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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9075201" data-attributes="member: 42582">We played again yesterday, with a full house of players (Fea-bella, Golin, Korvin and Telemere). Neither of the players who were in our last session got the prologue benefit, as I (as GM) was the one who had to give the prologue, given the passage of time between sessions!The opening situation had Fea-bella and Golin lying in the mud and rain, while Korvin (who had been off skiving at his friend Jann's tavern - recovered hungry and thirsty) and Telemere (who had been wandering near Elfhome, looking for, but failing to find, a half-moon glaive - recovered taxed Nature) turned up at more-or-less the same time. They could see Megloss standing in the remaining half of the house above them, laughing maniacally with hand raised like Dr Doom or some other gothic super-villain.I called for OB 2 Health tests for Fea-bella and Golin, to see if the cold and wet had afflicted them: both succeeded.The players then discussed what to do, and wrote Goals and Beliefs:Fea-bella wanted to hunt down Gerda (who, according to Megloss, had stolen the cursed Elfstone which continued to be the object of Fea-bella's obsession). Korvin wanted to cleanse Megloss. His Belief that he would follow the clues to hunt down the wicked remained. Telemere wanted to stop the threat posed by the evil spirit. His Belief, that one should see things to their end, also remained. Golin wanted to get Megloss on the path to recovery. His Belief changed, from Surely Elves can't be so bad! to Elves are fickle and unstable.These drove the play that followed.Things started with an attempt, initiated and led by Fea-bella, to persuade Megloss to help them get the Elfstone from Gerda. Korvin added in some deception via Manipulator - there might be more than one gem! and Gerda might be more than she seemed, and so the PCs couldn't do it without Megloss.Megloss, in turn, was dismissing the PCs as a hopeless rabble, and insisting that they head south to find Turner - <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/torchbearer-2e-actual-play-of-this-awesome-system.691233/post-8780776" target="_blank">a petty bandit captain in Megloss's sometime-employ</a> - and join him in carrying out Nob H's plans. (Nob H is a bandit lord, and Korvin's enemy - this was his first occurence other than on Korvin's PC sheet).The conflict ended with both sides reduced to zero disposition in the same exchange, and so each had to give the other a painful compromise: Melgoss would come and help with Gerda, provided that he got first pick of the gems; he would then take the PCs to Turner, and insist that Turner give Korvin his fine boots.Golin had accrued a camp check, and so the PCs decided to "camp" in Megloss's house, so that Golin could turn Fea-bella's fresh food into preserved rations. I rolled a camp event, and got the stench of the garbage, which <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/torchbearer-2e-actual-play-of-this-awesome-system.691233/post-8796111" target="_blank">had happened before in the vicinity of Megloss's house</a>. I narrated that the rain had stopped, and a wind come up which was blowing the smell of the garbage into the (now front-less and open to the elements) house. Luckily no one had any conditions to alleviate.Golin's player wanted to preserve all five portions of fresh rations: an Ob 4 check, despite having only Cook 3. So he decided that he was teaching the others how to cook, which he could do as none of them was spending a check doing anything else. This way his Teaching-wise would be available to reroll traitors! Normally Cook can be helped with Alchemist and Labourer, but I accepted Survivalist also on this occasion, and so Telemere and Fea-bella both lent their dice. They also both needed 1 failure to advance their Survivalist ratings, and so each spent a Fate point to get the benefit of the test for their own advancement - in other words, betting on Golin to lose! Golin's player took great pleasure in rolling 4 successes on his 5 dice and thus not even needing to trigger his Wise. Fea-bella's player snidely remarked about unfulfilling "fate bait".Camp done, the PCs - with Megloss - then went to Gerda's apartment. I rolled for new weather, on the Autumn weather table, and found that the wind had picked up into a gale! The rules say that "Adventurers who spend significant time in a gale must make an Ob 3 Health test (suggested condition: exhausted or injured)". Having regard the fact that it is only a short tip through town to Gerda's apartment, but also to the fact that we were playing Torchbearer, "a roleplaying game of desperate adventure", I called for Ob 2 Health tests. Korvin's player failed, and Korvin - perhaps too acclimated to the cosy pub! - was Exhausted.We had already established that no one had spoken with Gerda since <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/torchbearer-2e-actual-play-of-this-awesome-system.691233/page-3" target="_blank">she went shopping with the PCs</a> and stole Fea-bella's cursed Elfstone, and she had only been seen silhouetted by her apartment window in the evening, as if gloating over a small bauble held in her hands! Whereas Megloss's house (as had already been established) is on the edge of the village, overlooking a cliff, Gerda's apartment - I now narrated - was at the centre, near the base of the rise on which stands the wizard's tower. I decided - but didn't tell the players at this particular point - that Gerda would erect a deadfall trap over the entrance to her apartment. The players declared that they opened the door and went in. I called for Heath tests against Ob 2 (and as one of the players noted, this time cloaks and woollen sweaters didn't help; though I allowed Golin's player to add +1D to his pool, given Golin wears a helmet). Telemere and Fea-bella were both Injured by the falling stones!Telemere's player then noticed that he should have used his Instinct - When I enter somewhere new, I check to see if I am being watched - and he used it now. Golin helped, as he also had a salient Instinct - Always look for weak points. Telemere could see that the downstairs rooms seemed dusty and empty, but that someone seemed to have stuck their head out of the door at the top of the staircase - Gerda!Another Scout test was made, to ensure the staircase was safe. It was.As the PCs were being cautious, Gerda decided to Flee, and the PCs pursued. The PCs handily caught her, dragging her back in from the window and pinning her in a corner. But they did lose one hit point, obliging a minor compromise - Telemere, who had taken the lead in the window-dragging-back-from, noticed that during the struggle his tinderbox had fallen out of his satchel into the muck and wind outside! (This player has had the least experience with Torchbearer - I think this was his fourth session - and he was starting to "appreciate" its obsession with inflicting punishment in small and frustrating increments.)The PCs also became hungry and thirsty at this point (Gale Health test, deadfall health test, Scout test for traps, conflict). The PCs took drinks from their waterskins while keeping an eye on Gerda. I asked if anyone stopped her equipping a spear - no one did. I also secretly rolled for her loot on the relevant Loot Table - it turned up the amusing result of plate armour!Gerda declared, therefore, that to get the Elfstone the PCs would have to kill her! Telemere (as portrayed by his player) said, "Megloss, now it's your chance to shine!" This produced much laughter, and earned a Fate point for gallows humour out of GM generosity, even if it didn't quite meet the criteria. I called for a Persuader check, vs Megloss's Beginner's Luck Will: Megloss prevailed, and so responded "I think this one is for Fea-bella."Fea-bella decided to try and Capture Gerda, and so the conflict was resolved using Kill for Gerda's intent and actions, and Capture for Fea-bella and team's. Her team members were Korvin and Telemere - Megloss stood aside (in part under a general principle of not having NPCs carry too much load, and possibly in slight violation of the earlier compromise, though no player called me on it); and so did Golin, as he was not going to fight his friend Gerda, and he did have doubts about Elves after all!The conflict was hard-fought. Gerda started with 7 hit points, the PCs with 4 but the advantage of numbers. But when they got their first successful attack in, I revealed my (or should I say Gerda's) plate armour beneath her cloak, to groans and consternation and cries of unfair GMing. Every roll to avoid her armour being damaged was successful, and it absorbed 4 points of damage over the course of the conflict. First Korvin dropped, and then Telemere (I scripted a cunning "A/A/F" in the final exchange, and the last-volley Feint did it's job well!). When only Fea-bella was left standing, with her one hit point and her Injury and Fighter 2 and Health 3 and no Fate points remaining, while Gerda still had 4 hit points, I reminded Fea-bella's player of the Surrender option:If you’re in a kill conflict and your side still has disposition, you may offer to surrender to your opponent. If your opponent accepts, you get no compromise, but they capture you rather than kill you. In addition, you owe them a compromise based on the amount of disposition lost before the surrender.Fea-bella monologued about the pull of the Elfstone, and if only she could let it be - and surrendered. She owned a major compromise, and I noticed the following suggestion on the list of Kill conflit compromises:The loser is killed, but their demise causes massive collateral damage (starts a fire, opens a dyke, collapses a roof, etc)I suggested the following to Fea-bella's player - Gerda kills you, but if you have the will to live, then you will be free of the curse. The reply: "Yes".So as Fea-bella monologued, Gerda ran her through with her spear. I asked Fea-bella's player, "Do you have the will to live?" "Yes." "You have to say it" "I have the will to live." The Persona point was spent, and Fea-bella's Nature dropped from 2 back to 1. Her Nature cap is now 5 (this is her second "death".) She lost her Enchanting nature - probably because she has renounced her spiritual connection to jewels and the Elven magic they hold - and her Fiery trait dropped back to level 1. (Her previous death had seen it step up to Level 2.) She now has only one Nature descriptor: Remembering.On the plus side, she took a failed test in Resources, thus stepping up to Resource 3; and with her Nature now at 1 she opened up her Beginner's Luck Hunter skill.The compromise also had Telemere Exhausted, and Korvin Injured.Megloss now stepped forward. I checked his Arcanist skill - Arcanist 5 - and looked up Flames of the Shroud in the spellbook. I rolled 5 dice, and got 3 successes; and, noting that mundane armour does not protect against the aetheric flames the spell pulls from the Shroud of Worlds, I declared that Gerda was killed, burned to ashes!This had an incendiary effect not only on Gerda but on Golin, whose player now declared an immediate attack against Megloss! Fea-bella sat this one out, but Telemere and Korvin both joined him. Megloss was enhanced by the spirit possesing him. Both sides had 8 hp, and there was no doubt that this conflict was all about the killing! Golin, as conflict captain, gave himself the first action, an attack augmented by his Avenging Grudges Nature. He rolled 11 dice, spent Fate to open end his 6s, and cut through Megloss's four manoeuvre successes to deal 6 points of damage. It took another round to finish things, but Megloss was dead and the evil spirit driven off at the end of things. But the players had also lost 3 hp, and so a compromise was in order:The loser kills half of the winning team (rounded down).Korvin, who had lost 2 hits from Megloss, had a mortal wound. But he also had the will to live! He took a failed Health check, and opened up a couple of new skills based on Nature 1; and I took away his Boasting Nature descriptor, and changed his Pragmatic trait to Calm.Appropriate loot rolls revealed a few useful items: 3 candles in Gerda's apartment; and on Megloss a 2D crescent moon pendant, and also a  written description of the evil spirit, prepared (as I explained to the players) while they were cooking, and being taught to cook, in his house. The last test of the session was Fea-bella using her Instinct to Read Every Word, and learn more about the nature and abilities of the evil spirit. (I shared my statblock write-up.)We then did end-of-session rewards:*Telemere got a fate point for acting on his Belief, and for pursuing his Goal, and for using his Instinct, and for his remark to Megloss; and got a Persona point for being the Teamworker (this one was unanimous, mostly because of his lamentations over his sacrifice of a tinderbox). *Korvin got a fate point for acting on his Belief, and Persona for achieving his Goal, Megloss now being cleansed of the evil spirit. *Golin got a fate point for acting on his Belief, and for using his Instinct; he got a Persona for achieving his Goal, for upholding his Creed in a moment of crisis (Elves are lost in dreams; they need grounding in reality), and for MVP (the mighty blow against Megloss). *Fea-bella got a fate point for using her Instinct; and got Persona for mouldbreaker (her monologue renouncing the Elfstone), for achieving her Goal, and for upholding her Creed (These are dark times - all Elves need help!).If the PCs take a town phase, Telemere and Korvin will both reach second level, and Fea-bella will reach fourth.Fea-bella's player noted the symmetry of Dwarf kills Elf (Gerda vs Fea-bella); Elf kills Dwarf (Megloss vs Gerda); Dwarf kills Elf (Golin vs Megloss). I expressed surprise that the session ended with both Megloss and Gerda dead. Someone - I think Golin's player - pointed out that it was my NPC who killed Gerda. To which my retort was that the players were the ones who had insisted Megloss come with them.I suggested that the closing scene of the events would occur after the PCs left the apartment - the camera moves across the fallen body of Megloss, to the charred remains of Gerda, to settle finally on the Elfstone, shining green and unsullied among the death and destruction.From my point of view, I think the saga of the Wizard's Tower, and Megloss, may be done. Assuming the players do try and take a town phase, I may use my authority over NPCs - in this case Burne, Wizard of the Tower - to suggest that they travel south. We never finished the Tower of Stars (from the Cartographer's Compendium, and our first adventure) and I want to use my write-up of the Moathouse, which is near the Forgotten Temple Complex that is Golin's home town. I've already made a note that Lareth the Beautiful is a Beautiful Half-Elf; and given the banditry of the inhabitants of the Moathouse, it stands to reason that Nob H is involved.</blockquote>

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