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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8935570" data-attributes="member: 42582">Today's session did indeed involve a Town Phase - the PCs' first Respite. But first there was a final conflict in the Adventure Phase.We had two players and so two PCs - Fea-bella the Elven Dreamwalker and Golin the Dwarven Outcast. I suggested that as Fea-bella and Megloss joined the other three characters (Korvin, Telemere and Golin), Megloss said something to Telemere in Elven, leading to Telemere heading off somewhere; and that Korvin said something charming and likewise headed off.Megloss then addressed Fea-bella and Golin, insisting that they try and drive the possessing spirit out of Krystal, Megloss's housekeeper. The PCs wanted to leave the house back into the village (ie the players wanted to enter Town Phase) and so we resolved this as a Convince conflict. The players won, after a very long number of rounds (about 9), but there were compromises required: Megloss had to keep his promise of food, and the players promised to come back and help Krystal after they had recovered in town.The players then "camped" in Megloss's house: Fea-bella recovered from Angry and rememorised her spell; Golin used Krystal's kitchen to cook some food for him and Megloss.Then the PCs left the house and started their respite, which lasted the summer. The town event was Pit Fighting: Fea-bella paid it no attention, but Golin - who had recovered from Angry when his player gave the prologue - chose to become Angry to recover his taxed Nature. Unfortunately his recovery test, with 5D against Ob 2, failed (zero successes).Both PCs reached 3rd level - Fea-bella chose Essence of the Earth, and Golin chose Hardy Stock. We went through the other steps of Respite. Fea-bella took Dreams-wise and gained the Graceful trait; Golin took Instruction-wise and gained the Avaricious trait. Fea-bella's creed is that These are dark times, and so all Elves need help; while Golin's is that Elves are lost in their dreams, and need grounding in reality.Fea-bella did a lot of shopping, but all for the cheap and simple items available in a Wizard's Tower - eg candles, tinderbox, provisions - but also for Religious Amulets (of the Sun) purchased at the shrine. She also reached out to her mentor, Jobe, in her dreams, and he taught her the Lightness of Being spell. There was some discussion of whether she would track down Gerda (the Dwarven NPC who had stolen her cursed Elfstone) but the player couldn't afford the lifestyle cost (which would be stepped up during a Respite) and so instead treated us to a soliloquy from Fea-bella in which she tried to persuade herself that she could overcome the pull of the gem on her will - she, an Elf, was not going to succumb to greed as a Dwarf would!Golin sold the tapestry for 4D of silver (after tax), and bargained to sell the captured aptr-gangrs to the magicians and alchemists. They offered 5D in coins - Golin couldn't carry that much money, and wanted a 3D gem instead. I set this as an Ob 1 Haggler test - he succeeded, which also took his skill to Haggler 3.Golin also did research on Gebbeths. I set this as Ob 3 Scholar to obtain common knowledge - the roll failed, and so I provided information but Golin was Exhausted from all the time spent in the library. He learned that Gebbeths had last been active under the influence of the Temple of Elemental Evil, and that when a Gebbeth is driven out the victim is often left a dead, soulless husk.This all took a while to resolve - the usual bookkeeping of a Town Phase plus the additional Respite aspects.The PCs then returned to Megloss's house, to keep their promise. Fea-bella made her Lifestyle roll, but Golin didn't. Which his player had anticipated: when helping one of Fea-bella's Resources checks he'd spent a Fate point to get the success check on his own Resources, and the failure was what he needed to increase his Resources to 3. So Fea-bella was Fresh, while Golin remained Angry and Exhausted (but at least his coin soaked his Resources tax).I rolled the weather for the first month of autumn - rain. Not auspicious - as I said, the PCs would not be able to equip the sun streaming through the windows onto the possessed Krystal.Megloss told them that he had been using his Healing to keep the still-possessed, still-restrained Krystal alive. There was discussion of what sort of spiritual conflict to attempt - the players opted for Bind, so that the spirit could take the looted spellbook (from the aptr-gangr alcove) into Fea-bella's dreams (as Golin's player had suggested last session). Fea-bella took the spellbook out of her backpack, and Megloss asked what it was. She answered that it was the tome into which the shadow spirit would be bound.The PCs rolled 6 hp, with Golin as conflict captain (relying on his research into Gebbeth's) - 3 for Fea-bella, 2 for Golin and 1 for Megloss as a helper but not an actor. The spirit rolled 7 hp (based on its Possessing nature). At first it seemed the PCs might do well, as they dropped the spirit to 6 hp in the first round. But then in the next two rounds the spirit regained its lost hp and reduced the PCs to zero.I had a look at the compromise descriptions for Bind conflicts, and settled on the following (with no quibbling from the players): the spirit left Krystal's body - which was left a lifeless, soulless husk - and entered Megloss. It took the spellbook with it, into Megloss's dreams rather than Fea-bella's. And the unnatural spiritual activity caused the rain to get heavier - a bolt of lightning struck the house, destroying its front half and leaving the PCs outside in the wet, while Megloss remained dry in what was left of his home.The general view on the player side was that this was a bit of a disaster - Fea-bella and Megloss had been reaching some sort of rapprochement, and Golin was close to making friends. And all that seemed to be undone, plus the spellbook was lost.From my point of view as GM, the PCs now have three supernatural opponents resulting from their exploration of the dungeon under Megloss's house: Duran the demon of the Outer Dark; Celedhring the mithril sword-wielding barrow wight; and the shadow spirit-possessed Megloss.We ended the session there. Fea-bella got her Persona for mouldbreaker (the soliloquy about the gem), and for Teamworker (she had done all the buying during Town Phase) and for achieving her goal of having her mentor teach her a spell. Golin got one Persona for MVP (his research into the Gebbeth) and two Fate - he pursued his Goal (of having a restful Town Phase - it was unanimously agreed he failed to achieve it!) and his Belief (that the aptr-gangrs would be paid for, again).I don't know what will happen next session. I'd be interested in another journey, but how the new creeds will factor into the new Megloss situation I don't know.</blockquote>

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