea of having another go with the advantage of surprise - who would expect them to come back that night - while Fea-bella was feeling more cautious. They got a bit more general information from Glothfindel (in lieu of the tavern rumour that an adventuring friend would normally provide) and decided to break in that night.; the clincher for Fea-bella was her conviction that Megloss must have something to do with the theft of the Elfstone, which plays into her Belief that it must be protected at all costs. Glothfindel wouldn't be joining them, though - he was going to check on his horse, Asfaloth.
The PCs went back to the house and decided to enter through the back room, that looks out over the plains and overhangs the overhang on which the house is built. I asked if they were lighting a lantern, and Golin didn't want to - he didn't want Krystal to notice any strange lights. I told the players I didn't have to roll for weather, but would do so to determine the state of the sky - they were happy with that. The roll showed it to be clear and cool, so dim light from the stars and moon, and they were happy to proceed with the extra penalty from a lack of light. Golin left one of his satchels, empty of everything but a pouch, next to the house, so as not to take a penalty to Dungeoneer checks. The Dungeoneer check to get the two of them to the back of the house failed anyway, leaving Golin hungry and thirsty too.
From their new vantage point, they could see shuttered windows, and Fea-bella opened the shutters with an Ob 1 Criminal test. They could see the dusty floor inside, and the roof in disrepair. Golin, suspicious of dust since his experience of explosive powders in Mim's workroom, decided to look more closely, and succeeded at his Ob 3 Scout test - which both advanced his Scout to 3, and revealed that the floor would collapse if walked on. Golin was keen for them to have somewhere where they could eat, before another condition clocked on, and so used his Instinct to work out where the floor was weak (and hence where it wasn't). This succeeded, and climbed into the room and ate some food resting on a solid bit of floor near the back wall.
They had also seen a piece of clothing lying on the floor, and Golin decided he wanted it. Fea-bella was sceptical - "It's just a cloak" - but Golin pointed out that he didn't have a cloak and might find one useful. He reached out with his sword pommel to pull it to him, and I rated this a good idea. I also said that there seemed to be something heavy - maybe a pot? - under the item, and asked if he wanted that too. He did - and so at that point I called for a Scavenging test against Ob 1 to grab it safely. He did so, and found it was a bottle. This led to some rearranging of inventories. Fea-bella was sceptical about the merits of keeping a bottle, but Golin (or Golin's player, at least) was of the view that anything that is found, and can be taken, should be taken.
The clothing was a woollen sweater. Golin put it on.
I called the session end at that point. We allocated rewards. Golin got a fate for pursuing his Belief (the ultimately unsuccessful chimney plan), for pursuing his Goal (his desire to get something the help him with his plan to set up Gerda in town was what led him to try and rob Megloss twice), and for his instinct; and a persona as the teamworker (preserving rations, identifying the unsafe floor, etc). Fea-bella got a fate for pursuing her Belief, and for her instinct; and got a persona for achieving her goal of rescuing Megloss, and as the MVP for her 9-point Attack in the Convince conflict.
The PCs now have enough fate and persona each to reach 3rd level next session. The Scholar's Guide suggests that the first respite, around level 3, will be after 8 to 12 sessions of play, but having only two players concentrates the MVP and teamworker persona a bit, accelerating the levelling. Personally I don't mind this, given that we play at best once every two or three weeks.
The players counted this as their most successful session: they were Fresh when they left town; they finished the session still with no conditions; they still have some rations, oil and candles; and are both Resources 2. If it's possible to win at Torchbearer, maybe this is what it feels like!
